The History of Fingerboarding Wheels | Flatface, Oak, Winkler Wheels and More!

In this video, we're going to take a look at the history of fingerboarding wheels and explore different styles of fingerboarding wheels. We'll talk about Flatface, Oak, Winkler Wheels, and more!

If you're curious about the history of #fingerboarding wheels, then this video is for you! We'll explore the different styles of fingerboarding wheels and learn about the history behind them. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned fingerboarder, this video is a great way to learn about the wheel history!

When Tech Deck launched back in 1998, the game changed dramatically. Tech Deck introduced plastic wheels. These wheels also had printed graphics on them as well, mimicking skateboard wheels in terms of appearance.

Gary Moyer, aka Mr Scorpio experimented in creating dual durometer wheels, by adding an exterior material to the outside. Gary specifically added automotive vacuum line to a tech deck wheel in order to improve the smoothness of ride.

Hydraulic Wheels, founded by Ed, was one of the earliest companys that I could remember that focused on selling wheels. Ed shared with the community the idea of incorporating bearings from toy cars into tech deck wheels. This was integral in the future development of bearing wheels!

Joe Leclercq, used a dual durometer concept in developing Eurollt #Wheels, becoming the first widely available professional wheels on an international scale. Eurollt wheels utilized a core, in this case a large metal core, and an outer material of plastic. Eurollt wheels were first made in 2003, with the assistance of Joe’s father. Eventually, Joe was making two sizes, normal which were 4.5mm wide (similar to TD) and the Vert Style which were a mm wider at 5.5mm. Even though Joe was out of Luxembourg, he didn’t limit the availability of the product to just Europe.

Epidemics were a wheel company founded by Moses Sanchez back around 2004. Moses also had a popular truck company, Public, at the time and eventually even distributed some Blackriver products. The wheels were plastic with small metal cores. It had a run of a couple of years or so before Moses disappeared from the scene leaving a ton of orders unfulfilled.

Martin Winkler had been making fingerboard wheels prior to Tech Deck existing. Winkler Wheels were available at a limited scale, mainly at in-person fingerboard events. Winkler Wheels were sold in tandem with Xpins / Winpinz, which modified the tech deck truck to be usable. These were inaccesbile to us in the early days of fingerboarding, but eventually the production increased to a point of being widely available. Later on, Winkler Wheels introduced special promodel shapes including the D-Rex for Boris Dietschi, Junk for the late Matthias Junker (who will be in a special episode in the future), Afrobi, the fatman shape, TLC & the Big Daddy’s.

Around 2004/2005, Mike Schneider developed a prototype that would eventually become Flatface Wheels. Next came G2’s which had both bearing and bearingless options, that were significantly smoother than Tech Deck wheels. Building a large following, Mike eventually developed bearing wheels in late 2005/2006. This continuous improvement over each generation continues to this day, with the recent release of the G8 Flatface Wheel shape.

In 2006, Jerome Verony founded substance wheels, these were lathed bearing wheels of high quality as well. As you can see, they were very high quality. Initially Jerome’s wheels had a backing, which was common at the time, and then eventually offered a backless option.

In the mid-to-late 2000s, you could also get bearings as part of a tuning package. This allowed one to modify tech deck wheels to make them smoother. Companies like Arctic Hardware, founded by Martin Illsley offered this.

Closeup, founded by #fingerboarding Legend Damien Bernadet, offered a few different options for fingerboard wheels over time. Their initial wheels were large and made of rubber. Eventually, they refined their shape and offered metal core and bearing wheels as well.

We saw Oak Wheels in 2009. Oak Wheels became the first widely available #fingerboard wheel made from Urethane. Oak Wheels and the “Mucho Feeling” were immensely influential in the popularizing of urethane as a substance for wheels.

Simon Cartledge, an OG #fingerboarder out of the UK, founded Cartwheels back in 2011. Simon offered cored wheels made of nylon, which is a material unique to Cartwheels. Simon also incorporated a locking-colored core which looks very cool.

In 2015, Joycult further refined the urethane wheels market, releasing a wheel that took the market by storm due to it’s smoothness and appearance. Unfortunately, it seemed that Joycult was plagued with customer service issues and now it appears the owner closed up shop.

We’ve seen beautiful wheels released from companies such as Lab, Dynamic, Piro, Illpills, Wysocki and Yellowood the list goes on.