pavedwave longboarding

Parson Adams · Joined: 02 Jun 2008 Posts: 93 Location: San Antonio

Anyone try them yet? I took a leap of faith based on the Speed Vents good rep. and ordered a set of the 79a Blue black ops. I'll post a report once they come in and I put a hundred miles or so on them.

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wafflesole · Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Posts: 82

been skating on both the 77mm speedvents in 79a (blues with orange core) and the 85mm Speedvents (purples with yellow cores)

man they are lovely. i used some 85mm prototype old formula speedvents for NZ and the new formula is heaps better.

there's a review on www.skatefurther.com

nat

Parson Adams · Joined: 02 Jun 2008 Posts: 93 Location: San Antonio

Edited by Parson Adams. Real answer below.
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Parson Adams · Joined: 02 Jun 2008 Posts: 93 Location: San Antonio

OKAY...the definitive answer...I love these things. After 400 miles, the Black Ops are just feeling faster. I wish that they were cheaper, but I'll gladly pay up. Saving for a set of Purple 77s.
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gldsndz · Joined: 19 Apr 2008 Posts: 44

How's the blue black ops on rough roads?

Parson Adams · Joined: 02 Jun 2008 Posts: 93 Location: San Antonio

Like a hot stick of BUTTA. I love that wheel on the roughs. I just picked up the purple in 83a. They should be in by Thursday. I've give you a little note on those too. I read on the fish, that the reflex formula actually measures in at 2a lower that what the wheel is advertised as. If this is true, this is why my Blues feel softer than 79a. True or not, one thing is for sure, Dan and Seismic has put together a great wheel. The fish link is below.

http://www.silverfishlongboarding...rings/75911-seismics-new-83a.html
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stocago · Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Posts: 227

pavedwave · Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 1120 Location: seattle wa usa

Well Parson I would have taken your leap of faith much earlier but I was basically so content in the world of Pink, Lime, and Lemons, that I didn't really have the immediate need to change things up. However, the general positive buzz, and eventually this report from Gary Fluitt, started getting the gears turning again, so I started doing some controlled GreenLake laps, switching up between a board set up with all-blue Ops then quickly switching out to all-purple Ops, then switching back to my usual Lime Zigs. I've only written down the times on some piece of notebook paper which is buried somewhere in the garage now, but the initial results were very competitive.

I feel more mileage is needed, and I'm finding the hardest part about doing a controlled test / timed lap is when passing friends at the lake, and they wave their hands to flag me down to chat for a while, but I'm trying to ride non-stop...whats a guy to do?? Razz

Anyway, I poked around the Fish again, here's what Fluitt had to say about the Ops:

===================

http://www.silverfishlongboarding...s-bearings/77635-black-ops-2.html

"And for the rest of you who are actually interested in the performance of the new wheels, ... you need to do your own objective testing. With a clock. I did my testing, and I now have some Retros for sale if you want them. Do your own testing.

I will share my experience in fairness and balance to those above. I've been racing for 8 years, and just won the US Nationals (at my advanced age) on the Black Ops formula, beating Pappas & Reaves, who were on the Zigs. The closest race I had was against my buddy Dave Pirnack, who, not coincidentally, was on the same wheel set up as me. I don't think I could have done that with the Retro formula. Like many of you I was on the Retros since they came out, but I'm totally off them now, with the exception of the 66 Zig which doesn't have a Black Ops equivalent yet.

Chaput and Gesmer are both my friends. Yes, I've taken free wheels from both of them (thanks guys!) and I have a tremendous amount of respect for both of these guys in spite of what I happen to ride.

I've been riding the same pair of Blue 80a Hot Spots since the day they released. This business about "they loose grip when they wear" is total crap (in my humble experience). These wheels have held their grip and roll characteristics as well as any wheel I've been on, and I've been on them all (with the exception of Venoms). In fact, the races I won in Morro Bay last month were on those original Blue - Black Ops Hot Spots that I have had since release. The urethane doesn't magically get slippery once you break them in. If anything, it gets grippier.

One thing I noticed (maybe you wont, I don't know) is that the wheel has a different sound than the old ones. Maybe I'd had the iPod cranked too high before the session, but I think it's the formula. Knowing that the core in the Hot Spot is unchanged, this tells me the formula is significantly different. In other words, Black Ops is not a vacuous marketing hype and color shift on an unchanged formula.

In my testing, the Black Ops formula was .3-.5 faster in an 18 second test course. That is a HUGE margin. Way more then I expected. Is it a coincidence then that I won my first big race in Years on these? I'm a total has been. You be the judge.

This testing involved interlacing runs of Retros and Hot Spots. Each run I swapped bearings and ran the opposing wheel, using the same 8 bearings in every run. It was a pain in the ass to keep trading back and forth, but I felt I needed to do this to mitigate for wind, pavement temps, and fatigue (and Pirnack had a lot of cones to pick up after his runs anyway so, you know, there was time...). I threw out the hi and lo times and arrived at the averaged results. The hill was a mellow pitch with good smooth asphalt. Courses ranged from 55 cone TS to 45 cone HS (special). Conditions ran the gambit.

I also tested the new 73mm Speed Vents Black Ops and found that into a head wind (was preparing for Pacific St. in Morro Bay) the Speed Vents provided faster course times, though they did not "feel" faster. They were consistently faster than the Hot Spots or Retros in head wind runs. I suspect that the overall size of the wheel (4mm taller), and the length of the course (18-20 seconds) had everything to do with that. In dead wind or tail wind, the small wheels (69) ran the same times but hooked up better. So though times were roughly the same in dead wind, the runs were cleaner, due to the agility of the smaller wheel.

I would be happy to keep all this info to myself but you're going to figure this out for yourself eventually, and as I said, I'm a has been. Knowledge is power."