clip on Cali style (slide)

[40yearslater]

Thinking about the continuum of wheel slide and various floors.
Found this clip.
Really small, hard wheels, wood floor, working with the slide.
It's own style.
Working with the point of slide and catch, like finless surfing or something.
But with a beat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLxufKGsQRE

[likkwid]

This is more along the lines of what you're looking for....
We call it "open house" sliding. Filmed at the home of Open House. Flint, Michigan.

https://youtu.be/CiElQRgH4DM

[Oicusk82huh]

I'm really glad you posted this. I've been looking for some Mercury wheels. I LOVE SLIDING!!!

I can't find any. Does anyone know a website where I could find some Mercurys? Thanks.

[40yearslater]

Definite regional variations.
Michigan: yeah likkwid, that long sideways slide was what I was thinking about initially.
That Cali style looks pretty interesting, too. I like the way it is incorporated into the roll, rather than just being a stand-alone thing like spinning.

Oicusk82huh, you probably already know it, but FoMac wheels are pretty good for sliding, (or MiniMacs if you want small wheels - from what I read - I've got a set but haven't had a place to try them out yet.)
Available online, Amazon, Skates Direct, etc.

[likkwid]

Fo-mac's were THE wheels used in this video, and definitely easier to come by.

[larryoracing]

I don't think I could slide anymore and really don't have the balance to do it or the strength or guts...lol!

But in the old days when I was young...Late 60's the most common wheel was the Zephr and Floors were not plastic coated. You could slide pretty well on a Zephr Wheel. I know we had a lot of fun trying to slide, but I don't think we got the distance you guys get today.

A wheel which I think people use today is a small diameter Fiberglass wheel made by Sure Grip. I think people can slide very well using that wheel on modern day plastic coated wood floors.

A hard wheel is also the FoMac Freestyle wheel. It's one of the slickest, more conventional "hard" wheels at a cheap price. About 55 dollars.


Now, I still see Wood Wheels for sale and they are dirt cheap...less than 30 dollars, but I don't know if they are good sliders or not?????

People talk about the Mercury Wheels and I got a feeling they came a few years before the Zephr. You got to be old to know about Mercury Wheels...lol!

Good Luck!

Larry O

[likkwid]

Woods and clays were by far the best, but I remember clays would get flat spots in about one session...

[likkwid]

Had a set or two of all of them lol... keep in mind, the zephyr wheels ARE the fo-Macs. They were clay, orginally made by zephyr and read: "zephyr Fo-mac".

Now sure grip makes them with the same design and formula, but they say "premier fo-mac".

The fo-mac freestyle are urethane, aren't they?

[larryoracing]

What they are made of? I just assumed they were hard enough to slide, if you really wanted to, but I'm sure like you say....they would flat. All I know I tried a pair of /Fomac Freestyle Wheels for Freestyle/Artistic Jumps and spins and I felt they were a little bit slippery. So I guess I was guessing, not really knowing what I was talking about for sliding....lol!

I saw a new wheel in our local rink Display case/for Sale. They were called Adonis and they were the smallest diameter wheels, I have ever seem. They were 130.00 dollars and came with extra special diameter small precision bearings. I got a feeling this is another "Slider" type of wheel??????

I know one rink in SoCal that does not like sliding, but I think in our rink it is OK. At least they sell which seems to be all kinds of "Slider" type of Wheels.

I think there were all kinds of Clay wheels in the late 60's. When I came around the Zephr Wheels was common, then the wheels got a little more grippier, like the "Comet". Think there were others. I guess a non common slider wheel/ meaning not sliding was the Excaliber and I guess at some time the All American Dream would be considered a non-slider type of wheel.

Personally the slider and those type or skaters/rexers and so forth have caught my fancy so I thought about building a skate just for sliding or rexing.

I think it would be a special case of a Berry low top boot, Synder titanium Royal plate and maybe the Adonis wheels. I think that would give a pretty cool, skate for the "In" crowd...lol!/The young kids...lol!

Take Care,

Larry O and have fun skating indoors/outdoors, inlines, or quads.

[40yearslater]

This has gotten me thinking about it again, too.
I actually bought a set of plates (Suregrip Century, NTS), mini Fomacs and dress shoes to build up a pair about 8 years ago.
Never ended up putting it together, my local rink is sport court tile, just wouldn't work.

But that style is really intriguing.
The thing is, you can do a lot going relatively slowly, just working with the rhythm and the grip and slide transition point.

Found this clip.
Nice variation in styles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUCihe_DQdw

[Oicusk82huh]

I was actually looking for this thread, but couldn't find it.

I haven't tried those super tiny wheels, but now that I got my first pair of Fo-Mac's (Harmony) I'm wondering how the two compare. The Fo-Macs have completed me!!! Lol. (I'm newer to quads, so I never knew how life-changing a set of wheels could be.)

How do those tiny wheels handle toe skating? Is it even possible?

You'd have to have a skate with no jam plug, right? NTS probably???

Anyone here have experience with them? Just curious. I just can't imagine anything better than spinning and sliding!!!!!!!!!

[ascar larkinyar]

Check out Pete's company sk8fanatics. This is the best hard fiberglass wheels we all use. They way out slide any of the above mentioned wheels.

My friends and I used to get all slidey sideways back in the 70's with fiberglass or stone wheels. We didn't know any better, but it was fun. Now it is a "thing".