Sports

ARIS Sport throws a new curve at skateboard wheels

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ARIS Sport's Blade Runner skateboards have conical wheels, for better carving
ARIS Sport's longboard-style Blade Runner skateboard
ARIS Sport's snowboard-style Blade Runner skateboard
ARIS Sport's snowboard-style Blade Runner skateboard
ARIS Sport's Blade Runner skateboards have conical wheels, for better carving
ARIS Sport's snowboard-style Blade Runner skateboard
ARIS Sport's snowboard-style Blade Runner skateboard
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The ability to carve into turns is something that is valued by surfers, snowboarders and skateboarders alike. While water and snow are relatively easy to carve into, however, concrete and asphalt are most definitely not, putting skateboards at a bit of a disadvantage. Attempts have been made at better-carving skateboards, including the pivoting-truck-equipped BMW StreetCarver, the many-wheeled Freebord, the caster-wheeled T-Board, and the twisting Ripstick and Skatecycle. Now, San Francisco-based ARIS Sport has addressed the issue with a novel solution - a line of skateboards with conical wheels.

ARIS' Blade Runner boards come in three styles, with decks modeled after a snowboard, and long and short surfboards. They all feature the company's trademark carving wheels, which have the diameter of regular wheels where they join the trucks, but become narrower as they go out to either side. That smaller outside diameter is intended to allow the board to tip more deeply into turns.

ARIS Sport's snowboard-style Blade Runner skateboard

Although the boards aren't available yet, ARIS' Toly Genov informs us that they are in production, and the company is already accepting reservations on its website. They are priced at under US$200, with first deliveries scheduled to begin in March.

Update June 2013: The ARIS Sport website appears to be down.

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18 comments
Joseph Shimandle
Nice, but much not usable wheel before you scrape the trucks. Concrete will eat them up quickly.
Adrien
I think there will be big problems with this approach.
The smaller diameter will result in faster rotation, so as you go over on the side, the wheel speed will have to markedly increase. If the wheels compress at all, you\'ll have multiple different diameters in contact with the ground at the same time. Fundamentally the wheel cannot rotate at 2 different speeds at the same time, so this will result in one part of the surface having to actually slip.
therefore I see this having quite reduced traction.
Dustin
That doesn\'t add up Adrien. If that were the case then vehicles with curved or rounded wheels, like a motorcycle, would have major issues when turning at speed.
shredder
This thing is a revelation.It rides like nothing you have ever tried before.Like Dustin said,a motorcycle tire has rounded side walls so you can bank into turns.Waves are curved, this board makes the road feel like one giant wave.
Robt
You\'ve tried one?
Bruce H. Anderson
The question of torque wind-up is a canard. The main concern is contact patch, which I assume can be dealt with by choosing polymers wisely. It looks like this would provide a straighter lean, where body/board/wheels are more in alignment, and the ground contact point would be more inboard than outboard. I bet it is faster going straight as well. If Shredder has ridden this unit I say his word is Gospel.
Mirmillion
A little more wheel diameter please. More than few millimeters of wear and the thing will be bottoming out. Nice work in all other respects. How are you preventing axle bending with weight substantially over the outside of the long wheel? Mucho strong axlel and top flight bearings I hope.
Jimmy Fallin
I\'d use a tapered axle and use a smaller bearing on the outside and larger bearings on the inside to over come axle issue. Agree, regarding needing more wheel diameter to keep the skateboard trucks from bottoming out.
Michael Carter
along way from the days were we nail two skate halves together on either end of a two-by-four, LOL!! Any Old Schoolers out there?!!
TMurder11
Here it is Carving.
http://youtu.be/tKIE8T_R1hY