| Information | |
|---|---|
| Hardness | 86a, 88a, 90a, 92a, 94a, 96a |
| Price | $90 |
| Size | 62mm |
| Width | 38mm |
If you are thinking about getting into a ‘skinny’ wheel the line of Heartless is a great way to start. Having a full line of hardness ranging from 86a all the way up to 96a one could buy a whole set of wheels and be prepared for any roller derby situation and only have to change the hardness of their wheels.
Since the beginning of the new derby movement I’ve been pushing girls to get on ‘skinny’ wheels because of the increased agility and responsiveness. I suggest most girls switching to a ‘skinny’ wheel should want to tighten their trucks a bit to compensate for no longer being on a wide wheels.
Heartless is one of the lightest wheels on the market but that advantage comes at a price. Using a hollow plastic hub is lighter but makes the wheel feel squishy and less responsive compared to a wheel with aluminum hubs such as the Radar Diamonds.
I’m a new skater, and the heartless were the first narrow wheels I tried (switching from Radar Flatouts, which I started on as a Fresh Meat). I loved them right away, and was especially impressed at how much lighter they were. Their grip was great the first 6 weeks or so but, unfortunately, it seemed that they wore out pretty fast–especially the softer ones (black ones went bald pretty fast in my opinion, but the red ones held their groove longer). As someone who already tends to wear out equipment pretty fast, the heartless’ seemingly shorter lifespan was kind of a drag. I recommend rotating often.
Love them, but you really need to know your hardnesses and floor surfaces (Atom’s wheel performance matrix is helpful). A particular Heartless wheel works for a specific floor, and only that floor.
I love these wheels, I switched to them from wide Fugitives and won’t go back. The light weight and range of colors means I can combo them up for different floors (I have a 4 pack of each of the 96, 90 and 86 hardness, giving 3 setup options). When I got them I loosened my trucks though, because with a narrower wheel base in total there’s less leverage against the truck when cornering and so they felt tighter when I changed over. I’m interested as to your advice to do the opposite, is it just to help skaters feel more stable when they first switch to a narrower setup?
I’ve been skating on Heartless for 2 years now and won’t even try another wheel. I have 2 sets of black – 1 set of red – one set of yellow – one set of green. Mix and match depending on your floor….I also use my old ones for outdoor skating.
I generally skate a sticky wood floor. I picked up the heartless red and have generally loved them so far. I could almost use a little less bite and may jump to the next harder in the series when I buy my next set. that said they roll well, feel good and are much more responsive (as they should be) than the wider wheels I’ve used previously.
I do skate differently on these wheels… not sure how to describe it other than to say they feel best when I skate with a light touch — think light on feet rather than heavy and aggressive.
good price for a very decent wheel.
I’ve been obsessed with skinny wheels recently, and when looking for something to give me a speed advantage, these wheels really stuck out. I’m skating on the hardest ones, the Vanish, with some Atom G-Rods as my pusher wheels. I love the narrow profile, and I love the hardness of the wheels, they make me feel much sleeker on my feet. As a serious downside, these wheels wear down FAST. I wore off the grooves on mine in a scant two or three practices, and I have to be REALLY careful about rotating them frequently, or I’ll wind up with gnarly bald spots. This wouldn’t be quite so much of an issue, but I think they’re totally overpriced for how short an amount of time they look like they’ll last. That said, I don’t notice much of a decrease in power or anything with my balding wheels. They still feel like they’re doing what I want them to, I’m just not sure if this is a brand I’ll buy again. I simply don’t have enough money to replace my wheels as fast as these puppies want to wear out.
I skated a set of greens on a super slippery dirty concrete floor and loved them. I have been through two sets of reds on our current grippier concrete. Though lately I’ve been questioning the narrow profile, and have been toying with going back to a slightly wider wheel again.
I heart Heartless. Switching from my sophomore skate wheels (Mojos) to Heartless was a revelation! I’ve been loving the red Breakers (94a) and yellow Chasers (92a) on the polished concrete floors our league typically skates on. I don’t get any slide unless the floor is dirty, and these make me feel light and nimble on my feet. Some members of my league skate on the lower durometer Heartless, but I tried someone’s green 90s and those felt too muddy on our floor for my taste. I’m all about the reds and the yellows and would gladly try the white Vanishes (96a).