100mm wheels.. K2 first impressions, and 3 more 100mm types

[GhostRider]

I just got a set of K2 100s and I havent pushed the mileage or high speed on them fully yet but.. first impressions so far for the K2 100s, a) Their 85a hardness does feel right.. the ride is a bit better roll then the 84a Mach IIs. This definitely proved a bit of a difference on smooth black top roads. b) Grip and manueverability seems to be good so far. I havent noticed any slipping during power strides or some fairly sharp turns yet. c) Wear so far after around 15 miles seems minimal. I usually notice more wear on the Mach IIs after 15-20 miles. So far.. Im fairly impressed with them. If the weather holds I intend to try and put them through a serious pace tommorow with a 40+ mile skate with multiple high speed runs on various roads, a trail, and sidewalks.

Where Ill be very interested to test them on is more black top roads at high speed. This is where softer wheels can lose some of their roll and speed. Harder wheels (85a-86a) tend to do a bit better on these types of smoother roads.

Side note, IW doesnt carry these and personaly I would never recommend them. RevTek Tundras 86a 100mm Yellow wheels. Very nice hubs and even after 20+ miles they show virtually no wear at all.. problem is their roll is very poor. My worn down Mach IIs will dust them easily even with a loss of 20% efficiency after being burned up by 350+ miles on them. Even when I tried a roll test down a hill they lost momentum rapidly where as the Mach IIs and K2s kept on going for nealry 50-100 yards further when I reached the end of the hill. (The hill is about 1/2 mile long with about a 15-20 degree gradiant on a smooth surface). Bottom line.. IMHO.. not worth their high sticker tag unless you like a long lasting wheel that makes you work at your speed constantly, which for some might not be too bad for training. Their grip was pretty good also.

Mach IIs so far have been one of my favorites. My only hang up with them is wear. After about 300-350 miles (I average 100-125+ miles a week right now during training) they lose about 15-20% of their efficiency, some grip, but they still roll fairly well. This means I average changing out Mach IIs about every 3 weeks. They will last longer for someone who doesnt mind burning their wheels a bit more for workout skating. I usually rotate them about every 20-25 miles to try and prolong their life spans.

Hyper Stripes.. for the first 200 or so miles.. not bad.. after that they suck. Their grip and roll fade away rapidly. During a high speed sprint I was losing my footing during strides after the 200+ miles mark and have not had that happen nearly at all after that much mileage on Mach IIs. IMHO.. the Mach IIs stomp all over them and are cheaper.. this makes the Stripes a waste of money.

After some heavy mileage Ill report in again on the K2 100s but so far.. they may end up being a good wheel .. we shall see. ;)

[GhostRider]

Ok.. as promised here is a further review of the K2 100 85a wheels.

a) Roll is excellent.. at least 10-15% faster then the Mach IIs on most surfaces, especially on smoother roads. They make the RevTek Tundra 86a 100 wheels look like their sitting still.

b) Wear is not bad.. after 40 miles of skating, multiple 20+ mph sprints, various surfaces, etc.. I only wore a slight edge on the front wheels and virtually no wear on the rear 3. If this wear stays the same throughout my 100-125 miles a week skating I should get about 4 good weeks out of the wheels. This would give the K2s about 25% longer life then the Mach IIs.. 50% more then the Hyper Stripes.

c) Bearings.. slip them right in. With Mach IIs you have to pressure the bearings into their slots. This makes changing bearings on the K2 wheels a breeze even if you dont have a bearing press.

d) Speed.. damn fast. While skating with several good skaters at speeds of 15-20+mph (depending on the surface, pace, etc..) I had little trouble passing up skaters on various speed and advanced fitness rigs with only one skater keeping pace.. ironicly he was also using K2 100mm wheels on a mixed rig of 3x100 + 1x84 with speed boots. We pulled around 23-24 mph in a high speed run. I have not gone full flat out top speed on them yet in a sprint.. but Im looking forward to it now. High speed stability was quite good.

e) Manueverability and grip.. a little lower then the Mach 2s. I would not recommend the K2 100s to a novice.. they are fast and require good precision to use them correctly. They are a narrower wheel then the Mach 2s so they are not as forgiving as Mach 2s for someone that is not precise with their maneuvers and power strides.

The K2 100s are so far the best all around speed wheels I have yet to test out. They are damned fast on almost any reasonably good surface. They definitely dont wear down as fast as the Mach IIs and they make the Revteks seem patheticly slow. If they outlast the Hyper Stripes (which I know they will) then the Stripes are a waste of money, hell the Mach IIs do that already to them.

Overall I give these wheels a major recommendation. Im not easily impressed but these wheels are now my wheel of choice. I DO NOT recommend them to a novice skater with poor precision at skating. These are not kids wheels and they are a little rougher ride on rough surfaces, which is to be expected from a harder wheel. If you can handle a faster wheel *safely* that is narrower then most and rolls very well then this is a wheel to seriously consider. They also look damn cool too.. I love the markings on them. ;)

If you want a wheel that is good for decent speed and that is more forgiving for fitness skating then the Mach IIs are a definite consideration. For high speed and precision power strides.. the K2 100s are IMHO.. one of the best.

The only 100s I have not had a chance to try out yet that I would like to hear opinions on is the Inzcore series.. Mega Parsecs 86a and Aluminum Hub 85a. I have read and heard the Aluminums are very good but have not had the chance to try them yet. The Mega Parsecs are brand new wheels that sound promising. If the performance is similiar then the K2s will be cheaper then the Aluminum Inzcores (market pricing is around $12 a wheel) but more expensive then the Mega Parsecs (market pricing is $7 a wheel).

I could easily see a price war happen with new 90-100mm wheels as it seems more skaters are moving up to the bigger wheels. Bigger wheels right now are fairly expensive at $8-$12 a wheel. If a pricing war takes place this may possibly drive down prices as the wheel makers fight for their share of the market. So the question will be.. which wheels will be worth the price tag. We shall see.

Thanks.. and I look forward to hearing other comments.

[GhostRider]

Ok.. some updated news about the K2 100s,

Finally did find one flaw with them.. limited life span. After 250+ miles they dropped down to around 75% roll and 60-65% grip. Mach IIs last about 350+ miles and still hold about 90% of their grip and 80% of their roll. Even though the K2s are faster then the Mach IIs by about 15% when both are in new condition the K2s simply dont last as long so that improved speed will only be good for about 100-150 miles and then the speed difference gap closes quickly. End result after the life span test.. the Mach IIs are the better choice due to lower cost, longer life span, and good performance.

Now.. there is a new competitor in the 100mm wheel wars that I just found out about last week after my initial review of the K2 100s. The Mega Parsec by Intzcore. At a market value of $7 a wheel.. this is a very fierce competitor with the Mach IIs in terms of value and they are at least 15% faster! There is a catch.. they are 86a hardness which means you want to stay on smoother surfaces. Their grip is good and their roll superb. I would recommend grease packed bearings however as due to their hardness as the bearings can be a bit loud when using other types of lubricants. They are more maneuverable then the K2 100s and slightly faster as well. Wear is even better yet.. after nearly 60 miles I have only put a slight edge on the front insides.

My recommendation now changes to #1 Mega Parsecs (smoother surface, good grip, and high speed) with #2 going to Mach IIs (general surfaces, excellent grip, with good speed). Hopefully Stan at IW will heed the warning that Intzcore now has a very economical wheel that blows out just about every other wheel they presently carry on their store in terms of price and performance. By far this is the best wheel I have tested to date and that I will be sticking with unless someone comes up with something better for a comparable price. ;)

Ill post another update once I determine the effective life span of the Mega Parsecs.. so far they look like they will last longer then the Mach IIs.. we shall see. ;)

Thanks!

[IW Staff]

Intzcore has not responded to my as of yet, but I will continue to learn more and consider bringing them unless doing so from Korea doesn't make it a wise choice.

Thanks for your opinions and personal experiences. Hopefully others will joing in to share theirs.

Stan