Squaring off roller ski wheels
Bob Schwartz
about selling handbags or shoes.
Someone has a set of classical roller skis. Maybe they
skate on them, who knows. But at some point the wheels
start to wear unevenly. As the wear progresses things
get worse more quickly. Pretty soon they don't track
worth anything.
The person looks up the cost of new wheels. Then they
decide that their skate roller skis will do just fine,
and they gift the ones with the wheels that won't track
straight.
I've got roller skis like that. One is a pair of very
old Swenors. Very unevenly worn wheels, no hope of
tracking straight. Soft rubber, 60mm wide. Haven't been
sold for years, no way of getting new wheels for those.
So I took them to the bench grinder. Yes, you heard that
right. The bench grinder. I turned it on and spun up the
roller ski wheel on it. Then I rotated the shaft a
little. This caused the grinding wheel to begin shaving
rubber from an evenly rotating wheel.
I did this for a while, accumulating quite a mound of
rubber shavings. Eventually I had two sets of wheels,
both pretty much squared off. If you do this, pay
attention to the bearings. They are spinning pretty fast,
and they'll heat up on you if you are not careful.
I only have cheap-o spare bindings in the basement so I
haven't taken them out to verify anything yet. But the
pro of doing this is that I have a free pair of roller
skis that track like new.
But nothing is free. I've lost some wheel diameter and
the result is going to be roller skis that ride more
harshly and hang up easier on stones and sticks.
I've never heard of anyone sculpting worn roller ski
wheels like that. Maybe I'm the trend setter. Maybe some
of you have old roller skis with unevenly worn wheels
that you are willing to experiment on.
At least I haven't tried to sell you a watch.
Bob Schwartz
polarpoler
wrote:
Hey Bob, back when I first started roller skiing with the classic
V2's, that was my normal procedure when wheels got uneven. I used that
grinder on all wheels until I switched to skate skis with narrow
wheels.
I had forgotten about it until now....
Burgess
ge...@none.net
developed, or even after?
You sure some other brand wheels wouldn't fit? Maybe Nordic Skater has
some ideas - http://www.nordicskater.com/rolski.html.
Gene
Bob Schwartz
> Why didn't you just swap sides or wheels between rollerskis before this
> developed, or even after?
>
> You sure some other brand wheels wouldn't fit? Maybe Nordic Skater has
> some ideas - http://www.nordicskater.com/rolski.html.
>
> Gene
The wheels were already too far gone when I got them. So yeah,
someone should have done something before that happened.
I like free, free is the right price for classic roller skis as
far as I'm concerned. 60mm wheels are not common, Nordic Skater
lists them at $44, $54 with ratchet. The ratcheted wheels were
the ones that were really toast.
All I've got invested in these things is a little time. When I
take them out it is quite possible that I'll discover that there
is more to dislike about classic roller skiing than just worn
wheels that won't track straight. I guess I wasn't willing to
spend over $100 + shipping to find that out. Or even a fraction
of that.
Bob Schwartz
runcyc...@yahoo.com
wrote:
> On 8/30/2010 11:40 AM, g...@none.net wrote:
>
> > Why didn't you just swap sides or wheels between rollerskis before this
> > developed, or even after?
>
> > You sure some other brand wheels wouldn't fit? Maybe Nordic Skater has
>
> > Gene
>
> The wheels were already too far gone when I got them. So yeah,
> someone should have done something before that happened.
>
> I like free, free is the right price for classic roller skis as
> far as I'm concerned. 60mm wheels are not common, Nordic Skater
> lists them at $44, $54 with ratchet. The ratcheted wheels were
> the ones that were really toast.
>
> All I've got invested in these things is a little time. When I
> take them out it is quite possible that I'll discover that there
> is more to dislike about classic roller skiing than just worn
> wheels that won't track straight. I guess I wasn't willing to
> spend over $100 + shipping to find that out. Or even a fraction
> of that.
>
> Bob Schwartz
I would also ask around, e.g. on this group if anyone has 60 mm wheels
lying around. I like the bench grinder idea, but just how many more
miles do you expect to get from these wheels until you have no more
wheel to grind?
Bob Schwartz
> I like the bench grinder idea, but just how many more
> miles do you expect to get from these wheels until you have no more
> wheel to grind?
>
Dunno, maybe enough to last until I'm dead. I know some people put
a lot of time in on classical roller skis. I don't foresee myself
as being one of those people.
I've got another pair that I plan to grind. They belonged to a guy
that skated them down, and when they wouldn't track straight he put
them aside and bought a pair of real skating roller skis. Since I
already have skaters I don't see myself doing that either.
Bob Schwartz
Bob Schwartz
OK, I've had some time on these. Initially the tracking was
much improved, but still not stellar. The wheels were
symmetrical, but still more rounded than square. I guess I
was a little too tentative about removing rubber. Well, I
got over that. I went back to the grinder and flattened
things down quite a bit.
When I got them the wheels were very unevenly worn, so by
this time I've removed a fair amount of wheel diameter. And
I was concerned about that. But the rubber on these things
is very soft and pretty effective at dampening road buzz.
The remaining problem was that one of the skis has a tendency
to drift from the rear. I swapped them back and forth and
played around with weight distribution and eventually
discovered that I could minimize the drift by keeping my
weight forward and using a high tempo with less gliding.
Which are both things I ought to be doing anyway.
But it was limited to one ski and sure enough, the rear
wheel in that ski is canted just slightly in the mounting.
I should be able to fix that.
So I think the end result is I get an acceptable if not great
pair of classical roller skis at the cost of some time and
thought.
Bob Schwartz
Bob Schwartz
Just an update for those of you with older classic roller skis.
I took these monsters to a clinic and got some opinions on them,
the consensus was that there is a reason that no one makes
roller skis as long as was common back in the day. I'm kind of a
plodder on these things, if you pick up the speed you have
handling problems due to the length.
I measured them at 90cm, no that is not a typo, they are 90cm
long. I am guessing that the date of manufacture is sometime in
the 1980s but that is just a guess.
Well, they're 20cm shorter now. Simple enough to do if you've
got a carbide tipped blade. That makes them comparable in length
to more recent classic roller skis. It also means the ride will be
a little less plush.
I'm intrigued by the idea presented here:
http://forums.fasterskier.com/topic/classic-rollerkski-wheels
60mm wide wheels carry a lot of rubber and weigh a ton. I am
thinking that some roller hockey wheels might extend the life of
these things even more. If they don't it's a cheap experiment.
If I get to it I'll report back.
Bob Schwartz
ge...@none.net
The Marwe combis with their add-on wire wheels make it to about 830mm
as I recall. At 6'2"+ and with relatively long legs, I like that. The
Marwe use 40mm wide wheels, which are much easier to handle than the
wide ones. I found their 33mm ones too fast on downhills. Rollerblade
wheels bolted together might work for classic, but would probably be
cumbersome.
Gene
Fred Flintstein
> The Marwe combis with their add-on wire wheels make it to about 830mm
> as I recall. At 6'2"+ and with relatively long legs, I like that. The
> Marwe use 40mm wide wheels, which are much easier to handle than the
> wide ones. I found their 33mm ones too fast on downhills. Rollerblade
> wheels bolted together might work for classic, but would probably be
> cumbersome.
>
> Gene
of the tracking and handling issues are due to the wheels squishing
under load. And no doubt there is a reason no one uses 60mm wheels
anymore, just like no one uses excessively long shafts anymore.
Although the soft rubber does give a very nice ride.
The other thing that softer rollerblade wheels might address is the
decades old bearings in the original wheels. Every so often one of
the wheels makes a noise that is unpleasant to listen to but which
thankfully doesn't last too long.
I'm thinking about transitioning into roller skiing but I'm also
thinking about transitioning into cyclocross. Another complication.
Bob Schwartz
Ben Kaufman
kill. :-)
Ben