The EZ Hawgs are one of the easiest sliding wheels on the market. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to get them sideways – which makes them one of the most recommended beginner slide wheels.
That aside, are they good wheels altogether? Check out my review below to find out more.
Specifications
- Diameter: 63mm
- Durometer: 78a
- Width: 40mm
- Contact Patch: 42mm
- Lip Profile: Round
- Core Placement: Centerset
- Wheel Surface: Stoneground
- Price: About $40
Disclaimer: Landyachtz sent me (I am sponsored by them) these wheels to review for free, but I will be unbiased and fair in my review.
EZ Hawgs Review
Summary
These are a wheel I’d highly recommend to a slide beginner or really anyone looking for an easy to slide wheel. You can get them to break traction at pretty much any speed – all they need is a firm and deliberate nudge and there they go. (Your sliding attempts are almost always guaranteed to be successful).
And when they slide, they slide forever. Barely slowing you down at all. This allows for big stand-up slides (as often demonstrated by Clayton Arthurs on his Instagram). Or long hands-down slides allowing you to perfect your slide control.
However, them being easy to slide is a bit of an issue. Just pushing them into the slide doesn’t give you the best control – most noticeably with stand-up slides. You have to feather them through that edge traction just as you would any other wheels, to get the best control in the slide. So whilst they’re easy to slide, you still need to be on point with your control.
But you only get to the “a bit more difficult to slide part” when the rounded lip wears down. When fresh, they are forgiving. The line between gripping and slipping isn’t as abrupt. Fortunately, the v2 updated EZ Hawgs have a far more radiused lip.
Durability, acceleration, and roll-speed are all good too. These would be very at home on a cruiser board or on any freeride board.
Are EZ Hawgs fast?
The EZ Hawgs accelerate surprisingly well. You can attribute that to their small size and how hard they feel. Just takes a few pushes to get them moving.
They don’t have the fastest top speed which is expected for their size. Nonetheless, they were surprisingly quick when pointed down a hill.
How do they handle rough roads?
They suffer a bit when rolling and sliding over rough ground. The Chubby and Fatty Hawgs felt a little bit better.
They reflect a bit of road vibration, but this is expected for their size. They’ll certainly go over cracks and pebbles, but you’ll feel it in your feet.
Surprisingly, they don’t lose much of their speed from this. I only had beef with them when I was pushing but didn’t notice this that much when I was skating downhill.
But when the road is smooth they perform magnificently, with fast roll speed and decent momentum.
Initially, I disliked the EZ Hawgs for rough roads. But after skating them for a while, I realized yes they reflect a bit more road vibration, but they still work well over rough roads.
How do they slide?
These wheels have a very icey slide. They just want to glide and glide. But somehow, they also feel a bit thaney – a mix of in and on top of the pavement slide feel.
They slide very easily. You don’t need much speed to get them to drift out.
They’re so good for doing things like 360* slides, or slides where you don’t want a significant set up to kick the board out.
They have pretty decent control in the slide too – which is surprising given how slidey they are. However, you only get this feel initially. Once you wear past the round lip you have to be a bit more cautious with how you bring them into the slide. You then only get the nice feel and control if you feather them to that edge of traction instead of just forcing them to break out into the slide. This was most apparent to me through stand-up slides.
*I focus a lot on what they feel like after the lip wears because this is how they’re gonna feel for the majority of the time you slide them.
You gotta be on point for stand-ups
Once the round lip wears down, if you force them into the slide for stand-ups, you don’t get much control. They will likely ice out on you or feel uncontrollable.
However, if you set up for the slide properly, compress, decompress, etc. Just as you would for a slightly harder-to-slide wheel. You will actually get pretty decent control in the slide and they won’t ice out on you.
In summary, they slide super easy and you can force them to break traction easy, but forcing them results in an uncontrollable slide. You get good control when your technique and form are on point.
Easy to ice out
It is easy to ice out on these wheels, especially if you simply force them into the slide.
Kickout and hookup
Initially, when the lip of the wheel is rounded and fresh, the hookup and kick out are very forgiving and consistent.
However, the kick out and hook up become more sudden when the lip wears down and becomes sharper.
I’ve just been notified that I’ve been skating the v1s, the v2s come with a lip that is far more radiused.
Kick out and hook up when you wear the round lip off …
The hookup and kick out on these wheels can sometimes feel too “sudden”. They’d suddenly break out into the slide or hook up a bit too quickly.
It was almost like these wheels had two settings, go straight, or slide, with no edge grip to help you understand you’re either breaking into the slide or hooking up.
This hindered my progress and how confident I felt about taking them fast and doing big stand-up slides.
However, this was before I started getting used to them and treating them like other grippier wheels. Once I started being more deliberate with setup carving into the slide, and compressing, and all that stuff you should do before a stand-up slide, they performed worlds better.
The kick outkick-out and hookup were still sudden, but I had a lot more control over them.
They thane, depending on …
The EZ Hawgs also thane depending on the road you skate them on. They leave nice colored thane lines which is always dope.
Do they slow you down a lot?
Nope. Barely slow you down much. They’re a good option if you want to do massive stand-up slides.
Also, not a good choice if you need a lot of brakes from your wheels.
Are they durable?
Yes, these wheels are durable. They’re flat spot resistant too. They won’t flat spot easily just cause you 90 blast them once or twice.
Of course, if you 90 blast them all the time they will flat spot.
But yeah they’re durable. They last a long time even if they do thane. Not as long as uber durable wheels like Snakes, but long enough to get our moneys worth.
Good slow down power?
Barely any slow-down power. Great for long drawn out slides.
They have similar slow-down power to Powell Snakes.
Are EZ Hawgs a good beginners slide wheel?
I’d say they’re a good slide wheel for beginners. Super easy to slide and you don’t need much speed to do it. If you want to break traction easily and learn to slide, they’re good wheels to go for. Very good choices to learn the basics on.
They are also great for learning stand-up slides. They are forgiving initially, but more punishing once you get past the round lip. This is good as they will punish bad habits and reinforce good ones. They are a good wheel to progress on.
But you can also always get the general idea of stand-up sliding on a wheel like the Powell Snakes, then move on to this one.
Are they good for cruising?
If you want a small wheel in a 63mm size, the EZ Hawgs is one of the best options out there. Very few wheels in that size perform as well as they do.
No other wheel accelerates quite as fast or holds its speed quite as well.
Plus if you’re wanting to throw power slides, the EZ Hawgs are quite good at that.
Are EZ Hawgs good wheels for longboard Dancing?
Yeah definitely. If you want a smaller, lighter wheel, EZ Hawgs are one of the best options available.
They roll fast, accelerate quickly, are lightweight, and slide very easily if you ever need to get them to break traction.
EZ Hawgs, vs Chubby Hawgs, and Fatty Hawgs
EZ Hawgs are tall, lightweight, quickest to accelerate, slide the easiest. You’ll often see them on boards built of sliding, or boards built for tricks and skating in a park.
Fatty Hawgs are the tallest and widest. They’re slower to accelerate but have a higher top speed and a lot of momentum – you don’t always have to push them to maintain a nice speed. They also absorb a lot of road vibration. You’ll often see them on mini-cruiser, they’re put on there to provide a comfortable ride.
Chubby Hawgs offer the best of both worlds. But if you want the best for doing tricks, go for the EZs. If you want the best for cruising, go for the Fatty Hawgs.
Comparison chart
| EZ Hawgs | Fatty Hawgs | Chubby Hawgs | |
| Specifications | Height – 63mm Width – 40mm | Height – 63mm Width – 53mm | Height – 60mm Width – 45mm |
| Speed? | ✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔ |
| Acceleration | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔ | ✔✔✔ |
| Momentum | ✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔ |
| Smoothness over rougher roads? | ✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔ |
| For cruising | ✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔ |
| For sliding | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔ | ✔✔ |
| For tricks? | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔ | ✔✔ |
| Weight? | Very lightweight | A bit weighty | Not that heavy |
✔ – Ok
✔✔ – Good
✔✔✔ – Great
Fun fact
The Fatty, Chubby, and Ez Hawgs are all made from the same urethane and same core – IIRC they’re all poured in the same mold actually. They’re just cut in different ways to extract different performances/features from them.
As a result, they’re all good for different styles of riding.
Where to buy Chubby, EZ, and Fatty Hawgs
You can pick up all 3 here at the Landyachtz website. Use the code – “AroniSkate&Explore15” for 5% off.
Chubby Hawgs
You can pick up a set of Chubby Hawgs here at the Stoked ride shop, or here at Amazon.com.
Fatty Hawgs
You can buy some Fatty Hawgs from here at the Stoked ride shop, or you can get some here at Amazon.com.
EZ Hawgs
You can pick up a set of EZ Hawgs here at the Stoked Ride Shop.
EZ Hawgs vs Snakes
These wheels are quite similar. Snakes are a bit faster overall and better over rough grounds. Snakes have a buttery slide, on-top the pavement-ish slide, whilst EZ Hawgs have an icey/thaney slide that is sort of in the pavement. but mostly ontop
EZ Hawgs accelerate a bit quicker.
When both wear down, the grip to slip line becomes more apparent as that rounded lip goes. Both are quite easy to kickout into the slide. Snakes are a bit easier to control and are more forgiving.
What I didn’t like about these wheels
They’re deceiving
These wheels are easy to slide yes, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get good results forcing them out. You still have to be on point with your riding, have to be set up carving, etc. In order to get the best control and be comfortable doing those big slides, you see people doing.
So in this way, they’re deceiving. Yes, they’re easy to slide, but to slide them well you need to skate them well.
They’re small
Because of their small size, they sucked a bit over rough roads. They just don’t have the height to roll over pebbles and provide the best ride.
If they were bigger, they would perform a lot better for this.
I would really like to try a bigger EZ Hawg. Would allow me to go faster, would hold their speed for longer, and would have more urethane to wear through. Could be nice!
I wish the lip was rounded for longer
If the lip was rounder for longer, I wouldn’t have as much trouble with controlling them when they break into the slide. I’d be able to get that nice performance they had when they were new for longer.
This is also adds to the whole “I wish they were taller thing”. If they were taller, more of the lip could be rounded hehe. And you’d also get more consistent performance for much longer.
AND GOOD NEWS, I WAS SKATING THE V1s. THE NEW V2s COME WITH A FAR MORE RADIUSED LIP. SO THEY HAVE FIXED THE ISSUE. VERY GOOD.
Where to buy EZ Hawgs
You can pick up a set of EZ Hawgs here at the Stoked Ride Shop.
You can also buy a set here at the Landyachtz website. Use the code – “AroniSkate&Explore15” for 5% off.
Have you enjoyed this review of the EZ Hawgs wheels?
I hope you guys have enjoyed this one. I know it’s a bit shorter than my usual reviews, but this wheel is quite straightforward, and there’s not a lot to say. So yeah …
If you have an experience with the EZ Hawgs that is dissimilar to mine, feel free to leave a comment!
Also, you can always join my Patreon to see all the product reviews before they drop publicly. There are always a handful available – I make more and can only post on Youtube weekly.
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