Looking to paint thick, dumb, lines of thane on the road? These are the wheels to do it. But is that all they’re good for? Check out the Free Dumbs Review below to find out more.
Specs
- Diameter: 65mm
- Contact Patch: 44mm
- Durometer: 78A
- Lip Profile: Round
- Surface: Stoneground
- Core Placement: Centerset
- Price: $35
Free Wheel Co. Free Dumbs Review
Summary
If you’re looking for pasters, Free Wheel Co. is a company well versed in that language. If you want to piss off your neighborhood association, poison the local water supply with urethane, and mark your territory from other longboarders, Free Wheel Co. has the wheels for you.
The Free Dumbs are mad pasters, leaving very visible thane lines when you slide them. Surprisingly they have a consistent slide too – I’ve had no trouble controlling these wheels and feeling comfortable holding out fast stand-up slides.
But with loads of thane comes loads of wear. These wheels wear down very quickly and within a session or two, you’ll be able to core them. This is a good thing if you want to quickly get to the core, but bad if you’re looking for durability. It’s even worse if your sliding skills aren’t on point because fast wear means these wheels are so easy to flat spot – all it takes is one drawn-out slide at 90*, and boom, they’re unusable.
Finally, these wheels roll surprisingly decently, going over cracks, pebbles, and surface roughness with ease. I wouldn’t mind using them on a mini-cruiser.
If you use these wheels with the above in mind you will enjoy them. But if you go into them with the wrong skill set and expectations, they will leave you with a bad taste in your mouth.
Are they fast?
Surprisingly, kinda. I didn’t find myself wanting more speed when sliding these wheels. Maybe because I was doing standies and didn’t want to go too fast … anyway …
But they’re quick. Not the fastest to push around, or the fastest accelerating wheel – not many 65mm wheels are. But when pointed down a hill they do well enough it’s hard to complain.
I think I’d be quite happy to stick them and use them on a mini-cruiser for a while – busting quick slides and terrorizing neighborhoods by leaving thane lines when I roll through. The ability to go over cracks and roughness without reflecting too much vibration into my feet is valuable to me.
How do they slide?
They’re very easy to slide, but they have a pretty decent feel in the slide and it’s easy to control them.
Despite thaning so much, they feel somewhere between icey, chalky, with maybe a hint of butter. With half and half of “on top of the pavement” and “in the pavement” in there.
They also have a consistent feel between sliding and not sliding – which I felt has been key to control them well.
Finally, they are very forgiving. They won’t throw you off easily if you mess up. I skated them over a very rough road and they just kept sliding … I was impressed.
The slide is initially weird
Yes, the stone-grinding allows for easy sliding out the box, but initially, they are too slidey and don’t feel right. Once you get through that mm of stone grounding, you get to the “true wheel”. You then get the performance that is reflected in this review.
Is the slide consistent as they wear?
Yes. The lip on both sides is quite rounded/beveled to about ¾ of the diameter of the wheel so you get consistent performance until you get past that.
After that, the transition into the slide is a bit more abrupt. The line between grip and slip is more defined. They’ll still slide easy, but not as easy as before.
Are they durable?
No, you can easily kill them in 1-3 sessions of easy riding.
I got through half the wheel when we had a session where I wasn’t even riding that hard. Had I been more serious and gone to more demanding roads, I could have finished them in a day. If you skate roads that have a lot of braking areas and slides, you could finish them in a run … no joke.
Not flatspot resistant
You’re literally one 90* blast from making these wheels oval or flatspotting them. Literally.
How do they feel over rough roads?
They worked surprisingly well over a variety of roads.
Over smooth roads, they were as good as any other wheel. On rough roads, they performed quite well, especially for their size.
Despite being small, they still rolled over cracks, and roughness with ease, absorbing some of the vibrations and keeping their speed. I was impressed ngl.
They also slide pretty nice over the rougher roads.
Who do I recommend this wheel to?
Looking to core a wheel easily? Look no further. This is the wheel to do it.
Who do I not recommend get this wheel
This wheel requires decent slide control. If you can’t consistently keep your wheels under 90* when you are sliding, chances are you will flat spot these wheels.
I do not recommend them to beginners getting to grips with sliding, or people who don’t have their stand-up slides all figured out, but plan on doing stand-ups with them.
Worth the money?
I’d say if your goal is to paste thick thane lines on the road. But if you want something durable, something you can learn on, not at all – it’s a quick way to flush $35 down the drain.
Tips to make the most the Free Dumbs
Keep the slide under (or over) 90*
This should be obvious, but if you take these wheels to 90* in the slide, you will flat spot them. And with how quickly they wear, flat spots can quickly get so bad you can’t recover the wheel.
Rotate your wheels often
These wheels wear fast. So before you know it, they will be smaller than when you put them on. Please check your wheels often and rotate them so you get even wear across the board.-
For example, when I put them on the first time, I was doing stand-up slides and didn’t check my wheels. A friend pointed out how small the wheels at the back were. Had he not pointed it out they would have become so small rotating the wheels wouldn’t have helped. So pay attention.
You rotate them but switching them diagonally. Eg. Back left, to front right. Front left to back right.
What I didn’t like?
You gotta be on point
You’re one bad 90 blast slide from flat-spotting these wheels, especially if you’re going for really big slides. You have to be on point with your control. Always.
There’s not much else …
This is a highly niche wheel – for painting lines. So using them appropriately, with the weaknesses in mind, I don’t think there’s much else to not like.
If you buy this wheel, and you flat spot it, that’s on you. They’re advertised to dump thane, and with dumping, thane comes fast wear, and with fast wear comes easy flat-spotting. You have been warned hehe.
What do you think? Are these wheels for you?
These wheels are pretty straightforward. Sorry, the Free Dumbs review isn’t as long as usual hehe. But yeah, hope you guys enjoyed this one.
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.
Big thanks to all my patrons for the support – David, Squirrels Adventures, Mike, Jed, Mowgii, Jan, Josh, Jay, Jay, Bryan, @owencampbell777, @dkwan, Alex, Kasajja, @pablo.vega.andrade, Vlad Helge, DeLacoste, Peder, Josh, Mike, Anthony, @issishreds, Greg, Jackson, Slipa, Louisa, Steve, and Justin. I couldn’t write articles like this without you guys’ support.
