We’re always searching for the perfect wheel. For us, the perfect wheel should be hard (read: fast) and it should be grippy (read: no sliding around). I also feel like I just bought wheels, so I want to be sure these things are going to do all the things they claim to do. Fast AND grippy, for real?
Radar Halo Wheels
Performance
As advertised: grippy and responsive
Value
Nicely priced and Radar wheels tend to last
Features
Stops are easy and wheels are fast
Overall
Our current indoor wheel crush
What We Like:
- Fast while staying grippy
- Plastic and urethane construction is nice and light
- Stops are easy to nail
What Else You Need To Know:
- Not as much slip as we experienced with the Radar Presto wheels
- Not suited for outdoor use
Summary:
Radar’s newest offering, the Halo wheel, is a great balance of a fast and grippy wheel perfect for carving tight edges, maintaining speed in the turns, and hitting perfect stops. This wheel claims to be representative of the current state of derby play and the smaller 59mm size which makes acceleration easy, and the new H-Shaped hub that makes the wheel more responsive while offering controlled edges and stopping. The improvements from the Presto make it a great all around indoor roller skating and roller derby wheel.
They see us rolling…
We’ve primarily skated on Radar wheels for years. Our first Radar wheels were Tuners: 62mm tall and 43mm wide, which were grippy and stable but not very quick or agile. We then transitioned to Radar’s Tuner Junior wheels which were a shorter height wheel, 59mm like the Halos, allowing us to accelerate faster but still at the more stable 43mm width. The Radar Halo wheels we tested out are the shorter 59mm and the narrower 38mm width which we hoped would allow for better edge control and a more rigid and responsive ride.
Radar Halo wheels are for indoor roller skaters, roller derby skaters, and roller derby officials who want a grippy and responsive wheel that doesn’t sacrifice speed to reaction.
If you’ve got too much slide in your plow stops, or too much slip in your t-stops, then this wheel could be a good match for you and your skating style. If you’re looking for a little more command and control over your edges when you’re carving into the turns, the increased responsiveness that the Radar Halo design offers is what you’re looking for. Additionally, the grip of these wheels will make it easier to stop faster as well, and gives you control over your laterals.
Here’s what it is, and what it does…
Radar does offer the Halo in a softer hardness/durometer at 86a, which is softer than most indoor/outdoor hybrid wheels, usually rated at 88a. The smaller 59mm height means great acceleration but lower overall top speed and low overall roll, or how much spin it has before you have to start pumping your legs again to get going.
Radar Halo wheels claim to achieve world class edging without sacrificing grip. That sounds like what I want, good edges and good grip. But I already have some pretty spendy wheels. What are these wheels doing that my current wheels aren’t? Radar tells us that the Halo features their innovative, signature H-Shaped hub. That means that if you sliced the wheel in half and knocked it over on its side, the hub or brightly colored middle part of the wheel looks like the shape of the letter “H”.
The H-shaped hub is the magic behind (or inside) the Halo. The inner and outer edges of the hub are oversized which is important because that results in having less urethane between the hub of the wheel and the ground. That means there’s less energy being lost in the flex of the urethane rubber, which should also result in a more responsive feeling setup and better stops. On the flip side of the H-Shaped hub is the middle of the hub which is smaller allowing more room for urethane, which provides more grip, increases overall control, and should improve the overall ride of your skates.
Tell me more…yes, mm hm mm hm…go on…
In the search for the perfect wheel we’ve both been experimenting with harder wheels, which in turn are faster, but typically you sacrifice grip when you have a harder wheel unless your surface is a roller rink or similarly squeaky clean surfaces. I went for the Halo Blue 95A hardness, which was the hardness of wheel I’ve been skating on (indoors) for the past two years, so that didn’t represent a change for me.
Similarly, Gia stuck with her current preferred hardness which meant the Halo Pink 93A. For reference the rest of our setup details are: custom Riedell boots (Gia on 495s, Roger on a wacky hybrid 1065 back/495 front), Arius plates, and Bones Swiss Six Bearings.
The first few laps felt similar to the wheels we switched from, and both of us had previously rolled on Radar’s Presto wheels. After a few laps I noticed that my t-stops, that had previously been super noisy as they dragged behind me, were quiet as I was able to stop a lot more quickly and without as much wheel drag on the floor. It’s not that the noise was that big a deal, but the absence of the noise on the floor only spotlighted how much faster I was able to stop.
In the turns, these wheels felt glued to the floor. Especially during crossovers (both backward and forward) and transitions, we felt like there was good grip without hindering any mobility or limiting any overall speed.
I wouldn’t say that these wheels were a huge improvement of the ride as compared to the Radar Presto wheels we had just switched from, or any previous wheel we’ve rolled on. When I read that a wheel is designed to improve the ride, I feel like that means your personal comfort while skating.
Now, I wasn’t expecting an improvement to the ride and we didn’t feel it was markedly more comfortable than other wheels. Did the improved grip and response improve the overall experience of the ride? Absolutely it did. Was it more comfortable? Not really.
The Wrap Up
We went looking for other skater’s opinions on the Radar Halo wheel and found one on Radar Wheels’ Facebook Page from Smarty McFly of Arch Rival Roller Derby in St. Louis who said:
“I’m in love with them for our floor, which is sometimes slick and sometimes grippy.”
That assessment matches our experience as well. The floors we’re typically skating on are polished concrete and its condition can vary wildly depending on how much dust has settled, when the floor was last thoroughly cleaned, or even on the weather and the moisture in the air. We find that these wheels are great on a floor that has varied grip in both level of hardness we tested.
Finding the right ride for your skates is something that’s personal for each individual and each application. We had both previously skated on Radar Presto wheels for two years, and found the Radar Halo wheels to be more responsive and grippier so if you’re skating on Prestos and you want more grip without changing much else, then these are the upgrade for you. If you feel like you have plenty of grip with your current set up and you want more speed, we’d suggest checking out the Radar Presto wheels instead. They are hard, fast, and really helped us nail our plow stops every time.
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Team Roll With It 