Nineball | Longboard Wheels

Aug 28

Specs:

Developer: Sector 9
Name: Nineballs
Diameter: 72 mm
Width: 52 mm (?)
Contact Patch: ?
Hub: ?
Hub Setting: off-set
Edge Profile: Square
Composition: Urethane
Durometers: 75a only
Colors: Blue, Green, Red, White

Nineballs, by Sector 9, are excellent wheels too little heard about. They are soft with a confident grip that will drift sightly early once they are broken in. They offer a substantial rebound or “push-back” coming out of carves, giving your board a luxury-car-like suspension; and the speed vents, smaller than Abec 11 Flywheels, lend the wheel a breezy glide with plenty of zip.

These wheels are so pliable and grippy that I wish the footprint was slightly wider. Even if they started out at 52 or 53mm, I still feel like this wheel would be the perfect carve wheel, rivaling or beating the softer Gumballs, if they were just a little wider. The “early drift” that I mentioned before is due, I think, to the slightly slim contact patch. I wanted this wheel to be just as soft at the 75A durometer with a wider contact patch, or slighly harder, like 80A with a 52mm contact patch. However, since softer wheels are sometimes slower at top speed, maybe the thinner contact patch preserves a little more speed than if it were wider. These wheels are quick to be sure.

I should mention that this is not a slide weheel. I’m not saying that once you break them in, you can’t end your run with a nice 180 powerslide, but if you try to slide too much they will tear and possibly chunk. This will never happen if you carve aggressively, but if you take these out to try to slide, you will ruin them and be sorry you lost such a great carving and cruising wheel.

This wheel is positively bouncy with a choice of sweet, translucent colors to compliment your board. If it fits your riding style, you will not be disappointed. And with their price-point of $38, you can afford to lean into a set.

Special thanks to Scott G. Patton for providing this review!