Words: Jonas van Gucht
Action Photos: Push More Rep/Team Bustin Rider Cameron Hancock
Wheel Review – Five-O Snipers (66mm)
After killing some Five-O Classic thane, I was ready to skate the 66mm Snipers all the way to the beautiful red core.
Specifications
The Five-O Snipers comes with a pre-broken in skin, has 66mm diameter and a 47mm contact patch. The offset core will give the wheel a bit more grip, just like the square lips will do.
First Impression
With the easy initiation of the Classics in mind, I didn’t know what to expect from the square lips. First slide was as comfortable and consistent as the last slide on the previous wheels. In the slide, you do feel the difference of the square lips giving you that extra grip, that extra support you’ll want in some faster runs. Besides this, huge fat thane lines were left on the street. These marks give you a big smile, because you know the sessions is going to be good!
The Thane Continues…
Throughout the sessions I fell in love with the comfortable feeling of this wheel. Snipers are easy to kick-out, have these rough but consistent (somehow buttery) slide and a more of a snappy hook-up (which is not bad at all!). This wheel is perfect for those bigger and faster spots, where you want to improve your slides. The easy initiation still lets you kick-out everything you want, but the squared lips and larger contact patch will still secure you of a consistent firm slide.
You want to throw those bigger slides on these Thane Dumpers and get very stoked about those beautiful lines you left behind. The ‘Dump Thane’- formula of Five-O is no joke! This thing gives what it promises you, BIG FAT THANE LINES!
To me this was the best thing so far, being able to throw my bigger slides out and still Dump Thane and making the rest jealous with my creation on the pavement.
The wheel is great, but I noticed some little chunks when going to the inner lip. It’s not a big deal though, but I do felt it in my slide. This is the only annotation I have about this wheel…
To the Core
As I approached the beautiful red core, I somehow realised the wheel did very great in longevity. I skated a lot lately and every session I could think of, was with the snipers.
Coring these wheels went as consistent and smooth as all the rest of my sessions. It was easy to predict how many time it would take me to get them fully cored, so I guess I really got to know the wheel. The lip gives you that extra grip until the very end, so you don’t bother about icing out on your cores. You just kick ‘em out and slide like always.
Conclusions
In general this wheel is awesome for your faster an bigger spots, where you love to throw those huge slides out with some fat thane lines and growing stoke as you progress. Progression is what you’ll get from this wheel! You’ll learn how to hold those bigger stand-ups, with the support of the lips. It’s not your fastest wheel, but it can handle speed very well.
If I get to choose, I’ll surely take those clear, red cored, thane dumpers again!
Skate Safe People!