Electric Skateboard Wheels: Sizes, Types & Which to Buy
Wheels are the cheapest component on an electric skateboard and the one that changes the ride most. Nothing else you can buy for a few hundred rand alters comfort, grip and confidence to the same degree, and nothing else is as commonly bought on the wrong assumption. This guide covers the three numbers that describe any wheel, the four constructions worth knowing, what diameter does to range and top speed, and which wheels fit which board.
The three numbers on every wheel
Diameter is the height of the wheel in millimetres, and it decides what the board can roll over. A larger wheel meets an obstacle at a shallower angle, so a paving join that stops a 70 mm wheel is a bump under a 105 mm wheel and barely noticed by a 140 mm one. Diameter also raises ride height and, on a hub-driven board, changes the effective gearing.
Width is the contact profile. Wider wheels put more material on the ground, which increases grip under acceleration, braking and cornering, and makes the board feel more planted. The trade is a little more rolling resistance and a slightly less eager turn-in. Our Spartan wheels are 60 mm wide against the Phantom's 51 mm for exactly this reason: a heavier, faster board wants a bigger contact patch.
Durometer is hardness, quoted on the A scale. Softer wheels in the high 70s and low 80s A grip well and absorb vibration but wear faster. Harder wheels in the mid 90s A and above roll efficiently on smooth ground, last longer and transmit every imperfection into your feet. For South African surfaces, softer is almost always the better answer. Worth saying plainly: we publish diameter and width but not durometer, because on this kind of wheel the construction type tells you far more than a single hardness number does.
PU street wheels: when small and hard is right
Solid polyurethane is the traditional skate wheel, and on smooth ground it is still excellent. It rolls efficiently, grips predictably, costs the least, and cannot fail in any interesting way. Because the wheel is small the board sits low, which makes it stable and easy to step onto, and steering feels direct rather than vague.
The limitation is that solid PU absorbs almost nothing. On smooth tar that does not matter. On the broken tar, brick paving and patched joins that make up a lot of South African riding, it matters constantly. The Nova 70 x 51 mm PU street wheels at R250 are right for exactly what the Nova is for: short, controlled rides on prepared surfaces.
Cloud wheels: why 105 mm changes a South African commute
Cloud wheels are the sensible default for street riding here. They are larger, and their construction is compliant in a way solid polyurethane is not, so they absorb vibration rather than transmitting it. The combination of 105 mm diameter and a forgiving structure turns an uneven suburban route from an obstacle course into a cruise.
There are two in our range and the difference is width. The Phantom 105 x 51 mm Cloud wheels at R300 keep handling responsive on a lighter board. The Spartan 105 x 60 mm wide Cloud wheels at R320 trade a little agility for a wider contact patch, which suits a heavier board carrying more speed over longer distances. Neither is an off-road wheel: both are the wrong tool for gravel, loose sand or trail.
Pneumatic tyres: air, comfort and punctures
A pneumatic tyre is air-filled, and air is the best spring available at this scale. It absorbs impacts progressively, and because you can change the pressure you can tune the same tyre between comfort and efficiency. Nothing airless matches the ride quality of a properly set-up pneumatic on rough ground.
The cost is maintenance. Pressure needs checking, and punctures happen, which on a board is worse than on a bicycle because almost nobody carries a pump or a plug kit for one. Thorns, wire and glass are common enough on verges here that this is a real consideration rather than a theoretical one.
Airless honeycomb: the no-puncture trade-off
Airless wheels replace the air chamber with a moulded flexible structure, usually a honeycomb pattern, which flexes under load and rebounds. They absorb far more than solid polyurethane and somewhat less than a pneumatic of the same size, and they cannot go flat. No pressure to check, nothing to seat, nothing to repair on a trail.
The Relentless 140 x 50 mm airless honeycomb all-terrain wheels at R350 are the biggest we sell, and that 140 mm diameter is what lets the board cross broken tar, gravel, hard-packed dirt and short grass without drama. They are not the answer for deep loose sand, thick mud or large rocks, which are beyond what a board of this ground clearance can do regardless of wheel.
What wheel size does to range and top speed
- Top speed. On a hub-driven board a larger wheel raises the effective gearing, so the board travels further per motor revolution. In practice this only shows up if the motor has power to spare.
- Acceleration and hill climbing. The same gearing change works against you. A larger wheel gives the motor less mechanical advantage, so acceleration softens and gradients get harder. This is why fitting oversized wheels to an underpowered board is a poor upgrade.
- Range on smooth ground. Larger, softer, heavier wheels deform more and take more energy to spin up, so on perfect tar a big soft wheel costs you range against a small hard one.
- Range on real ground. The moment the surface is imperfect this reverses. A small hard wheel loses energy into every bump, while a large compliant wheel rolls over it. On typical South African surfaces the big wheel is usually the more efficient one, which is the opposite of what the spec sheet suggests.
The practical conclusion is to choose diameter for your worst regular surface, not your best one.
Which Journ-E wheels fit which board
| Board | Fitted wheel | Type | Drivetrain | Spare set |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nova | 70 x 51 mm | PU street | Single hub | R250 |
| Origins | 90 x 55 mm | PU street | Dual hub | Not sold separately |
| Phantom | 105 x 51 mm | Cloud | Dual hub | R300 |
| Spartan | 105 x 60 mm | Wide Cloud | Dual hub | R320 |
| Relentless | 140 x 50 mm | Airless honeycomb | Dual belt | R350 |
There is a catch here that matters more than the prices. On every one of these boards the rear wheels are driven, and a driven wheel is not simply a wheel. On a hub-motor board the rear wheel is built around the motor and uses model-specific sleeves and fittings. On the belt-driven Relentless the rear wheel is part of an assembly including the wheel core, pulley, belt, bearings and mounting hardware, and compatibility depends on all of it rather than diameter alone.
In practice the wheels sold on this site are spare and replacement wheels rather than drivetrain parts, and fitting a driven wheel on a belt-drive board is customer-side work our team does not carry out. If you are unsure which position you are replacing, ask before you order rather than after. The Wheel Lab page sets out the full range and how each configuration behaves.
When to replace wheels, and what it costs
- Flat spots, usually from locking a wheel under heavy braking. They produce a repeating vibration at a fixed rhythm and only get worse.
- Coning, where wheels wear unevenly into a tapered profile. It reduces the contact patch and makes the board unpredictable in corners.
- Chunking or cracking. Material tearing out of the surface, or visible cracks in the structure. Replace immediately rather than at the end of the ride.
- Tread worn smooth on all-terrain wheels, which is a grip problem long before it is a durability one.
- New noise or vibration that persists after you have checked the trucks and hardware.
At R250 to R350 a set, wheels are the cheapest meaningful maintenance on the board and the most likely to be neglected. Rotating them periodically evens out wear and buys more life from the same set, and keeping the board out of prolonged direct sun in storage slows the hardening that UV causes in polyurethane.
If you are replacing like for like, the wheels collection lists everything with the board each set is built for. If you are thinking about changing wheel size rather than replacing what you have, tell us the board and the surfaces you ride and we will tell you honestly whether the change is worth making, including when the answer is that it is not.