Shark Wheels have been called the “reinvention of the wheel.” They’re heavily hyped in longboarding and skateboarding. But are Shark Wheels good for surfskating?

Shark Wheels for Surfskating Review Topics

• Shark Wheels Review Disclaimer
• 6 Considerations for Surfskate Wheels
• How I Tested Shark Wheels for Surfskating
• Conclusion: Are Shark Wheels Good Surfskate Wheels?
• Analyzing Shark Wheels Website Claims for Surfskating

Shark Wheels are a very interesting design. From the side, they almost look like a cube or a square. And when you look at the contact patch, you’ve got three waves.

Shark Wheels makes three primary claims:

1. The first is that they have more grip, and therefore more slide control.
2. The second is that because they have less friction, they’re faster.
3. And the third is that they have more traction over rougher terrain.

All these claims sound great for surfskating, and they even have a page on their website devoted to selling the benefits of Shark Wheels for surfskating specifically.

But are these claims true? Read this Shark Wheels review to find out.

6 Considerations for Surfskate Wheels

As I analyze wheels for surfskating, the questions I ask are,

1. How well do they grip for tight carving?
2. How well do they pump?
3. How well do they handle rough surfaces, cracks, and pebbles?
4. How fast are they?
5. How comfortable are they?
6. How well do they slide?

On that last point, I am not a slider. So that gives me a weak spot as a reviewer. If you’re a slider, I’m not going to be the best help on that front.

However, I do feel like I can give you a good enough idea of the overall performance of these wheels for surfskating. And from that, you can decide whether or not it will be worth it to you to try Shark Wheels for sliding specifically.

Testing Shark Wheels for Surfskating

To prepare for this Shark Wheels review, I rode Shark Wheels for a couple months on my daily surfskate ride, which involves a lot of different terrain and environments.

Let me walk you through the process of what I experienced with these Shark Wheels.

Testing Shark Wheels on a Steep, Rough Hill

My ride starts at the top of a hill that is very steep and rough, with cracks and pebbles all over it.

Given that riding rough terrain is one of the main selling points of Shark Wheels, this should be a pretty good test.

What I experienced is that while I can ride Shark Wheels on this hill, they have a tendency to slide out on me from the sides.

While Shark Wheels claims they have more grip, in my experience, at least on rough terrain, they actually have less grip because of the reduced contact path.

The one advantage I did feel on this hill is that when I’m going straight and hit pebbles and debris, Shark Wheels do handle that okay.

Testing Shark Wheels on a Cracked Sidewalks

For my next test, I took Shark Wheels over smooth pavement to test how well they pump and carve.

My experience was that they do not work well at all for pumping a surfskate. In fact, to me they feel like they have increased friction compared to other surfskate wheels.

The best way I can describe it is, when you pump Shark Wheels on a surfskate, it feels almost like you’re pumping through sand. They’re hard to get up to speed initially. And then once I’m up to speed and just coasting, Shark Wheels do not maintain momentum like other wheels.

So personally, I don’t like Shark Wheels for either pumping or carving.

Testing Shark Wheels for Speed

Next, I took my Shark Wheels to a parking garage to perform a little speed test. I did this because one of the core claims of Shark Wheels is that they are faster than other wheels because of the reduced contact patch.

The truth is that this was not the case for me at all. Not only do they feel slower, but also my somewhat scientific test confirmed this.

I timed myself going down a section of the parking garage using five different wheels. For each wheel, I timed myself three times, and then took the average.

Here are the results, from fastest to slowest:

• Seismic HotSpot Wheels 66mm 78a: 11.22 seconds
• Slide Surfskate Wheels 70mm 78a: 11.67 seconds
• YOW Cinetic Wheels 66mm 78a: 11.77 seconds
• Carver Roundhouse Wheels 70mm 78a: 11.94 seconds
• Shark Wheels 72mm 78a: 11.94 seconds

So all things considered, I do not find Shark Wheels to be faster than other surfskate wheels at all.

Conclusion: Are Shark Wheels Good Surfskate Wheels?

Let’s go through the original questions we asked:

Question: How well do they grip for tight carving?
My Experience: Not well at all. The decreased contact patch from the wave patterns makes it easier to slide out from side to side.

Question: How well do they pump?
My Experience: Not well at all. They feel like they have increased friction when pumping. They’re hard to get up to speed, and they don’t keep up momentum.

Question: How well do they handle rough surfaces, cracks, and pebbles?
My Experience: Not well, or at least no better than other wheels.

Question: How fast are they?
My Experience: Slower than other wheels.

Question: How comfortable are they?
My Experience: Not at all. You feel all the cracks and bumps.

Question: How well do they slide?
My Experience: Too well! They slide so easily on rough surfaces that it’s scary. It’s not a controlled slide at all.

Analyzing Shark Wheels Website Claims for Surfskating

To finish up this Shark Wheels review, I want to go through their website page where they talk about their wheels for surfskating specifically and analyze each of their claims on that front.

The first thing they say is,

“Shark Wheels are the only wheels in the world, specifically designed to increase your surfskate experience. The carving motions of Surfskate, are the actual shape of the wheel. Feel the difference.”

I don’t know if anyone at the Shark Wheel company has tried these wheels for surfskating, but I don’t know what they’re talking about.

Because as I said, my experience is Shark Wheels do not work well for surfskate pumping at all. It actually feels to me like the wave patterns interfere with each other when pumping side to side, which is the opposite of what they claim.

The next claim they make is that Share Wheels are

“The best wheel in the world for rough terrain.”

My experience is that these actually handle rough terrain very poorly.

The third thing they say, is that they’re

“lightning fast.”

I don’t know where they’re getting that data. I don’t know what they’re comparing it to. I do not find Shark Wheels to be “lightning fast” at all. In fact, to me they feel like they actually have more friction than other wheels.

The next thing they say is that they have

“better slide control.”

My experience is that they have worse slide control, to the point where I’m worried that they’re going to slide out of control on me, and I can’t be very aggressive with them on steep, rough hills.

And then the final thing that they say on their website is that Shark Wheels last longer.

Well, I don’t know about that. And honestly, I don’t really care, because after this Shark Wheels review, I’ll never use Shark Wheels for surfskating again.