Hello World!
My name is Nate, and I recently graduated with a degree in computer science from the University of North Carolina. I met Wayne two years ago when we studied Italian together, and strangely our first man-date had no longboards involved. Instead, we used my nifty grappling hook to climb some gnarly trees by our dorm, but the cops kicked us out because they thought we were spies.
Shortly thereafter, I introduced Wayne to the art of longboarding and he was immediately hooked. Before I knew it he’d spent all his money on longboards and had twice as many as me! I live with Wayne now, and our house looks ridiculous because it sleeps more than 15 longboards every night! And it’s only a two-bedroom! When showing our house to prospective tenants, the landlord calls our living room the ‘longboard storage room’.
Anyways, down to business. Wayne asked for a guest review of Divine’s Street Slayers, so let’s get to it.
When we first got these wheels, we were a little apprehensive as neither Wayne nor I had ever ridden Divine wheels before and we had no idea what to expect. The wheels were ready to slide right out of the box, having been stone-ground (like most slide wheels these days). I slapped them on my symmetrical comet voodoo doll and couldn’t have been more pleasantly surprised! These wheels are the easiest to slide of any I’ve ridden, quickly doubling the lengths of my longest slides.
The wheels are 72mm and the set I’ve been riding are 82a durometer, the harder of the two versions available (the softer is 78a). I’ll also note that I have the black version, as some swear that the dyes in wheels can affect the riding characteristics. The slayers have a 56mm contact patch and lightly beveled edges. The edges are also designed to become harder as they wear, enabling the wheels to maintain consistent slide characteristics throughout their lifetime.
As far as riding the wheels go, they are an absolute dream for drifting and sliding. The amount of effort needed to initiate slides is almost eliminated, creating an extremely smooth transition between riding and sliding. Sliding these wheels cuts a lot less speed than other wheels, allowing you to extend the length of your slides significantly or slide at lower speeds. The slides are also incredibly quiet and I highly recommend them for any other ninja skaters out there. The slayers make corner drifting a lot easier too, as when taking fast turns they drift predictably and controllably. I’d also like to note that these wheels take considerable time to begin coning, and I’ve yet to have to flip them (they’re ALMOST centerset) despite riding them for dozens of slide sessions.
All in all, these wheels are one of the BEST slide wheels I’ve ever ridden. They’re fantastic for downhill freeride as you can reliably slide at high speeds. They also make a great first slide wheel as many of my friends who are learning to slide made great progress on my setup. I wouldn’t recommend these wheels for some boards though, as their primary use is for epic slides. For instance I wouldn’t slap these puppies on my Tan Tien as they’re too heavy for the flip tricks often performed in freestyle riding. Same goes for commute boards, as extra weight is a big turnoff for any boards that you have to frequently carry.
Current Setup:
Comet Voodoo Doll ‘D2’ Symmetrical [36”]
SurfRodz Fixed Axel RKP [50°]
Powell Super Swiss 6 Bearings
Divine Street Slayers [72mm, 82a]
Thanks for your GUEST POST Nate! You rock!
