Small Wheels – ‘The smaller they are the cooler it is’ was the common mind-set back then. There was a time in the early nineties that the average wheel size was 42mm. But lo and behold some companies decided to take it even smaller: Bullet had 38 Specials, Stereo had 37mm Quarter Notes and even Spitfire had 37mm Fireballs. The wheels were so small, but they were the same price as bigger wheels. With a smaller diameter you wore out the wheels extra quick and also got flat spots extra-easily. At least Real sold you 6 wheels for the price of 4. Yeah, small wheels were great for noseslide to crooks combos but consequently everyone skated at a steamroller’s pace. Julien Stranger and Rick Ibaseta were the lone rangers of fast skating back then. And I feel the worst for the Vert guys. Arguably small wheels were the downfall of Vert skating – with no more 9-10 foot airs it seemed like most people just lost interest. Small wheels just slowed everyone down.