LaPaulade Polymers 76mm 76A Longboard Wheels

LaPaulade Polymers 76mm 76A Longboard Wheels

At La Paulade, we believe that smooth is fast. So we maximised roll speed and edge grip while retaining smooth and consistent slides, even fresh. That’s the Polymers. 76mm by 65mm CP in 76A

The Polymers are intended as “easy race wheels” that embody the spirit of the La Paulade Race Project. This allowed me to define clear expectations for the wheels, ensuring they are suitable for fair and affordable racing. Fast enough – to keep racing entertaining Grippy enough – to enable the best rider to express his skills Smooth enough – to allow for intermediate riders to enjoy the feeling of riding freshies Affordable enough – to minimize the financial impact of the Race Project on an event organization.

The reason for that “enough” wording is that you don’t need the best wheel ever to organize fair racing. All criteria involve trade-offs – sometimes obvious ones, like grip / smoothness, and sometimes more complex ones, like top speed / consistency. Designing the “right” wheel is all about balancing these parameters to create something that meets your expectations.

The technical requirements of the wheel stem directly from those written-down expectations. I’m not going to dive into wheel theory here – as this will be discussed in another post later this year – but it involves taking all expectations and transforming them into quantified mechanical criteria.

Fast enough -> large diameter (>75mm) + high-rebound urethane (>90%) + specific urethane chemistry Grippy enough -> large contact patch (>65mm) + specific lips profiles Smooth enough -> oversized core (manufacturing in China + leveraging non-exclusive moulds) These guidelines led to a 76mm wheel with a 65mm contact patch, featuring an oversized Kegel-like core and manufactured in China. Thanks to the specific urethane criteria, we were able to pinpoint the best available option within our budget, which we later double-checked by testing prototypes.