Heelychat, the forum for heelys, the shoes with wheels - View topic

Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 1391 Location: UK

My first pair of Mega Heelys were Torches and the bay gripped the axle so tight that it was near impossible to remove the wheel without getting a tool behind the axle or stepping a lot of weight on the side. Then I had a couple of pairs of Torches and a couple of Evo's that were almost as tight. Then I got some wheat Rumbles, also with tight bays. But then I bought some Ninja's and loved them primarily because it was easy to remove the wheel whilst out and about, with no tools and almost no effort. So I thought this was just the way Ninja's were.

But now I've bought the other two pairs of rumbles (brown and black) and they too have the easier to release wheel bays. . .

Anyone know why this is?

Some explanations I can think of are:

a) Heelys have slightly modified the measurements of the wheel bays to make them easier to take wheels out of, or:

b) something I'm doing different (like using the plugs when not using wheel?) is causing my newer bays to be easier to release?

I mean I'm not imagining it, the difference is very noticeable. I thought of making a vid to show how easilly the wheels come out of my newer Rumbles or Ninja's as opposed to my older Torches or Evo's, but it's hard to show how much force I'm applying on a vid. I mean I could understand if the Ninja bays were different, because the design of them is different, but the bays in Rumbles and Torches look the same design/shape inside.

Anyway, has anyone else noticed these differences, or know why?

The difference between a tight fit and a loose fit can be a fraction of a milimeter. With those variables it can be just the slightest bump on the assembly line and cause the wheel to have a loose fit or a hard fit.

But there can be other variables such as season of assembly. Was it humid when the shoes were made, so they absorbed moisture. When the moisture left, it caused the plastic to shrink down giving that extra looseness.

IDK, its just an educated guess...

Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 1391 Location: UK

Aye, sounds reasonable. I guess I'll just have to wait and see if any more newer heelys I buy also end up with the tight bay.

Can't believe I got through this without one double entendre. Very Happy

Mav's right about the manufacturing. Tiny length differences mean a lot here. The axle itself might have something to do with it; try other Megas and see what happens.

Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 1391 Location: UK

i did a little experiment with these. whenever you wear the shoes without the plugs teh grip gets tighter and with the plug it keeps the same shape, over time almost all of mine have gotten tight gripped when i first got them they made this cool as heck click when you put them in and click when you took them out and they were taken out really easily the only ones that come out easily now are my slash but because i use them with the plug primarily for school.

Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 1391 Location: UK

Sweet! Thanks for the info seth: I love that new wheel-bay click too - It's like "Lock and Load!" Very Happy

*runs to check there are plugs in all his boxed/spare heelys so the bays don't shrink* Surprised

I'm going to be more careful about putting plugs in in future then, it's easy enough to keep a pair in the car glove-box for when I walk out instead of roll, and I love easy to remove wheels. Smile