Orangutan or Orangatang?

Wheels...one of the most important elements to a longboard.  When searching for a pair of wheels for your board you first need to figure out your personal style of riding.  Before we even begin choosing the best wheels to match your style of riding, lets look at the characteristics and get familiar with a longboard wheel.    Compared to a skateboard wheel a longboard wheel is much larger, allowing the board to be able to coast over rocks, sticks, and other hazards.  They're also a lot softer than a skateboard making it a quieter smoother ride with less vibration.  Certain wheels are made to grip the surface of the road and other kinds allow you to slide freely across pavement.  Being able to slide allows down hill riders to easily stop when coasting at high speeds.   

The certain brand of wheels that i will be reviewing and analyzing are called Orangatangs.  Orangantang wheels make various types of wheels allowing the rider to do different things.  These wheels have an offset design with hard sharp edges and grip.  Slalom, speedboarding, carving, and commuting are the main purposes of this particular style of wheel. They also have a thick lip for maintaining a fast speed and rippled inner walls for energy return when carving and pumping.  Pumping is a technique used in slalom boarding, which is a carving and weaving style.  It is a technique used to maintain speed, without having to take your feet off the board.  These wheels are designed to maintain grip, but can be used to slide very predictably and easy when need be.  The three different color of wheels also have their own unique style.  The orange colored wheels are soft and grippy, whereas the purple wheels are harder, faster, and slidier.  The yellow wheels are even harder, slidier, and faster than the purple.  I personally have always wanted Orangatang wheels.  I definitley want to test out these wheels and get a feel for them myself in the near future.  From the reviews i have read and the videos i have watched these wheels seem to be very reliable and dependable.  They allow you to do many different things while riding.  The average cost of the wheels are $54.00, which compared to other wheels is a very reasonable price for what you get.  While watching certain videos on the internet about these wheels i have come to the conclusions that they are one of the best kinds in the longboarding scene.  They allow you to do many different things, which most wheels don't allow you to do.  All four purposes of the wheels are captured in this youtube video.  It first focuses on sliding and carving, as well as the pumping technique.  It shows the wheels being used in speedboarding allowing viewers to see the different uses of the wheels.  It shows the slalom technique when the border is weaving and carving.  It shows the rider weave onto the sidewalk then off.  The video also displays commuting.  It shows that the rider can easily get from one place to the next.