Review: AM WING wheels

SP/SP+ Maraton 100mm

Manufacturer: AM-WING TECHNOSPORT CO., LTD - Taiwan
Models: SP Marathon (blue), SP+ Marathon (light blue)
Durometer: 85A
Weight: 120gr
Profile: 20mm
Core diameter: 67mm, 608 standard bearing slots.
Testers: 2 WIC elite skaters, 1 quad old glory, 1 advanced fitness skater.
Testing protocols:
● At least four repetitions of 2 sprints, 4 endurance distances and various multi-purpose runs for each tester, in each type of surface chosen.
● Complete recovery between tests, medium to high intensity individual training sessions (no race simulation).
● Before/After test systematic comparison to two similar models of mainstream brands.
● Surfaces: smooth asphalt (track), smooth concrete (track & indoor) rough asphalt (various roads).
● External conditions: None. No wind, no extreme temperatures, fair weather. Not tested under rain; in fact manufacturer states in its website these are not wet-surface suitable wheels.
● Frames used: CadoMotus & Mogema 4x100, sizes 12.8” to 13,2”

First impressions: The narrow profile these wheels have is immediately noticeable; there aren’t many 20mm profiled products in the market nowadays. They have the looks too: finishing is good, there are no urethane smears to be seen (so commonly found in cheap products around the core); and the printings are fine. Bearings slot perfect. The hub design looks the works.
The packaging is first-class: wheels come in a lovely black zipped pouch that even has the detail of a tag pocket to distinguish one from another. Nice & useful! Another practical feature: each wheel has printed its production date on hub.

Rebound: Using our home-made rebound-o-meter (consisting on a metered ribbon attached to the wheel, a long narrow box, and a ruler plus a photo camera to reduce inaccuracy), after several measurements from a dropping altitude of 70cm (correcting statistic errors to a +/- 2 cm precision), we found that the SP model rebounded 55 cm, and the SP+ model rebounded 54cm. Not bad!

Start/sprint: No problem whatsoever, no false push, no skidding. In 200 and 300 mts TT, an average 7.8% improvement in times was recorded over the comparison products, in spite of being heavier than one of them. However, psychological factors might have been influential.

Straight push: A joy to skate in every surface. They feel stiff, but somehow softer than a 85A. The weight obviously is more noticeable when the skater gets tired, but the grip and roll are excellent. No slippery, even during the hardest pushes on smooth surface. On bumpy, dirty, rough asphalt their behaviour is really good, although over this type of surface the durability curve points steeply to the downside. On 10k tests the standard improvement over reference products was 10.4%; on 20 minutes aerobic strolls the average skated distance was 7.47km (against 7.36km of reference products).

Corners: Some of the testers where concerned about the narrow profile being cause to slips while pushed to the max in tight turns and/or near-indoor conditions. Their concerns were futile: the wheels performed flawlessly even over smooth concrete of an indoor facility, at high to maximum speeds while being pushed at slim angles during crossovers and/or tight corners. Great control!

Durability: After about 200km of use, the urethane left is slightly less than 95mm (on SP+, it’s 93mm: the compound seems softer). All in all, these wheels wear out at a rather middling rate.

Price: Although there is no European importer as yet, per unit prices will likely be similar to those of mainstream products.

Bottom line: This is a serious high quality racing wheel, a new player in town that might over mine the established brands’ market shares. In fact, Taipei’s World Team recently brought home a couple of gold medals from Cali using this product, and other athletes achieved victories in AtoA and NY100 on this brand (see here >>). Moreover, the Chinese National Team widely uses these wheels.

Many positive reviews are emerging from experts and ordinary skaters alike about this product, which denotes a good amount of care in its manufacturing. It’s not the lightest wheel in the market, true. And there are other competitors with better durability, yes. But all in all, this product comes as absolutely recommended for long distance road races with smooth to rough surfaces. Larger profiled versions might surely have better grip, but higher weight should interfere with their performance over long distance, although advanced fitness/speedness skaters certainly will love them.

Taipei's Relays World Champion team on AM-WING wheels

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