Can You Skate Longer With Powell Dragon Formula Wheels? 

Absolutelly yes.I´,m 44 and tried the Dragons and I´m amazed. Even these days I put my 101a wheel for a ride on a really smoth court and I was shocked how hard those are when landing and Ipve never noticed that. Put the dragons back and never looking back. They, with a good insole are really helping me to skate more and helping with my lower back problems.

Glad you are better! Keep posting man, I love the videos! I am 41 and just started skating again after a 15-year break. Your content is super helpful!

Its so good to have you back mate! Ive always enjoyed your vids, and Its great to see you recovering and on the board again.

Sorry to hear about your injury glad you’re recovering well

I was so excited to see you posting videos again. Thanks for putting these together. Glad that you are healing up well. I have been wondering about the dragons and appreciate your perspective on it.

best wheels for old folks slide and makes your board pop easy and smooth

Great video, I just found your channel and subscribed. I love setup videos and sorry you messed up your foot but stoked you are back.

Beat me to it man. I was about to say Avenue Trucks but for cruising. If you skate on rough ground and just want to push around it works great. Feels good on the feet and knees. You won't feel the rough terrain as much but some have said you feel disconnected from the feel. For me on the surfaces I have to ride on the Bones filmers are for me. Also great to see you're back and thanks for pointing out the flatness of the Dragons after time.

I love them. I got a lisfranc injury almost. 6yrs ago and that's when I started skating again. After healing of course. These wheels do help. I'm 49 now

Welcome back Dan! =)

I’m just getting started again at fifty-five years old. After some research on various setups I decided to try out Powell-Peralta Dragon Wheels with Independent Stage XI trucks. They are so smooth and the 56MM are fast too. Being new to all of the components available these days, I also set a board up with Ace AF1 trucks and Spitfire Formula Four Radials at 52MM/99A. They are very different from the Dragon Wheels but I like them as well. It seems like I feel a bit more comfortable on the Dragons at this stage of my development. I have not managed to power slide the Powell-Peraltas but the Formula Fours have worked well for that. Like you, I’ve been taking a couple of boards to the park so that I have more versatility based on how I’m feeling throughout the session. As you describe, the Dragons just feel so mellow after skating the Formula Fours. Great video and great skating!

Just got my 56’s. MEGA.

I'd been riding spitfire F4 99s for the past 4-6 years and loved them. Recently I decided to try the Dragons and I really like them too. They don't slide as good as the F4s, but do roll that much better on shitty concrete, while sliding well enough. Made me really curious about the Spitfire F4 97s.

If you wanna be able to slide on ledges a bit easier some good wheels to try is either the bones formula X 97A wheels or Spitfire Formula 4 97A wheels hope this helps 😊

Definitely Green Dragon’s are a game change 👌🏻

Just hit 40 myself and recently decided to get back in it myself. Gonna hold off on anything too technical for now until this slightly torn rotator cuff heals. One I setup I have is with 57mm ricta clouds 87 for super cruising, like you said they feel great but the sticky ness is almost a hazard sometimes. So I actually have some dragons on the way, I used to only skate 52mm in my prime but I started going bigger for less pushing and I feel like I robbed my younger self. I don’t know if I can ever go back to anything under 54mm. But great stuff man, looking forward to all your upcoming videos, feels like a special club and gives me motivation and confidence again! (Btw ACE trucks are a dream, those just came on the scene as I was falling out- 100% try em out if you can)

I found that the hybrid mini logo are really similar and way cheaper. But agreed that dragon is still a solid choice for older skater ;)

Just got a new board and was about to hit the bowls today after spending the past couple weeks learning the foundations again and BAM, I woke up with pain in my patellar tendon.. I don't think its a complete tear, so hopefully 1 weeks rest can recover it. I ride my bike mtb or bmx everyday for 1-3 hours for transport, so this with learning to skate again has made me overuse my legs. So I'm stuck here looking for soft wheels so I can skate and hopefully not get injured again. Moral of my story is to make sure you stretch once you hit your 30's and listen to your body when it needs recovery. My knees have been popping for a few days prior and that should've been a warning to take things easy, but that popping of my patellar tendon has lead to damaging it from overuse. This also means that if you're under 30, to take advantage of that young body before you become an old fart who needs to spend 10min warming up before an activity... In my experience the body starts to decline at age 33. Have fun and keep the wheels side down

46 and back at it again too...just ordered some Dragons myself to try out... also currently into the OJ plain Janes and Bones filmers,both great soft wheels ...but I understand your point about needing to be able to slide a bit.

interesting about the humidity! @10:00 . I have decided my 93 dragons are just really good cruiser wheels. X97 or X99 bones for when I actually want to skate and do tricks but still get the benefit of this formula.

Hi I´m glad you´re back and recovering, get well and keep on with your excelent channel, I bought the wood glue you recomended in other video, it´s good but only in dry weather , cuz if it get just a little damp it becomes soff ,like a sticky substance , almost liquid. Regarding your injury I always use a pair of Ankle Stabilizer Braces to prevent that kind of things , I fasten the braces kinda thigh and down near the ankle and I fell they have protected me so well , the brand I´m using righ now is ORTONYX and got it from Amazon. Greetings! It´s good to see you again!

Thanks for this video. I just got my first set of dragons but haven't used them yet. I'm still on my Bones on my other setup. Now I'm really interested to see if I feel that reduced impact on my 45 year old ankles and knees.

Solid review , I just got back on my board this year at 35 and love the dragons, funny a younger kid at the park said the same to me “whoa your wheels are so quiet” , I tell you what though I also got some fp insoles which are good but just recently got a pair of es shoes the penny 2, and you can get their sti insoles free with orders over 75$ and they are so much better , it’s like waking on clouds … I would advise trying them out. The only bad thing about the dragons is trying to power slide or skirt/ pivot on park concrete, you definitely have to put some force into it.

Similarly I've tried the clouds, 99a formula four, dragons and my go to lately has been the OJ Elite Nomads 95a. The formula four comes in 97a, classic shape only ,53mm though if that works for you and offers a little relief. The 95a works better for me on asphalt and the somewhat rough concrete parks.

Powell and Bones are both under the Skate1 distribution. It's likely that they released the 2 durometers types on different companies to give both brands some attention. And I bet they had the x formula ready a while back, but they just staggered it's release behind the dragons because they know skaters would flock to the harder duro. I switched to the x formula from the dragons quite recently, and it definitely feels a lot closer to a skateboard wheel than the dragons. I do like that, but also am missing the cushioning effect I got used to with the dragons. It's gonna be a while, but I'm probably gonna go back to them after I grind these down haha

Bones X97 are the exact same thing but slightly harder duro. HIGHLY recommend. the 99s are pretty good too but if you're in bad rough crusty ground, or the joints issue is a thing, 97 all the way. slide way better, less RUBBERY feel. Spitfire is releasing a new 93 that slides right now also!

Was riding mini logo 95a and now the dragons. Both worked well at my rough local park. Both feel better on the knees too! I like the dragons more but mini logos are great value.

Professor Schmitt and Andy Anderson explained having more surface area increases a slide because there’s more surface that is sliding. It’s counterintuitive, but if the entire wheel is made from the same material, we have to assume that it’s consistent. I doubt there’s a “slippery” layer on top and the rest of the wheel isn’t.

Yes Please get some X97 and let us know how they compare to the Dragons and SFF4 99A. thanks!

Are you on the regular thunders or the lights? Im about to get back into it and was thinking the lights might be better to make ollies and flip tricks a little easier to learn. And one last thing have you heard of the dragon V4s? They are more of a wide patch conical wheel and was leaning maybe towards them in 54mm as i like a little wider patch/more square wheel

Great video. Going to check the dragons out. Hey what are you doing to avoid re-injuring your achilles?

What bushings are you running?

I can because where I live everything is haggard, I live in a country that always rains so nothing is smooth

Are new balance shoes good skating shoes?

I agree that maybe the x formula would be the best of both worlds.

i popped my MCL like 8-9 months ago, its still shite

I’ve been skating Dragons for a few months now, they almost feel as if they get harder as they get older. Not as much rebound as when brand new. For really smooth concrete I feel that they do stick too much so Formula Fours work better.

The answer is no… cause they’re weird, slide when you don’t want and grip when they should slide on many spot, so after half an hour I get bored and would stop the session.. very unpredictable… I was stoked when they came out… but changed my mind… stick to formula four 99a…

hey man. when i was 19 i did the same thing to my ankle and i put me out for the whole summer.it was way worse then just breaking my ankle as far as recovering from it. dont you think its time to switch to a good quality high top shoe? a 49 yr old skater thats been doing it since 86 recommends it. not just to you but all skaters. high top converse and junk like that no . some high top vans or dg ,airwalks something like that (even nikes)

Thats Why U don't do Tricks when your an Older skater....I'm 57 and Bowl riding, going of curbs, firecracker maybe, possibly drop in at the extreme limit. Just Enjoy the transitions

Footprint insoles

I have both the X97 and Dragon wheels. Dragon wheels are faster, smoother, and slide better. X97 is harder but still shock absorbent. Just wish they slid better. Where is that DIY spot?

Also be on the look out for OJ wheels. They have a dual durometer wheel where it is 101A on the outside and 95A on the inside. That may be an alternative to what Bones and Powell are putting out.