Brand Knew: Spitfire Wheels 

Welcome back to Brand Knew! The weekly series where we do a deep dive on the brands we carry here at Rumor Boardshop. From Skateboarding to Snowboarding we take a look in at where the brands you know and love came from, and give you some interesting info that you might not have known! 

1. Spitfire Wheels has been around since 1987. 

Spitfire Wheels has been burning for what seems like forever. Dating all the way back to its founding in 1987 Spitfire Wheels has been working on creating some of the best wheels in the industry for a long-long time now. They were founded under the umbrella of Deluxe distribution, by Jim Thiebaud. Deluxe is one of the most storied franchises in the skateboarding industry, housing such brands as Real Skateboards, AntiHero Skateboards , Thunder Trucks and more!

2. Holy crap do they ever have an insanely good team.

Spitfire has had one of the best teams in skateboarding for quite a while now. Their lineup includes some absolute heavyweights such as Mason Silva, Pedro Delfino, Shane O’Niel, Andrew Reynolds, Daewon Song, Gilbert Crockett, and so so many more.

3. Spitfire has been making amazing skateboard wheels for almost as long as the modern skateboard wheel has been around.

When we think of a wheel for our skateboards today, we probably don’t think too much about the fact that they’re made of urethane. Yet that wasn’t always the case. In fact, our sport began with something much, much less practical. Metal wheels. That’s right. Full on metal wheels. If you’ve never had the chance to try to skate these things, I absolutely recommend trying to track a set down. It feels almost impossible to get anywhere or do anything on them.

Imagine trying to Backside flip one of these bad boys!  

It wasn’t until the 1970’s that the first urethane wheels came onto the market, introduced by Frank Nasworthy. With Spitfire launching in the late 1980s, they weren’t too far off from being one of the very first to make a wheel like the ones we skate today!

4. Their wheels have evolved. A lot.

Like so many things in skateboarding, the equipment we have to skate on today is far better than it has ever been. From stronger, longer lasting boards, to faster bearings, to of course longer lasting more functional wheels.

For Spitfire, their newest revelation has been their amazingly good Formula Four series. To understand why this formula was a big deal it’s important to have a bit of historical context here.

Longtime rival to Spitfire Wheels, Bones, released their STF (street tech formula) formula in around 2016 (Please note this is a best guess by us, the actual official date has proven extremely difficult to find). This formula boasted a longer lasting, flat spot resistant wheel that would function exceptionally well in the park and the streets. With multiple different durometers (how hard the wheel is) available, they took a quantum leap forward in producing longer lasting, high functioning wheels.

Some more Spittys available at our Leduc Location

This left Spitfire in an interesting place. While they had long been neck and neck with Bones in terms of quality and product offering, their competitor had just released a product that was, by all accounts, a better product.

Spitfire knew it was time to develop and introduce a true competitor.  Which, in 2017 lead to the introduction of Spitfire Formula Four. Taking cues from Bones’ they too launched the next generation of skateboard wheels. The Spitfire Formula Fours came onto the scene to give Spitfires raucous fans something to brag about for themselves. These new wheels are longer lasting, more flat spot resistant and also come in a variety of shapes and durometers to make sure that however you skate, you can find the right formula four for yourself.

5. Spitfire has some absolutely die-hard fans 

If your new to the skateboarding community, you might have noticed that skateboarders can be absolute diehards when it comes to the gear they ride, and the brands they support. The Spitfire Wheels VS Bones Wheels rivalry is no different. Tons of skaters have picked a side and stuck with it over the years. From getting tattoos, to refusing to ever ride any other wheel, some skateboarders have found what they’re looking for and haven’t backed down.

While we’d recommend trying a few different brands of wheels to find what works best for you, there’s no harm in finding something you love and riding the ever loving sh*t out of it!

Another brand new Brand Knew is in the books! Thanks so much for taking some time to skim through. Hopefully we were able to show you something new about a long and storied brand in skateboarding. We’re having a lot of fun putting these together, and hopefully your having fun reading these too!

As always, if there’s a brand you want to see next, let us know! If you’ve got questions, comments, or just want to chat shoot us a DM on Instagram @rumorboardshop, or email us @ Rumorboardshop@gmail.com