Dressen OJ Elite Skateboard Wheels Review

I was gifted a delightful set of Dressen OJ Wheels for fathers day by my daughters because I was looking for something new for my current set up and I wanted to increase the size of my wheels. I therefore changed out my Element defaults (52mm) for these Dressen OJ Elite Wheels size 56mm and with a durometer of 101a.

Overview Dressen OJ Elite Skateboard Wheels

The wheels come with a great size guide on the back, alongside a delightful sticker (now mounted on the back of my laptop screen), and of course the 4 skateboard wheels. When comparing to my 52mm elements the different here was huge, I was a little bit taken back by the difference in size if I’m honest. It looked like comparing a mini cooper to a monster truck for me, which made me hesitant to try these out. Anyway, the quality looked a lot better than the elements I’ve been riding, so I figured I have to try them now that I have them.

*10 minutes later*

Now on my board with my Bones Reds Big Balls bearings and they’re spinning delightfully. Now my aim with bigger wheels was to get more speed on my local parks.

Testing Dressen OJ Elite Skateboard Wheels

When I first stepped on my board, they felt natural no difference after all my deck was still the same.  Then everything changed, the ride was smoother (I suppose that’s why longboards have bigger wheels), this was oddly nice, however as soon as I tried to pop or flip, everything went down hill. The 4mm extra had completely thrown my muscle memory and resulted in a good 30 minutes investment into adjusting so I could do tricks again. It was mentioned that alongside the size difference there would also be a weight difference but my opinion of this is that it shouldn’t stop you, it should be very minor. The problem is that I completely underestimated this, and all it felt like was my game was off.

30 minutes later, my flips where back and my ollies were getting there.

I wanted to highlight at this point. I also mounted the wheels in reverse (decal/image facing inwards). I did this because if you look at the wheels you will see the rounded edge on one side of each wheel. I concluded having a more rounded edge facing inwards may cause me some trouble with locking in on my grinds. I love a good 50/50 and 5.0, so I made the more sharp square edge face internal with the decal to minimise the wheels slipping up onto the coping/ledge/rail as I grind.

Summary Dressen OJ Elite Skateboard Wheels

Anyway all in all I like the wheels, but they did come with some surprises I wasn’t expecting. I’d recommend buying them if you’re looking for something a little bigger, so that the ride is smoother, but as for speed I feel like I’m getting around the park (concrete) about as fast as I was with my 52mm elements. Definitely worth the purchase though if you can find them on sale.