Review: Orangatang Kilmer wheels

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Before I dive into the Orangatang Kilmer review, I know what some of you might be thinking: “Oh man, another freeride wheel from Orangatang, don’t they have enough of those already?” Well, Orangatang has gone back to the drawing board for this wheel, along with the others in the new centerset freeride series (the Cage and Keanu), and have come up with a seriously polished, slide-loving piece of urethane.

The Kilmer sits in the middle of the new freeride series from Orangatang with a 69mm height, 48mm width and 39.5mm contact patch (the Cage is 73mm tall and the Keanu is 66mm tall with corresponding widths and contact patches). Orangatang came out with a new urethane formula called “Peachy Thane” just for these wheels and it rides like a delicious cross between their Happy Thane and Euphorethane. The result is a consistent slide with very little wear. This new thane is poured into a round-lipped, bevel-edged shape, wrapped around a super stiff, center-set 38x38mm “valley-shaped” core, and finally stone-ground before getting sent off to the happy customer. All three wheel sizes are available in all three urethane durometers, so you all have a lot of options to choose from! I’m riding and writing this review on the 80a 69mm Kilmers.

This new thane that Orangatang released was pretty aptly named; this stuff is peachy for sure. What does that mean exactly? Prime. Choice. Ripe. Juicy. As I said earlier, it combines the best characteristics from the Happy and Euphorethane. These wheels have that creamy smooth and consistent slide of Happy with the wear personality of the Euphorethane. The result when those two are combined along with this designed-to-slide shape is a wheel that will keep going sideways as long as you’re willing to push it. Unlike some of the other freeride wheels from Otang, I have not had a slide end prematurely due to the wheel hooking up too early with the Kilmer. It just goes and goes and goes.

Due to the the Kilmer’s shape and stone-ground surface, these wheels slide the same right out of the box as they would if you had already taken them on a few runs down your favorite hills. Something else to note is that the slide stays consistent even as the wheels wear down. Now, I haven’t cored my set yet, but I have worn a sizable amount of thane and the slide seems to be the same as when I first got them a few weeks back. To be honest, I’m surprised at how well this new thane formula deals with freeride abuse. I’ve been putting in some solid effort to wear them down and they’re hanging in there. These are definitely one of the longer lasting wheels I’ve gotten to ride from Otang and I’m very happy about that.

Since I got the 80a orange urethane, I was expecting a fairly soft ride and a slide that would shed a lot of speed quickly. To my surprise, this is not the case. These wheels break into a slide without much effort and keep going longer than I expected them to. As always, it’s difficult to put the way a slide feels into words. Perhaps fluid and steady with a hint of icy butter blended in there. Does that make any sense? If not, I guess I’ll just say that they were more slippery than I expected for 80a thane and that I’m not sure if I would want to try out the 83a or 86a. The 80a provides an ample amount of sliding potential without sacrificing your control over the board and I like ‘em just the way they are.

The bottom line: I would absolutely recommend these wheels to a friend (in fact, I already have to a few). If you’ve never been a fan of Orangatang’s freeride wheels before, but you’re in the market for something new to keep you going sideways then you should seriously consider the Kilmer; these wheels are not like others Otang has made before! And if 69mm isn’t right for you, remember that they’re offering the Keanu (66mm) and Cage (73mm) in the same thane and size proportions as the Kilmer.

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