Wheel Shields - an Impressive Upgrade for Traditional Skateboards
Probably everyone who practiced skateboarding faced one similar problem called “wheel bite”. The wheel biting occurs when the board impacts the wheels under the bodyweight pressure of the skateboarder, due to which the board takes unexpected direction and the whole thing may result in injuring the skateboarder. A promising solution of this problem is offered by Chase Kaczmarek, who was inspired to invent it… by a rabbit. Although not literally, the rabbit suddenly “met” Chase while he was descending from local hill with a speed of nearly 30 mph (48 km/h). As he says, he tried to avoid the small animal, but unsuccessfully and Chase fell on the ground and injured himself. And it all happened because of the “wheel bite”.
So, how does Wheel Shields work? As its name suggests, this is a barrier between the wheel and the board which doesn’t allow an impact between them and prevents the “wheel bite”. Another benefit from Wheel Shields? If you’re passionate skateboarder you would really appreciate it while boarding on wet surface after rain – water, normally powered by the wheel rotation and forced to fly backwards to boarder’s legs and clothes, is now stopped by Wheel Shields, so you can drive dry and safe from water… Or as dry as possible, at least.
Another feature is oriented to just having more fun – Wheel Shields makes your skateboard more stable and impact resistant, so the surprise is that you’ll be able to do many new tricks that you couldn’t do before.
The process of development passed through several plastic prototypes, but the final one is made of duraluminum, an alloy often used for aircraft building. Chase funded his project initially by using money from the awards he won. Wheel Shields are now available on Kickstarter, where the company has raised nearly $11,000 in just one week.