Though the early Cadillac Wheels had revolutionized skateboarding with the buttery smooth ride of urethane, they still had one giant flaw: the bearings.
Like all the earlier skateboard and roller skate wheels, the first Cadillac wheels had simple ball bearings, which were exposed and easily contaminated by the smallest grains of sand and grit from the road. These wheels rolled very poorly, often extremely rough, and the exposed ball bearings wore out quickly. The advent of precision sealed circular bearings changed all of that.
Tim Piumarta, director of research and new product development at NHS, a Santa Cruz company with sales of $23 million a year states – “The gold star (in wheel design) would go to Frank Nasworthy who developed the Cadillac wheel back in1972 or 1973. But he developed a wheel with the old drop in ball bearings like your mom and dad’s roller skates. About 1974 the owner of our company, Richard Novak, came up with a design where he could introduce an old Hoover vacuum cleaner bearing on either side of the wheel. And he put two on either side of the truck axle, and really this changed skateboarding…because once the wheels got the bearings in them, they could go much faster, and we could put a lot more technology into the wheel itself. It was the Road Rider wheel, back in 1974-75, putting those sealed bearings into each side of the wheel meant that wheels lasted longer, they could go faster, and it really helped to develop roller sports from that point on.”
The combined effect of urethane wheels and precision bearings transformed skateboards from clunky planks into an amazingly effective vehicles with a smooth and sure-footed ride. Without this, skateboarding would look much different today.
So next time you find yourself cruising off of a single push… give thanks to Tim!!!
