I love BIG wheels for their comfort and roll speed. If you’re a big fan of distance pushing and carving, chances are you feel the same.
The new Orangatang Dad Bod will make your blood flow. This huge 105mm wheel is designed specifically for commuting, LDP, and e-skateboards. This wheel will make your board feel stupid fast and plush, and will let you roll over just anything:
- Super fast roll
- Incredible roll momentum
- Super grippy and carvy
- Very lightweight and agile for the size
Now with wheels this size, the main potential issues are control and wheelbite. It all depends on your setup including your deck shape, height, and the bushings you run.
The Dad Bods are TONS of fun on carvy topmounts even though they do result in a tall ride. They work particularly well with the Loaded Ballona, Mata Hari, and Vanguard. Here are Loaded’s recommended setups for the Dad Bods with these 3 decks:
| Ballona Big Foot | Loaded page |
| Mata Hari Megalodon | Loaded page |
| Vanguard Grave Digger | Loaded page |
The Dad Bods also work nicely with the Fattail (haven’t tested yet). They should also be awesome on lower setups like those with Gbomb brackets (more to come about this).
You can also get a standalone set of Dad Bod 105mm wheels on Loaded for $150
Dad Bod details
| Diameter | 105mm |
| Width | 62mm |
| Contact patch | 57mm |
| Lip | Rounded with surface skin |
| Bearing seat | Offset (flippable) |
| Core | High-strength, high-stiffness, heat resistant |
| Weight per wheel | 15 oz / 425 g |
| Durometer | 80a |
| Price | $150 |
Read on for our own experience with the Dad Bods on the Ballona and the Mata Hari.
Dad Bod with Loaded Ballona
The recommended setup with the Ballona includes the Paris 150mm trucks, 1/2″ riders (in my case 2 x 1/4″ for each truck) and Nipple bushings with a cup washer roadside. Loaded also recommends flipping the wheels for this deck.
Again, you can get the complete recommended Ballona Big Foot setup here on Loaded.
The riding experience is great, despite the tiny deck size the ride is SO fast, nimble, and smooth! It only took me a few minutes to get used to the feel and really start enjoying the speed and ability to simply roll over cracks and bumps without thinking twice.
Our main takeaways from our Ballona + Dad Bod tests:
- Fast and butter smooth roll
- No wheelbite with the 1/2″ risers and Nipple bushings
- Responsive carving and pumping
- Awesome big foot board look
Here’s a 30 second quick test ride (wheels unflipped) :
The biggest difference you feel when you first get on the Ballona with the Dad Bods is the height of the ride and the distance to the ground for your foot when pushing.
Each one of your kicks will get you rolling a lot further longer, and faster compared to a 65mm wheel. However you do need to bend your supporting knee more and your pushing foot needs to reach further down to the ground.
This is in sharp contrast with a true LDP setup like the Loaded Pantheon Trip Collab (review here).
Also, on the Ballona it’s important to make sure you keep both your feet on top of the truck mounts as opposed to behind them. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself doing manuals unwillingly as your front wheels will get off the ground.
This applies to the standard Ballona setup as well, but gets accentuated by the big wheels since the deck is so short. Simply placing your back foot against the tail can lead to a wheelie, unless your front foot securely sits all the way up on the nose.
Dad Bod with Mata Hari
Our experience with the Mata Hari + Dad Bods was loads of fun. With such as HUGE board and HUGE wheels, we expected a somewhat clunky, hard-to-maneuver ride.
We were also a bit worried at first since we did our test rides on the beach front boardwalk on a Sunday afternoon when everyone is out for a walk.
Turns out, we were amazed by how nimble and carvy the Mata Hari setup proved to be. Once again we were impressed by the super fast and smooth roll.
We ran the standard Paris 180mm 50º trucks with the recommended 1/2″ risers, however we initially had Knuckle bushings (with roadside cup washer) instead of the suggested Nipples.
Due to the Mata Hari’s flex, the ride didn’t feel as high off the ground as the Ballona. The flex combined with the Dad Bods provided an amazingly carvy and surfy feel.
After some getting used to, we were carving and flowing on this scaled up big-boy skateboard like we would on a regular setup. These wheels don’t feel oversized, and you really can roll over any size crack, and onto moderate curbs without even popping the board.
Wheelbite issue and resolution
After a half hour or so riding the Mata Hari, we started getting slight wheelbite – which felt scary. Turns out the bushing/washer setup allowed the wheelbite. According to Loaded, Nipples on their own provide quite a bit more lean restriction than Knuckles.
In addition you should also use a large cup washer on the roadside (in addition to the usual flat washer boardside) which not only limits the outward “squish” of the bushing sides but also provides a mechanical “lock” when the washer makes contact with the truck hanger at high lean angles.
This is Loaded’s favorite way of mitigating wheelbite because the Nipples enhance overall turning while the configuration also limits ultimate lean angle on setups that are wheelbite prone.
So we swapped the Knuckles bushings for Nipples with cupped washers. We also shortened the wheelbase a notch on the Mata Hari just to be on the safe side for slightly stiffer flex (later turns out we didn’t need to do that). After that, the wheelbite issue was gone.
See the complete Mata Hari Megalodon on Loaded.
Dad Bod with Pantheon Trip Collab
The Dad Bods on the Loaded Pantheon Trip Collab give you a great boost in speed, momentum, and rollover ability.
However, because of the deck’s compact drop down shape, they work best if topmounted on Paris 165mm 50° with either:
- 3/4″ riser for maximum turning ability or
- 3/8″ riser with a more restrictive bushing/washer setup like Nipples, flat boardside washer, and cup roadside washer
We’ll be doing a lot more riding on the awesome Trip Collab with the big daddies for LDP and report back!
Dad Bod with Loaded Icarus
The Icarus can’t pair with Dad Bods in drop-through configuration, but topmount does work great.
For Paris 180mm 50° trucks you can topmount with Dad Bods with no riser as long as you use the lockout Nipple/washer configuration described above for the Mata Hari.
If you don’t use the lockout config, you’d need 3/8″ riser but be able to use most bushing setups.
Dad Bod wheels technical capabilities
The Dad Bod has a wide and slightly rounded lip with a wide 57mm contact patch offering maximum grip when riding. The rounded lip (vs a sharp lip) also eliminates the chance of getting stuck in a crack or pothole.
Happy Thane is Loaded/Otang’s classic formula that’s been used on most of their wheels – Skiff, Fat Free, Stimulus, Durian, Love Handles, 4Prez, In Heat, Kegel, Caguama. It was developed for rolling comfort and a predictable balance between traction and smooth slides.
The Traction Trench technology used for the inner lip gives the wheel the traction and control that big wheels tend to lack.
The wheel has an offset bearing seat so it can be flipped for narrower decks. The wheel core (branded “TrypoCore”) is built from glass-filled urethane which together with its design, gives the Dad Bod robustness, light weight, and special grip.
The Dad Bod has the required compatibility features to work with e-skate systems.
See the Orangatang Dad Bod wheel on Loaded’s website
Also check out our review of Orangatang wheels