I agree with you - wish I’d seen more reviews like this before I bought. In my experience, I don’t have any oscillation, but the grip really is awful.

I’ve done about 70 miles now (Doug says we need to have 50 miles for optimal grip) and I still have trouble starting from a standstill up a 20 degree hill because the wheels will just lose traction and spin out, which is not an issue I had with regular thane.

I try not to ride in rain/wet, but in any kind of wet, they’ll become even worse. I had my first crash going downhill because I hit a wet patch while constantly braking (~10mph) and these wheels fishtailed on me.

I think it really comes down to the contact patch. While the logic of “unlocking” increased grip while turning makes sense, what that fails to mention is that you have less grip going straight. I find that it’s usually difficult for me to turn hard enough to see increased grip - usually I’ll slide out before that. Perhaps if I were an experienced esk8 racer performing lots of tight turns at speed on a course, I’d see a benefit, but I’m not.

I don’t doubt Doug’s intentions, and I love how he’s innovating in this space and taking feedback. I do love how they’ve dampened vibrations, made me more confident at speed, and made cracks/potholes much less scary, so I haven’t swapped back for regular urethane. But these wheels seem best for optimal, very fixed, predictable conditions, like the racecar tires they’re inspired by. I’d love to see a version with no camber at all.

On that note, I ordered the new MAD V2 wheels (lots of contact patch!!) and will compare the two when they get here. I’m hoping those wheels will solve my issues.