Spitfire Wheels

Spitfire Wheels was founded in 1987 in San Francisco by Fausto Vitello and Eric Swenson — the same partnership that ran Independent Truck Company (founded 1978) and the seminal Thrasher Magazine (founded 1981). Spitfire emerged as the wheel component of the Thrasher/Independent ecosystem and quickly became one of the foundational skateboard wheel brands of the 1980s-90s skate boom. The brand's vocabulary settled around two product lines: the OG Classic wheels in various durometers (101a being the hardest, the most popular street formula), the F4 and F4 Conical Full wheels (introduced in 2015, now the contemporary standard for park and street), and a long history of pro-rider signature wheels for Tom Penny, Geoff Rowley, Jamie Thomas, Anthony Van Engelen, Tyshawn Jones, and dozens of other skate pros. The Spitfire 'Bighead' logo — a winged head designed by Pushead — has been on every wheel since the brand's launch. Spitfire remains part of the Deluxe Distribution skateboard company (which also includes Real Skateboards, Antihero, Krooked, Thunder Trucks, and Anti Hero Coffee) and is privately held. Wheels are produced in California. Few skateboard component brands have remained so culturally central across four decades while maintaining the same product foundation — the Spitfire logo on a deck is essentially shorthand for serious skateboarding.