Inline or in a heap! (Skating Equipment)

Member Name: huddro

Product:	Skating Equipment
Date:	20/04/01 (1170 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great fun way to exercise

Disadvantages: You fall over a lot to start

Well I am new to inline skating and was trying to decide what skates to buy. Alas I found there is a deficit of straight forward information and advice on the web. So I thought after my hours of research I would pass on the information I have found.

The first thing to do is decide what type of skating you wish to try be it recreational, a Sunday afternoon in the park, which is definitely the one for me!
Racing (speed skating), far too energetic and I would need to be fit
Freestyle skating, performing tricks, jumps and playing on those ramp thingies
Hockey, yes they have done it on grass, on ice and now skating hockey

Type of Skates

As the skates are designed for a particular kind of skating style this is most important.
Hockey skates are very much like ice hockey boots. They lace up for a close fit and are generally made of leather.
Speed skates have five wheels and a long wheel base and more importantly no brake, which is a scarey thought.
Recreational skates tend to have a plastic boot to hold the ankle firmly, a bit like a ski boot, and wheels that give better control (I will explain more about the technical details of the skates later)
Freestyle skates are made for jumps etc have smaller wheels and are built to withstand extreme usage

Cost

So how much do you want to spend?
As with all sports you can spend as little or as much as you like. I managed to buy a pair of skates for £45.00 but you can spend hundreds of pounds getting the right colour the right style. Lets face it a cheap pair of skates are not going to last as long as a more expensive pair but at the end of the day will a pair of skates for £500 really make you skate that much better?

Construction

Skates are made up of a number of different parts but are basically the same no matter what the cost. There is the boot, the frame, the wheels, and the brake (unless you buy speed skates then sorry no bra
ke)

The boots generally have two parts; the cuff that supports your ankle and the shell that goes around the foot. Obviously styles differ but the general construction is of a flexible plastic that will provide good support.

Inside the boot is a padded liner that will mould to the contours of your foot. Make sure you are comfortable with this fit by trying the liner outside the boot to start and if it feels good try on the whole boot. There is a major difference in the sizing of skates I take a size 8 – 9 shoe depending on the make but for skates I needed to buy a size 10, that is how much padding there is inside.

The fastenings on the boots are either laces or straps, laces are less common on everyday skates as they take so long to tie but are used on hockey boots to give a really tight grip. The straps, and generally there are three should be adjustable and grip the foot securely but not cause discomfort.

The frame is the business bit that the straps and wheels attach to and mean you are wearing a skate and not just a boot! The frame should be rigid and securely attached to the boot. Any flexing of the frame will mean that the wheels are not perfectly inline nor pointing straight forward making it harder to skate.

When buying quality skates you should check that the frame allows for wheel changes to larger or smaller wheels depending on the skating you progress to or may wish to try. It saves the cost of a new pair of boots if you fancy a change of skating style.

Ok so now we get to the business department, the wheels. There are three factors involved in the choice of wheel, the size, the hardness, and the wheel bearings.
The wheels run on bearings located inside the hubs. The quality of the bearings affect the free spinning of the wheels therefore the easier the spin the less effort you need to put into skating! Now personally I like that idea.

Bearings are rated according to the pr
ecision with which they are engineered and given a reference of ABEC-1 through to ABEC-5. I have not found anyone to explain the initials used on these ratings but I am told the difference between them is so negligible that even an experienced skater cannot tell.

The advice is buy a skate with one of these ratings and not a skate with unrated bearings, unless of course you want to develop your leg muscles.

The size of the wheel affects the handling of the skate; larger wheels roll faster and smaller wheels are more manouverable. Again I was advised to go for a set of skates with a 72 to 76mm diameter to the wheels for general use. Wheel sizes range 40 to 80mm for the range of freestyle through to speed skating.

There is also a difference in the thickness of wheels with thinner wheels being faster but less stable. The 72 – 76mm range tend to be fairly robust thick wheels and therefore a little more stable.

Skate wheels are constructed from urethane, a plastic material and can be solid or slightly softer. The hardness is measured with a durometer with a range up to 100 (0 being very soft 100 being rock hard). For recreational skates something around 80 is good. This will be hardwearing but soft enough to absorb some of the shocks from everyday skating.

The diameter and hardness are marked on the side of the wheel to make it easier to identify what you are looking for. I was also told that you should rotate the wheel positions to give even wear across each wheel making them all last longer.

And finally we move on to the brakes. I say this a little tongue in cheek, as the brake tends to be a big rubber block attached to the rear of one boot. Apparently you stop by pressing your heel down and dragging this along the floor, how successful this is remains to be seen. I will keep you informed as to my progress.

There are a number of other systems where by you bend your knee and the pressure
on the boot activates a rod that pushes this pad down but that seems unnecessarily complicated to me.

From what I have learnt the one rule is never buy skates with a brake at the front, and make sure the rear block is interchangeable between boots as you should fit it to your strongest leg.

Safety

As always you should think safety first, allow enough money to buy essentials such as elbow and knee pads, a good set of gloves and wrist supports…oh and a helmet. What I hear you say but I won’t be going fast yet. Remember you are learning to skate here and are going to be falling over a lot. Better to wear some support than end up skinned and with broken bones.

I was advised that the helmet gloves and wrist supports are the essential, especially the wrist supports, as your natural reaction is to put your hands out when you fall and the wrists take a pounding when you first start to skate.

So what did I buy?

Well after considering the above advice, and having only tried skating twice, I did not want to spend lots of money. After setting my budget I purchased a pair of skates made by a company called Roxa. The name of the model is Racing. They are black, so fairly innocuous, I will be drawing enough attention to myself falling over every 5 minutes without having day glo orange skates strapped to my feet!!!

They lace up and have the strap fastening with a thick foam liner for comfort and support.

The wheels are 72mm 78A (fairly hard but soft enough to absorb impact) with ABEC1 bearings and a single interchangeable rear brake.

The frame though will accept wheels up to 80mm so if I ever feel the need for speed I can easily upgrade. I am sure a fuller review will be forthcoming once I have worn them in for a bit.

The best bit is they cost £45 including posting and packing.

To finish up

Well I can hear you all panting to get out and try th
is. So where do you go to buy your skates? A specialist skate shop is best as their staff will know what they are talking about but many bigger stores also stock a good range. I was a little cheeky and went to a store, picked their brains, tried on various skates, then bought the same online cheaper!!

At the end of this op I recommend the online shop that I bought my skates from as being friendly and willing to give advice over the phone, we chatted for ages before I took the plunge. I cannot comment on delivery as the skates have not yet arrived but will update this op with my thoughts on their service when I get the skates.

Well I hope for anyone starting out this gives some idea of what to look for when picking your inline skates I will give updates on my progress and bruises as I learn and will let you know about the skates I bought.

Enjoy your skating and if anybody has any good recommendations for ointment to treat bruises I look forward to reading your ops!!!

www.kateskates.co.uk

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