How to buy recreational inline skates!
Jan 21 '01
The Bottom Line Ask yourself how much you are wanting to invest, and then go with most comfortable skates with the best specs!
With a California roadtrip in about a month, I decided that I was going to get myself some inline skates and invade the beaches to do some skating. I had been looking for a low impact aerobic exercise since I'm a little on the heavy side, and constant banging of my knees on cement while running probably wasn't doing me any good.
I went shopping with some friends who had inline skates already, and so, I will pass along their advice along with some of my own.
I ended spending $150 on Rollerblade Kit Alpha Delta SX, and then 2 weeks later, I spent $50 on some 76mm / 82A Kryptonic Rampage wheels. I also sunk in about $30 for good wrist and knee pads.
Things to think about for purchasing and upgrading recreational skates:
Price
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Make a budget for yourself like for all other purchases. When I made my purchase, I was prepared to spend over $100. Reasons for that were: 1) Several of my friends have skates so the motivation to skate was there 2) I knew that I would get the hang of skating pretty quickly. Therefore, I didn't hesitate investing some money into some nice skates. However, if you're in an area where renting skates isn't an option, I might think about putting aside $30-50 for a decent pair of skates. So, if your venture into skating isn't hot, then damage is limited. However, cheap skates can sometimes make or break your first experience in inline skating. A bad pair of skates may turn you off from the sport. I might shy away from the $15 skates at Walmart because my friend had a really bad day one a pair, and he was vowed not to skate again. But remember that if you're pretty serious about getting into skating, at least get a good boot because the wheels and bearings are always upgradeable. But to replace an uncomfortable boot means to purchase a new pair of skates.
Protection
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Also, be prepared to sink some money into padding. I definitely recommend wrist and knee pads, and for the full armor, a helmet and elbow pads. I've seen K2 and Rollerblade wrist, knee, elbow pad combos for $20-$30. Safety is important! My wrist and knee pads have probably saved me from some nasty road rash and metal screws in my joints while I was careening down a hill at the Veloway in Austin, TX.
Comfort
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Many companies nowadays are making what are called "soft boot" skates (Rollerblade, K2) which basically fit like a shoe. They are laceup with a click strap up top - much like a ski soft boot. They are extremely comfortable, but some people say that the soft boot doesn't offer as much control. Old school skates are a plastic shell with a sock-like thing beneath (Roces), and the latest development in these "hard boot" skates have made them quite comfortable also (according to my girlfriend). I don't think you can go wrong either way. Just go with what feels good!
Wheel specs
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Wheels come with 2 numbers for specs. ?? mm and ??A. The first number represents the size of the wheel, and the second number with the A represents the hardness of the wheel. My skates came with 76 mm and 78A wheels. That means the wheels are 76 mm in size and have a hardness of 78A. For the size, the bigger the wheel, the faster you go and the longer the wheel will last. And how big a wheel your skate will hold depends on the frame. My skates will hold up to a 80 mm wheel. The hardness level goes anywhere from 76A up to 86A (or even higher or lower). The lower the number, the softer the wheel. Softer wheels will give you a less bumpy ride on rough surfaces, and I think it gives you more stick to the road. However, if you're a heavier guy like me, you'll eat the soft wheels for breakfast, especially at high speeds. I bought some 76 mm and 82A Kryptonics wheels for my skates (harder wheels), and the harder wheels supports my weight better so I'm not compressing the wheels into the concrete. In addition, my skating has actually improved quite a lot because of the wheel change. The harder wheels allow you to travel faster with a longer wheel life, but you will not have as smooth a ride as the softer wheels.
Bearings specs
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Look for the term ABEC-# on the skate specs. This spec tells you what kind of wheel bearings you have on your skates. As a generalization, the higher the #, the faster you'll be able to go (I know some hardcore skaters can get into a big discussion about ABEC ratings but I'm just making a generalization for recreational skates). Entry level skates come with ABEC-1 bearings. From what I've seen, if you flick the wheel of a skate with ABEC-1 bearings, the wheel will turn about 2-3 times and stop. My skates came with ABEC-3 bearings, and my wheels will turn for 7-10 seconds with one flick. This will lead to a big difference in terms of how fast you travel with how much effort. Faster bearings are definitely a plus if you're wanting to skate for long distances. However, not all similarly rated bearings are equal. I've seen quite a difference between ABEC-3 bearings. Some are definitely better than others so do some research if you're going to upgrade your skates with new bearings. I've read that some cheap ABEC-3's can be as slow as ABEC-1 bearings.
Final advice
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The best thing you can do is to go the store and talk to the salesmen. Stick with something in your price range and with something that you're comfortable with. Get protection! The salespeople should always push pads on you, and for once, I would say listen to them. You can probably find some good deals on the net if you're pretty certain about your skate size. Leave me a comment with an email, and I'll give you some places that I've bought stuff from.
My 2 cents!
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drpooh03
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