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Inline skating

WaterGirl

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
OK @MissySki I should not have looked at the power slide web site.... I see they have back country skates LOL!!!

https://www.powerslide.com/inline/off-road/

It looks like you found some really high end fun skates! Between the Seba and Powerslide complete with custom liners, canting, etc! thanks, now I know what I'm missing!!!!!
 
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MissySki

Angel Diva
so.... in his book $110 is "not much more"? I'd say that is a fair amount more. For where to buy, I guess it depends on what the price difference turns out to be once fully set up. If it is just a small difference (which in my book is way less than $110) I would go with the brick and mortar store for service down the road.

Agree completely, that is quite a bit more to me as well! Perhaps it's the Boston location, they seem to cater to a higher price point from what I experienced and witnessed with other customers as well.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
thats a lot to process.... seems like you have many options and there is some new thinking on what is the ideal skate wheel size and set up. Seems like your going from straight skis to parabolic via 4 small wheels to 3 large wheels LOL.

Ha I love the ski analogy!! Though you can definitely find arguments online for both sides, it does seem like there is a growing sentiment that 3 wheels are where things are heading. I also see a lot of men saying (seems like there are more men participant on some of the forum threads I've come across) that their wives recently got whichever 3 wheeled skates and really love them etc.

What were your original goals? Mine really is to get in a quick cardio work out. Bonus that it can replicate some skiing skills/muscles. For that, the craptastic pair of K2's imaged below have served me well for at least 5+ years with only 2 wheel/ bearing changes. I will say these feel "better quality" then the newer pair I bought for DD. (I think K2 really dumbed down their entry level skates). These usually live in the back of my car (non ski season) and I go for a skate when waiting for the tide to go up down before surfing or as a quick before work cardio hit. I don't wear socks, just two ace ankle supports to cover my boney ankles. Seems I'm a bit ghetto in my set up, but it works, and I really enjoy the carve factor you get on the hi lo set up. If I had the availability to go long distance in my neighborhood, or if I wanted to race, I would upgrade to a better / bigger wheeled set up. But realistically I'm only skating 35 mins to 1 hour and its something I enjoy doing.

My ultimate goal is to use skating as cross training in the offseason for skiing. I definitely need to find my balance and get the basic skills going to start, then I also want to work on the ski specific drills that I found a ton of videos for on the Rollerblade site. I'm sure all of that will keep me busy for a good long while. In there though I also want to just skate for the fun and cardio workout potential. I absolutely hate running, so I'm always looking for more fun ways to get in cardio. Once I feel comfortable in my neighborhood I'd definitely like to get out on some bike paths nearby. There is a really really long one that goes through multiple towns/cities/states quite close by that I want to check out parts of (probably on a bike first to scope it out) and I want to find others as well. I work in Cambridge, so quite close to the Charles River and paths that go beside it. That would be fun, but I'm not sure I'll want to be on city streets anytime soon, people drive crazy here! I don't imagine I'd ever want to race, but I could see doing longer distances eventually and I like speed on snow but don't know how that will ultimately transfer to speed on pavement.. There is a Boston skate club that does weekly group skates too, but I think that is a ways off as well because they seem to do quite long distances that I can't imagine a beginner would be comfortable with especially on city roads again.

I know we are all "boot sluts" after spending time getting the right ski boot fit, but I think this is an area (at least recreationally) where comfort should rule. I did say that I like to crank to get them tight, but thats b/c I'm just trying to replicate the feel of my ski boot fit. I do play around a lot with for aft balance and one legged skating etc. I do see that the HiLo option I have is not available any more -- my wheels are 84/80 the ones offered by K2 are 90/100. I think you would get more of a work out and more agility with the smaller set up. Would be interesting to try the larger setup at some point.

I do think that skiing either enhances or hurts footwear selection for other areas! I have a high standard now that can be misguided at times. My feet are tough to fit in ski boots, and this has made me have to size down for the best performance which has led to my having a very high tolerance for aggressively fitting footwear. In fact the last bootfitter I saw when looking for an AT boot was really surprised by my current boot because he said he doesn't see many customers that will tolerate the fit I have going on. Meanwhile I was like, oh it's the best I've ever had though! lol

This bit me in the butt once when I was looking for hiking boots and went too small thinking they'd break in.. In this case I found the best fit all over my foot, but also comfort in the Powerslide boot. It's like it was made for my foot, and that is saying something with how low volume and weirdly misproportional my feet are. I'm not positive though how this will translate to actual skating.. I've read really positive and really negative reviews about them. The negative though seemed like guys who fit them too small and specifically said that the sizing was weird and the fit was almost painful tight to start and then didn't break in as much as they thought they would. That is not the case with me, they just seem to perfectly encase my foot but there is no pain or pressure at all.

On the K2 topic, I swear I saw a pair or two in their lineup that stated the 80 and 84 wheel combined setup when reading the details, but hi-lo wasn't in the name of the model itself. I'd have to look back to see which they were, or if I imagined it..

Its great that you have the option to try on all the skates. Can you demo any of them? I know some of the indoor skate rinks have inline skates to demo..... It does seem like a lot of money but if your going to use them a few times a week I can totally see spending the $$$. as they will last you several years....

I know this shop rents out skates, I'd have to inquire which models though and if you can switch them out like an actual demo. I'm not sure if that would do that much more for me though than rolling around the shop a little as I have been since I don't exactly have any skills yet lol. They do lessons as well though, which could be helpful to get going. There is a rink within an hour of where I live and they rent out inline skates, I just don't know if they are any good or not, would have to inquire. I guess I had assumed that rentals might be universal fit crappy ones like with ski boots, but maybe that isn't the case.

I do hate to spend so much to get into a new sport since you don't really know at that point if you are going to fall in love with it or not. I do tend to be in the camp of being willing to spend a little more to start if it'll be most comfortable though.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
Well, I went back to the skate shop on Friday, and they had just received a whole bunch of new 2019 skates! Back to the drawing board.. The owner had me try on the Swell which was my top choice at that point, and then compare it to several new pairs. Turns out my feet utterly loved the Powerslide Imperial Megacruiser 125. Went back and forth a bunch, but I kept coming back to this one. It is a hardshell skate, with a removable liner that's super similar to a light ski boot liner. The whole thing felt like a very light ski boot, which is probably why I gravitated towards it, and it was sooooo comfortable. The longer I kept the Swells on, my feet were going a little tingly, and I was feeling some hot spots on my ankles that weren't there previously. Uh oh.. The Imperial had no discomfort whatsoever. The owner said that is really rare for a new skate because you almost always have hot spots. So we'll see if I develop any, but I didn't in the shop. I still picked up some lightly padded skate socks, so this should help in the instance that I do develop any in the typical spots while breaking them in.

The 125 in the skate's title does indicate that they come with 125mm wheels, which are massive!!! So we changed them out to 100mm wheels in the end. He originally set one skate up with 110mm and one with 100mm so I could compare side by side, and I liked the feel of the 100mm the most, it's amazing how much further away from the ground 10mm in diameter feels. Originally I was going to go with 90mm wheels, but he talked me out of it. He was really pushing for the 110mm size (I guess this is the most common now, takes longer to wear out the wheels, and is easier to get on edge carving), but I stood my ground with the 100mm because I can always size up when I am ready for more speed since my frame will accommodate the jump up easily.

The best part? After deciding that these skates were THE ONES, I was fearful to ask their price, but they were only ~$240.. hahaha I know "only"!?!! But yeah, that was significantly cheaper than pretty much anything else I tried on, so I felt even more pleased that I liked them so much, even though their price may indicate they aren't as high quality as some of the others. I think that's plenty to spend on a first skate for a beginner.. Plus by the time I picked out safety gear, I spent a bit more anyway. I spent a little more on elbow and knee protection because I wanted the lower profile sleeve design that's super flexible when moving around, but hardens with impact, I've been looking at them for awhile for mountain biking, so the dual purposing helped me justify finally getting them. I was always afraid to order them online, but getting to try them on for size/comfort and using a hammer to test out their effectiveness sold me! lol I also grabbed wrist guards and a helmet. I was originally going to use my bike helmet, but after seeing how much further down the back of the head the skate specific one covers, I thought that was a better idea.

So I'm all set with gear, can't wait to really get into learning once ski season is over for me! I'm hoping to start playing around here and there, hopefully my free time will align with some non rainy spring weather soon! I wanted to get outside a little yesterday since I had the day off for Patriot's Day, but of course it was pouring.. :smile:
SkatePug compressed.jpg
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
Where's the break? Nice skates....

The brake is on my right skate, not pictured. I do wonder, why does only one skate have a brake versus both, and why is the right skate the one that has it? I am able to stop with the brake on the right side, just curious if I might prefer it on the left as this is usually my “dominant” side in physical activities.
 

santacruz skier

Angel Diva
The brake is on my right skate, not pictured. I do wonder, why does only one skate have a brake versus both, and why is the right skate the one that has it? I am able to stop with the brake on the right side, just curious if I might prefer it on the left as this is usually my “dominant” side in physical activities.
Never seen an inline with brakes on both skates but being right handed , I never questioned brake on right.
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
You will need to move your right foot forward on an angle to "apply" the brake. Heel down so to say. So usually the left goes back a bit or is neutral.
 

Abbi

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Well, I went back to the skate shop on Friday, and they had just received a whole bunch of new 2019 skates! Back to the drawing board.. The owner had me try on the Swell which was my top choice at that point, and then compare it to several new pairs. Turns out my feet utterly loved the Powerslide Imperial Megacruiser 125. Went back and forth a bunch, but I kept coming back to this one. It is a hardshell skate, with a removable liner that's super similar to a light ski boot liner. The whole thing felt like a very light ski boot, which is probably why I gravitated towards it, and it was sooooo comfortable. The longer I kept the Swells on, my feet were going a little tingly, and I was feeling some hot spots on my ankles that weren't there previously. Uh oh.. The Imperial had no discomfort whatsoever. The owner said that is really rare for a new skate because you almost always have hot spots. So we'll see if I develop any, but I didn't in the shop. I still picked up some lightly padded skate socks, so this should help in the instance that I do develop any in the typical spots while breaking them in.

The 125 in the skate's title does indicate that they come with 125mm wheels, which are massive!!! So we changed them out to 100mm wheels in the end. He originally set one skate up with 110mm and one with 100mm so I could compare side by side, and I liked the feel of the 100mm the most, it's amazing how much further away from the ground 10mm in diameter feels. Originally I was going to go with 90mm wheels, but he talked me out of it. He was really pushing for the 110mm size (I guess this is the most common now, takes longer to wear out the wheels, and is easier to get on edge carving), but I stood my ground with the 100mm because I can always size up when I am ready for more speed since my frame will accommodate the jump up easily.

The best part? After deciding that these skates were THE ONES, I was fearful to ask their price, but they were only ~$240.. hahaha I know "only"!?!! But yeah, that was significantly cheaper than pretty much anything else I tried on, so I felt even more pleased that I liked them so much, even though their price may indicate they aren't as high quality as some of the others. I think that's plenty to spend on a first skate for a beginner.. Plus by the time I picked out safety gear, I spent a bit more anyway. I spent a little more on elbow and knee protection because I wanted the lower profile sleeve design that's super flexible when moving around, but hardens with impact, I've been looking at them for awhile for mountain biking, so the dual purposing helped me justify finally getting them. I was always afraid to order them online, but getting to try them on for size/comfort and using a hammer to test out their effectiveness sold me! lol I also grabbed wrist guards and a helmet. I was originally going to use my bike helmet, but after seeing how much further down the back of the head the skate specific one covers, I thought that was a better idea.

So I'm all set with gear, can't wait to really get into learning once ski season is over for me! I'm hoping to start playing around here and there, hopefully my free time will align with some non rainy spring weather soon! I wanted to get outside a little yesterday since I had the day off for Patriot's Day, but of course it was pouring.. :smile:
View attachment 10737

Love your buddy!
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
Love your buddy!

Haha she was very curious about the new “toys”. Originally I thought it’d be fun to skate with her for walks, but then I thought hmmm she could darn well pull me pretty good on these skates even at her size, so probably not a good plan for awhile! :rotf:
 

santacruz skier

Angel Diva
Haha she was very curious about the new “toys”. Originally I thought it’d be fun to skate with her for walks, but then I thought hmmm she could darn well pull me pretty good on these skates even at her size, so probably not a good plan for awhile! :rotf:
She could also run in front of you and you would be seriously testing those new brakes!
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
There is now a “Skate to Ski” app from Rollerblade. It has all of the instructional videos so you can have them on the go, a bunch of informational resources, an events page, etc. Funny, they have a preferred suppliers list and the shop I went to is on it. The app so far is for IOS, with Android coming soon. You can also build your own custom training plan. I’m excited to start! Wish it would stop raining..
 

Mary Tee

Angel Diva
Just curious...how's the skating going?
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
I’ll let you know when it ever stops raining here on all of the weekends!! :rolleyes: Hate this “spring”.. It literally rained 21 days in April and then for much of the start of May, including pretty much all of the weekend days. Been going stir crazy!
 

bsskier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Looking for roller blade recommendations. I’d be in the flats of south Florida. I had a pair many years ago and want to take it up again. The market has expanded. Any recommendations? Thanks!
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
Rollerblade is still making them. Our local store just closed (covid related) so I can't ask about K2.
 

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