Looking to buy a new pair of skates

SuprSi

I bought my first pair of skates about 7 years ago - a pair of Majestic 12's from Skate City. I figured I might as well buy the best as I knew I was going to like skating, and I'm glad I did as I still have/use them. Unfortunately they're now a bit wrecked through old age and use, so with my birthday coming up I'm thinking of indulging.

The problem is, I don't do agressive skating - I'm too old and cautious to go grinding or anything, but I like the mobility that I get from street skates. I'm caught between going for the bigger wheeled skates, the ones you'd see people going to and from work on, or another proper pair of street skates, like the Majestic's, but new of course.

I'll mainly be skating around town, or anywhere that has decent kerbs. Can anyone recommend a decent pair of skates, and whether I'd be better off sticking with the street skates or going for a pair of road skates?

I'm willing to spend around €250 so I'll take any recommendation seriously.

Cheers,

Si.

Cake Fiend

It's a pain in the hole to skate around a lot on street skates with small, hard wheels. It's been a few years since I wore the auld wheely boots myself, but I'd go for something a bit more mobile (in fact, I'm currently considering getting a new pair of blades myself) with bigger, softer wheels. I used to wear K2 Fattys in my grinding days, so I'd be very interested in seeing what K2 have to offer in the sport/recreational skate market. Soft boots (K2) are far more comfortable to wear for long periods of time than the usual molded plastic boots. Have a look at http://www.k2skates.com/ .

SuprSi

Cheers for the link. I've always liked the Fatty's so I might take another look at them. Know what you mean about the hard wheels too, but I've never used a pair of skates with big wheels on them - will I be able to move around as much on them? Can I get slightly softer wheels for street skates?

Cake Fiend

You could buy a pair of street skates and replace the wheels with softer ones if you wanted, but I don't see the point (apart from aesthetics) in getting skates geared towards aggressive skating if you're not going to be grinding. Also, the frames of street skates are smaller (for added stability) so you mightn't be able to fit wheels much bigger than 70mm or so. The advantage of smaller wheels for street skates is higher acceleration, but you'll have a higher top speed if you go for bigger wheels. If you go for a pair of fitness-type skates, they'll usually come with bigger (80mm) softer (~80A) wheels, more comfortable for skating for long periods with. They also tend to have faster bearings (ABEC 5 or 7) than some street skates.

Then again, if you do buy a pair of street skates and replace the wheels, you could keep the aggressive-style wheels in case you get back into aggressive skating.

SuprSi

Well I took the plunge today and bought a pair of Rollerblade recreational skates. Tried them on, and they were comfortable, as well as being quite a bit cheaper than the agressive skates in the shop. Will try them out tonight, but I reckon I'll be able to get quite a bit more speed out of these 80mm wheels!!

Cheers for the help Sico

Si.

Cake Fiend

What model? Rollerblade make excellent rec/sport skates, I used to have a pair of 'Bravoblades' till I started getting into aggro skating. Really comfortable and very handy clip system. The wheels they use aren't the best though, they don't seem to last all that long (probably due to the softness). I replaced mine with a set of Hyper Giants (savage wheels, last an age) back in the day.

Time Man

remember that newer aggressive skates won't take a larger wheel. My Roces, cant remember the name, could only take a 58mm wheel max

SuprSi

I got the Aero 5's. They were nice looking and all, but I tried them out for 30 minutes after I bought them and realised that I didn't like them!! I found that the extra height from the truck and the larger wheels felt uncomfortable, especially having been on 54mm wheels for so long. The guy in the shop said that it'd just be a matter of me getting used to them, and while he might have been right, I had one chance to bring them back and get most of the money I'd spent on them back and that was immediately after I bought them.

So I brought them back and got myself a new set of wheels and bearings for my Majestics and they're marvellous at they're great - don't know why I even thought about getting new skates!!

Cake Fiend

Where did you get the Aeros out of interest? I'm thinking of getting back into it myself (rec first, also for fitness, then I'll think about aggro) and the Aeros look decent enough. Dublin has a sh1te selection of shops with inlines anyway, so I'll take what I can find!

Cake Fiend

NM, I dropped into Skate City there and picked up a pair of 'Powerslide Cell 2 FS', they look a bit more solid than the Aeros, better bearings, aluminium frames, and they look a bit less 'rec' than most. Looking forward to trying them out, they look solid enough to do ramps and stuff as well when I feel up to it.

SuprSi

Skate City was where I got the Aero's - they're probably still in there! Very nice looking skates and had they had them in my size I probably would've gotten them. Were they pricey?

Cake Fiend

The Powerslides were €199. I was thinking of picking up the Aero 7s first, which were €195, but they only had the women's version, so I took the sturdier-looking Powerslide FS. I'm just in after a run around Dublin 6 in them (wearing them right now!) and they're sweet as. Rolled through some fscking wet tarmac going through Milltown, I was lucky the bearings didn't get destroyed :mad: WTF is up with the roads in this city?? Had to stick to the paths and parks. Still, good to get back into the blading.

SuprSi

Yeah I'm just finding my feet again and loving it, though dying to get out around the city some night. Weather permitting I'll head out next week and see what'll happen.

damnyanks

Is skating on the wet really bad for bearings? Are there any types its not as bad for? I want to get back into skating just tog et into college n stuff but Irish weather isnt exactly dry

TacT

Originally posted by damnyanks
Is skating on the wet really bad for bearings? Are there any types its not as bad for? I want to get back into skating just tog et into college n stuff but Irish weather isnt exactly dry

Water will kill and rust your bearings

SuprSi

Yep you'll only destory them. Not worth the cash though unfortunately with the weather we've had lately it's getting more difficult to resist going out in the wet just to get my skating fix!

Cake Fiend

Not only will the water damage them if they're steel (rust), but skating in the wet can get grit and other contaminants into the bearings which can damage even titanium bearings. If you do get caught in the rain, make sure you clean and lube your bearings as soon as you can.

What you could maybe do is see about getting cheap, crappy bearings and replace them more often.

damnyanks

Yeah I rememeber my first pair of skates years and years ago (Before everyone was getting their Bauer FX 1/2/3/4 They still around?:D ) I have a pair of Ventra Pro or something like that.

I skated in the rain and damn did my skates get noisy and rattly Took them into champion sports one day they took the wheels off and showed the bearings to me which were literally in pieces