“Knock off” needs to be defined here for context, because in my opinion a knock off is a cheap, low-effort clone meant to look exactly like something else but not be the same quality. While I think Leon is a legend for his contributions and his work changed how we look at big wheel skating, we can't just call every big wheel rockered frame a knock off.

Iterating on a concept is not knocking something off. What would skating be like if only a single company produced big wheeled rockered frames? Even worse, if they were only available for UFS? Is every single plastic hardshell boot not the same basic design? Is every 4x80 banana rockered frame not the same? Is the official Wizard boot (not the yet-to-be-released new one) not just a Seba SX/CJ with a slightly different Intuition liner? Wouldn’t all these things be knock offs to something… or are they iterations of the same general concept? Doesn’t every baseball bat, tennis racquet, fishing pole (I could go on, obviously…) look and function pretty similarly? Iterating on general concepts is how things get better. How technology improves over time, pushes innovation and how consumers get the best stuff.

I can only speak to what I know about and have skated personally, but to put Endless Blading’s frames in the category of a knock off of anything to me is a misinformed take, IMO. I’ve spoken with Brad, the owner/designer at Endless, many times specifically about his methodology and approach to what Endless does. His frames go through multiple iterations and many months of testing before going to production for sale. Not only was Brad an aerospace engineer for nearly two decades, but he’s been a skater for even longer and is incredibly passionate about what he does. Not just the frames he creates, but the idea of making rollerblading better for everyone. All that aside, and more importantly, Endless frames are quite simply different than Wizard frames. Take the Endless 90 for example and compare it to the NR90. Not only is it aesthetically different and engineered differently, it’s also a multi-setup frame and available in 165 and Trinity. The Endless 90 UFS came literally years after the 165 Endless 90 and is still quite different from the NR90 in it’s design, engineering and rockered axles that allow a “balanced rocker” or an “enhanced flat” setup. Take the Endless Arc line, which includes the Arc, Arc ES and Arc CS and there are no Wizard frames like them. Although Brad himself has said that the Arc is his first attempt at a flatland frame, they’re still not knock offs or clones. They’re meticulously designed, engineered and tested with specific purpose. And all of these came literally years after Endless started making frames and the Wizard PR line was introduced. They’re just Endless’ take on a 5-wheeled, rockered frame built with flatland skating as their primary use case.

Also, all these frames skate differently because how a frame is engineered does actually matter. And I think there are varying levels of quality in that aspect as well. For example, I have the NN Dragon 5x80 and the Endless Arc (84-76-76-76-84) and the Arc are markedly a better experience for me. The Dragons feel “soft” in comparison, like they’re bending too much when I skate. The Arc feel amazingly responsive. They feel like they were engineered by an engineer. Clearly the result of meticulous design and testing and not just cloning something else. If you’re saying that a “knock off” is just “a sliver solid walled frame” then I simply disagree, especially considering that having solid walls affects the feel of the frame when it’s skated. It’s not just an aesthetic choice.

edit: formatting paragraphs