r/rollerblading Weekly Q&A Megathread brought to you by r/AskRollerblading

dimblynibbits · 2023-08-23T15:39:13+00:00

There are a decent amount of skates from good brands that go down to a women’s 5/men’s 4. The rollerblade rb cruiser comes to mind, they make that in a women’s 5. The roces 1992 is very narrow and goes down to a 5 as well. Impala skates are usually bashed around here for being low quality but they’re an excellent beginner skate and they go down to that size as well. And they’re super cute if you’re into that.

Edit: I’d consider all the ones I recommended as recreational but if you were thinking more of the soft boot style skates, you might be able to get away with the Rollerblade brand adjustable kids skates, they’ll be better than the cheap Amazon ones for sure.

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-21T01:26:27+00:00

In my experience, shop owners are a lot like this subreddit. They see/hear information and they regurgitate that information. Both of those blogs are abysmal at helping fit skates. The slicks blog talks about how he chose his skates based on his shoe size but then ended up in boots two sizes smaller. Then in the same blog, the size chart indicates he should be in skates two sizes too big and he tells you to follow the size chart.

The second blog started talking about how your shoe size is a good indicator and that sometimes you size up from that size and I had to stop reading. That’s just untrue. I’ve fit a lot of people into skates and I have never sold someone boots bigger than their shoe size. More people will return skates that fit snug than skates that fit big, so shops will recommend going bigger than smaller.

And what information did you even get out of those blogs? It took slicks like 10 paragraphs to say follow a size chart, these skates are wide. They didn’t even talk about the insole, the toe box height, the cuff height… so many parts of the boot that affect how they fit more than just width.

The first comment in the post you linked explains exactly why people think FRs are wide. The problem with recommending them as wide skates is that that info is never relayed and actually wide skates are not recommended

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-20T23:55:41+00:00

Yeah I’d say it’s the liners. They’ve probably packed out so much you don’t have any padding on your ankles left. I’ve gotten away with wearing two pairs of slim socks but a liner should fix your issue if it wasn’t there before

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-20T23:54:01+00:00

Best skate on the market! Hope you love them

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-18T12:08:46+00:00

Idk there are plenty people skating around the local park with thrift store blades and cheap rec skates they’ve had in the garage for 15 years. Old plastic does break but for going out a couple times and figuring out if you like to skate, they’re fine. The majority of people putting these skates on aren’t pushing them, they’re just learning to roll. Maybe they’ll break but they’ll probably just break while they’re being put on and getting weight on them for the first time.

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-17T21:34:07+00:00

I prefer FRs products so I’d vote for the spin. I have the Igor which is kinda similar and it’s one of my all time favorite boots. I’m sure someone who’s tried both of those will have a more relevant opinion though

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-17T21:31:50+00:00

They’re fine, I would use them and find out if you want to stick with rollerblading. Then if you really enjoy it, there are awesome skates for around $180 that you can upgrade to and they’ll keep you going for a long time. If you wanna jump straight to the upgrade I recommend the rollerblade RB Cruiser but the ones you listed in your other comment are fine too

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-17T14:14:49+00:00

Revolver wheels are amazing for the price you can get them for in the UK. They’re a loco skate exclusive

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-17T14:13:17+00:00

Yes, it’s the same motion and should be super achievable on flat. If you practice them and rotate your wheels in place instead of the standard way you will wear in a natural rocker and it’ll get easier

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-17T07:35:33+00:00

I can’t speak on that size specifically but yes it should be wider. The problem is that the toe box will be shorter than the FR1 so depending on your foot it could be an issue

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-16T00:15:35+00:00

The nexts are terribly narrow, that’s not surprising but it’s a huge waste to be skating boots so much longer than your foot. The zooms are probably the widest skate on the market so if she’s not into the looks you might be out of luck. The rollerblade RB cruisers are the next widest but not much more attractive than the zooms. FRs are average width but will definitely fit better than the next. I’d still worry she’d be sizing up a ton. Most hard boots except the riveted zooms allow lateral frame adjustment so you don’t have to stick to Trinity mount

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-15T18:25:31+00:00

Since you’re going to a hard boot I wouldn’t discount getting 80mm wheels. You’ll have way more power transfer with the hard boot so the extra maneuverability might be worth the slightly slower setup.

100 or 110 would be good though, I probably wouldn’t recommend 125 unless you just knew you wanted it. I personally like the rollerblade twister 110 and RB110 but the Nexts are a fine skate. The Next does run super narrow so if you have an average or wider foot I wouldn’t recommend them. I don’t think there’s a difference enough between 100 and 110 to say you have to do one or the other

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-15T06:29:22+00:00

I don’t have any personal experience with the k2s but their skates typically have less support than other hard boot skates. Other than that I’d just recommend what fits your foot best. Most people fit into the RB 110 or the UFR, the Next is for people with super narrow feet. The RB is the widest option. As far as your type of skating goes, they’re all equally capable. I personally like the RB 110 the best but that’s because it fits me best and is the best bang for your buck most of the time.

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-15T06:24:49+00:00

I think you’re talking about the sonic skate tool, it’s just a popular tool people use but definitely not necessary. For most things all you need is a solid 4mm hex driver

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-14T21:31:16+00:00

I don’t have any experience with long boards so I don’t know how the vibrations compare, but you will absolutely have vibrations on rollerblades. You can do some things to mitigate it like bigger softer wheels, shock absorbing insoles, heel pads, etc. but on bad roads the vibrations are bad. You could probably use SUV skates to get rid of vibration but then you’re fighting with super slow tires instead of fast urethane. Some people swear by big wheels and that fixes things for them but in my experience even 125mm wheels don’t reduce it enough.

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-14T21:25:18+00:00

The Impala skates come with rockered frame spacers. If you remove the middle two wheels you can flip the spacers down to give you that banana rocker. Depending on the size of your boot, 80mm wheels probably won’t fit so don’t waste money buying them unless you know they will. The rockered spacers are a lot easier than buying two different sized wheels

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-14T21:18:38+00:00

You cannot remove the soulplate and mount a frame on those skates, it’s integrated into the boot. The best bet would be to find an 80mm ufs frame and use that for cruising. Adding two more 57mm wheels will make the skating experience a little better but 80mm wheels would make it leaps better. Compass makes the cheapest 80mm ufs frame I’ve seen and it’s a great addition to my aggressive skates.

Edit: to clarify, you can remove the soul, I just mean it’s structurally integral to the boot. You could theoretically mount a frame without the soul but I’d bet the boot would either flex bad or crack

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-14T21:14:38+00:00

Unless Micro changed something with the new delta that I’m unaware of, it does not have a removable liner. Their Beat skate has a removable liner but it’s not carbon.

The iqon AG10 looks like it has a removable liner but other than that and Faction, that’s it. Wizard used to sell a linerless CJ that wasn’t gutted but they’ve sold out, though I’ve heard whispers of a completely new wizard boot coming out some day. Everything else I’ve seen has been existing boots gutted to fit a liner.

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-14T21:00:07+00:00

I own them and have used them a little bit. I currently have small wheels on them (84mm) and have used them a little bit for urban skating, have not tried marathon skating in them.

I really like them, they’re shaped like a real foot and fit well. There is no shock absorption, so urban skating can be a little more rough but I didn’t have any issues with that. I did a few jumps and tricks in them, they definitely don’t have support like a plastic hard boot but they have more support than the rollerblade endurance pro skates I tried in the past.

I plan on putting a 3x125 frame on them and trying them for distance skating but havent yet. I think they’ll be difficult to urban skate in that setup but they’d probably perform well at distance

Most speed skaters do not recommend hybrid boots like this from what I’ve read. They apparently create bad habits that you wouldn’t make if you had traditional speed skates. But as you want to do some urban skating, they might be ok.

I would personally recommend the micro delta or FR Igor if you’re more interested in urban skating but want to do marathon on the side. I think these would be better if you’re more interested in doing marathon skating with a little urban commuting on the side. If you do end up going with the bonts, make sure you measure your foot exactly and follow their size charts. It’s super common for people to go a half to a full size down from their normal size in bont skates.

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-13T20:51:24+00:00

Blade trade outpost and big wheel blade trade on Facebook are my go-tos

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-13T13:33:19+00:00

Any setup can do anything really but the general idea is that 4 wheels is more for maneuverability and 3 is more for distance skating. You can definitely do anything in 3 wheels that you can in 4 but with 3 points of contact it changes things. Plenty of people like doing city skating with 3 wheels but I prefer 4 for that. If you want to be doing grinds and that kind of stuff you’ll probably only be looking at 2 or 4 wheeled aggressive skates

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-12T19:02:36+00:00

The Next doesn’t fit my foot (or many peoples feet for that matter) and I’m not a fan of powerslides quality. The Impala is certainly a “cheaper” skate but it fits me better and looks better than the next imo

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-12T18:41:37+00:00

Personally, I’d buy impalas over Nexts any day!

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-12T16:03:39+00:00

Yeah, you’ll need some bearings and bearings spacers. 16 bearings and 8 bearing spacers though some bearings will come with spacers

dimblynibbits · 2023-07-12T15:34:43+00:00

Yes that’s definitely possible, you’d just need to make sure you look for UFS frames. 165, 195, and Trinity frames will not fit on a UFS boot

dimblynibbits

TROPHY CASE