wheels « Skate Simple

Posts Tagged ‘wheels’

Inline Wheels

Nov
1

Inline Wheels

Help with Inline Skates small wheels?

I have always used the Roller Skates, but its really hard to find a leveled atmosphere to do it. So I bought a Roller Blade but the wheels were too big and I hated it. At the same time, on the internet it says that for recreational and fitness use the wheels should be bigger than the ones for aggressive skating. I haven't tried but I really think the ones with smaller wheels will be better for me, for fitness and recreational use. Is that ok? And, are there roller skates that can be used in rough atmospheres?

You left out an important item. How big are the wheels you have?
Too big can be a problem for learning but with a previous skating background, you should easily be able to easily learn inline on 80-84mm wheels. If you were talked into larger wheels than that, you can easily get smaller wheels but I would strongly recommend learning with 80mm and an absolute bottom of 72mm.
72 was even considered tiny back when I started on inlines and 80 was the big wheel. Back then, the fast people used a 5th wheel to improve the rolling of the skates. I am still using my 5x84mm skates because I really like the way they fit and will probably go to 4x90mm this winter.
100mm are too big for some experienced skaters.

What boots do you have? If you got "racing" boots, they could be a big issue. The very low cut boot is very hard for learning on. Many experienced skaters have a tough time changing over to them. A fitness boot is a great compromise. The boot is a couple inches shorter than the rec boots but still offer a lot of support.

Aggressive wheels are much smaller, harder, and have a squared off profile to make it safer to land from a jump.
The square profile and very hard (almost solid plastic) material will not give you good grip for the push part of your stride. The tiny diameter and hard material will make them roll slowly and be very rough when the surface is less than perfect.

For rec/fitness use, larger wheels roll smoother, faster, and more stable.

If you still want to go smaller, the good news is that the mounting is the same.
Most skates do not have any "low parts" that will create an issue if you go significantly smaller with the wheels. A 100mm skate on 80mm wheels will have the height of one designed for (and on)90mm wheels. It will also have the longer wheelbase (more stability and less easy to turn) of the 100mm wheels.

Quick Look at Inline Wheels: Labeda