So you’re ready to buy your first pair of inline skates that’s absolutely awesome welcome to the club I’m Casper I spent 4 years working in a skate shop and I will help you through everything today for convenience I have divided this video into chapters so you can
Always find the part of the video that you need the most in case you need to come back to something let’s get started now the first decision you need to make is whether you need a hard boot or a soft boot hard boots like this one is usually used in something called Urban
Skating they’re solid enough to allow you to make jumps and deal with bumps and scrapes a lot better than soft boot counterpart just take it easy I’m not expecting you to get a boot like this and go out and do jumps right away there is a reason why I brought it into a
Beginner video cu the thing is if your beginner skater chances are your ankles aren’t that strong I know mine weren’t and they actually struggled to stay upright when I first got into a soft boot if your ankles do this too then it might actually be worth going for a hard
Boot just for the added support on the inside that will help keep your legs in an upright position I Tred to skate my first marathon in soft boots and let let me tell you my ankles were killing me that’s not to say that soft boot aren’t a good option they’re definitely a lot
More comfortable than hard boots initially and they’re a lot easier to get in and out of which will make a difference for some people as if it’s too difficult or too cumbersome they might just end up on the shelf and we don’t want that hard boots are also more
Responsive and will give you a much better feeling of control there’s nothing wrong with choosing a soft boot though now there also some skates like this one now there are also some skates like this one that bridged the gap between the soft boot and the hard boot it’s
Called the swell it has a lot more plastic running through it but still has a soft upper think of your ankles if you’re completely collapsing in these consider going for a hard boot like this so you’ve picked out the type of skate you want to go for now let’s talk about
How they should fit this is by far the most important part of the video so pay attention here don’t make the mistake of comparing skates to regular shoes I’ve seen way too many people go in and Shop skates with that approach that their skat should fit like the shoes they’re
Wearing please don’t be that person inline skate as a rule of thumb should have a pretty tight fit I actually had to downsize my NE in order to have a snug enough fit the way the skate should fit is that your heel should be completely locked in place unable to
Move and your toes should ideally be touching and don’t be alarmed if your toes initially curl up a bit when you get into the skate just stand up in them and lean forward that should put pressure back on your heel and alleviate the pressure from the toes and help them
Lay flat there really shouldn’t be any room for your foot to move if your foot can move and you not the one in control the entire time so think ski boot when you’re thinking about skate fit and if you feel any specific pressure points or anywhere that’s causing you pain then it
Might not be the size that’s the issue it might actually just be the type of skate all skates are molded differently so just try a different pair in the same size and see what happens if you’re feeling some amount of pain in hard boots soft boots might be the way
Forward because the upper is very flexible there isn’t as much hard material to cause any pressure points so if you’re struggling with multiple hard boots then it might be worth looking at a soft boot also keep in mind that you have have to break your skates in so if
The fit is not perfect right away these liners are designed to mold to your foot as you’re using them so don’t be alarmed if they don’t fit perfectly right away and just have a little bit of patience with them they’ll get there so to sum up
Some discomfort is okay pain is not okay now we get to the least important thing for firsttime buyers the wheels the bearings and the frames my most General piece of advice would be to pick the skate based on the boot and not the wheels to skate the ones you have and
Then replace them when it’s time to replace them but now that you’re here let me take you through the ins and outs of the hardware that comes with your skates there are two things that you have to worry about as a beginner size and hardness that came out so wrong bigger
Wheels also deal better with rougher surfaces so there as a beginner you might actually have an advantage with a bigger wheel size however of course there’s always a butt to this smaller Wheels like on this one are still very very good for beginners they also give
You a lower center of gravity as you can see the frame on this versus the frame on that is a bit lower so yeah this will help you stay low to the ground and feel like you have more control of your skates so smaller Wheels could be a
Really good solution if you just need to build your confidence initially Wheels also come in different hardnesses the hardness is usually a number followed by the letter A most inline skate wheels will lie somewhere between 8A to 88a softer wheels are generally more grippy and vibrate less than harder Wheels
However they do wear out much quicker that doesn’t mean that harder is worse harder Wheels do wear significantly slower and I usually associate it with the bigger wheel SI Dev es where the surface is actually less of an issue for bearings honestly keep it simple skate
The ones that are in replace them when they no longer roll and especially as a beginner they’re far more important things than bearings and full disclosure if you want to nerd into bearings it gets super technical and really really nerdy finally we get to the frames they’re not super important but they’re
Not completely unimportant either I’m about to glance over a couple of really important details here so allow me to address them before some of our more seasoned viewers completely roast me in the comments comments for forgetting but first allow me to get a couple of skates for you
Guys longer frames are generally more stable and will stay more stable at high speeds but they’re also less susceptible to inputs which means that they can be harder to control shorter frames on the other hand give you a larger degree of control over your skates but at the same
Time short frames also very Lively and very reactive which means that they might not feel as stable for beginners the second question is that of three wheels versus four wheels and I need another pair of skates for that one a three wheel skate like this allows us to
Get the comfort and speed benefits of a 100 mm wheel package it in a similar length to a four wheel setup just so you don’t end up with a monster frame like this cuz this is kind of crazy if you’re not a speed skater so that’s essentially the only difference between the two
There’s also something with maneuverability because your skate can pivot around the center wheel but honestly you’re not going to feel that all that much as a beginner so to sum up this segment really quick longer frames are more stable shorter frames are more maneuverable tricap Gates allow us to
Put bigger wheels on shorter frames and is not necessarily a bad option for a beginner and we now return to your regularly scheduled programming there are several different types of frames depending on the brand and the price the most common are usually unibody riveted 165 mm and then here power slide we also
Have the Trinity Mount which I will get to in a minute riveted skates and unibody don’t come off because the frame itself is directly integrated with the boot so there you cannot change it uni bodybody is usually made for Kit skates because it allow for a plastic frame which is significantly more affordable
And riveted frames are also more affordable to make and will be able to keep the final product a lot more affordable you can of course still change the wheels on both but you are stuck with the same wheel size for all eternity ah into eternity 165 frames are
Detachable with two mounting points at 165 mm apart this is one of the most common frame systems and allows you to change out the frame and keep the boot this is really really nice if you found a boot that you really like and would would like to skate a different wheel
Size then you can just buy a frame the wheels and the bearings and then you can skate a new setup on the same boot finally there’s Trinity and that’s actually featured on all three skates I brought for you today Trinity is a 3point mounting system it has a bolt
Here here and here and will basically allow you to switch frames to whatever other boot that is also Trinity Mount you might want so all these three skates have interchangeable frames I could take the frame from this one and put onto this one no problem these are just the
Basics if you feel like dipping your toes in there is a lot more content out there and if you made it through the entire video then I salute you I’ll link to a playlist with some beginner tips and tricks so you can get rolling right away
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