Compare 3 plates for rhythm skating, also long toes & plate sizing
Hi DocSk8,
First time caller, long time listener.
I'm a rhythm skater, mostly middle work, skate dancing with fancy footwork, going up on my heels & toes, etc. Similar to Jam skating without all the break dancing stuff. I'm 50 and not trying to break a hip. I love JB but I'm not that good at fast rhythm skating around the outside.
Equipment: I've skated on the Riedell OGs and split toe Hyde boots. For plates I've rolled on the Powerdyne Arius Platinum and Fuse. I'm in the process of building 2 custom pairs of skates, fully custom. A pair of Harlicks and a pair of Riedells.
What plates for my dream skates? The 3 plates below are popular among rhythm skaters. I like to get technical, could you help me compare the specs and feel of the 3 plates below?
Roll Line Dance Plate (similar to the old Roll Line Ring plate)
Snyder Deluxe Plate (light weight version with threading for a jam plug)
Snyder Advantage Plate
Also.....plate sizing. Generally speaking, for the kind of skating I do, the preferred placement of front axle is slightly (.25-.5") above the ball of foot. Back axle is midpoint of heel. But, I have some loooong toes, these little piggies are statuesque. So when I get the suggested plate size for my boot size, wheelbase is around 170mm and the front axle is really far ahead of where I bend at the ball of foot. When I measure my feet, mid point of heel to slightly above where my toes bend, I get 156-158mm. That 2 whole plate sizes smaller! Should I go for it or are do you see any errors in thought process here?
Signed,
Overthinking it in Oakland
Comments
Interesting, I have seen you consulting the idiot chorus on fb. You have gotten all sorts of shall I say less than good advice. I just shot you a fb friend request.
Next, You obviously have been reading since 90% of sk8 builders have zero clue as to how arch length (them long toes mean you have a short one.) Matching a plate to a boot size is fine until that arch length does not match the boot size. See a Brannock device. It measures from the heel to the ball of your foot for arch length and heel to the end of your toes for "shoe size". Actually measuring between the ball of your heel as in between the 2 ankle bones out to the front of the ball of your foot can yield some very interesting (and scary) results. My measurements like that suggested a 5 3/4" wheelbase. I am much happier on 6 to 6 3/8" but amusingly all the manufacturers want me on ~7". Not much of a sk8board fan.
Now, as far as sk8 plates go, I am quite familiar with the 3 you mentioned. The Snyders that are kin to the Super Deluxe (Advantage and World Dominator) are 15° ling pins, The Roll Line Dance is 22°. This means all else being equal, the Dance will be more responsive than the other 2. Unfortunately the over all design of the Roll Lines vs the other 2 precludes "all else" being equal. Cushion sizes and shapes have a big impact on how the action works..
Personally I like sk8s that turn more than any you have named although my Rings are close.
Two other things that will greatly impact the performance of you sk8s. 1) The mount. A Snyder line will NOT work for your feet on production boots but it may do the trick when it comes to your custom boots. 2) the suspension tuning. The more sophisticated the action the more work it takes to find the best set up but once you find it you will wonder why you were wasting your time on what you were on before. Simple actions will most likely not provide the optimum performance. So ignore any advice directing you away from "complicated" actions.
Anyway, check you fb page, this could get long and complicated.