What is your favorite skate brand....why?

BMW325TI

Well have rolled many brands, have be honest none of them are the one.......

Like Powerslide Imperial boots I like their mounting system, very compatible to mount several brands frames.

While they are low quality boots and way overpriced. Still people think PS is good, that is way how PS make good commercial.

Luigino has good features and really does something, but again their quality is below zero! and price above many zero's!

Salomon too bad they don't exist anyore, this brand has many potential.

And very creative like UFS mounting system.....quality is superb! (skates were made in Europe).

I have still old Salomon skates, still alive after many hours of beating...

I wish K2 has been less jealous to destroy Salomon! K2!!! I hate you!

Just some opinions regarding brands...

Quickstep

I usually don't go for slalom or urban type inlines, but I prefer RollerBlade and Seba. I feel like Seba is nice for high end slalom skating and RollerBlade is pretty solid overall with most of their products.

For inline speed skating I like Bont, but I think with any inline speed boot you have to make sure it properly fits your feet above all else.

Same thing with quad speed skating, anything that nicely fits your feet and is light (Bont for me).

For jam skating, I like Riedell jam boots, 395, 911, and 951. Very comfortable and high performance. Vanilla jam skates are absolute garbage in terms of quality, but they look cool and they're cheap. If I was forced to use a Vanilla boot I would reline it, change the tongue, and get a different plate.

I primarily do artistic skating, my favorite brand of Boots is Edea because they're very light (high performance for competition) and happen to fit my feet well. For plates, Roll-Line is a great quality brand that is high value even on their lowest end plates.

For inline artistic skating, the brand remains Edea and Roll-Line.

For general session and rhythm skating, the Riedell 172 is a popular boot that is relatively comfortable and stylish, with a heel like the artistic boots. But for the people that hate heels I'd probably just recommend a jam skating boot to roll around in.

BMW325TI

Never tried Bont, their shoes are made of fake leather?

Quickstep

Bont has options for real leather or a lighter synthetic material they call Duralite. Usually a fiberglass or carbon sole.

Schpanky

My first inline was a Bauer skate, I used it at the skate parks and really loved it, it was before skate park type skates came out and it was my first. Then I upgraded to a real skate park skate, a K2 Fatty pro. Omg, I loved that skate like it was my child. So comfortable. 2 years ago I tried to find something that comfortable, so I got a K2 that sort of looked like a fatty, but it was horrible. Quality went way down. Not comfortable.

After I grew up and became a mom I needed recreational skates to push my kid in the jogging stroller, so I went to recreational skates. I had K2's. They were amazing. The fit of the K2's really was my favorite, better than any others I've had. They were narrow and made for female feet.

Then when I discovered I wasn't the only person left on the planet doing slalom and found out about rockering I rockered my K2's then bought some Seba's (now FR's).

I like the Seba's because they are hard shell and respond well for slalom and dance and are rockered. But the TOE BOX IS ALWAYS TOO BIG. Even the Daria which is geared for women has a big toe box. My son swears by his Powerslide Evo, but I never tried those.

My favorite roller skate so far is Edea. I had Riedell 120 and then 172, but as I bought mens skates they were always too wide in the toe box, so I'd buy a size smaller to compromise. Now I'm on Edea Classicas. They are by far my favorite, best fit EVER, snug toe box. No break in time, nice heal. My favorite plate (the only ones I've ever used) Roll Line. I've had the Giatto and the Matrix. Highly recommend both.

BMW325TI

Have K2 ever made hardboot?

Schpanky

I don't believe K2 ever made any hard boots/slalom style skates, and you can't blame them. It's a hard sell. I can count all of the slalom skaters I know on one hand.

BMW325TI

Thanks, I think you are right. I was also looking fir K2 speed skates, not many choices and places to buy....Looks promising their speed boots.

ese002

I struggle with any kind of brand loyalty. If I find something I really like, they either stop making it, I find an equally serious problem in the same or another product, or both.

Salomon Gel Sliders are still unequalled among speed/fitness wrist guards 15 years after they stopped making them. I loved my TR9 for teaching me that skates don't have to hurt. Only later did I realize that, just because it doesn't hurt doesn't me that it fits.

Lizard Skins stand alone in making a knee pad suitable for racing that actually works. Of course, they stopped making that 3-4 years ago.

The custom boots that Scott Wolf made for me 15 years ago fit nearly perfect in fit and function, a feet not equalled in later boots by other makers that cost quite a bit more. Unfortunately, later boots made for others by Wolf Racing had major problems and he soon left the business.

I have mixed results form Rollerblade. My Fusion MX's fit awful. Lightning 9's were super sweet but the Lightning 10/LE went back on much that was right with the 9. My Twisters are nothing like the Fusion MX's. Very nice fit, though I did have to heat mold a navicular pocket.

The Powerslide Roadhog 110 brake is a straightforward but well designed product that legitimately improves on a design form extending back to the 90's. That is why it was so shocking to find major design flaws in the 125 version. WTF? All they had to do was extend a design they already had and it would have been fine. But it is like they handed the design task to someone who had never seen the old product or understood the problem. Fortunately, it was something I could fix with a dremel because no one else makes a brake for 125. Their XXX 125 frame just works. I've never worn Powerslide Swell skates but Powerslide Swell wheels are the worst I have ever encountered.

BMW325TI

I have also noticed the colored Luigino e.g Bolt versions are made of fake leather and more expensive... it doesnt make sense for me...

ese002

Real leather is out of fashion these days even for top end boots. The uppers on all three of my custom speed boots are synthetic.

BMW325TI

Really? That is bad..... I can pull off top layer with my nails.....😪 And harx to repair.....

ese002

That doesn't excuse poor quality. The microfiber uppers in my Wolfs, Pinnacles, and Simmons are pretty sturdy. They do take a beating when I slide out as would real leather. Recent Bonts have plastic bumpers to guard against that.

esef

Gonna go with Powerslide.

-They're always, always iterating. Regular updates to skates. Different technologies. They're always trying something new, improving what already works, addressing what doesn't. It's fantastic to see.

-Adjustable frames on a wide variety of skates. Unlike Rollerblade, whose fitness skates below the Enduraces (or E2's) have frames that are bolted on. The Macroblades are a giant missed opportunity. Exception to the rule is the Rollerblade Maxxum Edge series, which are fitness skates with adjustable frames, but I mean, they're hard boots. Not really what I'm looking for to skate long distances, though many people do.

-Good-looking design in the last couple of years.

Quickstep

I'm pretty sure all performance skates have moved to synthetic due to the decrease in weight.

Using leather makes absolutely no sense to me if you can get a lighter material for competition.

BMW325TI

I have speed boots made in my own country in microfiber and fake ones with shinning top layer.

Also I have moticed after couple times of heatmolding, shinning top layer came loose. At instep ankle area fake ones wear off....

The ones with microfiber are still good.

Yes I mean fake leather with elastic shinning or thin top layer.... not microfiber fabric versions...

I like microfiber less smell and durable.

When you pull off shinning elastic top layer, you can see a kind of foam? What stuff is this,?

The_Snowman

I have two different custom speed skating boots, one pair are Simmons and the other are Pinnacle.

I like the Pinnacle for indoor short track skating, because they're not padded as much on the inside and I like that feel better than the padded Simmons. I feel that I get better control. Indoor training and racing distances are usually shorter and my feet get tired quickly in the Pinnacle boots. Also, the mounting blocks on the Pinnacle boots are set straight to the form of the boots. They are not canted.

I prefer the Simmons boots for outdoor skating, because of the small amount of padding that makes them more comfortable for longer distances and times. Since the mounting blocks are slightly canted, they help with double pushing.

For frames, I am partial to Simmons or LSR frames, because they're both very stiff.

For wheels, I prefer the profile of TLTF wheels for indoor, prefer the feel of Simmons Flash wheels (made by Matter) for indoor practice. For outdoor, I really like the Junk Road Reapers.

BMW325TI

Any picture of canted mounts? Thanks.

The_Snowman

It's very hard to see the cant, since it's slight.

BMW325TI

I am not native speaking English, can you explain cant? Thx.

ese002

Did you request that your Simmons be canted? In my Simmons, the right boot has a large cant. I actually installed wedges to get it closer to flat.

BMW325TI

Ahh thank you. So cant means: not horizontal placed?

ese002

It means the mounting blocks have a tilt. Many/most people have a tendency to pronate. By tilting the mountain blocks inward, it is possible to keep the wheels straight up and down while the ankle is pointing slightly inward. Most people accomplish this by taking a boot with level mounting blocks and inserting small wedges between the mounting block and the frame. In a custom boot, it is also possible to get the boot made with the cant built in.

BMW325TI

Ahh nice feature thanks. So with this feature no need to adjust frames inward😀

kcire10

For rhythm skating the Edea Classica boot paired with the Roll Line Dance plate. Boot is light and comfortable and there is no break in time. Plate is sturdy and well balanced. Doesn't get any betterbthan that.

smb2585

I have a full custom Pinnacle quad boot I use for speed skating and for “jam” skating as it is called now. Prior to that I used a Riedell 595 but I had major foot problems and couldn’t stand in them longer than 10 minutes. We bit the bullet and had my foot molded for a full custom Pinnacle quad boot and it’s amazing.

My husband has full custom Pinnacle inline boots and quad boots and we always say if you are serious about skating and don’t plan on dropping the sport, your foot is done growing and you can swing it, Pinnacle full custom is amazing and well worth the investment.

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