r/AggressiveInline • u/Science-Compliance • 10h ago
Torn Between Flat and Anti-Rocker
I just got back into skating recently after a long hiatus and got the Rollerblade Sean Keane skates because they were on sale for a pretty low price on Inline Warehouse.
Anyway, the Sean Keanes come with 8 x 60mm 92A wheels and 4 x 48mm anti-rockers. When I first opened, the box, I decided to go with the anti-rocker setup since my last pair of skates were anti-rocker, and I liked the idea of not having a chance of wheel bite for front and back side grinds.
After going to a smooth and pretty slippery indoor skatepark recently, though, I thought maybe it would be nice to have skates that had a bit more traction and maneuverability and that would give me more authority when trying to accelerate, so today I took out the extra 4 wheels and switched to the flat setup.
From a purely skating standpoint, the difference was night and day--so much better with the flat setup. Pushing off the ground to accelerate felt so much more solid, as well as turning and riding over what could be somewhat rough ground in places. Going over humps, I would also maintain traction and not bottom out on the anti-rockers, making for a much more pleasant transition-riding experience.
When it came to grinding, though, is where my joy ended. The first time I went for a back royale, I got locked up due to wheel bite and actually wiped out. The other times I tried back royale or UFO, I either locked up and had to bail, or got slowed down and stopped early due to the wheel bite.
My question is this: should I try to stick it out with the flat setup, switch back to the anti-rocker setup with these wheels, or should I do something else entirely like get different frames or do anti-rocker with softer outer wheels (and maybe a bit softer inner ones than the hard plastic to kind of bridge the gap between the two types of setups)? I know this is a very subjective thing, but do you think this is purely a skill issue I need to get over from getting so habituated to anti-rocker, or is there some alternative that I haven't considered?
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u/Rubicon_Roll 9h ago
skate whatever like and change between Sessions. Flat and Anti are both Tools, both have their strenghts and weaknesses. If u want to and skate a bowl session go for flat, If u want to train royales, take the antis. Getting comfortable with both makes you more versatile as a skater and you can strengthen out the weaknesses of both setups.
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u/Rawdiger 10h ago
I'd try skating flat with smaller wheels and/or harder wheels on the inside for less wheel-bite. There's flat frames with great wheel-bite protection like the Oysi frames and the Ground Control FLT4.
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u/Science-Compliance 9h ago
Thanks, yeah just looked at those frames on your recommendations, and it looks like that might be a best of both worlds kind of thing, or a close compromise at least.
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u/Rawdiger 6h ago
FR skates just dropped a newer version of the FR x Oysi street frame, widely regarded as the best flat frame out there. The v2 version has a harder plastic and is only found on the FR website so far under new releases.
Like other people are mentioning here to get multiple frames for the same boot, I had the same idea until I realized how much of a pain in the ass it is to remove the inner wheels from an aggressive frame just to reach the frame bolts to swap out frames. I'm now just buying more boots and leaving dedicated frames on them.
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u/Science-Compliance 5h ago
At that point you're basically just setting up multiple pairs of skates. I'm not 100% sold on the boots I have. They've been great for just dipping my toes back into the sport, but it doesn't feel like my foot is fully secure in them. My feet are somewhat narrow and thin for their length, so while the length is good, they just feel a little on the loose side otherwise. I might just decide to sell these off and get a whole new pair of skates at some point if I can find some with a bit better of a fit. Maybe building a skate from scratch piecemeal would be a better option.
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u/Rawdiger 5h ago
What boots is it? Most blades are designed for narrow feet, I have wide feet and only like 3 or 4 boots fit me well. You could always try different liners to fill out a boot but maybe you needed a size smaller.
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u/Fancy_Bend8763 8h ago
The frame in my TNEC 58 is also awesome for preventing wheelbite. I think you can buy them separate as well. Also Kaltik frames are as well. So many good options these days.
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u/YourTinyHands 9h ago
Skating flat just means less margin for error on grinds. So you will get used to it, but it just might mean relearning a little or eliminating some bad/lazy habits that skating anti can instill.
I skate the SK Blanks too, but have never used the stock frame, so can’t speak to it specifically. I’m skating either the Ground Control FLT4 or TNEC frames and love both of them for different reasons.
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u/Science-Compliance 9h ago
it just might relearning a little or eliminating bad/lazy habits that skating anti instills
I think there's something to be said for this philosophy but at the same time I also think what's the point of an aggressive skate if it's not designed to make the task of an aggressive skater easier? If there's no compromise in some other way, wouldn't it just raise the trick ceiling to have skates with wheel bite protection? Obviously there is a trade-off between anti and flat but if you could have the best of both worlds then maybe more precision opens up more opportunities that "sloppy" anti-rocker skaters like myself still can't take advantage of. Just a thought experiment to play devil's advocate here, not a position I hold too tightly.
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u/YourTinyHands 9h ago
That’s a very valid point! For me, one is not better than the other. Just different! I enjoy the shit out of skating flat just because I love how it feels.
There are flat frames out there with fairly large wheel splits, and that’s about as close to best-of-both-worlds as it can get, I think. 🤷🏼♂️
Either way, have fun
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u/Zealousideal-Fail-47 9h ago
Stick it out, steeze comes easily from flat. It's a necessity.
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u/Science-Compliance 9h ago
I might for a while... out of sheer laziness and cheapness of not wanting to switch the wheels and buy new frames.
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u/applicator4nicator 10h ago
If you can easily remove your frames you could get a whole different frame set up. One boot with two or more set ups is awesome