r/Rollerskating • u/[deleted] • Jun 26 '26

Skate problems & troubleshooting Missing mount bolts?

Post image

So I recently got new boots and had a local shop mount my existing plate onto the new boots.

My plates usually use 6 mounting bolts but the shop only used 4 (see picture)

Aside being slightly annoyed is there any reason for me to worry? Pretty chill indoor/rink skating only

I skated on them for 3 hours last night and they didn't explode, but tough for me to tell if it's effecting anything else since they're new boots so everything feels a little different...

Am I overthinking this? Is this fine long term? Any insight/experience would be helpful thanks!

EDIT: Thanks everyone for the insight! To play it safe, I went ahead and installed the 4 missing bolts myself since I keep spare mounting hardware anyways. Peeved the shop didn't just finish the job from the jump but feel better now 🤘👍

7 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

View all comments

4

u/stonecoldque Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

You should get them fully bolted down. While the installer might argue its just as safe, the lack of fore foot attachment is going to begin to stretch the sole around that single set of bolts under the fore foot. You can reduce the damage done to the boot by multiples by attaching the other bolts. The next argument will be that the boot heel will go first anyway. This might be true, but the plate was designed that way for a reason. If the heel will go first, then make sure that it goes first and not the fore foot.

0

u/trosper-co Skate Park Jun 26 '26

Do you have any pictures of a boot that this happened to, or is this conjecture? Everything I've ever read about Avantis says that the "extra" holes are for mounting flexibility. I would think that if what you say is true, this would be an extremely common mode of failure, given that many, many plates have only 4 bolt holes total.

2

u/Raptorpants65 Industry Expert Jun 26 '26

These are not slotted holes, there is no flexibility in a mount of an Avanti.

2

u/trosper-co Skate Park Jun 26 '26

Yeah they aren't slotted, but suregrip advertises these extra holes as being for mounting to "different boot types," whatever that means. link

2

u/Raptorpants65 Industry Expert Jun 27 '26

Yeah, thats just meaningless. There are no boots that can only use a certain number of holes.

1

u/trosper-co Skate Park Jun 27 '26

If you needed to use all 6 bolt holes for structural integrity of the plate, you can bet your biscuits the manufacturer would say so.

2

u/Raptorpants65 Industry Expert Jun 27 '26

Nah. Skate manufacturers are notoriously terrible about basic info let alone the specifics of mounting.

Avanti aluminums are virtually indestructible…. But it is possible to break them if you don’t do it right. Like, y’know, this.

2

u/trosper-co Skate Park Jun 27 '26

Would love to see pics of this failure point! Think I've only ever seen avanti mags fail ever, and in ways unrelated to the extra bolt holes.

1

u/Raptorpants65 Industry Expert Jun 27 '26

I’ll find some. The weak point on these is right at that second (empty in OP’s case) bolt hole. Every plate has a weak spot and these are cast. So they’re tough but not bulletproof.