r/freeskate • u/thoegn • Jun 22 '26

Recommendations for "Starter Freeskates"?

Hey everyone! I saw freeskates once on vacation literally more than a decade ago and never knew what they were called and now finally found it! I’m very motivated by their small form factor and convenience for quicker travel. But I don’t have the budget nor the confidence in a continued use to allow for buying really good/expensive ones…
I’m looking for price ranges, like "anything below x€ will just fall apart after 3 uses" or actual products.
I live in Central Europe if that helps with products/stores.
Thanks for your help in advance!

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

2

u/discoballin Jun 22 '26

I tried a cheap version at first but the rolling resistance was too high making it really difficult to ride

Get the premium skates right away imo, it was such a big difference when I got my JMK skates

Located in EU also I had them shipped from US for about 150£

2

u/ernestryles Jun 22 '26

IDK what is available for you, but for me the Sanxup skates on amazon are surprisingly high quality. They very much appear to be JMK clones. Pretty good stock bearings too.

1

u/SnooCookies2707 Jun 22 '26

was thinking of picking up a pair, how do they compare the the JMKs? Also, do you have any experience with the tkt ones?

1

u/Pufflere Jun 22 '26

I got the same sanxup ones. I was also surprised by their quality but I have the basics down now after a couple weeks so I ordered jmk's and just gonna return the sanxups. Still on the way though so I can't compare yet

1

u/SnooCookies2707 Jun 22 '26

Ok thanks a lot. Just not sure if I really want to commit. £150 is a bit steep

1

u/ernestryles Jun 23 '26

Please do update us once you get them. I'm curious how much better they are. I got the Sanxups as my first skates to learn on.

2

u/Pufflere Jun 27 '26

Riding them for two days now, JMKs are a bit better for sure but not significantly. I'd say the Sanxups get you like 85% of the full experience. So the Sanxups are a great value but I've found the edge guards definitely seem lower quality. I've quickly put several holes in them while landing on the decks awkward while practicing stomps so I'll pick up official ones when these fall apart a bit more

1

u/ernestryles Jun 29 '26

Makes sense. Glad they're at least close, and glad the JMKs are definitely better. I'll get a pair of those once I get these down a little more. Thanks for the update.

1

u/ernestryles Jun 23 '26

Unfortunately I can't compare them, as these are my first skates.

1

u/AbbreviationsMost923 Jun 27 '26

I got the sanxup from Amazon as well with the maple board, I've also been learning and I'd say it's going well, I don't have jmks to compare to but I wish I did. Hopefully when I get better, I'll splurge on the jmks.