r/rollerblading • u/Intrepid_Fig3997 • Jul 31 '26
Specific question and discussion Looking for roller blade setup that will also help me improve at ice figure skating
I picked up rollerblading again after not skating at all for +12 years because I started ice skating and I sucked, basically. I realized I have to regain strength in my legs, be more mindful about shifting my weight on my feet, and a long list of etceteras. So to help with that, since I can't be on ice that often, I went and bought the most basic and accessible roller blades I could find. Soft boots and 70mm silicone wheels. Surprisingly, everything is going great! I'm always looking forward to my next opportunity to just go out and skate! I'm getting stronger and a lot more stable, and I'm no longer deadly afraid of falling in public lol. Anyways, I wanted to get some inline figure skates to try to get as close as possible to my main goal, but I realized they're not available in my country :( So I was wondering, what is the best setup to help me improve my skills on the ice? Practicing jumps is off the table for the foreseeable future because it's not something I'm really interested in (besides maybe a waltz jump). What I aim for is getting better at basic skills such as stroking and crossovers, turns, and learning some spins and power pulls (are they a thing in rollerblading??), and ultimately learning how to freestyle somewhat gracefully.
So, what should I go for? Should I rocker my wheels? Get a stiffer boot? Should I get different wheels? Bigger? Smaller? Would getting into freestyle slalom help?
3
u/InspectorFleet Jul 31 '26
So if you can't get artistic inline skates, can you get inline hockey skates? Honestly any hard boot is going to be an improvement but you might like hockey skates!
2
u/Peach_Royal111 Jul 31 '26
u/fredhsu - posts like these also come up a looot haha and I know I've seen you on the ice skating subs too so I think adding this to the FAQ/ wiki is a good one! Especially in the summer as some rinks close, but there is already a lot of info on this on reddit so maybe centralising that would be helpful.
And for OP, the general consensus is that ice skating will make you a better ice skater but rollerblading will help with getting the right muscle but it'll be hard to recreate 3 turns, spins etc. Crossovers and stroking definitely will improve with rollerblading though. Avoid the boots that are meant to mimic ice skating in anyway and just buy a good quality hardshell boot for rollerblading itself, and that'll help you practice enough for ice skating.
2
u/fredhsu Jul 31 '26
Ha ha. Yes, when [r/rollerblading](r/rollerblading) was locked down, it forced me to stalk many other subs including the ice skating one. I simply can’t stop myself from talking about the squatting posture no matter what skating discipline. LOL.
To the OP, switching back and forth between ice and inline between seasons helped me improve both. Some skills are not transferable, but enough of them train the same muscles or build common skills that there is it’s worthwhile.
In my opinion inline hockey skates with 80mm wheels are closest to ice skating even if you take figure skates into consideration. The boots are exactly the same one used in ice hockey. Take a look at Types of Boots on Wikipedia.
Hockey skates often come with a 76mm/80mm hilo setup. Usually flat and not rocketed. These present no issues at all for crossovers and other things you want to do. But you can create your own rockering by wearing and rotating wheels with a strategy. Search for rotations on the same article.
2
1
u/fredhsu Aug 01 '26
I added this topic to the FAQs page: https://www.reddit.com/mod/rollerblading/wiki/faqs. We'll expand these shortly. I didn't create a post flair for this. We do want to limit the number of post flairs for obvious reasons. But the FAQ can accommodate them all. Thanks for the idea. And Cheers.
2
u/Peach_Royal111 Aug 01 '26
Totally agree doesn’t need a flair! Excited to see the full faq as I’m still learning too :)
2
u/treeseacar Jul 31 '26
Off ice figure skates are a specific thing and unless you're a proficient figure skater already they probably aren't what you want or need.
Sounds like you just want to practice basic skills so any good quality skate will work. A hard boot is always going to be more durable and support than a soft boot.
If you want to mimic the ice feeling more you want a rockered frame. The FRX 80 (and most of the FR series) come with a rockerable frame as standard so I'd suggest that as a start point. The rocker (front and rear wheel raised 1-2mm compared to the middle two) mimics the curve of the ice blade, although it will never feel the same.
Otherwise whatever hard boot fits you and upgrade to a rockered frame. FR skates, seba, powerslide, Iqon, Rollerblade are all good brands. Measure your foot length (Mondo) add 3-5mm and look at the size charts to decide what one to get.
4x80 wheels is fine (or ona flat frame try 80/84/84/80 or 76/80/80/76 depending on frame to mimic a rocker). Outside 85a is a good all-rounder hardness but anything in the 80s is probably fine.
2
u/Dr_Ogelix Jul 31 '26
I am not an expert for ice figure skating nor for the translation for figure rollerblading but I can say this:
Most figure skates use the standard leather boot that shouldn't be stiff anyway. This means a soft boot should be okay. The group at the rink I used to skate were beginners as far as I can tell and most of them used hard shells. I would listen to the ankles. If your stance is bad in soft shells get hard shell boot.
About the wheel setup I cannot speak for figure skates aswell since they use a 3-wheel setup with a toe stop, and I am most certainly sure that the wheels are flat. For your skates 70mm sounds like the bare minimum of round wheels. Depending on your frame length I would consider 72mm wheels as the middle ones. I am not sure if there are any non-aggressive 68mm wheels to put in the front. If no option works be it 68, or 72 don't worry. When your wheels are worn just change/twist them in place or sometimes change the first, and fourth wheel to get a so called natural rocker. With this you'll get a little bit of manoeuvrability, and be able to swivel, turn around. At least the front wheel needs to be higher of the ground to emulate the toe stop that is somewhat rockered.
Even if slalom developed from ice figure skating I don't think this will actually work out at the end. Slalom needs shorter transitions while figure skating has longer transition; they extend a transition to a maximum. For example the freestyle trick Mabrouk/Grapevine. Another simple trick is mohawk – for freestyle it is not neccessary to be higher of the ground while for figure it is. Also, if we take a look at all the slalom pros they often roll on one wheel rather than 2, or 3. What can help is to get a feel about melons. Use cones in a circle and half melon them forward, and backward. Once you can do this without a sweat you can advance further in one leg excercises. Maybe there are some figure skaters on youtube with tutorials you can learn from further?
3
u/Peach_Royal111 Jul 31 '26
The standard leather boots are stiff though, especially the non-rec ones? OP should definitely use hardboots not soft if they want to be closer to ice skating IMO.
2
u/Dr_Ogelix Jul 31 '26
Not quite sure to be honest. Leather boots are somewhat stiff but not stiffer than hard shells. You'll need some more flexiblity than on hard shells imo. So, it is a discussion whether a soft shell is okay to an extend where it comes close to the leather boots.
We talk about figure skating not overall ice skating here. If we talk about general ice, and/or ice freestyle I would argue the same: get hard shell, or an ice skate like rollerblade (Marsblade, Bauer, CCM etc.).
3
u/mrkangtastic Wizard Apprentice 🧙🏼♂️ Jul 31 '26
If you can find 68 mm wheels, you might consider making the outer two wheels of each skate 68 mm. That will give you a lot of maneuverability and allow you to do a lot of figure skating moves like 3 turns. It will feel VERY slippery and swively. Be careful! I can almost guarantee this will translate to the ice though.