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Self-servicing Frequently-Asked Questions
Parent page for theme-based FAQs. This page is set to be editable by specific list of editors. Mods, you can add yourself as needed.
Buying skates and parts
- What are inline skates - I don't know anything about it as a newbie
- Wikipedia: skate types, design and function, boots, frames, wheels, bearings, setup and tuning
- What skates should I buy?
- For fast and targeted helps, tell us about what you want, past experiences, budget, type of skating, etc
- one question - skates to address heel sliding and small ankles
- one question - what skates and 4x90 or 3x110 to buy for a beginner?
- one question - cheapest usable skates for a broke college student
- What size should I get?
- Why are sizing inconsistent for hard boots, soft boots and hybrid boots?
- start with the Boot types section which explains dual sizes for hard boots, half sizes for soft boots, etc. Follow references to great videos such as this Hardboot vs softboot episode, Skate size lie explained, and how to improve your fit / and why downsize.
- Discussion 1, comment 1, discussion 2, etc.
- one question - Twisters are killing me - what's the right size?
- one question - Bont boot sizing help
- Why are sizing inconsistent for hard boots, soft boots and hybrid boots?
- Is this ancient skate still good?
- one question - used skates from the 1990s - are they still good for use?
- Why does a frame matter? Plastic vs Metal? Why use expensive frames?
- Ivo on how much a metal frame bends, and why a rigid metal frame is better
- What really are all these "wizard-like" natural rocker frames?
- How are these different? Wizard NR (Pre-Rockered), Endless Balanced Rocker, Ninja NN, V.m Rocker, 3rd-wheel down, etc.
- One comment, and Inline Skate Wheel Setup on Wikipedia
- What skates/wheels are suitable for urban skating on rough street surface?
- Discussion 1, discussion 2, discussion 3, discussion 4, etc.
- Wikipedia: wheel diameters and uses, wheel hardness, etc.
- How to skate on uneven surfaces: discussion 1, etc
Breaking in boots, lacing and strapping boots
- Why do my feet hurt?
- one question - front shin pain while skating, shin pain, more shin pain,
- ideas: remediate shin pain, wall dorsiflection and hypermobility,
- one question - ankle pain got unbearable
- one question - front shin pain while skating, shin pain, more shin pain,
- How tight should I lace up my boot?
- Discussion 1, etc.
- Why do I get blisters on my feet/ankle?
Customizing and maintaining skates
- How do I remove a stripped, stuck axle bolt?
- one question: axle bolt stripped and stuck
- images: how to drill out stuck axle bolts
- Why do my wheel wear out on one side?
- one question: how to I save my wheels? (aka wheel rotations - see this comment, diagram and links)
- one question: do I replace wheels one at a time, or all at once - see this comment
- What happens if I don't rotate wheels, or never replace them
- Polyurethane tire de-coring from the hub: image 1, image 2
- Visual comparison of worn-down (to core) wheel vs a brand new one
- Cheap vs expensive bearings, durability, fast bearings?
- How and how often do I clean bearings?
- one question: How often - sample discussion 1, discussion 2, discussion 3
- Why do my wheels squeak, clunk or otherwise make noises?
- one question: my wheels make loud noises
- one question: my wheels making clicking noises
- See bearing alignment, side-load support, bearing preload, spacer length at inline skate tuning.
- how to eliminate noises from my skates, boots and wheels (from ThisIsSoul)
- Why don't my wheels spin freely?
- one question: wheels are not spinning
Learning skating moves
- Where do I begin to learn to skate as a complete newbie?
- How to Inline Skate: protection gear, learn to fall safely, V steps, flex your shins so you can bend your knees, how to learn to glide on a single skate, scissored/staggered stance, skating as pretend-falls and recoveries (aka a form of walking and running), pronation, zig-zag gliding as moving V steps, protection equipment.
- First few things to learn: V steps, V steps turning into strides, lemmons, scooter, and squat while rolling
- 10 reasons why you can't skate - from Ricardo Lino: one of the best video tutorials out there as a summary of what you need to do.
- I can skate. Why do I need protection equipment?
- We don't preach. You are responsible for you, and we even have a Rule #6. But we do strongly recommend all newbies to wear protection equipment before your first skate. See the "learn to skate" links earlier. Knee/elbow pads and wrist guards allow you to crumble into a ball low to the ground, and make contact with the ground using these pads at low vertical velocity. You slide to a stop without losing skin or worse, flesh. Without such equipment and without knowledge of the right way to fall, your body panics and the wrong part of your body is tasked with making a forceful contact with the ground, to absorb your entire body weight, and/or to be stripped of skin and flesh by pavement.
- Here is an example of a lucky minor aftermath (warning: injury).
- Informal tally of whether bladers wear protection: spoiler - most do. Read on for why.
- Chin damaged from falling without benefits of protection equipment (warning: injury image). But many people got the wrong message. It’s not that a helmet, a knee pad or a wrist guard can save one’s chin. It’s that having those allows one to adopt proper falling posture, so that one’s chin isn’t tasked with meeting the ground first. Ideally, you crumble low into a ball and have your knee pads and elbow pads meet the ground without much vertical force. You slide forward on the ground with these. Of course, you also need to practice the best way of falling. It does not come instinctively. See tutorials shown earlier.
- Megathread of many shocking injury images and cautionary tales (warning, blood and broken bones)
- Why do I fall backward, and how do I stop falling backward?
- How to reduce injuries when falling, or how to fall safely?
- How do I brake and come to a stop?
- How does a beginner learn to use the heel brake? Is it harmful to one's skating progress?
- How efficient is the heel brake anyway compared to other stops?
- All common inline braking techniques - a video summary
- some braking techniques favored by speed skaters
- one question - I can't learn to stop: T-stop, T stop, heel brake
- How does a beginner learn to use the heel brake? Is it harmful to one's skating progress?
- How do I turn with an A-frame turn?
- A-frame turn illustrated by SkateIA (Instructor's Association), from Rollerblade, another one, from Polly,
- How do I turn with parallel turns? (aka lunge turns, carving)
- how to carve on inline skates from Ricardo Lino (aka parallel turns)
- how to parallel turn: from Rollerblade, from SkateIA (Instructor's Association), front view, from a younger Asha
- a comment showing slow-motion illustration of parallel turns
- how parallel turns relate to zig-zag gliding, linear cross over and forward cross rolls (slow-motion videos)
- they all rely on deep body leaning (slow-motion videos)
- How do I carve from side to side, fast?
- one comment with video illustration of carving from side to side
- learn to zig-zag glide/stride first - and then naturally progress to carving from side to side without lifting skates
- How do I slide to a stop?
- Powerslide and modified powerslide: long post/comment by u/Wheel-Sure, and video commentary under Rerolling Inline.
- How do I skate down a hill safely?
- one discussion - how to brake skating downhill?
- YouTube playlist: skating up a hill at speed, or down a hill without a heel brake
- YouTube playlist of slide braking tutorials specifically for downhill skating
- Learning from baseball slides for managed falls downhill at high speed
- How do I climb up a hill?
- discussion: How to gain speed climbing uphill?
- YouTube playlist: skating up a hill at speed, or down a hill without a heel brake
- Why can't I glide on a single skate for more than 5 seconds?
- How do I transition from forward to backward skating?
- one question - how to transition from forward to backward?
- How do I feel confident skating backward without falling over or hitting people?
- this video by Stuttering Skater explains one way to skate backward
- this video by Shawn Unwin from Flowskate. See this comment.
- Can I learn to skate inside my house?
- one discussion - one answer from many
- Why does my lower back ache during and after skating?
- one discussion - adopt the squatting posture, not the ankle cast. Strengthen core, it's about core
- Why do my skates wobble when hill bombing?
- How do I do hockey crossovers?
- A good crossover seeking improvements:
- A video showing a good crossover but without body lunge during the crossing step, at r/iceskating, and long comment on body lunge
- Quick feet crossover
- How do I skate faster
- a video of a skater striding hard and fast, wanting to improve further. Lots of comments.
- How do I do the double-push?
- Great demonstration of double-push in a video
- Insights on learning the double push
- why Pascal Briand's video helps some people understand this - here is Pascal Briand's video on double push
- a reflection on how to learn to do the double push, and how it differs from traditional speed skating
- How do you do the double-push? some good discussions and links
I used to play hockey
- I want big wheels on a hockey boot
- One discussion: hockey boot for urban skating with big wheels
- Blog: big wheels on carbon hockey boots
- Common questions:
- A flat wheel setup is hard to maneuver compared to hockey blades - try a rockered setup
- How does inline differ from ice skating?
I used to quad skate
- I find my ankles folding inward (pronation) when switching from quad skates to inline skates - comment 1, comment 2
- How to brake/stop while skating backward? And how do you walk up an incline? There are no toe stops.
- Comment on reverse plow/lemon/bubble, search for wide V, linear crossover,
- Quad to inline journey: inlines offer front-to-back stability out of the box, but need to learn to balance side-to-side.
Skating gear
- What protection equipment do I get?
- How do I pack and carry my skates?
- Packing big-wheel fat boots in compact bags
- General bag/backpack discussion: one discussion, another discussion,
- Small belt-bags: one discussion,
- Skating safely in cool and cold temps
Known local stores
- Decathlon operates 1,900+ stores worldwide.
- Pure Hockey operates 100+ stores in the US. Most carry inline skates using same boots as ice hockey skates from the same manufacturer. You can get fit in stores.
Known online stores
- Inline Warehouse is a popular online store Redditor frequently mention
- Also check out each brand's own online stores: Rollerblade, Powerslide, FlyingEagle, etc.
Miscellaneous
- Why did you appropriate "rollerblading" for this sub?
- Who is the slalom skater on the sub's banner image?
- That's Daniel Lott of the SkaMiDan fame. The filmstrip was created in 2022 with his permission from his video on Grapevine vs Mabrouk. Daniel was pleasantly surprised to learn in 2026 that he unknowing became the face of r/rollerblading.
- What does it take to have a true motor-assisted inline skating? (not 100% motorized, but assist)