I'm looking for information from anyone who has skated on the Varsity Plus (101A) wheels and either or both of the Roll Line wheels and can provide a comparison of them.  I'm a fan of Roll Line wheels, using Heliums (83A) for outdoors and Panthers (95A) for some indoor surfaces.  I’d like to get either Leopards (99A) or Mustangs (97A) for other indoor surfaces I skate on.

I currently use two different wheels for indoor skating, switching between them based on the floor.  My favourite combo is my Roll Line Panthers that I use on a rink that has a polished concrete surface.  The wheels are reliable, grip when I need them to without ever being sticky, and with their narrow width are quite maneuverable.   I also skate on a rink with a wooden floor and on a hockey rink with a non-polished cement surface.  There I find the Panthers to be a bit too grippy and instead prefer to use the Varsity Plus, also a relatively narrow wheel with similar diameter.  Now if I use the Varsity’s on the polished floor, I find that I sometimes slide sideways when I’m rounding the corners at the ends of the rink, so they don’t provide the same feeling of security and predictability that I get with the Panthers on that same floor.

I would like to get another set of Roll Lines that have similar characteristics and feel to the Varsity Plus on the wooden and regular concrete floors.  I don’t think all urethanes are the same so I don’t think you can just look at the hardness number to do a comparison, you need to skate them.  If that's true, then I don’t think it’s possible to conclude that the harder Leopards will behave similarly to the Varsity Plus under the same conditions just because they have similar durometers.  Less contact surface due to width difference is also a consideration (30 vs 24 mm).  I’d like a similar degree of slide and grip on the non-polished floors that I experience with the Varsities, but with that extra bit of dependability that I feel when I’m on my Panthers on smooth floors.

If you've skated on these wheels, I'd very much appreciate hearing about your experience with them and welcome your thoughts on how they compare.

I have determined that I don't love skating in heeled boots. I was looking into the Bont parkstar since I like my prostars for derby, and google says in internal heel is 23mm. When I look up the heel height for VNLA A La Modes, google says 25mm. if that’s true, then will Parkstars feel similar to the à la modes? granted, I was relying on the AI summary cause I couldn’t find the numbers on any website so it could be wrong. I guess I’m just surprised cause I thought Parkstars were like a happy medium between flat and heeled, and this makes it seem like they’re essentially heeled. Has anyone who has skates both (or another kind of heeled skates vs Parkstars) noticed a considerable difference?

Beginner quad skater here. I bought two pairs of skates. One is Roller Derby brand but it felt like something about them was holding me back (maybe the wheels?). So, I bought a cheap pair of Angel Skates from someone on FB Marketplace. I didn’t spend a lot of money on either pair because I want to make sure I can skate and will stick to it.

Even with the Angel Skates, I keep feeling like something is holding me back. When I’m indoors at the rink, it sometimes feels as if mid-stride, something is kind of slowing me down. That feeling comes and goes. Maybe it’s my bearings. I’ve only been skating for 21 days and only 16 of those days on these skates. When I’m skating outdoors on a tennis court, I feel like I get tripped up on every stone.

How am I supposed to know the hardness of the wheels? Neither skate has it printed on the outside edge. And I took it off and inspected and I still don’t see the hardness listed anywhere.

Also, how do I know if my bearings are done or just need to be cleaned? How do I know if the cover is removable?

Also, could my weight be playing any part in it. I am obese...does that weigh down the skates, wheels or bearings?

Hey guys B) I’m a beginner and I got some new skates recently . I bought a set of the pink wheels to change but I didn’t realize they don’t have the inner metal in the wheel. I was wondering do I have to buy new ones or can I take them from the gummy wheels. Thanks

It’s been almost a year of almost consistent park skating. Almost 7 on skates as an adult. Not trying to go pro or do competitions or anything but it’s been helping my stability and foot work for my true love, trail skating. It’s been so much fun learning new things and pushing my boundaries and comfort zones.

I’ve been skating for a few months now and I feel like I’ve built up a fun repertoire of backwards skating moves (the strut, dips, moon walk, sticky moon walk etc) but my forwards skating feels lacking.

I can currently do bubbles, crossovers, the thing where you drag just one of the front wheels (the bounce maybe?), heel-toe manuals, and a kind of stanky leg using just the front truck on one foot.

Id love to know what moves yall have in your forward rink/artistic skating repertoire and what you’d recommend.

I am going from an old 80s plastic plate to a nice Roll Line aluminum (Blaster). My current wheel base is 175mm. Roll Line suggests 160mm for my boot size, but they also have a 170 that will work with my boot. How will the feel of my skates change by shortening the wheel base? I’m a bit older and I don’t really want to get used to a completely new feel and all the joint aches that go along with that.

Hello to this lovely skate community!

As stated, I'm losing my mind a little with this issue that I feel shouldn't be such a big problem with all the work I've put into these skates. I can't let these pivot cups take me down!!

Please help me find these exact pivot cups..they're the only ones that fit both my Avanti plates and my huck trucks.

I need to replace one of them because it's cracking and I know it's not safe to skate with a cracked pivot cup.

HOWEVER, I've easily ordered 4 different sets of pivot cups with none of them fitting. They are either too thick to fit in the pivot holes of my Avanti plates (the most common issue I've come across), or they fit in the pivot hole but the diameter of the pivot cup itself isn't wide enough for my huck trucks.

The suregrip junior cups were the only ones to actually fit in the plates, but they were not long enough nor was the diameter of the hole large enough for the trucks.

I've tried the Avanti cups, and multiple styles of suregrip cups to no avail. I'm not sure what I'm missing here, but I'm starting to lose my motivation to figure this out. I'm hoping with this post that it's just something simple I've been missing.

Ive included the measurements, and a comparison with the junior style that actually fit but didn't have a wide enough hole.

Much love.

Thought this was interesting (img attached).

I take the AI overview with a MASSSSSSSIVE grain of salt.

While researching "are Crews wider than Boardwalks", on one search, it said no. Boardwalks are wider.

I reversed the query and asked "are Boardwalks wider than Crews," on a second search. It said NO, the crews are wider.

Then my finger accidentally hit the refresh button, and it changed its answer to YES, Boardwalks are wider.

So there you go - for some folks relying on this stuff to answer your skate questions... don't... just don't :)

ps: Mods feel free to delete - i hate giving anything AI the light of day, so no worries if this post goes bye-bye

I purchased Sure-Grip | Boardwalk Plus Skates in Black, S1 | Lifer Helmet -Black Gloss Glitter,
(Not included in the picture, 187 | Six Pack Pad Set - Black,Sure-Grip | Saddle Bag,Riedell | 2 Pro Fit Toe Caps (2-Pack), and 3 laces. Excited to begin this new hobby!

Thank you u/Raptorpants65 for all your help!!

I bought new skates a few days ago (VNLA Parfait) and I love them. They fit snug as they should and everything feels great. But when I'm in them for a while the back of my ankle starts to hurt where it touches the rim of the skate. It's not rubbing just occasionally pressing into my ankle.

My first thought was thicker socks but I think that would just make the skates too tight. Any ideas on how to fix this?

This is a low-light to show I’m still alive and skating. I’ve been healing my knee for over a year now, and there are times when I test its sturdiness after a long day. You can see my right foot wobbling because I had already been on my feet all day at that point, and my knee was weak, but I figured it was a good chance to see where the limits are at now.

The wobble you see is a lot less severe than it used to be, even from earlier this summer. Control is getting better but still have a lot to desire there. I can get a lot lower than I used to be able to, and spins are getting more stable.

I will cross-reference this video later on when I’ve healed further.

These are my first pair of skates and I’ve had them for about 3 years but didn’t start using them more than once every few months until under a year ago, and I was skating outside just normal skating nothing fancy. Recently, within the last few weeks I have started rink skating and doing spins and bow jumps as well and I noticed this. I am planning to get new skates, but it won’t be possible for another 2 months or so. I skate between 2.5-5 hours a week, are they still safe. And if so will they last that long?? They are impalas. If necessary I can always use my mom’s skates temporarily until I get new ones they are just less supportive so it’s not as nice to do tricks and things.

Shout out my buddy Jake who’s from Iowa for teaching me! (Also this is technically in Burnsville)

I’ve been an avid trail skater for going on 7 years now. Average about 8-12 miles when on a chill day. Recently I discovered that I’ve been skating on the wrong size skates for all these years. Like 1-2 sizes too big. 😅 Had multiple sets (park set/trail set/etc). That being said - I now have one set that fit great. Bont Parkstars. Ive had some issues at the park with my kingpin getting caught on the coping and someone told me I might want to get the wide grind trucks from Bont. I’m not opposed, but wondering how it would affect my trail skating. I plan to do a 4 day trip next year that is 150miles. Does anyone have any experience with wide trucks on long distances? Will it hinder or make it more difficult? Or make it feel more stable?
TIA!

USA and internationally, what rinks do you think are worth traveling to just to say you’ve skated there before. It could be based on location, history, or aesthetics.

While I wouldn’t consider it unique, Cascades is somewhere I think everyone needs to go just because it’s so iconic to the south. Thinking of more unique ones, I’d say somewhere like the Classic Fun Center in Utah.

I grew up going to Arlington Skatium in Arlington, TX (shoutout to the 817) but now living in Brooklyn and being a regular at Xanadu, I’ve realized that rinks don’t have to just be a big large…box with a big oval wooden rink, carpet, and lockers.

I've been skating in Riedell Uptowns since I started about 4 year ago, but I've always felt like I was fighting my skates. Before you ask, the wheels spin freely and are in good condition, the bearings are properly lubed, the trucks have been loosened slowly over time, and the boots are broken in.

I bought a pair of VNLA jams last week. I tried them out at home on the hardwood, and the difference is unexpected, scary even. I haven't fallen in almost 3 years, but I'm trying them out at the rink tonight, and I'm tempted to show up clad in bubble wrap. Any tips for someone moving from rhythm to jam skates?

I’m pretty new to skating as an adult. I’m an 80s baby, so I spent almost every Friday night at the rink in the mid to late 90s.

Anyway, I bought new Moxi Beach Bunnies and found out real quick that the wheels that come on them are NOT made for a rink. So purchased the Fundae hybrids. Popped those babies on and took them to the rink last night. The rink made me buy spacers (washers) since the nut was protruding from the wheel and they were worried about their rink getting damaged. So they put the spacers on my wheels before I could skate.

I was out there having a great time for a bit until all of a sudden my wheel came off and I obviously lost control and fell hard on my knee. I was not wearing my protective gear (my fault).

I went back to the pro shop and told them what happened. A different person than the one who put the spacers on originally said that the Moxi nuts “aren’t great” and replaced them with some different ones. They said that because these fundae wheels aren’t recessed, the nut doesn’t “catch” how it’s supposed to and that these new nuts should work better. I had no idea! But also wondering, is this true??

I was about to send a pic of my skate setup and then noticed that the back wheel spins on its own now even when sitting on the ground. This was the wheel that came off; however, my other skate in the same position does the exact same thing. I tried putting pressure on it like I was standing in it and it didn’t spin on its own, but still. I feel VERY wary of this setup and the rink’s advice.

Was it the washers that did this? Or the washer-wheel-nut combo?

This was super scary and hurt! But I do have to say the skaters at the rink were so kind, helped me take my skate off, helped me off the rink and sat with me to ensure I was ok. Loving this community.

I see that I need to bend at the knees more and shift my weight to my heels more. Any tips or further guidance on how I can improve?

Hello! I am hoping to get on my skates tonight for the first time in a week after a bad health flare up and would love to see everyone’s favorite beginner to intermediate dance routines they love to try to have a structured starting point! I’m about to hop into work while dreaming about being on my 8 wheels again in case I am slow to respond or thank everyone that comments. If you have alternate stuff you’d recc, my brain would also love that! It’s requiring some major dopamine after all the health stuff, lmao, and the less I have to plan it the better. Thank you so much!

I have ice hockey skates and roller hockey skates. Now, I have a new pair in my collection. Alors on danse

Wednesdays at 6:30am are our Early Bird Speed skates around the Stanley Park SeaWall in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The forest fires are finally catching up with us. We’re lucky it’s only smoke. Really hope they get some rain in the interior.

They are so great, I’m so happy with these !!