Basics

From the outside in-line skating just looks like crazy people with wheels on their feet. Once you get in to it though you realise that it's not so simple. This page gives an overview of the different kinds of skating.

Skate Types

Recreational/Fitness

This is probably the most popular style of in-line skating. Skaters wear recreational skates such as these Hypnos. Points to note are:

• The skate has a brake (highlighted in red).
• The frame (highlighted in blue) is made of plastic.
• The body of the skate is apparently made of fabric. You can't see the embedded stiffening.
• Two types of closure are used. The foot is held in place by laces, the ankle by a velcro strap.
• The wheels are quite large and have a rounded profile.
• The wheels are well spacing, giving the skate quite a long "wheelbase".

This pair of skates have removable frames. The frames clip on the the underside of the boot and are held in place by the level at the back. This can be handy for skating around cities where skating is not allowed in all areas. It does however reduce the rigidity of the skate.

Aggressive

Second most popular? Aggressive skates are specialist items and are unsuitable for general purpose skating. Compare these features to those of the recreational skate above:

• No brake is fitted. Aggressive skates aren't supplied with a brake.
• The frame is very rigid. The walls of the frame are much thicker and it's made of a nylon/fibre composite. (blue highlight) The axles are also set into the frame to protect them from damage.
• The body of the skate looks like fabric. Note the external protective panels (highlighted in red). What you don't see is that these skates have an internal plastic boot. The soft looking outer layer is a skin that can be replaced.
• Three types of closure are used. Laces hold the foot in place, but the ankle closure is a rachet and buckle. The visible velcro strap simply keeps the outer shell closed.
• Perhaps not apparent here is that the wheels are very small and are almost square in profile. They are also much harder wearing.
• The sole of the skate is very wide and fitted with replaceable "grind plates" (highlighted in green). These are tough plastic/kevlar plates attached to the underside of the skate. They allow the skate to slide on the sole. Between the middle wheels is another block to allow the skate to slide along bars and edges sideways.

Freestyle

Yum! My favourite :-) Freestyle skates are somewhere between recreational skates and aggressive skates. Features:

• The frame is aluminium (barely visible in blue highlighting). This flexes less than composite frames during tight turns
• The wheels are close together (compare to the recreational skate), giving a shorter wheelbase which results in better manoeuvrability
• As with recreational skates, the wheels are round in profile. On these skates the wheels are different sizes too. The front pair are 76mm, the rear 80mm. This is designed to facilitates tighter turns. Also, technically, the rear pair start life with an elliptical profile. This reduces contact with the ground and therefore reduces rolling resistance for greater speed. Do these features make any difference? I doubt it.
• The velcro strap angled around the heel ensures that the skaters feet don't slop around inside the skate

Quads

Right, I'm out of depth here 'cause I don't know much about "quads". This is the (new) trendy name for, as far as I know, what are proper roller skates. Please correct me if I've got anything wrong here. Features:

• They have four wheels, but rather than being in-line (in a line) there is one in each corner.
• The wheels have a very square profile. I imagine that if they wear at all then it is uniform across all wheels.
• The trucks (that the wheels are attached to) are not rigidly attached to the skate. This allows the body to tip to some degree, presumably to make cornering possible.
• The brake is at the front of the skate. Skaters generally spin and then stop. Rear brakes are available, but rare I think.
• Closure is generally laces only. (This from looking at sites selling quads. I found a few that use rachet closure too.)