Skate Mechanics: Tuning my Skates

This is only my 2nd season playing roller derby, but coming from an automotive racing background, one of the cool parts of derby that I like to tinker with (funds allowing) is skate hardware performance.

Now every skater has their own personal preferences, and its hard to determine what that might be as you're learning because to be honest, your form/skating style changes dramatically one day to the next during the learning period.

As for me, in my 1 year, 3 months as a skater, I am on my second pair of skates, my third bearing swap, and my 4th set of wheels Apparently, I'm hard on equipment. But in all fairness, I skated the heck outta that equipment every chance I got, so it was way above and beyond our normal season practice/bout schedule.

Changing out equipment and their different performance angles is a lot like tuning a car for me. Each component has a different overall effect on performance. Here's some of my experiences to date (your results might vary).

Starter Skate:

RW Outlaw Boot

Radar Tuner Hot Pink (Quik~94A)

Abec 9 bearings (yellow)

This was my first set of starter skates. I was super excited to get them right off the bat. They were fairly inexpensive ($130ish) and were leaps and bounds better than the rentals at the rink. First off, freshmeaties should know that getting your own skates improves your performance like 100,000% over the rentals. Those things are calculated train wrecks for derby. This setup got me out of Freshmeat land and over to scrimmage eligible. We practice on a hardwood rink surface, so grip typically isn't an issue as long as your wheels are kept clean. The boots never gave me blisters or any other discomfort and were extremely well padded. They felt like a cushy pair of sneakers. (incidentally, these are still being worn by my cousin, who has taken up derby in Ohio as well. She changed the wheels out and seems to be doing fine with them)

Bones Bearings:

My first upgrade not long into being scrimmage eligible, was to change the bearings out to Bones Reds Bearings. These are about midway up the bearing totem pole in terms of roll resistance and speed. My first set were used, and I just cleaned and oiled them well, and picked up a ton of speed over the ABEC-9 Yellows that came with my starter skates. These seemed like the most beneficial investment in terms of noticeable skating difference.

After skating in my first few bouts away, I noticed that I had a real issue on the slicker floors. This was when I started really checking into compounds and wheel grip ratings. Most of the DDG's used Radar Flat Outs on the slick polished concrete floors. I also was noticing that the bulk of my skates and the flex of the nylon plates were really making me feel less stable in jamming. I think my skates might've been a tad on the too big side. So, about 6 months into my young skater career, I decided to upgrade to a new skate.

Riedell Vixens

Riedell 165 Boot

Powerdyne Triton Aluminum Plate

ABEC 7 bearings (blue)

Radar Flat Out Black (Grip ~88A)

I bought these from the Riedell vendor at our Rocket City tournament, so I got to try them on while skating the polished concrete surface. The very first thing I discovered, I had to go down 2 sizes, not just one, to get the right, snug fit. Once I put them on, the more pronounced "speed" setup is apparent. You HAVE to skate in a normal skaters stance with these. They also feel a whole lot more secure. But those wheels and bearings? Felt like I was stomping through mud... the Flat Outs had a lot more grip than the tuners, and I took those bearings right out and replaced them with my Reds. That did a whole lot better, but when we started practicing on the hardwood, I had to skate twice as hard to overcome the grip on an already grippy surface.

Radar Mojo Wheels:

After a few months, I had already started noticing wear on the Flat Outs. They indeed worked great on polish concrete, but where as my speed was coming along, I felt I was still lacking in the agility department while jamming, and often tripped on my own wheels trying to shuffle through the pack. I borrowed a set of Radar Mojos, the slimmer (38mm vs 44mm), aluminum hubbed version of the Flat Out. They were heavier, but I felt much more agile in the pack and my juking and lateral cuts dramatically improved. I was sold. I used these for the last half of the season up until now. They've done well, but I still notice I'm slipping a little at high speeds on polished concrete.

Atom Stingers:

Well, this weekend we're headed to play the Oklahoma City Victory Dolls. We were pre-warned that their venue's floor is the slickest that many have ever encountered. My last skate session with Nashville had me stumbling and sliding everywhere, and since I'll be most likely jamming this game, I didn't want to take that chance. I called up Sin City Skates, and spoke to Ivanna. I wanted to keep the narrow 38mm wheel, but wanted to go gripper than the 88A of the Mojo. The Suregrip sugars (85A) and the Radar Shadows (80A) are the only two grippier wheels I could find, and both came in only the wider 66mm sizes. Ivanna then explained that all the Radar wheels went by their own hardness rating (grip, gripper, quick, firm, etc.) The Mojos were actually the equivalent of a 92A in another brand wheel. Same with the Flat Outs. So I decided that a true 88A would probably be the best bet. Ivanna recommended the Atom Stingers, worn by the 2009 National WFTDA champs, the Oly Rollers. Atom is also the official wheel of the WFTDA, so I figured I'd give them a try.

They are on my skates and ready to go, so I'll report back after this weekend and let you know how they do! Wish me luck!