Stealth Skates

(I was going to put pictures with this post, but don't have any on hand. And I'm too lazy to get out my camera.  Eventually I will get around to it. Enjoy.)

I bought a pair of roller skates a few years back, for my birthday.  An E-Bay steal at $25.  New, vintage, "space-age" plastic.  They were found in an old skating rink, still in the box (which disintegrated upon arrival).  Bright blue with yellow stripes and wheels.  They were exactly what I expected.

Years ago, back in NoCal, I had wanted to join the roller derby.  The only "skating rink" was a community center in Blue Lake, on the basketball court.  40 miles seemed a bit far to drive several times a week.  If only I had known then that every time I moved, the distance would get farther.

(A few weeks ago we found that Northern Virginia had a new-ish league, so we went to a bout.  Booty Camp starts next month!  Read all about it on K's blog, Gears & Such, pics and all.)

So, I've been reading up on skate maintenance online, because I cannot find a book.  I took off the wheels, and pulled out the bearings to see what they looked like.  They looked rusty.  Very rusty.  Rusty enough, that when I put them back in the wheel, it would no longer spin.  Oops.

Well, I had been wanting softer, bigger wheels anyway, since I'm only rolling in parking lots, so I found a deal at Sin City Skates that included 8 wheels and 16 bearings.  Radar Zens.  They came recommended by my brother-in-law, and probably his derby-playin' girlfriend.  The only disappointing aspect of this purchase, was that the shipping cost almost as much as the skates.  To ease my mind, however, they did arrive the next day.

These wheels are much wider than the original ones.  The nuts did not want to screw down very far.  They felt tight, like they didn't want to spin very fast, but I didn't want them falling off either.  I brought a socket to our skating session, just in case they needed to be loosened.

The most awesome part was not the super comfy ride on the softer wheels, but that the new bearings were completely silent.  Roller skates and skate boards have a very distinctive sound.   I thought it was because they have hard wheels, not inflated tires, like bicycles.  I was wrong.  It's the bearings.

It turned out that I did not need to loosen the wheels.  They are very, very slick.  Slick enough that I managed to fall on my butt while standing still.  Thankfully my wrist guards had arrived too.  But my poor right elbow got the brunt of it.  Not too bad of a bruise, and really no road rash, but a week later  it still hurt a bit when I bent and straightened it.  Next purchase, elbow pads and better toe stops.  I've been leaving my stops all over the parking lots.  They are not going to last long. They leave a thick, yellow, chalk-like smudge.  Maybe I should try writing something?

Update: Replaced the toe stops.  Apparently new skates are 'standard sized' and mine are not.  I could only find one pair of stops that had a removable bolt, and then I could only find wholesalers.  Haven't tried them out yet.  They are quite a bit larger than the old ones, and I needed to find new bolts.  The guy at Home Despot tried to sell me a hex bolt, "the only one that will work", but upon further inspection, I found one that needs an allen wrench instead (something I can fit in the hole).  If these $4 bolts work, it may help put off buying a several-hundred-dollar pair of skates a bit longer.  Though now I am certain the upgrades to my skates cost more than the original skates.