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How To Customize Your Own Roller Skates

Hello Skaters, in today’s article I will be going over how to completely customize a pair of roller skates right for you. 

In this article, I will give you a quick rundown on what you’ll need to make your own customized skates. So stick around if you want to learn about How To Customize Your Own Roller Skates.

Interested in other types of quad roller skates? Check out my article on the Best Roller Skates where I go over all of my top picks.

The Boot

First, you will need to find the right boot for you. 

This means you need to know what style is right for you whether that be a high cuffed boot or a low cuffed boot you have to research which is best for you.

I will go through the pros and cons of both, this also goes for rollerblades, inline skates, and normal quad roller skates. 

High cuffed boots (rollerblades and quad roller skates)

Pros

  • Provides more support
  • Good for more artistic tricks 
  • Good for beginners
  • Can help prevent ankle injuries

Cons

  • Can cause your feet to be super sweaty (ew)
  • Not great for movement (doesn’t allow your feet or ankles to move freely)
  • Can cause blisters on the ankle (Ezeefits can help prevent that)

Low cuffed boots (inlines and quad roller skates)

Pros

  • Good for more experienced skaters
  • Good for jam skaters, speed skaters, and derby skaters
  • Allows your feet to move freely
  • Allows for more advanced tricks

Cons

  • Can cause blisters on the lower ankle area (but if you have Ezeefits that won’t happen)
  • Could cause ankle injuries in inexperienced skaters
  • Tough to break in (feel like a comfortable shoe)

Next, you will have to find the right size for you. Typically all roller skates and that goes for inlines and rollerblades, are in men’s sizing so women go down a size if it says it’s in women sizing then men go up a size. Check out my article on how to size roller skates for more information. It also has several of the manufacturer’s roller skate sizing charts.

The Trucks 

Now the trucks, trucks, and plates are not the same thing although they get confused for each other all the time. 

Trucks attach to the plate which holds on the wheels.

The truck is a piece of metal that holds on the axels on either side of both skates. 

The trucks can be loosened or tighten to help you control your skates better. Typically trucks come with plates. 

The Plates

The roller skate plates are very important as well, they come in two basic types 10-degree and 45-degree plates. 

Plates come with other things like toe stops or jam plugs, light and or heavy plates, adjustable pivots and or non-adjustable pivots, rubber or urethane cushions, and or special mounting.

Now let’s go over the pros and cons of each the basic plate types. 

10-degree plates

Pros

  • Places the skater over the kingpin and the cushions 
  • Allows for a more stable skating position 
  • Allows the skater to feel more comfortable (especially for beginners)
  • Is more vertical less upright

Cons

  • Is less advanced (is for beginners)
  • Doesn’t allow you to change direction quickly (not for artistic skaters or advanced skaters)

45-degree plates

Pros

  • Places the skater over the pivot pin 
  • Creates a more advanced stance (good for artistic skaters) 
  • Allows the skater to quickly change direction 
  • Is more horizontal

Cons

  • Is very sensitive to change in direction (not for beginner skaters) 
  • Is more advanced (not for beginners) 

The Wheels

Finally, come the roller skate wheels. This is by far one of the most important parts of any skate. Wheels are very personalized so you need to know where you are going to be skating. 

Soft wheels are good for outdoor roller skates especially over rocks and other outdoor materials. The wheel durometer refers to the hardness or softness of wheels, the durometer levels for soft outdoor roller skate wheels are from 78A to 88A. 

Hard wheels are good for indoor skating since they are smooth and have less bounce to them. The durometer on indoor roller skate wheels usually fall in the 85A to 103A. 

I will go over the pros and cons of each type of wheel. 

Soft wheels (85A-88A)

Pros

  • Are great for beginners
  • Works well outdoors
  • Is slower which can be good for new skaters
  • Have a better grip than harder wheels

Cons

  • Is slower (which could not be suitable for more advanced skaters who are skating indoors)
  • Are made to be used outdoors

Hard wheels (94A-98A)

Pros

  • Are great for more advanced skaters
  • Works well indoors
  • Is faster which can be good for more advanced skaters

Cons

  • Has less grip than softer wheels
  • Is faster (which could be not suitable for beginner skaters)
  • Are made to be used indoors

How let’s talk about narrow and wide wheels. Narrow wheels are more for beginners because they are easier to steer and wider wheels are more for advanced skaters because they can allow the skater to make faster turns.

Narrow wheels

Pros

  • Are great for beginners
  • Steering is easier

Cons

  • Are slower than wider wheels

Wide wheels

Pros

  • Great for more advanced skaters
  • Have more surface area 
  • Good for making faster turns

Cons

  • More difficult to control ideal for more advanced skaters

The Bearings

Now for the last category on the list are roller skate bearings. As we have said multiple times the only thing that matters about bearings is if they are clean and properly greased. 

But if you want to understand the ABEC levels than keep reading. 

So ABEC is the scale that ball bearings are classified under for roller skates these bearings go from 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. The higher the number the longer your wheels will roll. 

Getting a more expensive pack of bearings is ideal because they will last you longer if you keep them cleaned and greased. 

And that will rap up my article on How To Customize Your Own Roller Skates.

Wrap Up 

How did you like my article on How To Customize Your Own Roller Skates? Is there anything new you learn about in this article, if so leave me a comment down below.  

Want to Learn Even More About Skating?

Want more reviews on roller skates? Check out my Best Roller Skates page for a list of all of the quads I recommend. I also have pages for roller skates for menroller skates for women and roller skates for kids where I recommend the best skates on the market today for each group. Or, check out my roller skates for beginners if you are completely new to roller skating.

Or, if rollerblades or inline skates are more your style, then check out my rollerblades for menrollerblades for women or rollerblades for kids pages. Or, if you are completely new, check out my rollerblades for beginners page.

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Lily Stone

Lily is an avid roller skater who has been skating since the age of 6. She spent several years as a member of the Playland Speed Skate Team in Austin, TX competing in quad speed skating events as a teenager. When Lily is not skating, she enjoys her job as a cosmetologist, cleaning everything and hanging out with her family and friends.

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