Inline Hockey Skates

truck-a-sauras

I'm getting back into playing into roller hockey in a league. I have skates, but the chassis are bent, one skate can only get 3 wheels in there now, they are on the way out.

Since I've been out of the game so long and haven't bought skates in nearly 10 years I have no clue what is good any more. Can you guys help me find some decent skates to go test out?

I'm looking for something in the $200 - 350 range. They must be a hockey style skate also, so please nothing with those horrible brakes on the back.

I've been looking around HockeyGiant's website and another I found was rollerhockeymonkey. Any other sites with a good variety of skates? I am planning to go and try some out in person in the store and get my appropriate size and fit. Also if I'm lucky any suggestions here may be in store for me to touch and feel in person. From there I'm looking for a possible online purchase as prices can be much better.

Here as some early candidates I have found

http://www.hockeygiant.com/trcblt99hsktsr.html
I see the comments about the wheels suck, but that does not matter as wheels constantly get replaced. I am more focused on the boot, chassis, and bearings being good

http://www.hockeygiant.com/misprtvsisktsr.html

http://www.inlinewarehouse.com/descpage-RHV089.html

Evil_Reaver

I have had some CCM Vector 6.0 skates for about a year now and they have held up pretty well.

Linky

They come standard with Rink Rat wheels (76A) and has a "kind of" rockered chassis with the wheels being sized (front to back) 72mm, 76mm, 76mm, 78mm (if I remember correctly).

It looks like that line may be discontinued soon, so you could even get the Vector 8 skates and still be within your budget.

Also, www.discounthockey.com is a great site for hockey stuff. They're in Los Angeles, though, so it would take longer for gear to get to you, but I have never had a problem with them.

Edit: Forgot to mention that CCM skates tend to fit better for people who have wide feet. Missions are much narrower in the foot, so I'd stay away from them if you have wide feet. Tours fit a lot like CCM skates. Also, sizing is weird for hockey skates. You're generally going to go down about a size, so if you're a 10.5 shoe size, you're going to need to get 9.5 skates.

Obviously you're going to want to try these on somewhere before you buy them.

truck-a-sauras

Evil. the skates with the different size wheels do you find you like them better than the old style of wheels all being the same size?

how much of a bitch is it to shop for wheels when it comes time to replace?

The way things look so far in my search it looks like the diff wheel sizes is the norm now so I'll probably go that route anyway. Just been out of the game for too long, feel like an old fart having to learn all the intricacies of this again.

Not to mention the other equipment I have to pick up: helmet, new gloves, possibly a stick as the one I have now sucks and is near death.

the league I'm joining requires just the bare minimum on equipment (helmet, gloves, shin guards) everything else is optional. Would you pick up any other gear in addition to this? Like a girdle, those MC Hammer roller hockey pants?

Evil_Reaver

truck-a-sauras wrote: »

Evil. the skates with the different size wheels do you find you like them better than the old style of wheels all being the same size?

This is literally the second pair of inline hockey skates I have ever owned. The CCMs replaced a pair of Nike skates that I had for probably 10 years. The Nikes had the traditional chassis where all the wheels were the same size. Honestly, I like the [small, medium, medium, large] rocker format. The large wheels in the back make it easier to stop and the small front wheels make it easier to turn. I also find that I'm a lot faster on this set up, although it might have been due to just having new skates.

truck-a-sauras wrote: »

how much of a bitch is it to shop for wheels when it comes time to replace?

I didn't have to start changing out wheels until two seasons ago when my rink resurfaced their floor with some crazy ass paint that tears up wheels.

Backstory:

I played two seasons in Los Angeles on outdoor drinks that had concrete surfaces. I never had to change wheels or rotate or anything. Then I moved to Kansas City and have played three seasons on an indoor rink and my wheels have been torn up to shit.

Really it's not a big deal to replace wheels because just about every online retailer sells individual wheels. My rink sells individual wheels too, so I can stock up on different sizes as needed. I've flat out broken off chunks of my front wheels and only cracked my back wheels; the middle wheels have been fine so far.

truck-a-sauras wrote: »

The way things look so far in my search it looks like the diff wheel sizes is the norm now so I'll probably go that route anyway. Just been out of the game for too long, feel like an old fart having to learn all the intricacies of this again.

You'll pick it up again I took 4 years off before moving to LA and could barely handle the puck when I started playing but I'm a goal scoring machine now that I've had time to get my hands and feet back.

truck-a-sauras wrote: »

Not to mention the other equipment I have to pick up: helmet, new gloves, possibly a stick as the one I have now sucks and is near death.

the league I'm joining requires just the bare minimum on equipment (helmet, gloves, shin guards) everything else is optional. Would you pick up any other gear in addition to this? Like a girdle, those MC Hammer roller hockey pants?

My set up is:

- Helmet with wire face cage. A lot of folks complain about the grill blocking their vision but you learn to see past it. Plus, I have a weird tendency to get hit in the face a lot with sticks/pucks.
- Elbow pads that cover my forearms.
- Gloves.
- Inline hockey girdle w/ cup. (Linky)
- Inline hockey pants. You size these for length, not your waist. Mine are a medium but could honestly fit a 40 inch waist. You just synch them up real tight when you put them on. (Linky)
- Shin/knee pads.
- Skates (obviously).

I've never spent a lot of money buying the most expensive stuff. My skates are the most expensive equipment I own, but I bought them before they went on sale ($200 I believe). I don't replace equipment until it starts cracking, so my elbow pads and shin pads are probably 8 years old at this point. Gloves get replaced when the palms start to deteriorate.

I noticed that you aren't required to wear elbow pads. A lot of guys in my league forgo elbow pads but I won't get caught without them. I fell on my elbow one time, which caused it to swell up to the size of a baseball, and it took months for it to heal. So yeah, I strongly recommend that you wear them. Also, get the kind that cover your forearms because the extra padding will help prevent injuries from being hooked/slashed.

Sticks are another story. I use a composite shaft with replaceable blades since I break 2-3 blades a season. My slapshots aren't as strong, but I'm willing to give up shot speed for spending less cash on sticks. I've never understood the mentality of spending $150-$200 on one stick that can't be fixed if it breaks.

Edit: Added some links.

truck-a-sauras

thanks for all the help

Laonar

I would check out Mission and Tour websites. The best inline skates our there hands downcome from these guys. Check out these sites. For sticks it depends what kind of player you are. Harder sticks are for slapping, flexible are more for wristing. You get the idea. Sticks are funny because they have to feel right for you, even down to the curve of the blade. For instance I cut the toe of my stick to make it more square for toe drags and nifty dekes.

As far as sticks breaking. If you buy a full composite stick(one piece) The good thing is depending where it breaks you can cut off the blade and slap a blade inside it. Most are hollow inside. I have been lucky and use the same stick for 4 years though. Bauer Vapor 4.

www.hockeymonkey.com
www.hockeyworld.com

Those skates you linked are fantastic skates I highly recomend them. I was lucky I got to play with some of the USA best roller hockey players where I live. I actually bought my 2nd pair of skates from one of them for $200 bucks. They were prototypes custom made for him, only two pairs in the world. That was pretty cool. Playing with these guys was an unbelievable experience. I played on the Professional team, in the juniors below them. Was a lot of fun. Roller hockey is so fast paced and a lot of neat different things about it.

Laonar

Oh forgot to add, the rocker system for blades is to give you a natural feel of walking/running. It helps with acceleration and overall speed. You walk on the balls of your feet to your toes. So thats what the rocker does.

truck-a-sauras

went and paid up my league dues today and hit the pro shop there. I got to try on the Tour Cobalt 9.9's and a few others (Mission, CCM's). I wound up buying the Tour pair. They are extremely stiff right now, but a perfect fit. When they break in they'll be really amazing.

Surprisingly they don't have that rocker system and all one set wheel size. I didn't intentionally get them for that, but that works out. That link above listed them at $329 and since I paid my season fees in full and was buying some other stuff I got them for about $275. Got a pair of $100 gloves for like 60 and a pair of those silly MC Hammer pants for the hell of it.

The shop buys lots of equipment in bulk as they do the purchasing for some surrounding college teams so that is why I got stuff on the cheap. Always nice when you do a little shopping around before hand and find a decent deal like this. I like knowing I'm not getting a BS sales pitch on a supposed "deal". Sure I may have been able to find the skates cheaper elsewhere if I kept searching and waited for a coupon or clearance thing, but I'm happy seeing those skates posted on several sites all at the same price and getting in well under that.

Now all I really have left is to get a helmet, which the league guy says he is getting a massive shipment in later this week, so we'll see what deal I can wrangle there.

Found I still have a serviceable $15 Kovalchuk stick lying around for now. Not sure if I want to get a fancy shaft and replaceable blades. 4 years using the same stick huh? What flex rating is that? Even though I used to mainly play in parking lots and chew through sticks fast, I can still feel that I may chew quickly through the sticks in rink setting also. I'm pretty rough on these things. Play D mostly and see a bunch of slappers.

My favorite stick all time was another cheap POS, but it had a metal nail driven from the blade directly into the shaft. After a bit of wear the metal was exposed, every slapper on a concrete surface would cause a spark. That led to me screaming LASER! every shot. Night games were always funny as the sparks were extremely bright. The rampant stupidity never got old. All sticks could be contructed like this, but I've only ever seen that exposed nail that one time.

Evil_Reaver

It sounds like you picked up some good gear for reasonable prices. I really hate how expensive hockey equipment is but you can get great deals if you know where to look. The Tour skates I tried on fit really well and were the same price as the CCM skates that I wound up buying. I think I went with CCM because the boot was a little more sturdy and CCM has been in the hockey market since forever. I think you're going to be happy with those skates, though.

Did you buy an inline hockey girdle to go under the pants? I used to just wear the pants but got tired if being bruised up from blocking shots with no padding to weaken the impact. They really don't impair your movement at all and actually gave me a little more confidence to put my body between the puck and the net when necessary.

truck-a-sauras

nah I held off on the girdle for now. I was speaking with the league manager about it for a bit and his consensus was pretty much what you are saying. Play a few games and see how it goes. You end up blocking some shots or getting bruised up, then go for it, but not everyone has that play style. so some need it some don't. I'll go with the wait and see also here.

I'm starting in the lowest skill level of the league as I've been out of the game for so long. Until I get to play it is hard to know what to expect skill wise. I've been some places where the low tiers the people could barely skate. He claims this isn't the case here, but we'll see. Also I can't truly evaluate my own level as I haven't played competitively in a while. While I'm not the most elite skater and still have some issues crossing over while going backwards I can hold my own.

I'm more afraid of making an ass of myself on these new skates. They have Abec 9 bearings in there and just from trying them on and shuffling around I can feel how fast they are. It is a level of speed I have never experienced in a skate before. Hope I can handle it

Evil_Reaver

I've always been the kind of defender that will do the "playoff diving" type slides across the floor to stop a shot. Yes, it hurts every single time, but I've built up a reputation in my league for being a good defender because I'm crazy like that. The girdle has definitely cut down on the amount of bruises I come home with from diving on the floor and taking pucks off random parts of my body.

The hockey stop was the hardest thing for me to get used to again when I came back from my break. Skating was easy but stopping hard/fast was weird for a little bit.

Talking about playing is making me really excited for my league to start on Sunday. Too bad we can't get together for a pickup game.

Laonar

Hockey stop is so different than the ice hockey stop too. I was out a couple months on my league due to chest infection and skating every two steps caused me to cough for about 3 hours. I cant wait to get back also.

The stiffness on my stick is 100 I beliece. I broke blades on it but never the shaft itself. Ilove that stick.