CommodoreColt

Those glove back rolls and graphics jump out at me as very Vapor-like. Might just be the tight framing of the photos the resemblance was uncanny at first glance.

I'm a size 6.5 and I've always seen the all 80mm setup as a disadvantage to my skating because the wheelbase is too long for my foot length. Too much of the front wheel is ahead of my toe, too much of the rear wheel is behind my heel, and that makes turning just brutal. That's not an equal tradeoff of top speed for me. With good bearings I'm just as fast on a junior Hum'er chassis so I'm not missing out on much. Personally I'll take a hit on my top-end speed to gain agility and lateral quickness. Basically if I'm ever going full-burn straight ahead it's usually because I did something wrong in positioning anyway. For a player like me it's a good design choice. Maybe that's Alkali's reasoning, maybe it's not. Either way it's good to see them paying attention to the length of the wheel base for smaller senior sizes.

I understand, I don't think anyone would disagree with supporting a growing industry. The comment about supporting roller hockey just kind of came out of left field and I was trying to figure out what made you mention it. No worries.

I'm genuinely curious about what's being implied here because I don't know much about the inline industry outside of what I get from consumer marketing. Do you mean that Sprung has been adversarial or uncooperative to roller hockey in some way? I'm not interested in other people's conjectural opinions about this, I'm just trying to get some context for what this comment means. No fights here.

I've skated on a pair of conversions that has a molded outsole for over a year without any problems to date. It has to be mentioned that while I'm a pretty strong skater and I really stress them out, I'm not heavy at all, weighting around 135 lbs. The mileage of a heavier skater is likely worse with a molded outsole. I'd say try skating in a store-bought pair with molded outsoles and pay attention to whether or not you are able to visibly flex the outsole as you shift your weight on the skate. Best to make a decision for your particular case.

Thanks for that link. I've held Vanguards of both materials in my hands side by side for comparison, and while the mg chassis was slightly lighter, it wasn't an impressive difference. I'll research more and post back here when I'm not as busy with school work, but I've been reading around automotive and bicycle forum posts about magnesium components for some anecdotal wisdom on the topic. Generally, I'm finding that weight and strength vs. aluminum depends on the alloy and the mass of the component. For things like gearbox casings and wheels, which are relatively high mass, the weight difference is significant enough to contribute greatly to performance. For smaller components, the weight difference is practically negligible.

That's interesting. What is the benefit of rigidity? Do you use the term "rigidity" to mean "more resistant to being ruined by impact"? To me that seems plausible, but I am not an engineer. My layman's conjecture is that magnesium is brittle, but can take a more abuse than aluminum before cracking. I'd like to hear a knowledgeable voice on that.

Once I got into the habit of showering before each skate, my bag became a much nicer place. The poster above who noted that most of the bacteria comes from your skin is probably right. Washing my hair (quite a mane, by the way) before each skate is probably responsible for not only not having sweat-stung eyes in a long time, but the uncommon longevity of the memory foam pads in my V10. I'm definitely an advocate for having a routine of drying equipment. I mixed up a bottle of water/alcohol spray but honestly it hardly needs to be used.