older TUUK rockerable chassis

[gman 0]

A friend of mine is going to give me a smoking deal on an old pair of Bauer inlines with older vintage TUUK rockerable chassi's. The TUUK's are silver for the main part of the frame and black or a dark brown for the part that actually rockers. Does anyone recognize this description? If so, can anyone tell me what era they may be, what material they may be made of, and most importantly, what size wheels can they hold? It looks like they can for sure hold 72mm, but what about 76mm or even 80mm.

Thanks in advance.

[althoma1 574]

Sounds like the Aluminum Rocker Chassis that was used on the Bauer Vapors in about 2000-2001. I have a pair of those. They take 76mm and 72mm wheels. You can read about the different wheel setups here: Smart Hockey Website

[jcp2 2]

Are they bigger than a 5.5? The junior holders use a 68/72mm combination and the senior holders use a 72mm/76mm combination. I think yours are the first generation ones, with the main part (grey) being aluminum and the rocker (black) being plastic. I have the second generation all-black (all plastic "composite") ones. Check out the Smarthockey webpage for the different combos for the different ice hockey rocker equivalents. They're pretty heavy, and putting in micro bearing wheels is almost impossible, because the proprietary Bauer axles are just a teeny bit thicker than "standard".

Oops, athoma1 beat me to it.

[gman 0]

Thank you very much for the info and the links.

I just looked at the smarthockey website. It suggests , for example, putting a 72mm at the second position from the toe to increase turning radius. I can intuitively understand how making the heel or toe wheel smaller will affect turning radius, but how does a wheel in the middle affect it? It seems like I would just be skating on three wheels instead of four but with the same long wheelbase.... I am sure I am missing something obvious.

Can anyone explain?

[Crazy legs 0]

I'll try... Your always only gonna be on three wheels....be it the first three or the last three... If the second wheel(From the toe) is a 72mm and the first and third are 76mmm you'll get a wider turning radius, cause only those three will make contact with the floor... so you'll basically end up with a flat frame set-up... hope it makes sense, if not someone more eloquent can try

[jcp2 2]

The center "rocker" part pivots and is also not symmetrical front to back, so changing the wheel sizes in the center will change the amount of pivot that will happen before the front or back wheels touch the ground. Also, when you're actually turning with the skate at an angle, the moving pivot makes the wheels want to travel in a circular path rather than a straight path, and you can get around a bit quicker. It feels really weird compared to a regular frame at first, but closer to skating on ice hockey skates. I'd try them out first before you buy them. I like mine, but I don't play in them. I use them for skating and stickhandling on the street in front of my house in lieu of sticks and pucks at the local rink.

[gman 0]

Thanks to both of you. That does make it make sense. I knew I was missing something fundamental.

[Ron 0]

there were 3 versions of the rocker available as far as i know

1. aluminum main, with aluminum rocker portion. available on vapor 6 and vapor 8

2. aluminum main, with plastic composite rocker. available on lower end skates

then a year or 2 later, they were made only with a plastic composite main coupled with a plastic composite rocker. to 'reduce weight', but in actuality to reduce costs. they appeared only on lower end skates, but this chassis did find its way on a version of nike's quest 1 skates.

i liked my rocker frames with 76mm wheels all the way across

[gman 0]

1. aluminum main, with aluminum rocker portion. available on vapor 6 and vapor 8

Were/are the all aluminum ones all silver or sliver main with a dark colored main? When I contacted smart hockey they said to put in a 3x76 with a 72 in the #2 from the toe spot. THey said that gives a 11+1 turning radius. I am not entirely sure which way I'll go. The deal is so good I think I am going to grab them either way and then deal with the wheel issue later. From the website, it looks like if you run 76's on front and back and 72's in the center two spots to give a fixed frame feel.

I am going to ask later about baking used skates and whether it does any good or do I just need do deal with how they fit when I get them....

[psulion22 402]

These are the best chassis ever if you play ice hockey. They are designed so that your roller stride is much closer to your ice stride as far as feel and push off. It is really a noticable difference. When I need new skates, I buy new ice and convert my old ice to roller with these chassis, so i have 2 pair with this on it now, and I've had 3 others in the past. Right now, I have extra pair in my closet, just in case they break, since they are hard to find now. Anyway, if you do play ice, set the wheels to match the radius for your brand of ice skates. I wear Nike with a Tuuk LS runner on it, and the matching setup is 72-76-2-6 from front to back. If not, look at the chart and find the roller set ups (the top 3). They are good chassis, and yes they are a little heavier than say, the new Hum'r. But, the similarity to my ice stride makes up for the weight in my mind.

Oh yeah, baking will make a difference, but wear them a few times first, and get new footbeds because they don't go in the oven, and will already be formed to your friend's feet. It will help a lot.

[JR Boucicaut 3760]

We skated those in college. Our team was Bauer-sponsored. I definitely need to pick up a pair and put them on one of my S500s.

[psulion22 402]

Here's a special:

Rocker Chassis - $10

great deal, I might have to pick up ANOTHER set. The Bauer Vapor 8 pants rock too! I have had only 2 pair over the last 5 years when other brands like Mission and Hyper last only 6 months max.

[gman 0]

Oh yeah, baking will make a difference, but wear them a few times first, and get new footbeds because they don't go in the oven, and will already be formed to your friend's feet.  It will help a lot.

Great, I will skate them a few times and then plan on baking them. As far as a new footbed, what do you recommend? Will any sporting goods store one work okay, or am I confusing "footbed" with "insert"?

EDIT: I think I have a few new unused inserts from older running shoes. Might those be adequate?

[psulion22 402]

Great, I will skate them a few times and then plan on baking them.  As far as a new footbed, what do you recommend?  Will any sporting goods store one work okay, or am I confusing "footbed" with "insert"?

EDIT:  I think I have a few new unused inserts from older running shoes.  Might those be adequate?

The footbed should actually come out and be replaced, not just a foam insole, like Dr Scholl's, put in. Some of the sport ones they sell might be a decent replacement, but I would go with a hockey specific one. I have the Shock Doctor ones in my V-12s, they came for free when I bought the skates. The description says they reduce leg fatigue, which I guess helps a little, but they are stiffer then the stock ones They are great now, but they were very painful while they were breaking in, which took like 5 games. Ha, I guess I'm an idiot, I didn't read about them when they came. It says they can be baked with your skates. I bet that would have helped, oh well.

Shock Doctor footbeds

[sdh 0]

any issues going back to ice from these tuuk rocker chassis? I know I can't stand the flat/tall feeling of roller hockey skates I've tried in the past.

[gman 0]

Well, it turns out they are Vapor 6's and the TUUK's are all aluminum. They fit very well and I am completely stoked. I put in a new footbed that does not have the other guy's imprints and I may do the hair dryer bake tomorrow. Skated today with them for a couple of hours and they actually felt pretty good. Maybe I wont bake them afterall. It might make feel kind of whimpy to bake these after I broke in my 9500's the old fashioned way.

[psulion22 402]

any issues going back to ice from these tuuk rocker chassis? I know I can't stand the flat/tall feeling of roller hockey skates I've tried in the past.

I don't notice much of one. It's why these were designed. They mirror your ice stride much more closely by moving your push-off point from the front wheel to the balls of your feet like in ice. Also, they feel much lower than traditional hi/lo chassis. I don't think they are a lot lower though, they just skate that way. Plus, by altering the wheel configuration, you can match the rocker you have on your ice skates, based on brand - tuuk, pro-lite. etc.