Goalie Wheels

[Shtrsdad 0]

Guys, I'm coaching an Atom Roller team and have a pretty intense kid playing goal. He's in a traditional boot and the LHS told him that these would be good. In talking with the Mom after yesterdays game, which we won and he was still pissed because had 7 goals against, she's thinking of getting goalie wheels if it'll help his overall play. I have two boys playing indoor roller and have a bunch of surplus 82A/84A wheels and I'm sure I have 8 smaller (58's? gotta check the inventory).

I seem to recall that the goalie sets that I have seen are 8 wheels of one size. I suspect those must be specifically for goalie skates.

Let's get to the question....

As long as I have a set of wheels that are smaller and have the appropriate differential for the holder (don't recall if he has one-ups or hi-lo, is it just the size, small and as such closer to the floor, and hardness that are more critical? I'm thinking the properties that are desired have more to do with the lateral movement (or sliding) than the sticking that an offensive player needs for turns etc as well as getting the bootom of the pads closer to the floor. Ultimately, I know it'll end up a personal preference thing, but this kid is 10 and I'm not all that well versed in this goalie wheel thing. Neither of my boys show defesive tendencies so this goalie thing is a little new to me. Roller wise at least. We play on out of season ice rinks, so the surface is smooth, VERY DUSTY concrete.

Any guidance is appreciated

Thanks in advance.

B

[nummer55 10]

It is tricky to use small wheels in a non straight chassis.

Goalie wheels come in 47mm and 59mm which won't work in a HiLo, Vanguard or TriDi setup.

Especially on smooth dusty concrete you want grip, 74a/76a. If you want to push out laterally you need all the grip you can get.

For a senior, if one has HiLos for instance (80-80-72-72) and you want to use smaller wheels you need that 8mm difference because the back 2 wheels are 4mm higher then the front 2 wheels. Most wheels come in 59, 68, 72, 76 and 80. Your smallest setup would be 68-68-59-59, but because of the 9mm difference in stead of 8mm, you would feel a slight rocker between wheel 2 & 3.

[Bender 0]

If he's in a junior skate, then what ever wheels are on it will probably be as small as you'll be able to find (unless it's a flat frame), otherwise if it's a small senior frame there are a few wheels that you can find in 64mm, so if it's a traditional hi-lo you could run 64-64-72-72 or 64-64-68-68/68-68-72-72 for a vangaurd.

Personally I disagree with nummer, I use to play as a goalie on sport court as well as painted (epoxy? I'm really not sure) concrete, most of the time with a nice layer of dust, I always pretty much always used 84a hardness for the reason that they DIDN'T grip very much, I always found that if I forgot to change my wheels over from 76/74 hardness wheels for playing in the net, when I'd try to move round the wheels would catch some grip hindering my movement. Mind you I probably didn't have the best technique, and I was using full size wheels on a hi-lo (means larger contact patch with the floor against say smaller softer wheels...)

Hopefully this has in some small way helped...

[nummer55 10]

I'm not a goalie, so I was speaking in theory. It's all personal preference in the end. I see goalies on full size soft wheels and on small aggressive (90a+) wheels. The 'regular' goalie wheels from hockey wheel manufacturers are all soft (74a/76a) and in 47mm or 59mm. Be careful with wheels designed for aggressive skating, since they have a more square profile.