Inline wheel frames/chassis

[mrMechanix 0]

Hi all, I'm Mechanix, I'm new to the site and this is my first post.

I played ice hockey for almost twenty years and won cups, leagues and played for my country at various age levels. It all ended with injury as so many hockey careers do for some reason lol.

My ex teammate and friend has persuaded me to take up roller hockey which is just starting to take off over here. Keep me fit, non contact hockey.. Perfect.

So I bought a set of cheapish Bauer xr2 skates to go try it, and I really enjoyed it, got the bug so to speak. Problem is the skates are sh;t. Feels like im skating on glue and i have blisters :-( so faster comfier boots are required. I have a pair of Bauer supreme 5000 composite ice skates from the late nineties and I intend to put blades on them as they're much more comfortable and more support, plus I broke them in bout 15 years ago.

I've ordered these labeda addiction wheels, which look tasty. And I have mission abec7 bearings there but I'm thinking of ordering better ones. Do I spend the money on Swiss ceramic ones? Are they really worth the outrageous asking prices?

Anyway I need some help with frames or chassis (which is it?)

1. as an ice hockey style skater what is the best type of frame to go for? I keep reading about rocker ones that can be set to the profile of an ice skate and "sprung" independent suspension variants or what?

2. I'm in the uk, can anyone recommend a site or shop that sells separate frames on their own with no boot in the uk or to the uk. Google doesn't seem to understand lol.

3. If frames aren't available in a hurry would the two piece hi-lo setup from the xr2 be the same hole spacing from frame to boot as other blades. If so I could change them over then upgrade the blade at a later date, I have no probs changing or fitting them.

And finally 4. I have robotics grade carbon fibre there and i was thinking it would be good for spacers if needed, has anyone tried this? Or would I be better with plastic?

Sorry lots of questions for my first post.

[mrMechanix 0]

Bump: Anyone know of a retailer I can buy frames on their own from? I'm in the uk. Desperate.

[pody37 3]

Hi Mechanix,

Welcome to MSH!

I'm also from the UK, but there aren't many places over here that sell just the chassis for skates. I'm not sure what area you live in, but I have seen a 'BASE' chassis in Puck Stop in Sheffield, but I don't know very much about the chassis, and I'm not sure about the quality/performance of them. To be honest your best bet is to keep an eye on ebay.

I have heard many people say that the Sprung frames give the most 'ice like' feel for a roller player. There is a huge thread about Sprung hockey (http://www.modsquadhockey.com/forums/index.php?/topic/23334-sprung-hockey/) and if you are thinking about using sprung frames you can buy them direct from the Sprung website http://www.sprung-inline.com/

The answer to your question regarding the hole spacing of the chassis really depends on which chassis you intend to use. I don't think too many of them will match up exactly, but I'm not 100% sure about that. Personally I use Labeda Hummer frames, so I can't comment how the mounting holes match up to other types.

I have never used ceramic bearings, as the price is a bit more than I can afford for bearings, but I hear they roll very well.

Where abouts do you play? What team/league do you play in?

Sorry I haven't answered all of your questions, but it's a start!

[Vet88 673]

I have seen a few shops in Europe carry frames for around 100euro each (ouch). However to find them you have to search specifically for the frame eg Mission hilo or Reebok tri-d lite. If you have the time, the best place to find frames is either eBay or forums like here. Post a message on the boards (another board is the inline warehouse forum for gear) and someone somewhere will have something eg I have some Mission magnesium medium frames floating around somewhere.

Sprungs are a great chassis, closest you will get to the ice feeling on a inline skate but whether or not Keith has any he can sell you at the moment is another issue. If you are interested in this path best you contact him direct (his email is in the Sprung thread) and see what he has in stock based on your boot size.

As to swiss ceramics, I do use them and yes, they roll really well, handle hockey fine and are lightning quick but..... I find the maintenance on them is pretty severe. I am forever cleaning the buggers, imho the outside seal isn't as good as others and crap gets into them all the time (I only play on indoor courts). However I am on my skates between 2 - 4 hours a day 6 days a week so they do get a lot of use. If you can put up with the cleaning (as soon as they start to make a noise) then these are one of the best bearings you can get. A cheaper alternative is Titanium bearings, these are pretty good. Otherwise for the money buy yourself some reasonable mid range bearings like Bones Reds and just replace them every 6 months or so.

Nothing wrong with fitting the xr2 chassis you have to an ice boot. The only hassle with this is when you come to put another chassis on it, you most likely will have to redrill the mounting holes and you can end up with a boot that looks like swiss cheese and this can impact on its structural strength.

As to carbon fiber spacers, great idea. I'd say 99.9% of us wouldn't have access to the material to try it for a spacer but I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work.

[Kanya 3]

I always use Puck Stop in Sheffield - they deliver to me in Scotland within a day or two and are great re service

They offer two chassis - I'd personally get the Mission Hi-Lo's http://www.puckstop.com/acatalog/Chassis.html

[mrMechanix 0]

Thanks for the advice guys. I've ordered the mission vanguard from puckstop to get me rolling, but after looking through the sprung thread I've just got to have em lol. Will have to wait till next payday but ill order them from sprung when funds allow.

Since I'm training tomorrow night and tomorrow is a bank holiday, I'm dubious the missions will turn up, so it's looking like the old bauers are getting the 2 piece Hilo from the xr2s fitted tomorrow then swapped to the 1 piece when they arrive. From what info I can find it seems the holes are in the same position for both chassis so it should be a straight forward change over fingers crossed. The Sprungs look different tho so a swiss cheese boot sole seems likely at that point, well i'll cross that bridge when it comes but I could bond the carbon spacer to the composite sole if I really had to. Bugger to get back off tho which would stop me converting them back to ice if ever required, but I think it would re-inforce the sole more than enough.

Going for the ceramic bearings, the regular cleaning thing isn't a problem I have access to parts cleaners, compressed air and such at my work, and if I buy the cheaper alternative I'd just end up upgrading them eventually anyway. I can't help myself lol.

I'm in Scotland too, playin (or training for now) with the Dundee tigers.

Again, thanks for the advice everyone. Really helped me out ;-)

[henryb 4]

For sure you will love the Sprung's. However they are a bit hard to find right now. The medium size A7's are the hardest ones to find, but I know that Keith does have the smaller A6's and the larger A8's. Their is a distributor in Germany, don't know their name, they might have some.

[mrMechanix 0]

Got a set of sprungs coming from fatwabbit in the land of oz ;-) the mission vanguards are on the 5000s and soooo much better to skate on thankfully

I'll post a pic once I figure out how to do it lol.

The labeda addictions still haven't turned up. I ordered them from demonxtreme 8days ago. Everything else arrived quickly, so I'm getting impatient. Phoned them and the guy didn't seem to care much, said thurs or Friday. Maybe lol. DemonXtreme... Avoided from now on.

I've found completely ceramic bearings over here but not sure how good they would be.

http://www.bearings-online.co.uk/item/Brand_Deep-Groove-Ball-Bearings_608-2RS-Full-Ceramic-Skate-Bearing_4_0_2397_0.html

Or would bones Swiss ceramics be better? What's your opinion on these all ceramics guys?

They do these too. Like a bones ceramic but less than a quarter of the price. Will they be rubbish, might be worth 44 quid to find out. Anyone tried these?

http://www.bearings-online.co.uk/item/Brand_Deep-Groove-Ball-Bearings_608-2RS-Ceramic-Skateboard-Bearings---Pack-of-8_0_0_1678_0.html

[sdcopp 1]

While I certainly don't see the draw or need for ceramics due to the cost factor, I will say you can't go wrong with Bones products in general. Better to have a known quality product than to spend twice as much trying out possibly lower quality alternatives

[Jamie_tnt 6]

Can't go wrong with good quality Abec 9 bearings imo.

[Vet88 673]

I've never tried the cheaper ceramics but read plenty of reviews and had some speed skate friends try them out. The reviews aren't good and the speed skate industry stay well clear of them.

[henryb 4]

I bought some cheap ceramics and found they were not as good as the economical Bones Reds. Although, the ceramics lasted a bit longer, the Reds out performed them in every other way. The best set I have ever used are the original Bones Swiss, 3 years old, still in fantastic condition and faster then anything I've tried.

[Kanya 3]

Stop using DemonExtreme - they are over priced, never update their website, nor do they ever drop the prices on old lines of gear. Crap service. And a complete joke overall.

Stick to Puckstop or anyone else lol

I too have a set of sprungs coming from fatwabbit - yay

[mrMechanix 0]

Well I've taken all your wise advice again and went for a very good steel bearing. Puckstop are getting me bones super six Swiss bearings. Easily cleaned and are meant to be very drag free due to the larger balls. They are coming from bones and will be in stock Tuesday. Are these ok guys?

Kanya, you'll get your sprungs before me. Fatwabbits got to retrieve them before he can post my ones off to me, but let me know how you get on with them when they get here. Really looking forward to a shot of these bad boys ;-) what team do you play for mate?

[henryb 4]

The Bones Super Six Swiss will be awesome. Just keep them clean and lubricated and they will last and give you great speed!

Cleaning bearings is a subjective matter, it depends on amount of usage and how dirty the floor is. Just check how they sound and how easily the wheels spin freely.

[demonxtreme 0]

Just seen this thread...Hi Guys, DX is very competitive and the website is very up to date (over 10 members of staff who maintain product listings), We have thousands of products and knowledge on all. We have very experienced hockey players as staff and also national level coaches. We value our excellent customer service. Im not sure why Kanya has a problem with DX but welcome constructive comments. btw - we are completely changing the website within next 14 days. Bearings - ceramics are overkill for hockey, bsb swiss are definitely the choice for hockey.

[Jamie_tnt 6]

I imagine the negative comment towards DX is probably something to do with other places offering better prices and cheaper shipping, could be wrong though.

I have also heard people criticise how the product will have what appears to have a low price, then when you select your size, it says add 100 for senior.

[Kanya 3]

Just seen this thread...Hi Guys, DX is very competitive and the website is very up to date (over 10 members of staff who maintain product listings), We have thousands of products and knowledge on all. We have very experienced hockey players as staff and also national level coaches. We value our excellent customer service. Im not sure why Kanya has a problem with DX but welcome constructive comments. btw - we are completely changing the website within next 14 days. Bearings - ceramics are overkill for hockey, bsb swiss are definitely the choice for hockey.

I'll check your site later on tonight to see the changes. You used to have a One95 listed on there at £220 quid...the Total Ones had been out for ages, and some of the skates you had on "sale" were at a ridiculous price. ie 2 lines old and yet insane prices such as the old Mission Boss (before Boss Blacks) and others.

However it sounds like you've upped your game so I'm a believer in 2nd chances :)

As someone said the way the pricing works is a little "cloudy" ie select a stick you see at a low price only for it to +£100 etc.

Anyway, will check it out later :)

[demonxtreme 0]

Just a brief message to see whether this is posting - I did a long reply to both Kanya and Jamie - my posts don't seem to have been registered

[Kanya 3]

I saw it and appreciated your response!

Accessed your site via my android and was well impressed with it. Great mobile site.

Actually about to email you guys - looking for an Easton Mako M5 shaft in Intermediate size...although apparently there's no way to get an intermediate Mako shaft M5 in the UK?

Look forward to the new site!