Marsblade roller chassis

[eksempler 0]

I had sprungs. It's been about two years since I last skated on them. I currently have marsblade. I will write a review once I play some league games with them.

But just one last question if you tried mars blade you must know which one is the best for the ice feel?

Do they allow you to use the edges?

[louierev07 31]

But just one last question if you tried mars blade you must know which one is the best for the ice feel?

Do they allow you to use the edges?

I thought I wrote back to this yesterday, but I guess I never posted. No roller blade is ever gonna let you use edges like ice - its literally impossible. With both you get the rockered feel of a skate, which feels more like ice, but nothing is different with the edges. AFAIK the only way to practice your edges on ice - is by skating on ice.

[kerr 1]

I agree with loierev07. One thing to add is that sprungs allow you to be on 4, 3, 2, or 1 wheel(s). While the marsblade don't allow this. I notice the difference while stopping and making tight turns. The stopping control/feel with spungs is 10/10, marsblade 8/10, and rigid chassis 4/10.

[eksempler 0]

I agree with loierev07. One thing to add is that sprungs allow you to be on 4, 3, 2, or 1 wheel(s). While the marsblade don't allow this. I notice the difference while stopping and making tight turns. The stopping control/feel with spungs is 10/10, marsblade 8/10, and rigid chassis 4/10.

Ok thank's so it seems that your winner are the sprungs ,but you do use marsblade now why ?

[althoma1 575]

I agree with loierev07. One thing to add is that sprungs allow you to be on 4, 3, 2, or 1 wheel(s). While the marsblade don't allow this. I notice the difference while stopping and making tight turns. The stopping control/feel with spungs is 10/10, marsblade 8/10, and rigid chassis 4/10.

It's great to hear feedback from someone who has used both. The Sprungs allowing for a varying number of wheels to be in contact due to the dual suspension lead me to believe they'd mimic the feel of a curved ice blade a bit better, but having never used the Marsblade chassis I wasn't completely sure.

I'll definitely be curious to read your full review once you've had a chance to use the Marsblade in some games. If you still have the Sprungs and ever have back to back games it'd be great if you could use each chassis for one game...or if you had a 2 hour pickup session use each chassis for an hour. It sounds like your Sprungs may be retired though based on earlier posts.

[eksempler 0]

Ok thank's so it seems that your winner are the sprungs ,but you do use marsblade now why ?

and thanks for having taking time to answer me coz i'm considering to purchase one of them to practice off ice and i don't know which one yet .

So advices of those who tried them both are very valuable for me

It's great to hear feedback from someone who has used both. The Sprungs allowing for a varying number of wheels to be in contact due to the dual suspension lead me to believe they'd mimic the feel of a curved ice blade a bit better, but having never used the Marsblade chassis I wasn't completely sure.

I'll definitely be curious to read your full review once you've had a chance to use the Marsblade in some games. If you still have the Sprungs and ever have back to back games it'd be great if you could use each chassis for one game...or if you had a 2 hour pickup session use each chassis for an hour. It sounds like your Sprungs may be retired though based on earlier posts.

same for me.and i guess we are not the only ones:*)

[gosinger 122]

I am soooo looking forward to the ambassador package for the marsblade, from what I've seen it should be the more stable (no arms that could break, no need to soak them, ...) of the setups. Of course nothing is going to be "just like ice", but the less transition required the better.

[louierev07 31]

Ok thank's so it seems that your winner are the sprungs ,but you do use marsblade now why ?

I wouldnt say the "winner" is sprungs, since they are two different products. Since sprungs allows different wheels on the floor, it might have an advantage in the stopping, and controlling category, but marsblade is basically identical to an ice rocker inside the chassis, so in that regard marsblade might be closer to ice skating than sprungs.

Im probably gonna end up trying both by the middle of summer, so I will try to give a review once I do. Personally, even if sprungs performs better for roller hockey, if marsblade makes the transition from ice to roller easier for me then that will be what makes me choose one over the other. Ice time is hard to get around here, so any practice I can do on rollerblades that doesnt kill my skating is huge.

[Marsblade 23]

Hi,

Just to tell you a bit more about the background, my thoughts on training and why Marsblade was develped.

I was sick of putting in so many hours working out during the summers, then going back to the ice being a worse hockey player than when I stepped off the ice a couple of months earlier. I might have improved my strenght and conditioning but I actually was not a better hockey player. I wanted to create a training tool that, not only, allowed me to do conditioning, speed and strength training in a proper way (in terms of muscle activation etc), but also gave me a chance to improve my skating technique. I didn't just want to maintain my skating technique, I wanted to improve it. The only way to develop and improve is if you challenge your body.

Challenging your body with the imbalance built in the chassis forces you to activate stabilizing muscles in the core and all the joints. This forces you to keep a good skating position and not be able to "cheat" or be "lazy". By challenging your body a bit more than ice skating, skating on Marsblade will make you improve your balance and skating techique, making it feel easy once you're going back to ice skating again. This is extra noticeable if you use our "Advanced Training" setup with a smaller wheel in the front.

Improving your skating technique improves you as a hockey player in so many ways. It lowers your energy consumption, makes you stronger, quicker and even improves your shooting and passing. It just makes it much more fun to play. Technique training is underestimated in sports and especially in ice hockey. It is not a normal movement for the human body and demands extremely good balance and technique. If you watch players with a good skating technique, like Datsyuk, it just seems like skating is so effortless. So how do you improve you skating technique to acheive a more effortless skating? Not by running, riding a bike, skating on traditional inlines or lifting weights... You improve your skating technique by challenging your balance in the same way that you are challenged while ice skating. By controlling your centre of gravity over the foot, over the radius shaped blade. That is what Marsblade is acieving.

A bonus feature of the rocking motion is that it allows for a smoother movement and more fluid movent pattern. As the rocker adjusts to the ground it also allows you to have all wheels on the ground (if you have the all 76 or 72mm setup) for a longer period of time, which improves your grip when you play inline hockey.

--------------------

We are also developing a version with a more powerful spring back function optimized for inline hockey. With a more powerful spring back function it will be easier to skate and you can achieve higher performance when you play.

Hope this helps

//Per

Edited March 21, 2014 by Marsblade

[gosinger 122]

If at all possible, it would be great to have the holes in the future inline hockey specific frame lined up with the ones of the current model, in case of switching out the frames at one point (obviously not switching frequently) :)

[Marsblade 23]

If at all possible, it would be great to have the holes in the future inline hockey specific frame lined up with the ones of the current model, in case of switching out the frames at one point (obviously not switching frequently) :)

Will have that in mind :-)

[eksempler 0]

Hi,

Just to tell you a bit more about the background, my thoughts on training and why Marsblade was develped.

I was sick of putting in so many hours working out during the summers, then going back to the ice being a worse hockey player than when I stepped off the ice a couple of months earlier. I might have improved my strenght and conditioning but I actually was not a better hockey player. I wanted to create a training tool that, not only, allowed me to do conditioning, speed and strength training in a proper way (in terms of muscle activation etc), but also gave me a chance to improve my skating technique. I didn't just want to maintain my skating technique, I wanted to improve it. The only way to develop and improve is if you challenge your body.

Challenging your body with the imbalance built in the chassis forces you to activate stabilizing muscles in the core and all the joints. This forces you to keep a good skating position and not be able to "cheat" or be "lazy". By challenging your body a bit more than ice skating, skating on Marsblade will make you improve your balance and skating techique, making it feel easy once you're going back to ice skating again. This is extra noticeable if you use our "Advanced Training" setup with a smaller wheel in the front.

Improving your skating technique improves you as a hockey player in so many ways. It lowers your energy consumption, makes you stronger, quicker and even improves your shooting and passing. It just makes it much more fun to play. Technique training is underestimated in sports and especially in ice hockey. It is not a normal movement for the human body and demands extremely good balance and technique. If you watch players with a good skating technique, like Datsyuk, it just seems like skating is so effortless. So how do you improve you skating technique to acheive a more effortless skating? Not by running, riding a bike, skating on traditional inlines or lifting weights... You improve your skating technique by challenging your balance in the same way that you are challenged while ice skating. By controlling your centre of gravity over the foot, over the radius shaped blade. That is what Marsblade is acieving.

A bonus feature of the rocking motion is that it allows for a smoother movement and more fluid movent pattern. As the rocker adjusts to the ground it also allows you to have all wheels on the ground (if you have the all 76 or 72mm setup) for a longer period of time, which improves your grip when you play inline hockey.

--------------------

We are also developing a version with a more powerful spring back function optimized for inline hockey. With a more powerful spring back function it will be easier to skate and you can achieve higher performance when you play.

Hope this helps

//Per

If it's work like you described it ,it's a dream:)

If it's work like you described it ,that you come back as a better skater at the end of the off season then its amazing.It's all i need.

[louierev07 31]

Just ordered one with the ambassadors coupon. Excited to see how these compare to sprungs. My main focus is improving my ice skating (or at least stop myself from regressing), and my hope is that these are more suited for that purpose than sprungs.

Ive used sprungs for the past few months, and I do think it has helped the transition for me, but roller is really my default since I only started ice skating a short while ago. It might take me 5-10 minutes now to get used to roller coming from ice, but it still take a few sessions to go from roller to ice.

[Davo10 0]

^

Any updates?

[gosinger 122]

Damn it, my 1 page long review has gone.......I dunno if/when I'll have the time to write another, I can't even locate my notes right now :(

[gosinger 122]

Ha, got a hold of my notes, so here it goes...maybe not as refined as the full version that was lost during the downtime, but it will have to do.

After > 2 months of skating (got them before the ambassador program started) on them 2-4x a week I'm still very happy with them, great feel and very sturdy.

Feel free to ask :)

---------
+ = plus
~ = neutral

product & assembly:
+ plastic is very sturdy, drilling holes for the holder with the chassis as a pattern resulted in a very clean result
+ ability to add rivet holes in other locations, making mount possible for pretty much any outsole shape
+ smart tool design, the rocker adjustment tool is great as it fits in-between the wheels
+ provided wheels, I was gonna replace them asap, but they held up great outdoors and were a pleasant surprise
~ 2 pre-drilled holes are hard to reach with a screwdriver (when using T-nuts and bolts) - according to Marsblade this should be "fixed" by the next batch
~ re-assembly: you might mount the lower part wrong way around if you aren't careful (happened to me, but I had the second skate as reference); after mount isn't easy because of the tight fit on the chassis spacers, took me several minutes each to re-align them - according to Marsblade, there will be some videos in the future to provide tips on mounting / assembly

skating (all 76mm setup):
+ feeling is a lot closer to ice than any roller chassis I've head - skating to the rink (stairs, up- & downhill) with a backpack feels very strange, but once on the rink (where there are not stairs or hills) everything just feels right
+ turns tightened up by miles compared to rigid 80-80-76-76 setup
+ first time I was able to replicate my shuffle-stride with inline skates, really allowed for pushing down the heel
+ shifting weight forward/backward is more gradual than with the old TUUK rocker (which felt like a seesaw by comparison)

[Sprungdownunder 18]

Hey those marsblades look like they raise the centre of gravity a fair bit,do you feel it?

[wehojp84 5]

I agree with loierev07. One thing to add is that sprungs allow you to be on 4, 3, 2, or 1 wheel(s). While the marsblade don't allow this. I notice the difference while stopping and making tight turns. The stopping control/feel with spungs is 10/10, marsblade 8/10, and rigid chassis 4/10.

Regarding Marsblade only allowing you to be on all 4 wheels, I don't really agree with this. When you have all of your weight on your toes, sometimes the back wheels actually come off the skating surface and spin freely. This can actually be seen when looking at how the wheels wear. The back two wheels in the chassis wear a lot slower than the front two because of this. Most of the time while skating, your weight is balanced over the front 2 wheels with a little bit of weight on the 3rd wheel from the toe.

Now, if you have the center screw tightened up too tight (reducing the rocker ability) then that might cause all 4 wheels to be on the surface at all times.

[louierev07 31]

Regarding Marsblade only allowing you to be on all 4 wheels, I don't really agree with this. When you have all of your weight on your toes, sometimes the back wheels actually come off the skating surface and spin freely. This can actually be seen when looking at how the wheels wear. The back two wheels in the chassis wear a lot slower than the front two because of this. Most of the time while skating, your weight is balanced over the front 2 wheels with a little bit of weight on the 3rd wheel from the toe.

Now, if you have the center screw tightened up too tight (reducing the rocker ability) then that might cause all 4 wheels to be on the surface at all times.

Just beause the wear pattern isnt consistent, doesnt mean that the wheels are coming off. It is essentially a straight chassis on top of an ice rocker. Yes the wheels will flex a bit when there is more pressure on one side, which might barely let one wheel be off ground, but this will not be noticeable at all, and essentially the exact same as a straight chassis. (soft wheels will flex more than hard ones, but both are so small its negligible)

And even without considering the above, even if all four were ALWAYS on the ground, the wear pattern would not be consistent. you push off the back wheels more, and stopping uses the back wheels more.

[wehojp84 5]

Just beause the wear pattern isnt consistent, doesnt mean that the wheels are coming off. It is essentially a straight chassis on top of an ice rocker. Yes the wheels will flex a bit when there is more pressure on one side, which might barely let one wheel be off ground, but this will not be noticeable at all, and essentially the exact same as a straight chassis. (soft wheels will flex more than hard ones, but both are so small its negligible)

And even without considering the above, even if all four were ALWAYS on the ground, the wear pattern would not be consistent. you push off the back wheels more, and stopping uses the back wheels more.

I should have corrected my above statement to say: most of the time you are on all 4 wheels but sometimes it's 3 b/c the back wheels will physically come off the surface when you are really on your toes/fully flexed forward.

I understand what you're saying about the wear pattern being inconsistent b/c of stopping but I'm not citing the wear pattern as the only reason for thinking the back wheels come off the surface, for me you can physically see them coming off the surface when I fully flex forward (maybe you're experience is different). When I'm starting from a stand still I push off the toe part of my skates (front 2 wheels mostly), not the back, and I think that is another reason why the front 2 wheels wear faster for me.

[Martis 0]

Any recommendations when mounting Marsblades for off ice training from Easton Mako iceskates (since Makos have a very aggressive pitch) ?

[louierev07 31]

Any recommendations when mounting Marsblades for off ice training from Easton Mako iceskates (since Makos have a very aggressive pitch) ?

Ive only used marsblades with Bauer skates so far. I use Makos for ice, so I tried getting the same pitch from setting them up with Bauers.

With other chassis, I have used a 7-8mm shim to try and get the pitch to be the same (sprungs and hilo). Marsblades actually felt more like the aggressive mako pitch right off the bat (even more so with the 68mm wheel in front). They probably could use a small shim to get it a little closer to the real pitch though. If I were you, I would try it without the shim first to see how it feels. Shims are really easy to add, especially after you have all the holes drilled already.

For the shim, I just ordered a big piece of HDPE plastic that is 1/32" thick. I can use plastic epoxy to glue sheets together if I have to make the shim thicker.

[Martis 0]

Sizing question:

My old skates (Eastons) always had size 7.5 ... when I got the Easton S17, I went down to size 7 ... Makos best fit is 6.5 ...

So, what size of marsblade do you recommend? Should I get them "medium" or "large"? Looking at the size chart, my size seems to be right at the frontier between medium and large.

[Marsblade 23]

Sizing question:

My old skates (Eastons) always had size 7.5 ... when I got the Easton S17, I went down to size 7 ... Makos best fit is 6.5 ...

So, what size of marsblade do you recommend? Should I get them "medium" or "large"? Looking at the size chart, my size seems to be right at the frontier between medium and large.

I would go for a size Medium. However, if you play inline hockey and prefer higher speed over maneuverability you could go for the Large that uses 76mm wheels instead of 72mm wheels. Hope that helps. Best regards Per Mårs, inventor /Marsblade

[louierev07 31]

Sizing question:

My old skates (Eastons) always had size 7.5 ... when I got the Easton S17, I went down to size 7 ... Makos best fit is 6.5 ...

So, what size of marsblade do you recommend? Should I get them "medium" or "large"? Looking at the size chart, my size seems to be right at the frontier between medium and large.

I got a medium, and put it on a 7.5D pair of vapors. The fit is perfect, and it almost lines up with exactly where the tuuk was. If I had tried a large, I am not completely sure if part of the frame would be sticking out in the front and back. I'd definitely go with a medium for a size 6.5 skate.