Reebok 9K Roller Skates

[Souldriver 64]

Reebok 9k Pump Roller Skates Size 8.5 E

Used roughly 1 year, about 30 games

Player Bio:
Age: 24
Height: 5' 7"
Weight: 250
Play: Semi Competitive 1-2 times a week.
Previous Skates: Mission RMx, CCM pf8, Reebok 9ks, Mission AC2. Currently with the AC2s

Fit:
The fit at first was great and I thought "OK, finally a skate for my foot!" and i bought these bc the LHS told me with my foot size the Reebok E size would be the only boot wide enough for me. I played some games and I got used to it very quick but then i realized my foot was sliding around in the boot while other parts of my foot were cramped in. I then tried to use their lace lock and that helped but only so much. i would leave the bottom barely taught and the top had to be laced up tight, this led to other problems such as not enough forward flex but thats another issue. For an E width boot there is also very little volume for the top of your foot. mine was coming out so much that the top laces had to flex out to fit my foot. The toe box also doesnt get wider for the E width and that does other things to the boot that seem to inhibit it as well. I think half of this is the boots fault and the other half is that after getting my foot sized i was told the reeboks were the only option for me but they clearly were not. they are for a wide and flat/low volume foot, not a wide higher volume one such as mine. 6/10

Wheels/Bearings/Chassis:
The wheels that came on the skate were alright labeda millenniums in x-soft. i used them for a game and they were like skating on gummy bears, enough grip but it slowed me down. I immediately saw chunking so i switched to my trusted rink rats. no issues since and i cant blame the wheels bc they werent made for my weight. maybe one day there will be an option for us larger guys to get harder wheels stock. Or better in my option, leave bearings and wheels out of it bc i will be putting on my harder wheels and sweet swiss bearings first thing anyway. The chassis is a disgrace. Heavy, clunky, can take a shot off them but the holes for the wheel axles go out of round and develop burs that i needed to remove. I was told by a trusted source that reebok just made the chassis haphazardly to put on a roller boot and then paid labeda to have their name and a license on it. for a real chassis look at the high end tours, missions and the new apx2r. now those are chassis. Bearings were abec 7s, they are weak especially for the $350 price point of the skate, immediately switched them to my bones swiss bearings. 4/10

Weight/Protection:
Weight wasnt an issue but now in the lighter AC2 skate i see how heavy those things were. I even think my old CCMs size 10 were a little lighter. Protection was fine and i never got hit in the foot, ankle or skate and had any pain afterwards. 7/10

Durability:
I never had a lace break except on these skates. mentioned above chassis holes needed deburring after a while to get the axle to go through. Screws stripped very easily. though the boot itself does seem to stay decently stiff it only does that around the ankle and the rest of the boot gets soft. the bottom outsole where the chassis bolts on also seems to be very thin and never looked like it was fitted right to a wider boot. 7/10

Intangibles:
It took about 3 games to get used to the straight 80s chassis and i ended up really liking that set up because i could accelerate and skate faster than i used to even though it did cut down on some maneuverability. That larger front wheel is something i miss now but the switch is for the better. even with the straight 80s it still wasnt as good as say a tour skate where its all 80s but its recessed in the front to add some maneuverability to it. The pump is ok but it never locked my heel in there. It was more of a push my ankle forward so thats its tighter to the tongue, because of this i only pumped the thing about 2-3 pumps per game to take up the extra space that they put in there. Moving to the AC2 i now see a good heel lock with my heel all the way back and no need for any pump nonsense. the carbon outsole on the bottom is soooo thin that it flexes a lot and doesnt do its job really. a matter of fact my skate bottom flexed so much it rubbed against my second wheel and the wheel wore a hole through it. HUGE no no! but i do wish more skates had a skate lock, but going to waxed laces also helps with that. 6/10

Conclusion:
Reebok roller really is lacking, especially for the price they charge. The little to no effort shown to make a roller boot is evident throughout the design and after talking to some industry insiders the whole thing just wreaks of a fast cash in at the cost of the roller market crowd.

30/50 = 6/10

I would say avoid at all costs unless you really, reaaaaaaallly reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaalllllly just want an easy switch, fit wise, for their ice skates, but even then the fit is different and the roller parts are subpar. I moved on to Mission AC2s and couldnt be happier at the moment.

Edited June 30, 2013 by Souldriver