Seasoned ice veteran total newbie in roller - lots of technical questions..

[Bengerm77 11]

Dear lord, this thread is full of crazy statistics and numbers. It's a wonder any of us can skate at all with all these variables and preferences.

If you have to, borrow somebody's skates and get out on some kind of surface and just skate around for ten minutes. After not being on any kind of skates for 13 years, I kind of recently picked up hockey again. Literally in five minutes all my skating prowess came rushing back to me. It was awesome. Let your feet do the skating, not your brain or the chassis or the wheels.

[DTWings12 3]

As long as the bearing is the 608 dimension, it should work. 608 is a standard dimension ball bearing, with an 8mm inner diameter, 22mm outer diameter, and a 7mm width. As far as axles, most roller hockey axles are 6mm diameter. The difference is made up with the spacer. Some may be 8mm (not any modern frames I know of Looks like labeda eviction uses 8mm spacers) in which case you use a floating spacer.

As far as wheels. Most asphalt wheels are more geared more for durability, not necessarily grip. Since you are a lighter skater, you could go for maybe 78A or even 76A, but the trade off is that the wheel wont last as long. The difference between an 80A and 84A asphalt wheel is just manufacturer preference.

I used to play quite a lot on tennis court and it eats through gear very quickly. It is not an ideal surface. Also, with grip issues it sort of neutralized the advantage of being a good skater. It also took speed out to an extent cause it was hard to get a good stride without slipping. Also, the puck moved very slowly on that surface. I played with various wheel combos and what I ended up with was revision variant gold on the outsides, and revision ghost outdoor wheels (now the axis perhaps?) on the insides. This let me cut and stop a bit better, but it let me extend the life of the soft variant gold wheels. I was somewhere between 160-180lbs at the time.

[Rubo 0]

I'll go for Revision Axis multi on all 4 then will adjust accordingly.

"benge" the whole point of an online forum is to over analyze things to a point of exhaustion, this is free therapy session for most people, so just rolling with it is not my approach I have personality flaw where I always must take a serious approach to things that are not that important and very light approach to things that are very important.

Cheers

[Rubo 0]

DT, I could not find any muti axis for sale online, what about Revision Variant Steel 78A are these ok for outdoor court surface? Also what type of puck slides best on that surface?

Cheers

[althoma1 574]

Variant Steels are a great wheel, but they're meant for Sport Court (blue tiled surface). I use them on Sport Court and highly recommend them for that surface, but would never use them outdoors and don't even use them on smooth concrete (rinks with the ice removed). They'll wear out quickly on tennis courts. You can get wheels better suited for that surface for less money.

For tennis courts the Labeda Asphalt wheels you were looking at, Revision Axis Outdoor wheels or Rink Rat Envy Pro Street wheels would be good choices if you want wheels that will perform well and last more than a few skates. Personally, when I skate outdoors I just use the cheapest wheels I can find in an 82-86 durometer with some crappy bearings I don't care about and save the better wheels for indoor use. No matter what wheels you choose to use outdoors you should rotate them regularly so they wear evenly.

If you're skate on smooth concrete like an ice rink where the ice has been removed then Yellow 80a Labeda Grippers are what friends who skate on this surface regularly and have tried many setups swear work best.

[Rubo 0]

Now you confuse me, what is a sport court, is it the same as blue tennis court surface - that's what we have.

I'm not planning to go indoors that's why I wanted to switch to roller outdoor for health reasons need to increase oxygen in my blood, otherwise if i stayed in doors I'd play ice and won't even bother with roller, that's why I'm so anal about it, because the move from ice to roller might be a permeation one for me. So might as well start with a high end set up. I think the cut of is probably 78A since the surface is already made to slow down the tennis ball so there is enough grip there already, my guess is between 78A -82A is where I'll end up maybe with combination of inside/outside.

Cheers

[z1ggy 81]

Didn't read any of the replies, but for an ice to inline conversion, I'd highly highly recommend Marsblade chassis. It has made going back and forth between roller and ice much smoother. I didn't need to make any adjustments like shims etc.

Also depending on your weight and skill level, you may consider different wheel hardness for that tennis court. 78A may be too soft if you're a bigger guy.

[althoma1 574]

Now you confuse me, what is a sport court, is it the same as blue tennis court surface - that's what we have.

I'm not planning to go indoors that's why I wanted to switch to roller outdoor for health reasons need to increase oxygen in my blood, otherwise if i stayed in doors I'd play ice and won't even bother with roller, that's why I'm so anal about it, because the move from ice to roller might be a permeation one for me. So might as well start with a high end set up. I think the cut of is probably 78A since the surface is already made to slow down the tennis ball so there is enough grip there already, my guess is between 78A -82A is where I'll end up maybe with combination of inside/outside.

Cheers

Sport Court is smooth plastic blue tiles:

I've seen green or blue painted tennis courts, but they're definitely not the same surface. The tennis court will have more grit and will wear down wheels faster - sport court is very smooth plastic with no grit as pictured above. Your tennis court may look like this:

That has less grit than rough asphalt, but much more than sport court. I'd personally still go with one of the orange outdoor wheels (Labeda Asphalt, Revision Axis Outdoors, or Rink Rat Envy) that are 84a. They should all provide enough grip for that surface, but better wear than the lower durometer wheels. If you want to go lower then something like the Yellow 80a Grippers might be appropriate, but they'll wear out faster. Don't bother with dual pour wheels like Revision Steel, Rink Rat Krysis, Labeda Addiction ect. as they're all designed for indoor sport court use and you'll just be wasting money.

I would start with the 84a outdoor performance wheels and then if you find you don't have enough grip mix in a few wheels like the 80a Grippers.

[Rubo 0]

So after doing a full circle I guess it's back to 84A, now any difernce between brands when it comes to 84A outdoor like Labeda Asphalt, Revision Axis Outdoor 84A.... For some reason I'm drawn to the Revision brand.

When you say wear out, once a wheel starts wearing out and the shaved in angel starts to take shape does it impact stooping power and does it grip more or less. I'm in favor of ride quality instead of longevity, so if I enjoy skating at the expense of changing wheels more often then needed I'm for it. If a $50 wheel set will last me 2 months that's after rotation I'm ok with that.

Cheers

[althoma1 574]

Rink Rat, Revision and Labeda are the three top wheel companies at the moment. I haven't used them personally, but the Revision Axis Outdoor wheels should be a good choice - I've only seen positive user reviews on hockey e-tailer sites like inline warehouse and hockeymonkey. They were designed by Neal Piper who designed Hyper 250 wheels that many outdoor players swore by for years - those are another option if you can find them at a good price in your size, but the Revision Axis is supposed to be based on an improved formula according to the Revision site.

[Vet88 674]

It also depends on how much skating you intend to do. If you are skating a lot and chewing through your wheels fast and want a cheaper wheel, you might want to try the outdoor wheels from Tron (from Hockeytron). They are one of the cheapest wheels out there today but there are varied reports about their performance. The Mega Hz hasn't had great reviews but I've read some ok feedback on the Giga Hz.