What are Urban Inline Skates?
Inline skates have evolved a lot over the past couple of decades. The market has witnessed recreational skates evolve immensely, the addition of fitness skates for exercise enthusiasts, inline hockey skates and aggressive skates burst onto the scene, and many innovative designs that have worked…and well some that just didn’t.
But regardless of what worked and what did not, the scene is making room for another skate type that not many people know a lot about just yet. This new type? Well if you didn’t gather it by the article title, is known as an Urban Inline Skate, and hopefully by the end of this article you’ll know a little bit more about this skate type that joined the fray in 2010.
What are Urban Inline Skates?
Urban inline skates are a mix of new and old; using some old style desing while pulling in features that you’d find on recreational, fitness, and aggressive skates of today.
From a visual standpoint, urban inline skates will take many of you back to the early 1990′s where most inline skates had a plastic hard shell boot.However, the nostalgia pretty much ends there because everything else about urban inline skates is pulled from the here and now. A plush and extremely comfortable removable liner with shock absorption and tremendous ventilation makes you forget completely about that molded plastic boot.
Also, the closure system isn’t like the old school 3 buckle system that was all the rage in the 90′s. Instead urban inline skates utilize the closures found on today’s skates. This is a combination of standard lacing, a ratcheting buckle that crosses at the ankle, and a super beefy Velcro power strap at the cuff. This not only maintains proper foot placement, but also offers maximum support.
Why are Urban Inline Skates Even Necessary?
Simply put, urban inline skates were created out of necessity. Recreational skaters and aggressive skaters alike were clammoring for a skate that could handle abuse (a la aggressive skating) but could also offer up the speed, comfort, and lightweight style of recreational skating. What resulted was essentially a hybrid skate design that looks something like the iimage below:
The boots is super durable and also offers up some soul plates so that you can take this skate out on the street and take on rails, jumps, aerial tricks, and other aggressive skating inspired moves. Where the recreational and fitness skates play in are with the wheels, frame, and overall skate weight.
Unlike aggressive skates that have wheels around 59mm, the wheels on an urban inline skate are much larger (typically around 80mm). This allows an urban inline skate to have more speed and go longer distances with less effort. Additionally, the frame on an urban inline skate is composite or aluminum versus the plastic design found on most aggressive skates. This translates to a much lighter skate and less fatigue.
Are Urban Inline Skates Just a Fad?
It remains to be seen if this will be just a fad or not. But in my opinion, urban inline skates are here to stay. There are a lot of skaters out there that want to skate outside the skate park but still perform tricks. Their biggest obstacle was that aggressive skates were too bulky and tiresome, and they didn’t get up to high enough speeds. But at the same time, recreational skates weren’t built to withstand the abuse. Urban inline skates remedy both of those primary issues and for that reason, those skaters will be satisfied.
About the Author
With over 20 years of skating experience and nearly 10 years in the industry, I am a passionate inline skater with lots of skating knowledge to share. Check out my articles and my website for the best information relating to inline skating.
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