Inline Skates - Great Tips For Their Use And Care

OK, so you've got your skates and, hopefully, full protective gear. Now, how 'bout some tips for their use and care?First off, newer contemporary blades have much better components than old ones. However, if you tried your new skates out in the sports store, chances are you skated on a carpet which compressed and slowed you down. ERGO, when you get out into the real world, you'll find that your skates go much smoother and MUCH FASTER because you're now skating on pavement's hard surface.So, now that your skates GO much more easily, the first thing you'll want to do to stay safe and under control is practice how to STOP. A quiet street or the back of a mall or supermarket parking lot is a great place to practice undisturbed. Once you've mastered stopping and speed-control, you're good to go.But, keep in mind that gravity always wins. So, any significant downgrade can make you pick up more velocity than you might find comfortable. In this connection, there are multiple ways to slow down and stop. A number of skate schools offer excellent training, and availing yourself of them will help you discover which techniques you're most comfortable using.Finally, a few short tips on maintenance. As you skate, your wheels wear down, but they don't wear evenly. In fact, it's just the opposite: Most skaters will find that their lead wheels wear fastest, although it does depend on your skating style.Looking at your wheels, they're round from two perspectives: around the periphery as you look from the side, and also in profile as viewed from the front of the skate. As you use your wheels, the front profile will begin to become asymmetric, sporting a somewhat chisel-shape from accelerated wear on one side.When this becomes apparent, you'll want to do what car owners do to maximize their car tire life... they rotate their tires. And so, you'll want to rotate your wheels as well.If you imagine your wheels numbered one to four from front to back, here's what you do. On both skates, swap wheels in position 1 with those in position 3, and also swap wheels in position 2 with those in position 4. At the same time you change your wheels' positions, also turn each wheel 180-degrees so it rotates in the opposite direction. If you do this periodically, you'll get the longest life from your wheels.Note that after any service work involving removing and re-installing your wheels, you should tighten the axle hardware enough so that the wheels won't spin freely. Then, back off them enough so that they do. First excursion out after service, you may want to bring your blade tool and recheck that everything's secure after you've skated a mile or so. If you feel uncomfortable performing this service yourself, most skate shops will take care of what you need for a modest fee.Bearings - These are the little metal thingies in the inside hub of each wheel which are responsible for you getting a great glide with each stride. They're said to be "sealed", but seals have limited strength. Thus, if you use your skates on dirt or grass, or say at the beach where there's blowing sand or sand kicking up as you skate, some of that contamination will eventually penetrate the seal and WHOA, all of a sudden your skates don't glide the way you remember.And, heed this: There's an immutable chemical reaction that says IRON + WATER = RUST. So, even though it leaves cool-looking tracks in the pavement, DON'T skate through puddles, or when it's raining, or after it rains and the pavement is still wet.If you've ever driven your car down a wet highway after the rain stopped, you know that getting too close to the car in front of you means you'll get a spray of mist on your windshield. Likewise, skating on a wet surface will result in each wheel spraying the one behind it, much to their detriment.So, there you have some recipes for safe, fun in-line skating along with tips to get you the best use of your blades. Now, go out there and skate up a storm!

Posted in: Inlines