Equipment list#

Thu, 15 Dec 2005 12:00:00 +0000

On the (probably reasonable) assumption that you've just joined and aren't interested in reading two years' worth of posts in another blog entirely just to catch up, I'm going to say a few words about what I'm skating on.

Roads.

OK, that was probably only the right answer in a very literal sense. I have two pairs of skates that are in usable condition (plus random bits of other skates hiding under my desk at work).

• Salomon Crossmax 3 - exactly the same skates as everyone else in London has. 237mm frame, and Hyper +Grip wheels. The only thing I really don't like about these is the hi-lo frame setup which means I can't put 80mm wheels on them all round, but must instead find 76mm wheels for the front two axles on each boot. Lately I've been doing this by waiting until I have 4mm wear and then moving the back wheels forwards, but it's just another thing to remember. These are great for streetskates and general all-around skating
• Simmons "Ten degrees" boots on Bont 4x100 frames. These are a more recent acquisition and utterly unlike the rec skates I'd previously been used to - every so often I forget just how long they are (usually with embarrassing and/or painful results). I'm trying to use these for ordinary day-to-day skating more these days just so that they feel more natural - a task made easier by having a second set of wheels for serious training/racing so I don't feel so bad about trashing the regular set by t-stopping them. Still much more work going around corners on these, though, which is why I'm sticking with the xmax for marshalling for the moment.