Do rollerblades have a speed limit?
- Thread starter Minerva
- Start date
Kelemvor
Lifer
- May 23, 2002
- 16,928
- 8
- 81
Go rent a movie called Airborne. Awesome rollerblading race thing at the end.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106233/
DainBramaged
Lifer
- Jun 19, 2003
- 23,454
- 41
- 91
Having played roller hockey for 9 years I can tell you that there is a significant difference between ABEC 3 and 5's, and some to 7's. 9's are only useful if you are going much faster than you could ever skate.
I will not buy ABEC3's to play hockey. There is just too much friction. I would probably buy 7's. If you skate outside, I would just buy 3's because once they get dirty it doesn't matter so much anymore.
As far as there being a speed limit, I'm not sure that's the correct question to ask. If hooked up to a powerful enough engine, you could spin them very fast...
I will not buy ABEC3's to play hockey. There is just too much friction. I would probably buy 7's. If you skate outside, I would just buy 3's because once they get dirty it doesn't matter so much anymore.
As far as there being a speed limit, I'm not sure that's the correct question to ask. If hooked up to a powerful enough engine, you could spin them very fast...
I have no idea, but I know they go pretty darn fast! I have put on all the gear and gone flying through the parks and down hills and streets with my friends.. it felt as though I was going at least 15 to 20 mph!! If not faster when going down steep hills.
This discussion can be every bit varied and in-depth as any computer performance discussion.
On fitness or race blades skilled skaters can hit 30mph. Generally, sustainable average cruising speeds for the passionate fitness skater is in the ballpark of 15-20mph with the regular-but-not-aggressive skater rolling in around 10-15mph. Note that I'm not talking about casual cruising here but average sustainable speeds over distance skating; long strides, good form, not skating for sight-seeing.
It's difficult to say "how fast" one can go on skates because there are different kinds of skates (as well as different bearings, wheel size, wheel durometer and frame spacing). More important to that equation however is a person's being comfortable on skates, what type of skating is being done and how well it's being done. Most people skate for recreation and are just choosing gear that's comfortable and gives a decent roll. Some are hardcore structure mongrels and require durable boots, strong ankle support and lower center of gravity for freestyle tricks. The others are the above mentioned fitness freaks and they are the ones that hit the top of the speed chain.
As you go through the spectrum from most versatile to most speed you sacrifice the opposite end of the spectrum. A versatile blade is less fast, a fast blade is less versatile. Versatile; meaning ease of maneuverability in turns, stops, terrain.
You can improve the performance of your blades by upgrading bearings. The different grades (and cost) of bearings reflect their speed capability, lateral loading, longetivity and whether they're serviceable or throw-away. ABEC ratings (1,3,5,7 and 9) reflect tightening tolerance and material quality standards with ISO ratings (0,6,5,4,2) respectively. As the ABEC rating increases so does performance capability and cost. There is also the argument of ceramic vs steel bearings and grease vs oil lubricated but those factors affect more service and durability issues than noticeable speed benefit.
There are quite a few high-end bearing manufacturers that don?t even use ABEC ratings because their tolerance and performance go beyond ABEC rating. Some of these manufacturers are Twin-Cam, BWB Swiss, SFK. Twin-Cam ILQ-9 Bearings come stock in my K2 VO2 MAX skates. Rayden makes an excellent point though that depending on your general use it might not be ?worth? buying more expensive bearings.
Also affecting overall speed are the size and durometer of your wheels. Race/Fitness skates generally use larger height/skinnier width wheels with a medium/high durometer as compared to smaller height/wider width wheels with the medium/low durometer of free-style skates. Race skates also have longer frames and some even have more wheels. The larger wheels and longer wheel base provides for more power throughout the length of the stride just as the long blade of a ice speed skate does. Smaller, wider, softer wheels are better suited for versatile skating such as hockey and free-style skating where tight turns, jumping or soft riding is an interest.
Last but not least is hard vs soft boot. Just about everyone nowadays is producing a soft-boot, but not everyone?s doing it very well.
I?ve already written way more than the quick blurb I?d intended to so I?ll leave the rest for google. Which brings up an important point. I?m no scholar on blades, bearings or wheels. I used to blade hardcore with Rollerblade?s ?Lightenings? about a year or two before the ?Airborne? movie mentioned by [/b]FrankyJunior[/b]; much of which is filmed in Minnesota (my home state). Anyway, I?ve just now gotten back into in-line skating for health/fitness purposes and all the above is some of what I?ve gleaned from the forums and reviews on current in-line skating. Your mileage may vary.
*wasn't going to jump into this thread; until the mention of bearings not really mattering.
On fitness or race blades skilled skaters can hit 30mph. Generally, sustainable average cruising speeds for the passionate fitness skater is in the ballpark of 15-20mph with the regular-but-not-aggressive skater rolling in around 10-15mph. Note that I'm not talking about casual cruising here but average sustainable speeds over distance skating; long strides, good form, not skating for sight-seeing.
It's difficult to say "how fast" one can go on skates because there are different kinds of skates (as well as different bearings, wheel size, wheel durometer and frame spacing). More important to that equation however is a person's being comfortable on skates, what type of skating is being done and how well it's being done. Most people skate for recreation and are just choosing gear that's comfortable and gives a decent roll. Some are hardcore structure mongrels and require durable boots, strong ankle support and lower center of gravity for freestyle tricks. The others are the above mentioned fitness freaks and they are the ones that hit the top of the speed chain.
As you go through the spectrum from most versatile to most speed you sacrifice the opposite end of the spectrum. A versatile blade is less fast, a fast blade is less versatile. Versatile; meaning ease of maneuverability in turns, stops, terrain.
You can improve the performance of your blades by upgrading bearings. The different grades (and cost) of bearings reflect their speed capability, lateral loading, longetivity and whether they're serviceable or throw-away. ABEC ratings (1,3,5,7 and 9) reflect tightening tolerance and material quality standards with ISO ratings (0,6,5,4,2) respectively. As the ABEC rating increases so does performance capability and cost. There is also the argument of ceramic vs steel bearings and grease vs oil lubricated but those factors affect more service and durability issues than noticeable speed benefit.
There are quite a few high-end bearing manufacturers that don?t even use ABEC ratings because their tolerance and performance go beyond ABEC rating. Some of these manufacturers are Twin-Cam, BWB Swiss, SFK. Twin-Cam ILQ-9 Bearings come stock in my K2 VO2 MAX skates. Rayden makes an excellent point though that depending on your general use it might not be ?worth? buying more expensive bearings.
Also affecting overall speed are the size and durometer of your wheels. Race/Fitness skates generally use larger height/skinnier width wheels with a medium/high durometer as compared to smaller height/wider width wheels with the medium/low durometer of free-style skates. Race skates also have longer frames and some even have more wheels. The larger wheels and longer wheel base provides for more power throughout the length of the stride just as the long blade of a ice speed skate does. Smaller, wider, softer wheels are better suited for versatile skating such as hockey and free-style skating where tight turns, jumping or soft riding is an interest.
Last but not least is hard vs soft boot. Just about everyone nowadays is producing a soft-boot, but not everyone?s doing it very well.
I?ve already written way more than the quick blurb I?d intended to so I?ll leave the rest for google. Which brings up an important point. I?m no scholar on blades, bearings or wheels. I used to blade hardcore with Rollerblade?s ?Lightenings? about a year or two before the ?Airborne? movie mentioned by [/b]FrankyJunior[/b]; much of which is filmed in Minnesota (my home state). Anyway, I?ve just now gotten back into in-line skating for health/fitness purposes and all the above is some of what I?ve gleaned from the forums and reviews on current in-line skating. Your mileage may vary.
*wasn't going to jump into this thread; until the mention of bearings not really mattering.
"means nothing" for the casual in-line skater. Means everything to the skater who takes their blading seriously.
As you stated, ABEC only measures the tolerances to which the bearing is made. The ABEC ratings were never made to ensure low friction or smoothness of the bearing at the rotational speeds you see in rollerblades. In fact, the ABEC rating system alone is in many ways irrelevant because it only specifies certain manufacturing tolerances relevant to high-speed (10k+ RPM) machinery.
My point is that ABEC means nothing in rollerblades, the other factors you mentioned make a much bigger difference. What you want is to do buy bearings from a reputable manufacturer which will ensure a nice, fast, smooth bearing, since the actual ABEC rating means squat. Just to give you an idea, I've used ABEC-3 bearings that were faster than ABEC-7s.
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