What skates do you use? I want to get some but don't know if a shop around here.
I skate "old fashioned" quads. My story:
I wanted to get into street skating for years and one day in a thrift store spotted a pair of used skates that fit me. I bought and started skating them and the front wheels fell off one of the skates when I was skating on the path around a lake and I was injured. Not horribly, but OMG... and I decided to get good reliable equipment and found a skate shop. I go in, it's a small shop (this is 1989) and talk to the owner who sells me a pair of Sure Grip Jogger plates (plus 70mm Kryptonics wheels, bearings, etc.), telling me he'd never seen them fail. I still skate those plates. By serendipity a guy comes in the shop while I'm buying those plates, etc. who I saw that very morning skate by my house. He had a style where he carried a pole that he'd poke on the ground, a tall muscular guy. Now, this was about 10 miles from my house, the skate shop, being in Alameda, CA. We have a long conversation and he tells me he bought basketball shoes and attached quad skate plates to them and he explained the technique. I bought basketball shoes and did the same. We became friends, sort of, me and that guy. He lived not far from me. It's over 30 years ago. I remember just one thing he said to me verbatim: "There's a rock out there with your name on it!" Well, I've skated the streets ever since. I have changed the uppers once, so on my second pair of basketball shoes.
I do all my own skate maintenance, which is pretty simple. Much simpler than bicycle maintenance, which I also do with my old road bike. I buy wheels, bearings, bushings, whatever, online. You can get all this stuff online, even basketball shoes (I ordered my current ones online).
There are a number of online sources for skates and skate parts. Informative sites and some of the source sites have info. Some good videos on Youtube on choosing skates, parts, etc. For instance, choosing wheels.
Of course, you can get put-together skates, which I didn't do, partly because my feet are extra wide. I always seem to have great luck with New Balance 11 4E, and that's what I bought in a basketball shoe. I'm having a tough time finding something like that now online, but my current uppers are OK, they are just beat up some. They aren't cheapies, they are well made, even for New Balance, which have cheaper and better. Seems like they don't make BB shoes anymore.
Edit: I never used to bicycle with a helmet unless I was going somewhere I considered dangerous, but my physical therapist admonished me and I took up regular helmet wearing around 2-3 years ago. I decided to wear the helmet when skating too. I have ALWAYS skated with gloves on. I used to wear elbow guards and wrist guards but eventually became confident enough to stop wearing those (I was even going to wear knee guards but didn't get around to that). It's really the gloves that give me confidence now, and just my 30+ years of skating. I get better all the time. I almost never fall. The gloves are essential for street skating. I rarely see skaters on the local streets. Some don't wear gloves and I figure them for stupid. Even the best street skater is apt to fall eventually, and gloves will prevent injuring your hands and allow you to fall in such a way that you aren't injured. BTDT! Many times.
Edit2: Inline skates are faster, but I'm not hankering for more speed. I really go for it on skates. My 9+ mile skate I'm basically going as fast as I can. Not an all out sprint most of the time, but I'm pushing myself. Kind of like a long distance runner, which I used to do a LOT until I was injured. Inlines wouldn't help for my fitness, they would just give me more speed, which would add to the danger, which is something I don't need. One day someone in the house had a pair of inlines that I tried and skated around the block. It was OK, but I didn't decide to get some. Besides, AFAIK, you need specialized uppers, I wouldn't be able to DIY with basketball shoes like I do with my quads. I see a lot of people skating quads around here, but not on the streets. They skate the basketball courts adjacent to my route... I pass them 10 times every day. I get the impression that they are skating for each other, showing off. They skate backwards, try different "tricks." I do that sometimes but not regularly. I'm into the fitness aspect of pushing myself on the street, these days. It's a ~1/2 mile straight with a change of elevation from one end to the other of, I figure, around 40 feet, and I go up and back 10 times. It's pretty smooth (a rarity around here) and it is designated as a "safe street" by a local program recently initiated by my town. The motorists respect that to some degree, but not all of them.
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