No, the blue ribbon is a good skate for a beginner adult. The "recommendation" levels are generally based on children- who weigh much less, and therefore put a lot less stress on their boots. I wouldn't put a beginner child in it, but a beginner adult it would be good. I don't think you'd be able to do even beginner freestyle on it though.

I would, if I had the money, start with the bronze medallion- so I could keep the same skates into beginning freestyle.

http://www.riedellskates.com/fit/rec_skate.pdf is a nice guide. I assume they are treating Basic 6 as the highest LTS level, but the levels go to Basic 8 before Freestyle 1. I would keep in mind though, that these recommendations are probably for someone who weighs a less, as most skaters are children.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

I've been looking for skates for myself and I am finding I will have to spend around 100 to get a decent pair of skates(new). JMO.

I would buy the Blue Ribbons. My daughter's 1st skates were Blue Ribbons. I know the price is higher, but it will be worth it if you plan to keep skating. My daughter just moved into Bronze Medallions. She is only 9 and weighs 50 pounds, so take my reply for what it is worth. I have been looking for skates for myself and the Blue Ribbon is the model I am wantin to buy...

Angie

It would help to know gender and rough weight/body size. That makes a big difference.

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Gordon Zaft
http://sk8rboi.blogspot.com
School figures are skating's equivalent of the Latin Mass.

If your daughter weighs 50 pounds, wouldn't you think the Blue Ribbons would feel as stiff on her feet as the Bronze Medallions would feel on your feet, considering you probably weigh twice as much and exert twice as much pressure on the boot with every stroke?

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

My feet are wide too. My suggestion would be to try a pair of Jacksons. I've been wearing them ever since I got fitted for them. They are particularly good if you have wide feet, like me.


BlackManSkating

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Proud to be one of the few black men out on the ice

Goals
Pass my Silver Moves Test
Finish Choreography for Silver Program
Land a Clean Double Toe and Double Lutz
Work on Double Axel and Rockers
Speed up back Camel

I don't know. I had her fit for skates a couple of weeks ago and it was suggested we move her into the Bronze Medallions. She just outgrew her Blue Ribbon skates and was needing new skates, so we upgraded. She needed a better blade too. She is now in Basic 5 and will begin private lessons as soon as I can get her into them. SO, for her, the need for a better blade and boot was necessary. For me, I am basically looking for a recreational skate to take a few lessons with and to use when we skate as a family. I definately weigh more then my daughter... but I think for myself, the Blue Ribbon would serve me well. If I end up skating more frequently, I will upgrade my own boot.

Oh and I know I could use rental skates, but the rental skates at the rink my daughter skates at, are horrible. I can typically hold my own when skating and in those, I fall or my feet hurt so bad, I have to remove them. I feel bad that my daughter wore them for her 1st 2 months of lessons, that is how bad they hurt my feet! :-) I had my own skates at one time, but over the years, they have been misplaced during our moves.

edited for spelling

I don't think anyone on this board recommends using the rental skates

Just so you know- if you are just doing rec skating a lower level skate isn't going to be horrible. I did Basic 1-6 in a skate from Land's End. It wasn't as floppy as rentals, but the support and blade were not that of a "real" skate. I could do a waltz jump in them, but the toe pick prevented me from doing bunny hops.

If you don't have the money, don't let us talk you up. But if you do- a good skate with the appropriate amount of support will help your skating.

(Someone was saying somethign to me about how she coudln't justify buying good skates because "the shoe doesn't make the athlete", and she's right. Buying a $500 skate isn't going to make you any better. But having the wrong skate could prevent you from being as good as you can be.)

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

Thanks! I agree about the lower level skates being OK. I am allowing myself to spend around 100 for my own skates. So, I think I should be able to find a nice beginner skate for that. I've definately learned from my daughter' coaches and from other parents at the rink, not to buy a boot that will be too stiff for the person learning. I have a friend at church who used to skate competitively, and she has also drilled this into my head. That's part of the reason we went with a Bronze Medallion for my daughter this time. We'll re-evaluate her skates when she outgrows this new pair. When she does that, we will look into what she will need then, based on skill level and how often she is skating. :-)

For me, my skating will likely be mostly recreational. I am thinking of taking the adult classes since I will be at the rink anyway and I love skating! I have 2 kids in lessons right now, so I may as well join them! I took a 6 week session when I was 19 and LOVED it and went skating regularly with my friend. It's a blast!

I can see how that could work if you are only going to skate recreationally and don't plan on doing jumps. The jump vs. no-jump factor is probably just as important as body weight.

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Just be prepared to be sucked in and have to replace your skates. If you somehow managed to stay a "skate around the rink, sometimes going backwards" skater- a $100 skate should be okay, but it's not going to be the best if you want to do more than that (even "simple" things like 3 turns can be hindered by a too low level blade)

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

Yup! Right now, it's my daughter's skates I worry the most about. If I should decide to do more, then I will look into different skates for me. :-)

If I do have to replace them, that's ok. I figure I would rather spend a little now and upgrade later, if I need to. In fact, I see nice skates posted for sale on th bulletin board at the rink, so maybe I will get lucky and find something like that, should I continue. I can already skate backwards... eek. It's been awhile though.

As for the blade, that is the exact reason the guy who fitted my daughter, told me to go with a MK 21 or Wilson Excel blade for her. I can't remember how he stated it, but he said that the blade that was on her old skates(Spiral), was not good for spins and can actually make them more wobbly. I am anxious to see how she will do when she tries out her new skates this week!

My son(6) is in a pair of used hockey skates, since he is taking "hockey" lessons. Fun, fun!

If I do have to replace them, that's ok. I figure I would rather spend a little now and upgrade later, if I need to. In fact, I see nice skates posted for sale on th bulletin board at the rink, so maybe I will get lucky and find something like that, should I continue. I can already skate backwards... eek. It's been awhile though. I used to know how to do a basic spin too. Don't ask me which one though! I can't remember how to do it at all now and I am a lot heavier then I was then(pre-kids)!

As for the blade, that is the exact reason the guy who fitted my daughter, told me to go with a MK 21 or Wilson Excel blade for her. I can't remember how he stated it, but he said that the blade that was on her old skates(Spiral), was not good for spins and can actually make them more wobbly. I am anxious to see how she will do when she tries out her new skates this week!

My son(6) is in a pair of used hockey skates, since he is taking "hockey" lessons. Fun, fun!

Well, I'm about 5'2, female, and weigh about 120-125ish, and i just want to learn basic jumps and spins not trying to compete or anything. and i dont know if this helps, but i'm asian and have the petite kind of body shape

Well, to learn the basic jumps you'd need skates at over 100 actually, over here the most popular skate to do that on is Risport RF4 which is around 200 euro, which is over 250 US Dollar (I'm not sure on the most current exchange rate). That's with blades though, although the blades are often upgraded to Coronation Ace once you get somewhere around lutz-ish, but don't worry, that's far away. Etoile is the one under RF4, it's somewhat cheaper, but it didn't hold my lutzes (weighing about 135 pounds).

I'm not sure if a person who's not jumping *at all* really should get rf4 though, I think they'd be too hard to break in and also unnessesary torture for your feet.

I almost exactly your size- 5'0", same weight, petite build and have found the Jackson Competitor to be perfect. It isn't too stiff at all, the break in process was about a month (skating only an hour a week), and after a year of use (up to 6 hours a week) they don't show sign of wear- so they should last me awhile. (Of course I have other problems with them- the toe box is too narrow...)

I don't know what the equivelent riedell is- but I would bet it's at least the Bronze Medallion- because of the pressed leather sole.

The other bonus to the Jackson Competitor- the Mirage blade is good for entry level freestyle- with a toe pick big enough that you can do toe jumps, and a good rocker for spins. I was AMAZED how good my spins got when I got this skate. (It was $250).

(I'm a basic freestyle skater- I don't ever plan to have an axel, and even the jumps I'm "good" at are pathetic. I do enjoy moves in the field though- so a rec. skate wouldn't work for me)

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

If the Blue Ribbons that people are recommending come with a removable blade (not riveted on), that shouldn't be a problem; my first pair of skates came with very basic blades which I upgraded, after a year, to Coronation Aces. Which did make a huge difference, but I wouldn't have been ready for them any earlier.

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Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

The Riedell Blue Ribbon comes with a removable blade - Wilson Excel.

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Amanda

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance . . . "

My Skating Journal

While the Excel blade is attached to the Blue Ribbon skate with screws, it's a little difficult to find a pro shop willing to remove and install another blade on that skate because the sole is made entirely of PVC plastic.

Most pro shops recommend against swapping blades on plastic-soled skates.
They can't plug and redrill new holes for different blades. The screws tend to come loose often once they've been removed. Plus, they have to fasten the screws by hand; using an electric screwdriver increases the risk of stripping the screw holes.

The PVC vs. Leather sole is the major difference between the Ribbon and the Medallion series. It's also why the Medallions are more expensive - the materials are of a better quality and allow more potential for the future.

My daughters used Bronze Medallions for over 2 years. I was satisfied with them, but as others have said, the stock blade wasn't terribly well-made.

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hmm, not sure im willing to spend almost 300 on my first pair of skates.

I spent $450 on my first pair of skates, but I knew that I was going to skate for a long time to come. And I broke them down in a year. Don't splurge on skates unless you know that you will be on the ice for a long time. I figured, "Hey I'm worth it so why not??"


BlackManSkating

__________________
Proud to be one of the few black men out on the ice

Goals
Pass my Silver Moves Test
Finish Choreography for Silver Program
Land a Clean Double Toe and Double Lutz
Work on Double Axel and Rockers
Speed up back Camel

In that case, you might want to look for a good pair of used skates. Most of our competition group kids are skating on used skates, and they're doing doubles, so there's no reason GOOD used skates wouldn't be good enough for you. Plus-point of used skates: they're already broken in, and that might be a blessing from heaven.
Bad point: you don't have the luxury of an experienced skate shop to guide you in the choice of the brand, model and size, which all influences how a skate fits. Also you have to be careful not to buy broken down skates or skates which aren't the right type for you.

Another thing taking a high flight here in the Netherlands is "skate lease". This means you can get (used) skates from a professional shop for a season, at somewhere around 40% of newvalue. During the season, if for some reason the size isn't right (anymore, cuz of growing kids, for example), you can change to a different pair of the same type (and presumably you could change to a different type too if you wanted). After the end of the 6-month season you return the skates to the shop.
Our rink doesn't have such a programme, but the skating club has a skate sale twice a year and what happens is that most skates are passed down from the older kids who have grown out of them to the younger kids. The club pays attention to the quality of skates sold and how they fit, unfortunately, choice is limited.
You might wanna look around if there are any skate exchange programmes like leasing and the like over where you live or nearby. At least you'd get a year to figure out if you're addicted to skating or not, and if yes, what kind of skate you'd like (or not like).

With skating though, well, I had bad blades and I couldn't figure out why on earth I couldn't learn to spin, I actually got myself injured badly twice, until I found out the blades weren't mounted properly. I mean, it's kinda worth it to invest in the material. Not too much though, you don't want boots too stiff or blades too expensive, but some investment will definately pay off in the progress you'll make. That's given that you really like skating. If you find out after a year that you hate it, well, then it doesn't of course pay off.

You haven't mentioned online shopping, but I just wanted to point out just in case you're thinking of it, make sure you try on skates before just picking a size and model off a website. You can usually return a web order but you have to return them unsharpened, which means you can't really try them out other than to lace them up in your living room. It really helps to try on a few different brands because they do feel so different.

I started in Blue Ribbons but I will never forget the feeling of when I tried on Jacksons for the first time. There was absolutely no pain even though they fit snugly. They just fit my foot so much better than the Riedells. I had the Riedells punched out a little in a few places but it was always an awkward fit for me.

which jackson's (mystique, artiste, classique) would compare to the riedells blue ribbon or bronze medallion?