are they worth buying, are they in any way similar to ice skating? id consider buying if so,i noticed russiet on here use some rollers to practise his mohawks...
thanks

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starting at 28

Personally, I absolutly love my roller blades! Almost everything that you do on figure skates you can do on roller blades. I think that it is a good investment. The only problem is the type of skates you buy. Some types have a toe pick (made out of rubber) and some are just like hockey skates.
Good luck!

okay, so whats the difference between quad and inline skates? Plus would learning roller techniques detract from your ice ability, because ice skating is that I wanna get good at, only going all the time can tire me out, which is why I was considering buying them!

Thanks

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starting at 28

Actually I have found that inline skating has helpped me with my figure skating. The only difference from quad and inline skates are the placement of the wheels. The quad has the wheels two in the frount and two in the back. (next to each other) the inline skates have the wheels in a row. I think that practicing at least one a week on roller blades won't tire you out. I inline skate almost every day and still have enough energy to skate after. I would highly suggest that you buy elbow and knee pads. As much as inline and figure skating are alike they are also intirely different. Also where you skate makes a different, like skating in a streat or actually going to a roller rink to practice.

That happens to make a huge difference in technique on certain moves. All of the one foot turns have different balance points on quads vs ice. Checking on quads is not nearly the issue it is on ice. Also, quad technique calls for the shoulders to be square to the direction of travel. This means that on FXO's for example, the shoulders are not rotated into the circle as they are on ice. Mohawks are actually easier than 3 turns on quads, and you never need to worry about stepping on your blade, but you do have to be concerned about locking your wheels as you stroke (the wheels of your two skates - with each other). In sum, inlines are a great cross training tool for ice, but quads are another kettle of fish. They are fun, and skills do transfer, but there are more differences than with inlines.

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I like skating on inlines sometimes though I don't currently own a pair - I just use the rentals at the roller rink. I find outdoor skating to be pretty useless except for exercise, whereas I can do lots of ice skating stuff even on regular crappy inlines indoors. If you're going to do a significant amount of indoor inline skating in addition to ice skating, you probably want to consider a pair of PIC skates, which are made to feel very similar to ice skates.

I can't skate on quads, period - it feels like they pull my feet the opposite way of where they should be going. My roomate, who skates on quads, has a tough time on ice. I consider them very different.

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

They are worth buying, but you have to remember that the two types must have different characteristics. I have a pair of typical inlines, with all 4 wheels flat on the ground, and their handling is nothing like ice skates, because with all 4 wheels flat on the ground, the cornering is quite useless really. If you try to simulate being on an edge on inlines, instead of being able to glide around in tight circular path, the inlines tend to just go straight ahead. So for turning, you got to do cross-overs.....but still, it's pretty poor. I don't own rockered inlines (eg.. PIC skates), so maybe they'd be a bit better. I will probably have to grab some PIC skates in future, to give them a try.

Hi

I found that inline skating was nothing like ice skating. I know many people say that there are many similarities but in my case I found nothing similar about it. After ice skating I have found that I no longer want to inline skate as it just doesnt feel the same, the smoothness and glide is completely different and on the whole I just didnt feel anywhere near as safe.
I have gone as far now as to sell my inlines on ebay and I dont expect I will ever inline skate again.

My advice is if you love ice, you have ice skates and you are training, stick to it and dont come down to inlines.

Obviously everyones circumstances are different but for me, Im sticking to ice.

Andrea xx

Well.....I have pic-skates (inline wheels on a figure boot with a rubber "toe pic"). I used to skate on them pretty regularly and I feel that they are great for some things but in some ways are still just too different than ice skates.

I learned all single jumps (no axel) on in-lines and found that the basic technique is the same. The exception would be the loop jump. On in-lines, the loop is really more on a flat and you can not "hook" the take-off edge. I wiped out many times on in-lines after I learned the loop correctly on ice skates! I ended up refusing to do the loop on in-lines!

You can do good stroking practice on in-lines....I dont think the same is said for the quads...The quads seem to promote a pushing motion rather than stepping on correct edges. Yes, edges can be done on in-lines.

In general I think if you want to get to a little more advanced stage....Adult Silver and up....I would abandon the in-lines...or just do it occassionally. If ice time is an issue.....the pic-skates, however are a viable alternative...just be aware of the differences!

BTW....falling on the wood floor of a roller rink hurts Waaaaaaayyyyy more than the ice!

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Why are you skating so slowly? Get out of my way!

If you skate faster, it makes everything look better!

Several skaters at my rink use the Pic skates during the summer when our rink has shut down. I used to use them but the differences just messed me up (I get confused easily). Maybe next summer I will try them again...because the drive to a summer rink really bummed me out (1.5 hours each way just to skate).

Our rink director is qualified to teach on Pic skates.....maybe she will teach next summer if she gets enough students.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Not wrong about that. And falling on concrete .... well, that's another story altogether.

Yes, pushing on quads is also different, as I found out when I started ice. If you apply quad pushing to ice, you will always push with your toe pick! Re edges, on quads, an edge (curve) is achieved via the mounting of the wheels on trucks with thick rubber "washers" which allow angular movement. You actually change the orientation of the front vs back wheels when you apply aim, lean, and push. It's quite a different feeling from ice.

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hi there,
russiet and i skate all summer [ me into winter] on pic skates.
our ice arena puts down a plastic floor in the summer.
i prefer to skate on pavement,, the plastic can be brutal to hold an edge on--very slippery, especially if it's dirty/dusty.

pavement offers alot of traction, but yes, it is different when you make turns [ mohawks, 3's, rockers...] you almost have to 'hop' into the turn........like weighting and unweighting a ski.

i was able to do waltz, three turns,,ect. on regular rollerblades, but i love the pics, mostly because of the alignment,,,,,,,,you center yourself the same as on figure skates because you're IN figure boots---that heel makes a difference.

where would you skate? pavement, plastic, concrete??

i had a heck of a time on rollerskates!! ugh!! too much material under the foot! never again.....

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JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE ELSE GETS TO YOU FIRST..

DOES 'THAT' MAKE THEM 'RIGHT'?

CFP prefers pavement, I prefer the plastic sports floor. The sports floor has a more consistant feel for me, and there are no unforseen cracks and pebbles.

This was my first week back on ice. Let me tell you, after 4 straight days, my thighs definetly feel it. I'm in good shape from PIC skating and mountain biking, but somehow the muscles are used differently. Or maybe my age is creeping up on me (CFP, that's your cue for comment)

In any event, not having an alternative from April to September, I use PIC skates. If I had ice available, I wouldn't bother with them.

I don't like landing jumps on them, I can barely do a two-foot spin on them. But I CAN do a lot of footwork & pratice all the MIF.

If I skate outdoors, I use regular fitness inline skates & just go for a work-out. I take the heel brake off to make it more interesting (I trip on it any way). The fitness skates don't have a rocker like the pic skates, but they do turn when you bank on edge.

jon, why would i make a derogeratory comment about your 'age'?
you're a darn good skater, for a geezer.

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JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE ELSE GETS TO YOU FIRST..

DOES 'THAT' MAKE THEM 'RIGHT'?

i think i will not buy any inlines, my rink opens every day of the year, so i guess i can always go there, and i am not sure about the difference and how that would affect my ice skating!

thanks all

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starting at 28

For most people, I think it can take a bit of time to transition in and out of one skating discipline to another. The surfaces are different, and so is the mechanism (wheels versus blade) that's under the boot. Plus heights maybe different. And even the boots themselves will feel different, unless you get fitted with similar kinds of boot for both inlines and ice-skates. So if you have fine-tuned/optimised your skills for ice-skating - that is, gotten used to the weight and feel of the boot+skates that you're wearing, and then go to a different surface and different boot+skates, then that can sometimes mess people up for some time. Even changing boots+skates within the same discipline can be weird for a time, until you get used to the feel of the new boots+skates.