So I was bored, and screwed my old blades onto the bottom of some Sketcher shoes, and went skating. They worked better than I thought, even with no ankle support whatsoever...

Yes, I am officially insane now.

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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

Hey Casey, here come those *nice* people in their nice white coats with the long sleeves...

But were the "boots" comfortable?? (I bet they were!)

Well they were quite cushiony in comparison, and it was a good workout for the ankles

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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

That's hilarious hahaha. I wonder if they could be screwed onto sandals hehe. Ones with good strong foot straps. Maybe wouldn't work too good for sandals...no ankle support whatsoever hehe. Put up some pics of the shoes with the blades on.

Sounds like a recipe for a broken ankle to me, I wouldnt do it but if you are happy with with it, nothing left to say really.

If there are any children reading this, take my tip and dont even consider it.

A friend and I were talking the other day, about skating boot design and how it has not progressed much since the "dark ages"... Granted you have the pro-flex boot, but the basic design is the same, leather boot, heel, lace up, etc.

I'd like to see how it would work with an aggressive roller blade boot....I've seen the ones that hinge (like the pro-flex) and thought about it. The only difference-they don't have a heel and mostly come in darker colors. But I bet it would be interesting!

If anything, I'd like to see a "mod kit" so I could put on cam-locks instead of having laces.....then I could try them on my son's hockey skates (so I don't have to tie them all the time)!

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

Well, rememember skates didn't used to offer ankle support at all. In fact, I think it would be good exercise for my poor ankles which get to be lazy in my skating boots to actually skate around without ankle support. But since I couldn't do anything and it was too wobbly because my ankles suck, I gave up after 5 minutes.

The soles are too cushioned on the old shoes I tried with too. I was thinking that perhaps for my next experiment, I could try cowboy boots or something...

But I was able to let go of the wall and skate around and across the rink! And even on one foot a bit.

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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

I'm surprised the screws stayed in the soft bottoms of the Skechers.

And while boots used to be softer, they still, y'know, went up your legs. Wasn't much support, but it still kept your foot more or less over the blade.

If you're looking for ankle training, try ballet or yoga. The balancing positions in yoga are great for improving ankle strength and ballet works pretty much everything.

Eh, why fix it if it ain't broken?

*with her forehead cupped in her hands she shakes her head in disdain*
Casey, my friend, you have waaaay too much time on your hands. This is indeed insane! I can hear the sirens coming to take you away!
I can't help but notice that all this craziness has begun since you started ice dancing.... hmmmm. I guess it is the price you pay.

~sk8pdx

Actually, I think broken ankles are less likely when the foot is not being held rigidly by the boot. Pat's recent injury has me thinking about the frequency of broken ankles among figure skaters. When I was a roller skater, there weren't any; we had broken arms, but I never heard of broken ankles. I bet they were less common on ice too before the rigid boots. What I think is a large contributing factor is that the blade is capable of getting stuck one way or another, the body keeps going and torques the ankle which is held tightly in the boot. A roller skate can't get caught on the floor, and a flexible, two-ply leather boot doesn't prevent the ankle from moving with the body so much as a rigid boot.

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It should work a bit, since I remember that roller speed-skates were soccer/football boots with wheels. And soccer boots don't have much support for ankles at all.

And also, early roller skates and toy roller skates were basically a plate or platform that let you strap shoes in. So they really were sandals, but you strap shoes and all into them.

I had a pair like that when I was a little girl!

And my father's ice-skates strap on to his regular shoes (not that he has skated for over forty years - I think the last time was in the winter of 1962-63), which is what skates did back then. If anybody has read Arthur Ransome's Winter Holiday, set in the 1930s, the children there have skates that strap on to their ordinary shoes/boots.

But I bought a pair of those roller-skates where the wheels tuck up into the sole when not in use - and after one go on them I put them away, since I couldn't handle the lack of ankle support!

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

As did I. That's how I broke one of my front teeth when I was 8. Darned gravel in those driveway dips .

I have a small collection of those and they are always for sale on eBay.

You are far, far braver than I! I don't know if I would even put on my roller skates, which I still have, and which are still top of the line, except for the boots, of course.

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I wonder if that's why people who skate roller derby have skates that don't have ankles.... (their skates look similar to a pair of sneakers with wheels on them).

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Oh yes, speed-skates! My daughter has a pair and they really don't have any ankle support, but you do build that up on your own. Of course the majority of people aren't doing the jumps and spins....

My first pair of ice skates were very thin leather with the blade riveted to the sole. The uppers would flop over to the side once I took them off-no support at all, but I could do 2-foot spins, crossovers, and jump over sticks and small logs with them (pond and ditch skating). Your muscles just build up on their own from the exercise, as they would in any sport.

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

Now?!?!?! What about before?!?!? (Just kidding!)

__________________
Ask me about becoming a bone marrow donor.
http://www.marrow.org
http://www.nmdp.org

Actually, if my ice dance partner had more time, I wouldn't have had time to skate in shoes. My spare time comes from being unemployed...

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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

It wasn't official. The notary was on vacation.

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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

Well I tried skating in rentals again after so many years... and there was practically no ankle support it was scary! Makes me wonder about skating in sneaker skates would feel like. Edges would be even scarier!

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~
Tidesong

As Skate@Delaware said, those are speed skates. They are totally different from figure skates. Speed skates are almost like slippers and have (or had) small wooden wheels and ultralight plates and trucks. Figure skates, OTOH, have boots similar to ice figure boots, significant plates, and specialized wheels. Rather heavy, on the whole.

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Two totally off-topic remarks:

1) I learned (from a Dad at the rink) that there are different types of speed skates: long-track and short-track. The blades are different lengths, and the boots are radically different. I have forgotten which is which, but one is like a leather slipper boot (think elves) - no support whatsoever. The Dad is a former hockey skater so those booties drove him crazy. He ended up buying the second speed skates off of eBay, just to try them out.

2) Casey's other thread about the permanent markers made me think that we should start marking our blade plates with the date of our last sharpening (and ROH, if needed.)

And now for the on-topic remark:

Glad you're having fun trying these things, Casey. Please be careful. I hope you find a better job soon.

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What are they called? I have tried looking them up on ebay but can't not find them. I would be interested in seeing what they look like.

I have! After we read that one we started referring to the public session-only skaters as "seals"...

In any case, I do have the impression that such skates were already growing obsolete at the time...Dick and Dot probably skated in permanently attached boots at home where they learned on a (presumably) indoor rink.

Rob