Choosing ice skates / which type ?

[7Cities]

Hi there,
I'm new here so Sorry If I have posted in the wrong section.

I'm from the UK and love ice skating. Before I couldnt go too often but now that I have more time I am loving it and want to finally get my own pair of ice skates.
I wondered if you could help me out as I dont know much about it all.

I guess I like skating for fun, like going fast and skating, but I also love going backwards and want to work on doing complex moves and learning how to do figure skating.

What I am wondering is what kind of skate is best ? Most people I see have hockey skates. Are these still fine for figure skating. I guess they dont have the toe grip thing on the end but is that the only difference ?

What would you reccomend ?

On another quesiotn, I dont have a large amount to spend either so wondered how long skates with built in blades last ? I dont want them to only last a year and then have to replace the whole skate as the blade doesnt come off.
How long do they tend to last ?

Sorry for asking a million questions, but I've been all over the net and this place seems like a helpful site.

Many thanks for any help you can offer me,

Tim.

[mikawendy]

Welcome!

You'll have more luck getting an answer in the On Ice forum on this board:

http://www.skatingforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=16

In the past few months, there have been many threads in that section about boot and blade selection. You can go to the advanced search page http://www.skatingforums.com/search.php?

and search the On Ice Skaters forum for some of those threads.

Each week in the On Ice forum, there's a "lessons/practices" thread where everyone talks about what they've been working on during their lessons and practices. Join us sometime there if you want!

[TashaKat]

Agree with mikawendy, pop over to On-Ice and ask again there or do a search as you're more likely to get replies :)

To answer your question ....

If you want to figure skate then get figure skates. Hockey skates just aren't the same and you'll find spins and some jumps more difficult if you don't have a toe pick. Also the picks are used in step sequences etc. Plus, if you want to advance you would have to change over to figure skates at some point anyway, better to get used to toe picks now rather than later :D

With regards to actual makes you'll be limited initially by what your skate shop sells. The very best thing to do would be to try different makes on (keep them on for a while and walk around the shop) and see what feels more comfortable. I prefer just to wear tights with my boots as socks ALWAYS wrinkle and rub on me. If you do wear socks then don't wear them too thick, thick socks are only to protect your feet from the rental boots!

Although I hate the 'better' Risports I've always found their basic/beginner boots to be very good. I also like Wifa, in fact Wifa (for me) would be my first choice (they also do them in different colours if you're that way inclined! I've got purple Harlicks so that appeals to me :)).

Don't get boots that are too 'good' for you to start off with, they won't make you skate better, they'll just wreck your feet and hurt A LOT. Same with blades, start off on a fairly novice blade, you can always trade up later on.

One thing that I would advise is NOT to get the skates where the blades are permanently fixed to the boot. You may find that you need to move the blade if you pronate. The other thing is that if you later want to trade up the boots or the blades then you can transfer them across.

[7Cities]

Hi there,
Just wanted to thankyou all for your help. It was very helpful.
I forgot all about this place over Christmas and now I'm back and have saved up my Christmas money I am now going to be able to buy my skates.

I'l head over to the skate forum you advise and see whats going on over there.

Thankyou :)