I’ve been skating in my Jackson freestyles for over 2 years. I’m working on axel and double sal. Is it time to upgrade my boots, and how broken down do these seem? I need a lot of support when I skate, and I feel like these are loosening quicker than they used to. I have to constantly retie my skates. The boot itself still seems stiff, but the tongue is rather flexible. For reference, im a 5'2 female 130 lbs, 22 y/o. I skate about 6 hours a week. Here's some photos and a video. Thanks for the help! https://photos.app.goo.gl/ezBFY5CKazhtf3bPA
Broken down?
- Thread starter alexac10
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2022
The Jackson Freestyle is not strong enough for an adult with your stats, skating 6 hours a week and working on double jumps. After two years, any boot of a 45 stiffness is going to be breaking down. Where do you live? We need to get you to a good skate shop near you, with a recommended fitter who will put you in a more advanced boot from a brand that is right for whatever your foot shape is. Add a good basic blade like the Coronation Ace or MK Pro. The skate shop's blade technician, after analyzing your stance and weight distribution, will place and attach the blades for optimum balance.
Thanks for the response! I live in Milwaukee, but i'm willing to commute a bit for the right place. I've heard of a few suggestions near Chicago, but I'd love some recommendations if you have any.
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2022
I'm on the west coast of Canada, so not a region I know, but others on GS are familiar with your area. Responses may take a bit longer than usual because everyone is absorbed by the topic of the Olympics just now. Hang in there
!That’s okay, I can do some research too. I just wanted to know more or less if it was time to move on with these boots haha. Thanks again!I'm on the west coast of Canada, so not a region I know, but others on GS are familiar with your area. Responses may take a bit longer than usual because everyone is absorbed by the topic of the Olympics just now. Hang in there
I'm really surprised that you've pulled off what you have with the Jackson Freestyle. But in response to your principal concern, the time to move on has passed.
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2017
Hi and welcome. As others have said before me: These boots were never stiff enough for you in the first place. I'm glad you have not gotten injured from them.
What is your foot type?
What is your arch type: very high/high/normal/low/flat?
Once I know that I (we) can suggest a proper boot and blade for you. I can also suggest a pro fitter in your area.
I am curious whether you are asking because you feel uncertain that they provide adequate support. I.E., do you feel you could hurt yourself doing double jumps, as well as the jumps you might be doing in the near future? Are you holding yourself back, for fear of getting hurt?
There is a huge range of what different skaters feel confident doing in a given pair of boots, and of how long they feel confident using a those boots. A coach I know told me she knows a 165 lb skater who does double jumps in Jackson Freestyles, and has been using them a couple years or so. But that is quite unusual. She uses Freestyles herself, and hers are a few years old, and she can at least do doubles (but she might be under 100 lbs, so that's a special case).
Jackson's own web page
implies they consider them suitable for people doing single jumps, for people over 80 pounds (but they don't say how much over, so I assume not all that much, since it is obvious from the other weight ranges listed on that page that they are mostly thinking of kids.) If you are still growing heavier, you could also take the support you will need in the near future into account.
People differ from each other a lot. E.g., gymnasts do double and triple jumps barefoot. And ballet jumpers come pretty close to barefoot. But they have trained and conditioned themselves to do so, over a period of many years. Some of them do get injuries - though not all.
Likewise, boot creases like you have could be a sign boots are breaking down, in the sense of getting soft and not providing much support. But they could also be a sign that they don't fit optimally. Or both.
I'm no where near your skating level. And I'm mostly using boots that are far too old and broken down for any kind of jumping - but they look fairly close to new, because I modified them to fit in a way that discourages crease formation, and often used boot covers to prevent abrasion, and tried to take good care of them. A person looking at pictures of them wouldn't know they were too soft to support doing jumps. Pictures don't tell the whole story, except in extreme cases.
BTW, do you think you could do better in ultralight boots that nonetheless offer enough support? They may be quite expensive and not last as long, but AFAICT, a lot of skaters make that tradeoff.
There is a huge range of what different skaters feel confident doing in a given pair of boots, and of how long they feel confident using a those boots. A coach I know told me she knows a 165 lb skater who does double jumps in Jackson Freestyles, and has been using them a couple years or so. But that is quite unusual. She uses Freestyles herself, and hers are a few years old, and she can at least do doubles (but she might be under 100 lbs, so that's a special case).
Jackson's own web page
implies they consider them suitable for people doing single jumps, for people over 80 pounds (but they don't say how much over, so I assume not all that much, since it is obvious from the other weight ranges listed on that page that they are mostly thinking of kids.) If you are still growing heavier, you could also take the support you will need in the near future into account.
People differ from each other a lot. E.g., gymnasts do double and triple jumps barefoot. And ballet jumpers come pretty close to barefoot. But they have trained and conditioned themselves to do so, over a period of many years. Some of them do get injuries - though not all.
Likewise, boot creases like you have could be a sign boots are breaking down, in the sense of getting soft and not providing much support. But they could also be a sign that they don't fit optimally. Or both.
I'm no where near your skating level. And I'm mostly using boots that are far too old and broken down for any kind of jumping - but they look fairly close to new, because I modified them to fit in a way that discourages crease formation, and often used boot covers to prevent abrasion, and tried to take good care of them. A person looking at pictures of them wouldn't know they were too soft to support doing jumps. Pictures don't tell the whole story, except in extreme cases.
BTW, do you think you could do better in ultralight boots that nonetheless offer enough support? They may be quite expensive and not last as long, but AFAICT, a lot of skaters make that tradeoff.
