Trying to find skates

hey,

I have skated a bit just for fun with cheap sportsstore skates for a while. But I want to learn new tricks and I feel like my skates are limiting me. I once ordered some skates from ridell, years ago. But they were far to heavy for me. In Norway I know nowhere to ask about these things, so I was wondering if you guys had some suggestions? I'm an adult in case you were wondering I want to be able to do simple jumps and spins and still be lightfooted.

<3 thanks

Hi there and welcome to the board.

I have never worn or even seen a pair of Ridells in my life, so I don't know how they compare weightwise to other brands. Edea markets their boots as much lighter but I have weighed the Overture with Coronation Ace blades at 1070 gramms and the Risport RF3 with Pattern 99 at 1240 gramms. Not a huge difference by any means.

Bladewise you could try those blades like the John Wilson Revolution blades. They are supposed to be lighter though I have no 1st hand experience with them. And again that's probably more relevant for professionals who want to gain every bit of an advantage they can get.

I'm not aware of any super lightweight skates and even those will not magically improve anyone's skating. Have you skates in hockey skates just for fun? Do they make you feel comfortable weightwise? What problems do you have specifically?

I think what you're running into is difference in material... compared to recreational skates, anything that's actually made for elements/moves is going to feel like tanks strapped to your feet. Even your basic entry level/beginner figure skate will be constructed with leather in the boot and/or sole (except in the case of Edea) and that natural material is heavier than synthetic. Then you factor in all the padding and support reinforcements, and you have yourself something that's pretty heavy indeed, compared to what you're used to. Good skates, I think, are necessarily heavy-ish because of this. They just take some getting used to, and some leg muscle strengthening to hold 'em up :agree: I do think, as with any time anyone buys new boots, that figuring out a way to get professionally fitted would be extremely worth your while. What you mentioned about ordering skates online and them being way too heavy makes me think they simply weren't right for your feet, maybe you were overbooted, etc. Something technical that made it impossible. It's all about finding the skates that are right for you and figuring out what's going to support you enough to learn successfully, but not actively hinder your progress. Do you know of any rinks with shops that sell skates? Even if they aren't world-class, they'll at least let you try on an array of boots so you can feel them out.

Good luck!