Sophia Martinez

Knowing how to tell when your skate frame is cracked or worn out can save you from a serious fall on the road or rink. Your frame (also called the chassis) is the structural piece that holds your wheels and connects to your boot, so any hidden weakness puts your ankles, knees, and wrists at … Read more

A heel brake is a rubber pad mounted at the back of an inline skate that lets you slow down or stop by pressing your heel into the ground. On this site, we help skaters care for their gear, so I put together this guide to walk you through swapping a heel brake from one … Read more

After a long session at the rink or on the trail, the last thing most skaters want to think about is gear care. But if you have ever opened a skate bag only to be knocked back by a wall of foul smell, you know that learning how to dry out wet skates and stop … Read more

Squeaky skates are one of the most frustrating issues for roller skaters, inline skaters, and ice skaters alike. I have dealt with this exact problem on everything from vintage quad skates to aggressive inline setups, and the noise almost always points to a handful of fixable causes. If you want to know how to fix … Read more

Learning how to replace inline skate liners can save you money and bring new life to a pair of skates you’ve already broken in. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the entire process from pulling out the old liners to heat molding the new ones for a custom fit. I’ve swapped liners on aggressive … Read more

Ceramic vs steel bearings is the question I get asked most often by recreational skaters who want to know if the upgrade is actually worth it. The short answer is no, for most recreational skaters, quality steel bearings deliver 90% of the performance at a fraction of the cost. Ceramic bearings win on paper and … Read more

If you have ever ridden stock 95a wheels down a cracked sidewalk and felt every single seam in your ankles, you already know the problem. The right wheel setup for rough cracked pavement is a mix of softer durometer, larger diameter, and a shape that rolls over gaps instead of catching in them. I have … Read more

Picking the right roller skate wheels can change everything about your ride. I learned this the hard way during my first outdoor skating session, when my factory wheels locked up on every crack in the sidewalk. After years of testing different setups, I can tell you that understanding wheel hardness (called durometer) is the single … Read more

If you have ever wondered whether rollerblading is a good enough workout to replace running, the short answer is yes. After tracking both activities with a heart rate monitor for three months, I can tell you that inline skating delivers nearly identical cardiovascular benefits while burning 500 to 700 calories per hour, depending on your … Read more

When I got my first pair of quad skates, I made the mistake of tossing them in the closet after every session. Six months later, the wheels were cone-shaped, the bearings screamed like a teakettle, and one truck was so loose I nearly ate pavement at the rink. That was the day I learned that … Read more