When you spin a fresh set of wheels and the bearings feel gritty, slow, or wobble the moment you tighten the axle nut, the bearing spacer is almost always the silent culprit. The aluminum vs plastic bearing spacers debate isn’t really about which cylinder looks cooler inside your wheel — it’s about how each material … Read more
Skate axles should be tight enough that the wheel stays securely on the truck with no dangerous side-to-side movement, but loose enough that the wheel spins freely when you flick it with your finger. The sweet spot is about 1 to 2 millimeters of lateral play — you can barely feel it when wiggling the … Read more
I’ve been skating for over 15 years, and I cannot count how many times someone at a skate park has asked me about ABEC ratings. My buddy Marco showed up last month with a fresh set of “ABEC-11 ceramic” bearings he paid a small fortune for, convinced they’d transform his setup. They didn’t. After three … Read more
Few things are more frustrating than grabbing your skates for a session and finding bearings that won’t budge. I’ve been there, sitting on my garage floor with a jammed wheel and no skate tool in sight. The good news: you can remove stuck bearings from wheels without a bearing tool, and I’ve done it dozens … Read more
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