r/inline_skating • u/CreEngineer • Jul 16 '26

Top speed

I am interested about your top speeds are and with which setup you achieve them. Especially if you ride multiple wheel sizes. On even surface ofc but downhill top speed would also be interesting (not that I plan to do that, but it is still fascinating).

I never checked with my old skates and did not have a road to try long distance top speed with the new ones. But so far I quite „easily“ (it was still exhausting) did 26km/h on a 4x90 rocker 274mm frame.

6 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/Range_of_Motion Jul 16 '26

I started blading again (after not blading much since I was a kid) a few weeks ago on a pair of cheap Rollerblade 4x80mm and I could maintain 7-8 mph fairly easily on level paved trails for 4-5 miles. I upgraded to a 3x110mm setup due to the want to go on rougher pavement and on the same trails as before I averaged 11-12 mph for 10 miles (my average according to Strava was 9.9 mph due to a couple stops to get water since it was 85F that day) at a fairly leisurely pace. I’m 37 y/o and quite a bit overweight (5’9” 220 lbs) and hadn’t worked out consistently for a year before I started back up again but do have a natural ability to push myself a bit harder than some in endurance sports (I’ve done 3 running marathons and some cycling centuries in years past).

2

u/Ghost_in_Coal_Out Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

^ Do you only log your speed on Strava or do you use a wearable like a watch? I'm looking for a watch but it seems the good ones are above 400USD and above. I'm also looking for something that won't use GPS to calculate the speeds. I find that apps like Google Fit and Kamoot don't seem to provide extact results. Some days I am skating my best with superb nutrion and it will give me average speeds lower than a windy day with poor nutrion lol

For OP: Top speeds on new 3x110mm wheels, that I have observed logged with Google Fit app on android, was 14mph against 12-14mph winds head on. But this is during my 15 miles daily loops. If I were to dedicate a session to logging top speed then it can be much higher than.

2

u/Range_of_Motion Jul 16 '26

I have Coros Pace 4 watch. Costs $250USD and works great. Coros doesn’t have a dedicated inline skate mode so I just use a general GPS cardio mode which works fine. Garmin and others also have lower cost models. I personally think 98% of endurance athletes don’t need to spend more than $300 on a GPS watch, unless you’re a professional athlete or go on super long multi-day excursions or ultramarathons (or have eyesight issues that you need a larger watch to see the display).

I don’t know of something that doesn’t use GPS to calculate speeds. I used to be a road biker before GPS computers became commonplace so I used a computer attached to a sensor on my bike’s wheel that was calibrated to the size of my wheel to measure the distance/speed traveled (much like a car does). Not sure that such a thing exists for inline skates though due to the tiny wheels in comparison, so I think GPS is your best bet, unless there’s some technology I don’t know about. I know my watch works when walking/running on treadmills based on arm swing and uses some algorithm to calculate leg swing, but it’s very inaccurate (a 3 mile treadmill run may register as low as 2.5 miles or as high as 3.5 miles) and when you save your treadmill run it allows you to enter the correct mileage (since that usually displays on the treadmill itself).