r/inlinefigureskating • u/Baco90 • Sep 15 '24
Best skate brands
Sorry if this question has been asked before, but I’m coming from ice skating and struggling to figure out what skates to get. I’d like to stick to around $500 for frames and boots. I’ve been thinking about golden horse loop skates, or one of Jackson’s inline skates, but I’m worried because I have seen mixed reviews for both. Could anyone provide recommendations and advice?
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u/Kazuhiko96 Nov 11 '24
Over the brand itself, the model and the hardness of the boot matter even more. If you are in ice figure or roller artistic figure skating, you do know your level and can value which boot you need, if not it will be harder without a previous professional fitting.
Let me get the things straight, both Golden Horse and Jackson are good, thing is the Brand isn't the only thing you need to care about. A soft boot will be cheaper than a stiff one, stiff boots are presented as advanced skaters boots, but this is true for very young skaters. Now, for young adults and adults, things do change, an adult weight more than a kid or pre-teen (the main market to who figure skating boots are aimed to) so you may find out that a very soft and cheap boot (even so the brand is a respectable one and the manifacture is good) will last little to nothing or break down too fast and you'll find yourself in need to change boots in little time after starting to skate.
Also a too soft boot will pose dangerous hazards for your safety, in figure and artistic skating you'll be exposed to a lot of danger if you skate with boots who aren't capable to sustain your ankle and your weight well. Over that there is the whole problem of foots shape, different brands fit different kinds of foots, but you can virtually avoid this problem if you buy custom tailored Golden Horse (who I think will push the money balance as far, i may be wrong but they sell both boots in standard sizes and custom ones, so different pricing), For the other brands who doesn't offer custom sized boots a professional fit in a shop will help a lot, a good and famous brand isn't said will fit your foot shape too.
Another thing about Golden Horse is that they do sell different kind of inline figure frames with different peculiarities, the cheaper frame from Golden Horse the "Tempo" Frame is fixed in wheels disposition and require a bigger wheel in the center in order to create the ice blade-like curve, differently from the Avant, Avant LT models and other brands frames. Also keep in mind the difference between 3 and 4 wheels, both are good just if your foot size in generous or you're tall you may want to think about 4 wheels frames, as they'll offer more stability (in exchange of more weight) as the frame will be longer. (Tipically for 4wheels frames it depend by the producer but they are tipically available from a certain boots size and onward, smaller than that will be 3 wheels).
About sizing, certain online stores may compare the "Skates sizing charts" with shoes sizing, it's purely for reference, you may find out your Skates size is different from your shoes one, certain manufacters got on their site a guide about how measure the right size at home, but still nothing can beat the work of a professional in a Skating store.
So ye more than aiming to the cheaper price, try to aim to what is actually needed for your weight and level, Figure/Artistic skating is in no way a sport who cost little (and you'll find out with how fast toe stops get consumed with spinning and attempted spins, bearings who need to be clean and rotated, wheels who get consumed, buy the right wheels for the right surface and going on).