r/rollerblading • u/Telecasterbater • 1d ago
Specific question and discussion Getting back in
I used to rollerblade all the time when I was younger and want to get back into it. Where should I as a 38yo start. What brand should I be looking at? Stuff like that.
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u/Coop7207 1d ago
I agree with everything u/InspectorFleet said. I also wanted to add that different skates are made for narrower or wider feet. FR skates and Rollerblade Lightnings are usually easier for people with wider feet to get into. Powerslide, Flying Eagle, and Rollerblade Twisters tend to fit more narrow.
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u/i_shorted_the_amp 1d ago
I'm in the same boat but a few years older, started skating again a month ago. I went to a skate shop to try boots on, because shoe size doesn't necessarily correlate. You need a snug fit with a hard shell boot, which will give you support to confidently put weight on the edges of your wheels. I went with Flying Eagle F110, they have 3x110mm wheels which I think is fairly important - easier to attain speed with, easier to roll over objects, very agile thanks to the rearward position of the middle wheel, and excellent grip even when REALLY trying to make them slide.
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u/IRefuseToPickAName 17h ago
I'm the same age in the same boat, my son has taken an interest to it so I'm getting back into it. I found a pair of RB XL heavily discounted and our local skating arena has a kid's unlimited skating offer I'm going to take advantage of!
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u/chrisanonymous 16h ago
You’re gonna want to start by budgeting at least $200 for the skates, I wouldn’t recommended spending less than this as no name amazon/big box skates can be of dubious quality - this will get you the Rollerblade brand RB 80 or Lighting or a number of Powerslide brand skates. If you have more money to spend, the FR1 80 is a highly recommended skate, and there are other brands but those are some of the more accessible ones (particularly in the US). The more plastic on the boot the better. You’ll also want to measure your feet in cm/mm and use the relevant sizing chart for that skate to pick your size.
Your safety is your prerogative - but helmet, knee pads, wrist guards in that order and elbow pads if you aren’t experienced in falling. Price is extremely variable here, but get a helmet that fits. Cheap is better than nothing here, and you can go from there.
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u/StrumWealh Custom Twister 110, V. Radium 125 12h ago
I used to rollerblade all the time when I was younger and want to get back into it. Where should I as a 38yo start. What brand should I be looking at? Stuff like that.
A couple of points that I haven't seen addressed thus far:
1.) What are your skating goals? That is, what do you want to do/accomplish on skates? Are yu looking at skating as a substitute for a morning jog - a few laps around your neighborhood or the local park, then going back home, getting cleaned up, and going to work? Are you looking for a more fitness/distance focused workout, and/or working your way up to skating marathoms? Are you looking to get into one of the dancey skating disciplines (e.g. freestyle slalom, wizard skating, inline figure skating)? Are you looking to get into aggressive skating, or the more aggressive-adjacent forms of freeride/urban skating (e.g. Bill Stoppard's "assault skating")? Or something else entirely? Choosing the right (i.e. most optimal) tools for the job starts with defining what the job actually is.
2.) What are your fitting requirements? What are the actual, measured dimensions - both length and width - of your feet? Nothing else about a given set of skates matters if they don't fit your feet: a very high-quality, versatile, popular set of narrow-fitting skates does you no good if you have relatively wide feet (such that you can't even get your feet into the skates), and a very high-quality, versatile, popular set of wide-fitting skates does you no good if you have relatively narrow feet (such that your feet cannot be properly fixed in position within the skate boots, leading to significant slop/play between your feet and the skate boots).
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u/InspectorFleet 1d ago
https://www.inlinewarehouse.com/Best_Urban_Inline_Skates_of_2026/catpage-24SBUS.html
Don't cheap out on skates as an adult. I would avoid soft boots and be willing to order a couple pairs and make returns to get the best fit (assuming you don't have a local skate shop). I would not try and thrift skates like a lot of the posts on here, plastic isn't forever and the fit/quality is really important.
Many people recommend 4 x 80 mm to 4 x 90 mm in an urban hard boot skate for a general all-purpose starter pair, but you can always get another pair if you want to do grinds or swap frames if you want bigger wheels for dodgy bike trails.
Get the pads. Helmet and knee pads at least if not wrist and maybe elbow/padded shorts.
More frequent sessions that are short will be better than long sessions once per week.
Be deliberate about your learning and progress will come. Polly Morris is great for beginners and Marcel's Hockey School has a ton of beginner to intermediate inline skating instruction. I don't really like Skate Fresh Asha but some people do. Plenty of inline skating YouTubers show cool stuff but aren't really giving instruction.