Don't sleep on these., February 24, 2018 By Allen Wilburn (Sparks, NV)
So, the only change I made to these was the liners. The MyFit Fatboys work very well in them. They are comfortable right out of the... bag, and to me they simplify the fit of the skate. The Blank liners are beautiful and have an impressive design and burly sole for walking around. They also have a full lacing system and could easily be mistaken for shoes. For me, that was a bit too much in a liner, and so was the stiffness, which I'm sure would go away in time. The Blank frames are solid as hell and they slide very nicely. I was going to get the olive Creates, but decided to give these a shot and I'm glad I did. I was skating ledges without (new additional) wax all day and these babies killed it. the SG7 bearings come stock in these, and I don't have any complaints yet. I can't tell if they help maintain speed but they don't seem to hinder it in any noticeable way. The antirockers slide great, they are nice and beefy and don't use bearings. The Hydrogen 60mm 92A wheels are unexpectedly impressive. They roll super nice and the round profile helps make up for the lack of agility from skating anti-rocker. Today we skated an outdoor park in Auburn, CA and then we went to the concrete park at Woodward Tahoe. These wheels performed very nicely, and they had no issue when I had to make abrupt turns. The wear on them was minimal, and I'd say overall these are pretty high quality rolling units. Aesthetically, I'd love to have olive green souls on these as the white doesn't really match the look of the skate. As it stands, the souls don't come off of these skates willingly and I have read that you have to apply heat and/or pressure to remove them. The laces are functional and work pretty well but I am noticing a bit of fraying in some parts of them. The skins are solid and seem very durable and for once I feel like I can crank down on the 45 degree strap like it's no longer an afterthought feature. These buckles are the same thing as those on the Razors skates and the cuffs don't have the stash pocket for the excess length of the strap. I found myself kicking the straps a couple times today, and I am considering sewing my own straps together to replace the buckle. For many years, Rollerblade was my brand of choice. I tried other brands and today I went back to these. I went from Valo V13s to Carbon Frees to these, and I can tell that I have a liner in these skates because I feel it shifting just trace amounts while I skate. I have a lot of room on top of my feet and I'm not used to it, but at the same time it isn't causing me any pain and isn't a real issue in the long run. Would I recommend these skates? Yes I would, to someone who's used to the feeling of the typical plastic boot. I also would recommend these to someone who leans more toward a soft boot, at least to try them out because I feel they fall comfortably in the middle.
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