When I first met Tommy Boy, he would always rave to me about how he would blade everywhere in SF—on the way to work while wearing a suit and tie, on the way home bombing down hills and skitching up them, on the way to the gym, onto his next hot deal. He was proud of being a rollerblader and wore that pride all over San Francisco from the hills to the flats. I was inspired to follow suit…
So, rather than taking the bus or walking, I began blading to work at D-Structure everyday. Soon, however, I found that my anti-rocker setup and 58mm or smaller wheels could not withstand the crumbling concrete, cracking blacktop, and overall wear of the daily commute. The ride was as rough as it was expensive. I wanted to represent rollerblading to the fullest but it seemed that a bike was just more economical.
Right in the midst of this dilemma, I was at a flea market near my old apartment in Berkeley and saw several pairs of new-to-used recreational skates lying amongst old records, pots and pans, and assorted shoes and clothing from another era. I asked the vendor if he had my size and sure enough out of his trailer came a pair of black Rollerblade brand skates with three adjustable straps from the instep to the ankle. I decided to try them on and couldn’t believe how good they felt—I was literally gliding across cracks that my aggressive skates would cause me to trip over. I found that to increase my speed I needed only to shift my hips without even picking my feet up. And what’s more: the break allowed me to stop on a dime! I gave the vendor the mere $10 he asked for, and without taking the skates off I glided home.
Since then I have been using my recreational blades as my primary form of transportation. I have been mashing faster than ever on wheels that wear slow and glide over the gnarliest bumps and cracks. I have even been experimenting with what I am calling “break slide tricks.” Which is ironic since the first thing I did with my first pair of aggressive blades was to take the break off so that I could do tricks! I have also turned my roommate Thomas onto rec blades. According to Thomas, “It feels like I’m skiing down the street!” We can be seen shredding down the colorful streets of San Francisco together daily —mashing, carving, skitching, and just cruising. Every once in a while a skateboarder will grimace and say something negative, but we fly by too fast to care or hear. For the most part, people are juiced to see how much fun we are obviously having.
So, if you are in need of a primary or secondary form of transportation that is practical, cheap, and environmentally friendly, I would suggest looking into a pair of rec blades. Further, if you think about how pig boards and long boards are used by skateboarders to get around and joy-cruise, it makes perfect sense that rollerbladers would use rec blades for the same purpose. Finally, this shift could also be good for creating a broader opportunity for positive community between all the different kinds of bladers, as well as potentially creating a larger market audience for our own industry, while dispelling the myth that rollerblading is only for those who don neon and knee-pads. — Kevin Yee
Photos © 2008 Zuzana Roskovensky
nice to see this since ive always tried to commute from park to another just 3km away with my aggressive skates, sure it was fun when you get speed.. cover ground but damn ankles, had a look at powerslides renamed USD realm skates with rec skate frames and wheels and they look sweet since you can have them rec or aggressive set up… mabe we could have some influence on the rec skate companies and have them invest in our sport as well instead of us being like black and white, we know we exist but we deny our relationship as rollerbladers in general, sure as long as people dont have the miss conception of our sport and know “ohh thats aggressive inline and thats recreational inline skating… its kool.
Great article. I submitted it to rollerhome.com. This is kind of why I still thing there could be a market for UFS rec frames actually. I just feel like this is still too much for most people. Multiple skates for different purposes – maybe carrying the aggressive ones with you along with shoes while skating in the rec ones to your location… And rollerblading doesn’t have gears like a bike — any type of lengthy commute and this would be nuts on either type of skate… Sometimes driving or biking just makes sense…
Nonetheless, I find this article interesting and inspiring. It’s a great thought for young skaters that can’t drive everywhere. Afterall, my aggressive skates had huge 80 or 72mm wheels on the outside back in the day when I first started skating and we’d skate everywhere.
Skating is skating, whether for travel or for tricks.
Another thing, instead of using rec skates try Rollerblade’s new frame that can take up to 72mm on the outside. Ride those flat with 56s like Julian Bah. Fast, smooth and still don’t have to hop into another pair of skates.
ha looks like so much fun on those hills!
i totally support you on that thing.
i really love old salomon fsk skates, really great feeling – listening to your favourite songs and moving at 30-40kmh on blades!
hahah THOMAS!!! DINAMIC DUO RIGHT THERE!!
kevin and thomas rock hahaha!!
zooooooooooooooooooooom!!
rad article boys, makes me want to get out of suburbia and back into the city to carve the concrete waves
this idea should get some more light. lets give this aspect of what it was when we were starting out on our microblades a bigger picture.
Nice to see people are still using their skates to commute. There is nothing better than bombing a hill.
If you guys are ever in the mood get some plastic milk crates. Climb to the top of a steep hill. Start skating down real fast then while you are holding the milk crate underneath you ass, lower yourself down to the ground so you are using the crate as a sled and enjoy the ride. Once you get used to the feeling you can learn to pop yourself out of the sitting position.
Just ask Brandon Ballog all about that shit next time you see him.
You ninjas never holler. Get your sped skate on hoes! Noice article.
yo sick an if u still wanna rep it hard find some old majestic twelves i got a mint pair with 67mm wheels freak shows baby different to my xsjados but still ballin
thomas is a homie, its Erik from salt lake WEEE WEEE WOAHHH
Going down those hills sounds like fun…do you ever go so fast down the hills that your eyes start to tear?
Thats a great idea. A lot of companies are catching on to the whole “urban skate” thing from europe so both K2 and Rollerblades 09 line up is goint to have set ups that are like aggressive boots without the soul plates with frames that hold 80mm wheels. They look alright and getting wheels for them is easy as going to your local sporting goods shop.
That how i start skating 5 years ago today i got some UFS powerslide 4×90 mounted on mold similar to rollerblade ST but i gave up 3mont ago because the concrete is soo crap in england… man you should see paris and the hundred of freeskater you wouldn t believe how fast they go and how awsome can be cessslide and trust me some of them can grind on proper rail also…
Need to get new wheel spring coming and it should be more dry also
