Not sure if there are many inline skaters here, but I'm interested in any collective wisdom about what gear to upgrade first to improve comfort and speed on good surfaces. I have skated very occasionally but am now thinking about making it a 1-2x/week activity, at least during the summer.
I have crappy gear but decent fitness -- using some old (circa 2000) rollerblade brand fitness skates with a 4x76 mm setup, wheels are old, bought from Amazon from a supplier that no longer exists, claim to be 89a hardness. Small wheels and low confidence stopping on downhills limits where I can skate but I've recently found a really good loop with smooth pavement, relatively flat, wide turns, low traffic -- and did a marathon there in about 1:40 there this morning.
The boots still seem pretty comfortable to me, but I probably don't know what I'm missing. Should I just upgrade to good 80mm wheels? Or wheels + bearings + axles? Or just scrap the Y2K gear and get some new tri skates with 100 or 110 mm wheels? Again, I'm looking for something that's comfortable, a bit faster and slightly more stable when pushing 20+ mph, ideally for not too much $$.
I have crappy gear but decent fitness -- using some old (circa 2000) rollerblade brand fitness skates with a 4x76 mm setup, wheels are old, bought from Amazon from a supplier that no longer exists, claim to be 89a hardness. Small wheels and low confidence stopping on downhills limits where I can skate but I've recently found a really good loop with smooth pavement, relatively flat, wide turns, low traffic -- and did a marathon there in about 1:40 there this morning.
The boots still seem pretty comfortable to me, but I probably don't know what I'm missing. Should I just upgrade to good 80mm wheels? Or wheels + bearings + axles? Or just scrap the Y2K gear and get some new tri skates with 100 or 110 mm wheels? Again, I'm looking for something that's comfortable, a bit faster and slightly more stable when pushing 20+ mph, ideally for not too much $$.