The problem you encounter when buying skates for beginners is that you do not usually have the necessary experience to know what you want or what you might like. There are two ways to address this lack of previous experience:
- Practical: Rent or borrow some skates and try different types of skates.
- Theoretical: Find out by reading blogs (like this) and asking friends.
In my opinion, nothing is better than the first-hand experience, that is, trying before buying skates for beginners. But keep in mind that you can be testing forever and time will pass without you doing anything.
Here are some recommendations before buying skates for beginners.
Skate for beginners: Know the different options and styles
We are not always clear about the type of skating that we would like to practice or learn because we do not know all the options of this sport.
Information and opinions must be separated
Naturally, your friends and acquaintances give you advice to buy skates from their own experience, which will not necessarily coincide with your own experience in the future. Just because a friend is a fan of speed skating does not mean that you will like it too.
You might discover that what you want is to play hockey. Everyone has a way of doing things, and you need to discover yours.
If you pay too much attention to the advice of others, you will end up buying the skates that your friends recommend to you.
This does not mean that you should ignore the experience of others, but it is always convenient to separate information like “with aggressive skates, it will not be as fast as with speed skates” from opinions such as “buy these you will see how well you do raisins”.
Each type of skating requires its own type of skate.
Each skating style requires its own type of skate. Some styles can be practiced with different types of skates, others cannot.
So the first thing I advise is to watch some videos with different styles. The most common thing at first is to buy some fitness skates to learn basic techniques However, there are people who instinctively know what they want as soon as they see it. If so, why go around it, buy the corresponding skate directly.
Skate for beginners: preselection
When you already know which style of skating attracts you the most, you can research brands and models too.
Once you know if skating really interests you enough to spend money on some skates for beginners, you have to decide what type of skates you want, and calculate the expense that you can afford. The budget that you have can already limit you from the start in many aspects. A type of skate that requires specialized skating is always more expensive than beginner skates.
Some of these specialized skates can be very expensive, like speed skates or semi-professional skates. Although there are large chains with models that are not badly priced to start. If the budget is very low, you will have to look for bargains and consider some used skates if the case arises.
Find places to buy used skates
There are many skaters who regularly change skates because they like to try new models. They sell their used skates in good condition and thus save to buy new skates. There are also people who have not used them much and sell them almost new.
For these cases, the key is in the information and previous experience you have about the model for sale. Although if you are looking for skates for beginners it is not a good idea to buy a used model since you will not know the real value with respect to a new model.
Well-known brands or the cheapest we can find?
There are always two sides to the coin: Are you really sure that you are going to skate regularly and with this, you will pay off the expense of some well- known brand skates?
Or are you not clear to what extent you are going to skate and if it is not worth spending a lot of money?
One must be honest with himself: If you join the gym every year for 2 months and leave it after 15 days, the risk of the same happening with skates is relatively high.
If you know yourself well and you know that you are going to really like it and you are going to skate a lot, it is worth taking more time to look for “the skate of your dreams”, because it will be a faithful companion for a long time.
Prices and stores
You have to be realistic: good skates are expensive. With a budget of less than $ 120, it is not advisable to go to any specialized store to buy skates without prior research.
It is not about buying the models that cost several hundred dollars, but if you do not have a reasonable budget you will have to investigate offers and discounts from the stores, which always exist.
A good tactic is to look for “discontinued” models, which are usually top quality but are replaced by new-season ones. Many stores dispose of the “old” stock with succulent discounts.
In case of tight budgets, it must be borne in mind that some parts of the skate are replaceable and with the passage of time you will be able to “optimize” the performance with the spare parts.
In that case, the most important thing will be to check that the skate is comfortable. The wheels and bearings can be changed easily later and the impact of a change is immediate.
Between the doubt of a comfortable model with lower quality bearings and a less comfortable one with higher quality bearings, there is no doubt that the most comfortable will be the best option because you can always change the bearings.
While even if you change wheels and bearings on an uncomfortable skate, it will still be uncomfortable.
Skate for beginners: Test before buying
It is always good to try something before buying it. In the case of skates for beginners, if it is the first purchase, this will be very important to choose well.
You can try skates in specialized stores or, if they do not exist in your place of residence, try to find a friend who can allow you to try them.
The ideal time to try on some skates is in the afternoon. The feet widen slightly in relation to the morning. The skate does not squeeze in the afternoon.
Stability and safety when skating are only achieved with a skate that fits the foot like a glove. But they should never squeeze until it hurts because what squeezes a little at first will become a continuous pain when you skate for many hours.
That is why it is so important to try the skates before buying them, tie both at the feet and stay a few minutes on the skates, to check that the foot is well seated and nothing hurts. There should also be no space left. There’s no point in putting on fat socks on skates that are a little too big.
Types of skates according to styles
Fitness skates
For walks or routes on skates, fitness skates are used. The wheels of fitness skates usually have between 78 and 80 mm diameter, suitable for cruising speed. The bigger the wheels, the more speed can be achieved.
Skates for aggressive skating
For aggressive skating, that is, skating in skateparks with ramps and unofficial places like curbs and railings, aggressive skates are used. The wheels are smaller than those on fitness skates and harder, skating slower and wheels wearing less with rubbing.
Freestake skates
Halfway between fitness and aggressive, there are many activities that are carried out more comfortably with freestyle skates, such as urban skating that includes descending stairs and jumping curbs.
Because going through the city bypassing obstacles usually requires a more robust skate than the typical fitness skate. These skates look very much like the typical fitness skate but are more robust, have a hard boot, and do not usually have a built-in brake.
The hockey also requires a robust and manageable skate at the same time. They are skates with a rigid half boot with a reinforced ankle and a high back shaft. They have smaller wheels, 80mm in diameter, and have no brake.
Actually, there are many types of “freestyle” skates and it is advisable to find out about each model and brand to know their “specialization”.
Speed skates
Speed skating is competitive and geared towards a more regulated world. There are championships, federations, and a whole world organized around speed racing on skates, both on the circuit and on asphalt.
Skates suitable for this style are sometimes called “ speed skates ”. They have larger wheels up to 110mm in diameter and there are five-wheel models.
Quad Skates
The skates with four wheels are not much but still exist.
For figure skating, the characteristics are the high-heeled boots. They are compact boots, tied with laces.
There is figure skating with skates of this type (heeled booties) with inline wheels and four wheels.
For hockey, there are also many players who still use four-wheel skates.
Off-road skates
Off-road skating on unpaved roads should not be missing. This is something hugely appealing to everyone who doesn’t live in a city or live in a small or medium city.
The typical off-road skates have wheels of rubber or rubber , of scooter size, and many times the skating with sticks is practiced .
There is a variety of types of terrain skates, from the so-called Nordic skates to quads skates wheel suspension.