Question about having two pairs of skates | Golden Skate

Question about having two pairs of skates

Bill S

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 31, 2019
Country
United-States
I will soon take delivery of some new Riedell Silver Stars (I'm demoting myself from Gold Stars) plus a pair of Riedell 2010 Fusion boots. I've also ordered two new pairs of blades - MK Pro which I've never used plus replacement Coronation Aces. I've been on Aces for almost twenty years, so I thought that I'd experiment a bit. I didn't move to Gold Seals, etc. because I sharpen my own skates and need to have a flat, parallel-side blade.

I'm also interested in SkateScience dance blades too. I will have lots of experimentation to do in a few weeks!

I know that there are skaters here who use two or more pairs of skates. I'm just wondering if there is something I should know for having two pairs of ice skates. I might narrow it down to one pair after the experimentation and sell the other, but we'll see.

In the past, I've owned and skated in ice skates plus PIC inline skates concurrently. I'd switch back and forth between them once or twice per week, and I had no problem doing that after some practice. I've never used more than one pair of ice skates at a time though, and there might be something that I'm overlooking.

Thoughts and comments welcome!
 

bostonskaterguy86

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 3, 2018
Country
United-States
I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts on the differences between spinning on the Coronation Ace and the MK Pro. I’m on basic one-foot spins and the spin rocker on my Pros is so fast!
 

Bill S

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 31, 2019
Country
United-States
Spins are EXACTLY why I chose to experiment with those two blades. They have very different spin rockers, and that's something I wanted to experience.

I also have a pair of Jackson Ultima Synchro blades that I never mounted. http://www.afterness.com/skating/images/blades_jackson_synchro-6-800px.jpg

They have a rocker halfway between the MK Pro and the Ace. I measured its spin rocker to be a bit over 17".

(How I measured - http://www.afterness.com/skating/blade_rocker_measurements.html)

When I get some time on the various blades, I'll be sure to report back.
 

bunnybarista

If I risk it all, could you break my fall?~
On the Ice
Joined
May 27, 2018
For about a month this summer, I was switching daily between the Coronation Ace blade and the SkateScience Dance blade. Not only is there a substantial stanchion height difference (and heel length change), my boots also have very different heel heights. (Low Sp-Teri vs high Risport.) At first, I was pleasantly surprised at how "easy" it was to switch - that is, I was worried I'd fall or feel very off-balanced every time I'd switch. I had no issues with that at all, but when it came to working on new or challenging elements, I started to realize that the constant switching was putting me at a disadvantage. I'm an adult pre-bronze/bronze level skater, so maybe if I were a higher level this wouldn't be as big of an issue, but I started to feel like I was almost regressing instead of progressing due to constantly having to adjust my weight placement on the different blades. But if you're not working on anything specific / not prepping for a test or comp, then it can be a fun challenge!

Best of luck, please report back! Especially curious to see if you like the SkateScience blade :)
 

Bill S

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 31, 2019
Country
United-States
Thanks for your reply about your experiences. I've passed Adult Silver moves, and was ready to test Gold back in 2007, but never got around to testing further. I agree that it's probably more of an issue when learning new elements - or often in my case, re-learning forgotten ones. My LB brackets, for example, are very rusty.

And I could always use more help improving my spins. That's a big motivator behind my upcoming experiments.
 

Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Country
Olympics
I will soon take delivery of some new Riedell Silver Stars (I'm demoting myself from Gold Stars) plus a pair of Riedell 2010 Fusion boots. I've also ordered two new pairs of blades - MK Pro which I've never used plus replacement Coronation Aces. I've been on Aces for almost twenty years, so I thought that I'd experiment a bit. I didn't move to Gold Seals, etc. because I sharpen my own skates and need to have a flat, parallel-side blade.

I'm also interested in SkateScience dance blades too. I will have lots of experimentation to do in a few weeks!

I know that there are skaters here who use two or more pairs of skates. I'm just wondering if there is something I should know for having two pairs of ice skates. I might narrow it down to one pair after the experimentation and sell the other, but we'll see.


In the past, I've owned and skated in ice skates plus PIC inline skates concurrently. I'd switch back and forth between them once or twice per week, and I had no problem doing that after some practice. I've never used more than one pair of ice skates at a time though, and there might be something that I'm overlooking.

Thoughts and comments welcome!

I currently skate with 3 pairs of skates. I'm a pro and have two pair of freestyle boots and one pair of dance boots currently. When I was competitive in the elite ranks, I competed in both dance and singles. I had one pair of dance boots and two freestyle, but for awhile I had 2 of each. It was to switch out and break each in at a different rate in case I needed one in a pinch (if one broke a blade or broke down or just had some kind of issue). Usually I preferred one pair over the other.
It takes awhile to get used to maintaining them and keeping them in check.

I bolded one of your paragraphs because I was unsure of what you meant by "I'm just wondering if there is something I should know for having two pairs of skates."
Is there anything specific you were asking there? It's hard to decipher and help you specifically with the way it was stated. So, could you be more clear/specific with what you are asking for there? Thank you :)
 

Bill S

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 31, 2019
Country
United-States
Your reply about using more than one pair highlights what I was after with my question.

It's one of those cases where I wasn't exactly sure what question to ask, and open-ended questions often produce answers that weren't anticipated.

Thanks for your thoughts! They were helpful!
 

Silver Ice

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 13, 2018
Have you skated in Fusions before? It will be interesting to see how you do switching between the two. Because of the different styles, and cuts I guess, there's a lot more ankle flexibility in the fusions than silver stars. Not just forward and back, but there's more ankle movement side-to-side as well.

I used to skate in Silver Stars, which were okay, and switched to Fusions a couple years ago, which I absolutely love, but the Fusions were a bit of an adjustment due to the way the ankle fits. Spins, turns and spirals felt very awkward and my first couple days in the skates I thought I was going to have to order completely new skates because it felt so weird. Within a couple weeks as they started breaking in and I started getting a feel for them, that completely disappeared.

So if you are trying to decide which ones might be the ones for you, you might want to spend some time just in the Fusions until you feel comfortable in the way the ankle fits so you can make a better comparison of which ones are for you.
 

Bill S

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 31, 2019
Country
United-States
I haven’t been in Fusions before, so this will be a new experience. It sounds like they will be fine after some time in them, and that’s encouraging.
 

christy

On the Ice
Joined
Jun 17, 2014
This is something I've been considering, however I'm looking to swap between 2 pairs of identical boots and blades. My main concern is that the blade profiles differ (as a result of being sharpened at different times) so I have to continually get re-used to them whenever I swap.
 

Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Country
Olympics
This is something I've been considering, however I'm looking to swap between 2 pairs of identical boots and blades. My main concern is that the blade profiles differ (as a result of being sharpened at different times) so I have to continually get re-used to them whenever I swap.

That's what I do and that's how it works.
 
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