Types of inline skates
Different types of inline skates reflect the specific demands that various skating disciplines place on inline skate design. These disciplines include recreational skating, urban skating, roller hockey, street hockey, speed skating, slalom skating, aggressive skating, and artistic inline skating.
Disciplines
Skate types are not always equivalent to skating disciplines. Often a particular type of skate can be used in several disciplines, with varying degrees of efficiency and comfort. For instance, when specifically designed skates are not available for freestyle slalom skating, a skater could use recreational skates, aggressive skates, hockey skates, or even speed skates. But some of these alternatives are more suitable for slalom skating than others. Hockey skates, in particular, most closely meet the needs of slalom skating, due to the shared requirement for rigorous turning and edging maneuvers in both roller hockey and slalom skating.In some cases, a skate launches a whole new discipline. For instance, the Rollerblade Lightning TRS has been widely credited for enabling aggressive inline skating as a sport, with its durable boot and nylon-reinforced frame, suitable for skaters to perform grinds on street obstacles.
Disciplines and skates continue to evolve over time. In 1985, Roller Zetra wheels were advertised as much faster than the Pro-line wheels. But by 1988, Rollerblade Zetra 100 and BladeRunner wheels had become the slower wheels, compared to faster, larger, and higher-end Lightning wheels, now at in diameter. Around 1995 to 1999, a normal wheel size for recreational skates was, and large wheels for speed skates meant. By 2024, the standard wheel size for recreational skates had increased to 80-, and large wheels for speed skates ranged from to.
For simplicity in advertising, manufacturers and resellers generally classify inline skates based on disciplines. Some types named this way are significantly distinct from one another, with their own unmistakable features. For instance, "aggressive skates" have signature soul plates and H-blocks, for grinding on urban street and skatepark obstacles. "Speed skates" have low-cuff boots with long frames and large wheels, for gaining absolute top speed. "Hockey skates" have reinforced quarter panels instead of hinged cuffs, for better ankle support.
Some disciplines are not large enough to warrant their own classification. Thus, dissimilar disciplines with similar equipment needs are grouped under a single skate category. For instance, freestyle skating, slalom skating, wizard skating, city commuting, and urban skating may be crammed into a single "urban skates" category.
Then, there are the rest of skaters who casually skate, skate for fitness, or skate for cross-training. These purposes constitute 90% of actual inline skate sales. Skates suitable for these activities are often grouped together as "recreational skates". Some makers instead call them "fitness skates". Others split them into two or more categories: recreational, fitness, and cross-training. Usually, the fitness and cross-training categories reflect increasing cost and thus quality of skates.
Recreational
Recreational skates constitute 90% of the inline skate market. The label "recreational" encompasses not only casual recreational uses but also fitness skating, which involves more frequent skating over longer distances, and requires more robust and efficient skates. Often the recreational skates category also caters to cross-training needs, with even hardier boots and frames, plus a wider range of options for wheels, among other features. Boundaries between these disciplines are blurry, with manufacturers and resellers marketing their skates in inconsistent ways.This category can be better understood as "unspecialized" inline skates, or generic skates. All other types of skates can be thought of as specialized deviations from this basic type. Recreational skates usually come with four wheels of average size, and a frame of average length, which is just slightly longer than the boot. This places the front wheel halfway ahead of the toe box, and the rear wheel halfway behind the heel pocket, a design that remained unchanged since Scott Olson's adoption of Super Sport Skate from 1979.
Recreational skates are the default type of skates that a beginner finds comfortable and stable to skate on. The cheapest skates fall under this category. They are not necessarily of lower quality; they are simply mass-produced. As a beginner progresses, more expensive recreational skates are available with the same unspecialized characteristics, but now upgraded with more durable materials and hardware, possibly providing improved heel support, ankle support, and an enhanced skating experience. For instance, soft boots with an exoskeleton are usually the least expensive. Hard boots with removable liners are often priced higher. Hybrid boots with an endoskeleton are high-end models. Often, the higher-end models are marketed as "fitness skates" or as "cross-training skates".
Recreational skates are equipped with heel brakes. These allow beginners to learn to stop rolling, with a simple pivot of a foot on its heel. Heel brakes can usually be removed once a skater learns to stop rolling without them, using a skating move such as the T-stop.
Casual skaters and fitness skaters can be seen rolling alongside a creek, a lake, or a park on paved bike paths. Some also take to the streets, skating on bike lanes and paved roads.
Aggressive
Aggressive skates are the most specialized inline skates, in contrast to recreational skates. They are designed for one specific purpose only: grinds. Grinding is the art of sliding on street obstacles such as stairs, rails, benches, curbs, ramps and walls. To support a skater performing these stunts, aggressive skates are built with strong hard boots based on ski boots, as Olson originally did with his Ultimate Street Skates. These are bolted to thick frames which are fitted with the smallest wheels in all of inline skating. The smaller wheels bring the boot closer to the ground, making tricks and grinds easier to perform.To help a skater lock onto an obstacle of interest during a grind, an aggressive skate provides channels and surfaces such as H-blocks, frame grooves, backslide grooves, grind plates, soulplates, etc. Transitioning between these stunts, a skater often jumps considerable heights, or rides down a long flight of stairs. Thus, aggressive boots are often fitted with shock absorbers to dampen shocks upon landing.
Aggressive skates co-evolved with the discipline which started as "inline stunts". It then turned into "streetstyle skating", and finally into aggressive inline skating.
Soon after the Rollerblade Lightning TRS was released in 1988, skaters experimented with extreme stunts on inline skates. Many took the axle wrench that came with Lightning TRS, and bolted it onto the frame as a makeshift grind plate. In the early days, frame grooves were formed on frames by the continuous grinding of frames on street obstacles. Inline skating books published on or before 1995 treated the discipline as stunt skating or street-style skating, following nomenclature from skateboarding. The word "street" in "street-style" meant that skaters performed tricks on and over "street obstacles".
In 1993, the movie Airborne came out, showcasing streetstyle inline skating to an entire country. In 1994, the video The Hoax: An Inline Crime was released by T-Bone Films, featuring icons such as Chris Edwards, Arlo Eisenberg, Chris Mitchell, Jess Dyrenforth, Pat Parnell, and others. Both videos inspired a new generation of young aggressive skaters. While skaters were still custom-modding their skates for aggressive skating, the Aggressive Skaters Association was formed in 1994. Shortly after, ESPN X Games adopted aggressive inline skating in 1995 and ran aggressive competitions for 10 years, cementing the discipline.
Over time, aggressive skates evolved to incorporate even more mods by skaters. The frame walls were thickened to provide rigidity, and to allow skates to be inclined further during grinds, without incurring wheel bites. Frame grooves became a standard, and H-blocks were integrated. The two middle wheels were spaced farther apart, creating a larger split between these two wheels, to enhance grinding experiences.
In 1996, Roces M12 was launched, with small wheels, a boot closer to the ground, a large gap between two middle wheels, and an H-block. Soon, the M12 became synonymous with aggressive skates. In 1997, makers such as USD introduced integrated soulplates, providing a platform for soul grinds using the bottom of the boot, rather than the frame. Backslide grooves were eventually introduced, to allow even greater skate inclination during grinds. By 2003, the soulplate became a single-piece, flat platform in Roces M12, with an even wider boot bottom to further enhance soul grinding. From then on, inline skating books dedicated entire chapters to aggressive skates and skating.
In 2001, aggressive skate manufacturers standardized on UFS, the first replaceable mounting standard for inline skates. Most UFS frames accommodate small wheels up to. Some UFS frames with frame grooves and H-blocks are designed with thick walls to prevent wheel bites. These frames can be used with a flat wheel setup, where all wheels touch the ground. Other UFS frames without prevention measures against wheel bites can be set up with an anti-rocker wheel configuration. The second and third wheels are replaced with even smaller "grindwheels" made of hard plastic that are resistant to wheel bites. Some skaters go one step further, eliminating the two inner wheels altogether. Instead of wheels, "juice blocks" are installed to keep the structural integrity of the frame walls.
Aggressive skates come with no brakes. It is assumed that skaters are able to stop without brakes, as they grind on street obstacles, perform stunts at skateparks, and take to the air at the top of vert ramps. Brakes only hinder aggressive maneuvers.
The name "aggressive" has been controversial outside the core community of aggressive skaters. Even within the core community, debates continue to this day on alternative naming. Many in the community call aggressive skating "rollerblading", and thus members "bladers". Others call it "aggro". Some skate manufacturers eschew the label "aggressive", choosing to market their aggressive skates instead as "street skates" or "park skates". For instance, Rollerblade Inc. called this discipline "extreme skating" in its 1991 official guidebook, Wheel Excitement. Even after the aggressive competitions from X Games in 1995, Rollerblade Inc. continued to call it "extreme skating", in its 2000 book: Superguides: Inline Skating. The company marketed these skates as "Street Skates" all these years, to this day, almost 30 years after the X Games.