Looking for places to buy roller skates (Speed: buying, price)
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Hubby and grandkids just decided they are nuts about skating, and hub wants to buy everyone skates. He doesn't want to spend a fortune, but he wants decent skates for kids and adults. Anyone familiar with any local places to buy? Everyone seems to have roller blades, not quad skates, and most of the quad skates are what I call "tennis shoe style", and hubby doesn't feel they are as safe as boot skates. I would say the price range would be $40 (kids) to $100. Thanks for any advice!
Online, on ebay. Buy used ones of good quality. "tennis shoe" skates i.e. speed skates are all that the skate rinks will stock because that's what people buy now. Speed skates with wide wheels. Or they get rollerblades and use indoor/outdoor.
Buy used ice skate boots and have roller places mounted might be another option. The brand new ice boots are far too stiff for a casual / recreational roller skater to ever break in, unless you want to pound on the ankles with a rubber mallet to break them in lol.
Used quad skates of quality are the best value. Bearings are easy / cheap to replace. So are wheels. The old Riedell women's boots like from '80s and '90s ran big. I don't know if the men's did, too.
If your husband is large / heavy, check what plates hold up well. Some of the modern ones have too much flex. That skate forum has "old skate guys" who would know.
Wanted rear brake for Wide-truck Quadlines.
Connie's told me that that only one version of the brake handles both the wide-truck version, & the streamline(narrow) version. This is a lie. And I paid $36 for a brake that is obviously not the correct brake for either Quadline version! I paid $36(with shipping) for a brake that's worth, at max, $15. (before shipping) I guess their logic is as follows: if they don't have something in stock, they take your order anyway. They send the wrong item, hoping that you won't go through the hassle of returning the item.---You'll need to re-pack the item,pay for shipping back to them, and you may not be refunded for the original shipping.---So, it may not really be worth your time to return the item. They didn't have what you wanted in stock, but they sold you something else, figuring that, at least, they'd make a sale. And it won't be worth your time to return the item.
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The brake they sold me actually does fit a totally different plate,but the Quadline has extra-large tires, and the brake they sold me wouldn't fit the Quadline skates, it uses a different plate entirely. ---Maybe the couple that run the business is getting ready to retire, and wants to extract every last dime outa folks, even if they've got to be dishonest about it. Sad.
Last edited by felinicity; 06-01-2014 at 11:57 PM..
Reason: clarify
I bought mine at Kate's Skates last time I took the kids. I probably paid a few more dollars than online, but it was easy. Plus I was able to try a few pairs on before buying what I wanted.
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