Speedmachine or Racemachine?

[lugge81]

Hello everyone, new guy in da house! :D
Thinking of picking up skating again after an ACL knee surgery and this time i feel like making it my new form of exercise. This in turn means that my old Salomon FSKs will have to go (since they are really quite slow) and I've been looking at either the new RB Speedmachine 10 or the new RB Racemachine. I've never tried a speed skate like the Racemachine before. Is the lack of ankle support really something thats difficult to cope with? Does it make this skate a lot faster due to more foot moveability? I'm a quite experienced skater with a "natural" style but does the lack of ankle support in combination with the long frame mean that I will find it very difficult to do an occasional quick turn on the Racemachines?

Hope you can help me with these questions.

Thanks,
Dan

[IW Staff]

Both skates are on the high end and built for speed.


Myself, I skate the Moto Extreme as I enjoy longer straight skates, but I often get into tighter areas where I skate and I like to have a little smaller wheel. I got 100's in the back and 90's in the front.

With the Racemachine, the lower cut gives some movement so they are made for the experience racer that has those muscles ready to take it. You can learn to adapt to it after skating for a while, but will need to decide if you want this type of skate. It does leave you a little naked up there and you feel it if not used to it.

The Speedmachine has 104mm wheels and screams down the path. Having the added ankle support up top is something I like, but it isn't for all. These are built for longer skates and not designed for tight areas and so forth.

Even the Speedmachine 8.0 is a 100mm and built for the same type of skating. The 6.0 would be the version I would choose for my style of skating. Depending on what you are going to be doing and the paths available for you to skate, any of the big guys will work well. I too had ACL surgery and found skating to be great. No limping around the next day like if I go play hoop or something.

So...... if skating in traffic or in the city, or in areas where a lot of maneuvering is needed, I would stick with the 6.0 or Moto 90 (90mm skate). If you have a nice long path or are going to do some marathons, any of the above. Ankle support, is your preference. I like/need it to skate well.

Thanks for the post!
Stan @ IW

[lugge81]

Thanks Stan for your quick reply. I've been thinking some more and have come to the conclusion that I probably need that extra ankle support.

Just outside of my town are a lot of good paved bike lanes going to other nearby towns in the area and the whole landscape around here is flat (I live in southern Sweden) so the environment is perfect for some longer skates. So I will probably go with the Rollerblade Speedmachine 8 with the long frame and 100 mm wheels to get a better roll. 104 mm wheels on Speedmachine 10 seems a little bit too extreme, I'm thinking that might make them too difficult to handle.

One other difference between the two is the bearings. The latter has the HTO PRO bearings with some special oil or whatever I read. These bearings seems to be used only on the top end speed skates of RB. Are these bearings really something exceptional or just some marketing trick from RB? They used them on the top skates of RB last year too. What has people been saying about them? And another question, is there any weight difference between these two or do they both feel heavy compared to the Speedmachine 6 with the shorter frame and smaller wheels? Are the K2 skates mentioned in your post heavier or lighter than the Rollerblades? Maybe I'm digging too deep into this but I just want to make the most informed decision possible so I won't regret my choice of skates once I've bought them.

Thanks again. :)

[IW Staff]

The bearings are definitely better than the bearings they have on their others and I think you'll be please. Everyone has their favorite bearings. Mine being the Bones bearings. I've just had great experience with them.

As for weight, they are comparable as far as boots. I'd say your RB's would be a bit lighter not taking into account wheels/bearings.

Thanks!

[liverpool2005]

is there any weight difference between these two or do they both feel heavy compared to the Speedmachine 6 with the shorter frame and smaller wheels? Are the K2 skates mentioned in your post heavier or lighter than the Rollerblades? Maybe I'm digging too deep into this but I just want to make the most informed decision possible so I won't regret my choice of skates once I've bought them.
:)

Dan,

Following up on your questions about frame size and weight of the different skates.. A friend of mine, who's particular about those pieces of information went to a store with a tape measure and hand held weighing scale. There, he weighed the skates and measured the frames. I recall that he was very meticulous and ensured that the different skates were same shoe size and without the brake. The only thing he couldn't accommodate for was that some of the wheels sizes were different - which would impact on the overall weight. (i.e. 100mm wheel should weigh more than 90mm etc.)..

I think after that, he made his purchase at IW.. but his researching and testing the right sizing was done at a retail store :)

Liverpool

[lugge81]

Ok, I suppose the weight difference is only minor after all. As far as bearings go is my understanding now since I've studied the field some more that the HTO PRO are race bearings, hyper fast but wear out earlier, and the SG9 are recreational bearings, not as fast (still fast though) but because they use grease and silicon for these instead of just oil (as in HTO PRO) they don't wear out as fast (better protection against debris). Leaves me with two options: Speedmachine 8 and Marathon Carbon of 07. And those are basically the same, as far as I can see, except for price so I'll probably place an order for the latter any day now.

Thanks for your help. :)

[IW Staff]

are lubed differently with a cream rather than an oil on the SG9's. Maybe require some cream to be added, but I haven't heard anything of them wearing out pre-marturely.

Thanks!