Salomon Pilot 9 Pro 2 - SUPER SLOW!

[madbimmer]

I am looking for ideas. After using Salomon Trainers w 80mm/ABEC5 for 4 years, I decided to get the Pilot 9 Pro 2 from IW. I felt that the 90mm wheels would be better over the increasingly rutty 3/4 mile course at Kensico Dam in NY. I was a little worried that the skates might be a bit fast, but what I got is exactly the opposite. After five workouts now, my lap times have gone from 3:10 to 3:45-55! And I am working harder just to go that fast! It feels like I am skating on 2-year-old bearings. So I replaced the new bearings with BSB ABEC7s and had little or no improvement.

Does anyone know any tricks that I need to make these skates work? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[IW Staff]

As the 90mm may not be quicker, they will and should be faster.

Your stride should be adapting to the larger wheel size soon if it already hasn't after 5 skates. That can slow you up.

Why don't you put the bearings you have on your trainers on your Pro 2 skats. Then you can compare apples with apples.

IW

[madbimmer]

The bearings on the Trainers are ABEC5, so I think the ABEC7s I put on the Pro2s can only be better. There was some improvement over the IL9s that came with the skates because, as I discovered today on examining them, several of the bearings had dents on the sides. I have never seen that before. Could they have come from the factory that way? One of them wouldn't even spin when trying it without the wheel.

Would even faster bearings help or would I lose something from the push-off (as a very experienced skater advised me today)?

Also, re: stride adjustment, any advice as to the kind of adjustment necessary to deal with larger wheels and a much stiffer frame?

Thanks.

[IW Staff]

Makes sense that you would lose some push off I guess as there will be less resistance. I would think you would want to the faster bearing though as once you push off, you want to spin fast and free.

I guess it is possible they come from the factory like that, but not likely. Perhaps something got in there that caused damage, I don't know. The ILQ9's are great bearings so they should be spinning great for you.

We can warranty the skates which would be time consuming and a little inconvenient for you, but not too bad. Or, I can give you a deal on some other bearings at cost to help make up for it. No ILQ9's available from Salomon unfortunately. Can't even get their ILQ7 right now. I do have K2's ILQ7's, but you can pick anything you wan and I'll let you know the deal and you can then see if you want to go forward or not.

Thanks, Stan @ IW