Initial Review: Before skating
Price: Suggested retail value of $420.00 CAD
When I first saw the new Rollerblade Estilo skates, one word came to mind, UGLY! To me it looks like mix between a Salomon with wide bodies and a Xsjado skate. It has a standard lacing system, with a buckle on the fore foot and a velcro strap on the ankle. It is a hard boot skate and has a black and gray color scheme with slight red and maroon highlights. The main part of the boot is made from a dark see through plastic, reminiscent the 2005, Salomon St Pros. The boot also has holes cut out of it which I imagine are for ventilation and weight reduction, and the cuff comes with a slight v-cut. The skates weigh no more then an average pair of Razors or Remz which is around 8.5 lbs. (size 9 skates) The frames and wheels definitely caught my eye because they are hands down, HUGE! At first glance they look a little awkward and funny on the skate, but I am quickly getting use to it. So in my personal opinion, this skate does not do well in the looks department, but that is not enough to say that it sucks, so lets take a closer look at the parts and function of the skate.
First things first, the buckle. Rollerblade opted to place the buckle on the outside forefoot of the skate, instead of higher on the cuff like most other hard boot skates. I would think that it was put there to help hold down your fore foot and eliminate any heel lift, which sounds like a great idea. So why don’t other skate companies place their buckles there? Simple, the outside of your skate takes an absolute beating while skating, from sliding out, missing grinds, and just falling in general. The buckle seems very solid, and I hope it is because I know it is going to take some extreme punishment from most, if not all, my bails. However, they do have a solid piece of plastic in front of the buckle to deflect any impacts, so hopefully that will help the buckles durability. The buckle is held onto the boot by a screw at the top, and a little steel lip which slides into a slip cut out of the boot. Not sure on why they took this approach but it is something I have never seen before on a buckle, so I thought it was worth mentioning.
The souls on the new Estilo skate seem to be extremely heavy duty! They are made of a very high density plastic, which makes them very hard. This should provide a fast and consistent slide, and an extremely long life for the soul plates. Both the outside and negative soul plates are quite wide, which should make locking in for any soul trick a breeze. The souls look very similar to the old school wide bodies from Salomon, so your royale groove will be directly on the soul plate. My skates did not come with pre-made grooves so I will have to make my own, but I’ve heard that they will have a pre-made groove when they are fully released. The souls look very solid and they are making me excited to ride the skates. I just hope that Rollerblade has done a better job on this type of soul plate, then Salomon did , because if not then the skates should pretty much be canned now!
The liner on the Estilo skate is a new design from Rollerblade. It has a lot of support in the upper ankle and a slight v-cut to match the cuff. It appears to have good ventilation through out the linear especially on the toe. The liner comes with an insole, which has a small shock absorber, which should provide nice protection when team up with the almost ¾ inch heel pad inside the boot of the skate. The liner seems to be a little stiff, so I’m worried I might have to content with blisters while breaking them in, but a tag on the liner says it has a 5 star fit, so hopefully they are right. The liner doesn’t have any fancy neoprene wraps, or pull strings like you would find on some after market liners, but it looks like it will be comfortable and its making me want to ride the skates even more.
Last but not least the frames and wheels. The skate comes with the Rollerblade point 8 frames, huge 72 mm/84 A wheels, abec 9 bearings, and anti-rockers as a stock setup. The point 8 frame is the only frame on the market which allows you to ride such large wheels. The frame is very tall compared to other frames, almost ½ inch taller then an average Ground Control frame. The frame has a large h-block area and is made of high density plastic just like the soul plates, which should provide a fast slide and long life. They have a sickle blot system which makes changing wheels easier. The bolts can also be flipped around to accommodate larger or smaller wheels, giving you tons of options as to what kind of setup you would like to ride. The frames look very solid and I’m now dying to try these babies out.
So as I said earlier the overall look of the skate is not super appealing to me, but it seems the more I look at it, the more and more it grows on me. I’m excited to ride the skate and see how all the parts perform and hold up. So I’m now off to session, hoping to make some grooves in my extremely heavy duty soul plates. I will be skating the Estilo for the next 2-3 months then I will come back to let you know all about it, the pros, the cons, and the feeling you’ll get skating the new Rollerblade Estilo.
- Roger Wilkinson
i think Rollerblade in particular needs to focus more on the looks of their skates. they should keep in mind that when you’re buying a new skate you look for products that are not just high quality but also aesthetically appealing. Oh yeah, and grey is a sucky color for rollerblades!
Hey. I’m a veteran blader from the 90’s looking to get back into skating. I currently own a pair of those exact wide body solomons, and yeah, they are rubbish. These however look ok to me. Ok there’s this “we are different” element about them but they are still appealing. I have been looking on Aggressive Mall etc for a while. I was considering USD’s or Razors but yeah the more I look at these the more I want them. They look solid, alternative and fast. Just hope that buckle dont break. Only other thing is, what if that frame is too tall? worth the speed maybe?
PS – all you girls need to get over looking pretty, its not a fashion show, its skating, or at least it was in my day. Peace.
PPS – with the last pair of TRS I had, the wheels started to squeak and sounded like there was something wrong with them or the bolts or something, it was off putting and they sounded damaged. dont know what it was coz I just upgraded to Solomons, ha, what an up-grade huh!. lol.
dude i still have my old skates the 1st ones alpha’s TRS and they still roll good but I will be buying razors icons 2 cus the TRS brand imo is not a brand if you want to go street..the soulplats doont rly grind that good after a year or 2 :/