What kind of roller blades should I get?

Roller Blades for University?

• I want to get some roller blades to use for getting around campus. Skateboards and bikes are common, but I am a hockey player, so roller blades/ice skates are like second nature, and I would feel most comfortable that way. Are inline skates easy to stop in? I haven't had roller blades since I was about 8, and they had the stopper on the heel. As a college student, I imagine I would feel pretty goofy wearing roller blades like that! lol Thanks for the responses. This is something I am looking at http://www.hockeymonkey.com/mission-roller-hockey-skate-axiom-a3-sr.html

• Answer:

  Unless you want to practice hockey moves, don't go with the hockey skates. They are made to mimic ice hockey maneuverability instead of going places. Generally they are built with more solid and less flexible boots like ice hockey skates to protect the feet from hits by pucks, sticks, and other skates. They do not come with heel brakes since they would be a hazard when playing hockey. A hockey stop on inlines is risky unless you have a perfect surface like a rink. The main controllable stopping method left to you is a T-stop which is not a fast way to stop. Recreational/Fitness skates are designed for going places. Compared to hockey skates, they would feel more like racing ice skates with more stability at speed. A heel brake is very easy to use (the key is to get the braking foot completely ahead of the gliding skate) and is the fastest controllable way to stop on any skates. The boots are made more comfortable for skating miles at a time. Gregg is obviously not that knowledgeable about inline skates since he talks about a toe stop. Toe stops only come on a few inline skates that are made to specifically mimic ice figure skates. Aggressive skates would be really bad for commuting around a campus. They are build heavy to withstand the abuse of aggressive skating. They have tiny, super hard wheels that will not skate fast and trip over debris that you find on real sidewalks and streets. Similar to roller hockey skates, brakes would be a hazard for aggressive skating and the hard wheels make all the other stops less effective since they don't create much friction. Aggressive skaters don't need to stop much, they try to conserve the speed they have and they don't skate very fast. BTW: the sport is inline skating, Rollerblade is the trademark of one company that makes inline skates.