The media could not be loaded. Update: after only 13 hours of rink use I had a lace failure (that pulled nearly all the way through the boot before I spotted it) and already had partial heel separation on both boots. …but you almost certainly won’t see the same problems. Again, I’m a 6’2” skater, 205lbs, size 13 shoe. I’m an advanced skater and spend most of my time speed skating for exercise. I put more leverage than most folks on my boot because my taller body is a large lever, my monster feet only accentuate those larger forces, and I’m skating at speeds most skaters aren’t. If you’re a casual or beginner/intermediate skater, or even a dancer then these skates are going to be great for you. (Although, as I mentioned below, you’ll need new bearings and wheels, at a minimum.) My skate failed because the boot was merely scaled up for my feet and wasn’t really designed properly to handle the physics of a larger stature. I wouldn’t expect the boot to fail (even under the same intensity of usage) for someone who is smaller, and I wouldn’t expect it to fail for someone of my height who isn’t as aggressive of a skater. I’m pretty sure it’s only because I’m tall, have giant feet, AND am an advanced skater that they failed. So while there’s no way I’d buy them again for myself, I’d still recommend them to anyone else looking for a good bargain skate, with the proviso (as I originally described) that they know what they are (and aren’t) getting. ORIGINAL REVIEW: These skates are a great entry point, but they aren’t necessarily a steal of a deal. I have big feet. I wear a size 13 men’s. That mostly relegates me to only half a dozen options in the first place, all costing hundreds of dollars. …or these. Initially I thought these were an absolute steal. Reviews were (mostly) good, especially from folks willing to swap out the bearings and wheels up front. So I picked up a pair expecting a bit of work, but I was still a little surprised. On the bright side, delivery was three weeks faster than my earliest predicted delivery. Your mileage may vary, but it tells me that they really are trying to get these out there responsibly. I’m good with that and think it’s worth noting. The trucks look really solid and all the pieces are there. I mean, *hypothetically* you could ride these out of the box. …but it won’t be a great experience. My wheels wouldn’t spin unless my finger was moving them. You can see the video I made. As an experiment I cleaned them as thoroughly as possible in acetone, dried them, and re-lubed them. (No, the shields aren’t removable. …but they have half spacers built onto the back and I dripped little half-drops down those spacers and then spun them.) The new lube in the bearings made a huge difference, but it didn’t fix them. The stock bearings were made with the worst possible tolerances. I could feel them spinning unevenly even just in my fingers. Some of them were incredibly wobbly all by themselves even outside a wheel. They’re cheap junk, but it’s good to know that you can at least kinda make them work. While I put them back in the stock wheels I replaced the wheels outright anyhow, so they’re an emergency stopgap for me, at best. …but they *could* work, in a pinch. The boot isn’t soft out of the box. It’s made with thick leather that’s going to have to mold to my foot over time, but I think that’s a great thing. It means that my skates should be really great fits some day after I’ve spent a good number of hours in them. Plus, the trucks seem really solid. Yes, there’s a little tightening to do here and there. Yes, they did send a wrench. No, the wrench doesn’t fit everything. It fits the toe stop, the wheel nuts, and the nut between the trucks and plate. That’s it. You’ll need other wrenches for the truck nuts and the plate screws. Oh, and one of my laces was already damaged, so there’s that. Overall, these are great basic skates and I’d recommend them. …but if you walk into them thinking you’re getting great skates out of the box without a little tinkering and (at least) replacement bearings then you’re fooling yourself. Think of these skates as the reason you’re going to learn your skate maintenance skills sooner than you’d otherwise bother, and expect to also buy some speed cream, better bearings (or wheels with bearings), and maybe new laces or a skate wrench with the other sizes to go along with the skates. Again, they’re good skates, just not without a little bit of help.
