I ordered these because my girlfriend threw herself headlong into the hobby of skating and got herself a pair of Moxi skates, and I wanted to be able to join her in skating around our local parks and some of the cities we visit, and also to save money on renting skates at the rink whenever we go. They’re definitely solid, especially considering the price, but there are a few things to consider depending on your build and what you intend to use them for. The boot itself is perfectly fine, I have no complaints with it whatsoever. I think it was maybe slightly smaller than most of my shoes in the same size, but not enough to be uncomfortable, and I think the snug fit helps me to feel more secure skating on them. I didn’t have to break them in much at all, but I leave the top two pairs of lace hooks undone because the boot was rubbing my ankle raw fully laced up. It’s also worth mentioning that the laces are insanely long, to the point that even wrapping them around my ankle and double-knotting them they still hang pretty close to the wheels unless I tuck them into the boot. Either way, they’re comfy, padded just enough, and well made to the point that I’m not worried about them coming apart. Gets the job done. I’m not a heavy guy, only maybe 170 fully clothed but I’m pretty tall, and the truck cushions that these shipped with are definitely not going to cut it for much longer. I had to tighten them down incredibly far during my first night at the rink before I felt even moderately stable on them. Each time I did a lap until I reached that point, during turns, the trucks pivoted so far that the wheels would actually contact the sole of the boot, taking some material out of the sole, usually throwing me in the process. I’m going to have to swap the cushions for a harder material in order to make long-term use of these, but if you’re shorter or lighter than you’ll likely apply less leverage to them and be ok. The wheels are probably the best part about these skates. They’re a medium diameter, 57mm, and medium hardness from what I can tell (they don’t appear to have a regular rating like 87A etc), and they gripped just fine in the rink, but they also have done perfectly well in public. I took these on some paved trails in a local park and, although they can’t handle cracks the size of those my girlfriend’s 65mm wheels can take, I wasn’t ever thrown by any small debris that I hit during the day either. I’ll want softer wheels eventually for those conditions anyways because I can definitely feel every crack and crevice of the pavement shooting up my legs. The bearings are pretty weak. When the wheels are tightened to eliminate wobbling on their axles, they spin maybe two revolutions when spun by hand before coming to a stop. I have to put in much more effort on flat ground than my girlfriend does to maintain the same speed. The size of my wheels does also contribute to that, but the bearings are definitely Not Very Good. The toe stops are pretty much garbage, I wore through at least 10% of my right side stop the very first night at the rink, and in the public park on pavement went through at least another 30%. They also have a habit of chipping instead of rubbing away, losing large chunks of material at a time for no net benefit to your stopping force. Those and the truck cushions should be your first upgrades. All in all, once I replace the toe stops and cushions, I’ll have no glaring issues with these, since I don’t have a problem with my lack of cruising ability yet. I will eventually get larger, softer wheels for outdoor use and replace the original bearings with Bones brand, and after that they will be perfect in my eyes. I’m very casual about this but those upgrades will be necessary to have a completely satisfying experience on these skates. I absolutely feel like I got my money’s worth out of the box, as in, these are sixty dollar skates that are NOT going to be very high quality until you put some more cash into them, but I think that overall it will work out better this way than if I’d spend $150+ on some of the better sure-grips, especially since these came with wheels that are already good for both indoor and outdoor use, and I’ve had good experiences even with their totally stock setup. I’d recommend them to anyone else who just needs some skates, to put it plainly.
