Customer Reviews

Freeline Skates

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought these after being disappointed with the small amount of speed I got from my ripstik. After watching the instructional video on Youtube, and seeing a great deal of fun tricks being done, I wanted to get Freelines.

The first day I bought them, I couldn't help but follow the instructional video's advice of holding onto a sturdy hand-rail and moving myself back and forth with my arms. Seriously, I couldn't leave that rail until after four or five hours of practice (my time on the rail was split across a few days).

I had two main challenges as a beginner, the first was learning to forcefully twist my feet to steer, and the second was using this twisting to steer both feet independently. This takes practice.

When I first started moving along a sidewalk, a large problem shows itself: the presence of cracks, twigs, and rocks. It doesn't take much to stop you if you're putting along at beginner speeds, and that means you're suddenly off of your skates. Don't worry too much, because if you slip and fall, you just let gravity take your foot straight down and it's on the ground, safe and sturdy.

After a couple weeks, I became comfortable enough to use it as a method of transportation. My speed feels like a slow run. Maybe 5 to 8 mph. Speeds are hard to hold on rough asphalt, but I'm sure I've gotten past 10 mph.

These skates were built for going down hills, where skaters report going well over 30 mph. All of my riding has been on flat surfaces; I just haven't had time to go out to a hill.

I'm not sure if it's entirely caused by these skates, but I believe I should mention that my knees feel a little worse for wear.

Using these skates takes leg muscle, control, and practice, but for now they seem worth the effort.

probably the only thing that disappointed me was the wheels. i thought i was gonna get the transparent wheels like on the picture, but it came with black wheels. all black. with "freeline" wording on it. Not that much a biggie, sure, but i was just disappointed. i guess you can say that those wheels as pictured are "upgrades" and not "stock."
great packaging though, and came super fast!

in a nutshell, it's awesome! getting used to this thing took me about 3 days, half hour each day. but learning the moves took effort and dedication. i gotta admit, it's really challenging, but it's super fun! the fun really does outweigh the challenge of learning to maneuver this thing.
it's something that i've never tried before...ever!
this may sound like a cliche commercial phrase but, i'm glad to have found and purchased freeline skates. =D

These things are damn fun. Don't expect to get on them and ride them right away but don't expect to put in hours of practice to learn how to do so. Instructional video helped a little but they can't teach you how these things are gonna feel once you step onto them.

Some advice: The first thing you're gonna want to do once you get these is put new wheels and bearings on them because the stock ones are absolute crap. The wheels aren't totally necessary but the bearings hardly spin. New bearings will totally help your momentum and reduce the amount of effort you need to use to simply go. I put on bones reds bearings because their inexpensive (about 12 dollars) and well reviewed and the improvement was incredible. More money will buy even better bearing but mine seem to work great for me now. My next set will almost definitely be more expensive ones to see if I can get even more improvement.

As far as wheels are concerned, better ones will increase grip/traction and probably help you balance better since all the weight from your leg is centered over the base of the wheels. Despite what Ryan Farrelly says in the instructional video, THE FREELINE STOCK WHEELS ARE NOT 72MM WHEELS. In fact 72mm wheels won't even spin on these things because of the shape of the mold. How you can have misinformation about a product you invented in your own instructional video is beyond me but they managed. The set wheels I bought (make that second* set of wheels I bought) are 65mm and even those seem slightly wider than the stock ones but they work great. Don't waste your money buying wheels through Freeline either, they're overpriced and mediocre. Any skate shop will have a selection of way better 65mm wheels for around 29 dollars and in more interesting colors than the plane jane primary colors.

When I saw the freeline skates I had to try them. There was a tough learning curve the first month.. I could barely stand on them. Now I am carving hills with the best of them.

Almost 49 and rocking freelines :)

These things are awesome! My wife and I each got a pair and we love them. Took about 3 days, 1/2 hour a day to be able to use them worth a darn but they are worth it. We are having a ball!

My only complaint is that after the second day of use, I think a bearing went out in one of my skates. It is making a terrible rattling noise and the wheel won't roll very well. I emailed support @ inline and so far I've heard nothing. I'm going to give them to the end of the week and if I haven't heard anything, I'll just call Visa and let them handle it for me. :)

Anyone got any tips for going uphill?

The first thing I have to say is that if you've ever ridden a Snakeboard, then it won't take you very long to get the hang of these, the foot/body movement is really close.
I think the best thing about these skates is that (believe it or not) you can balance yourself better since your front foot won't dictate what happens to your back foot, like on a skate/snakeboard... You just need plenty of patience in learning how to Freeline, and the payoff is WELL worth it.

To the above posts: for uphill skating, you REALLY have to throw your upper body into the footwork to get some good momentum...

For the clear wheels and other cool add-ons, go here:
http://freelineskates.co.kr/en/component/page,shop.browse/category_id,1/option,com_virtuemart/Itemid,1/

Also, I really recommend wearing at least elbow pads and wrist guards with these... ;-)

These are so much fun! They are a little hard to get the hang of, but if you keep at them it is really worth it! The skates come with a instructional video and I suggest you use it.

I ordered a pair for myself. At first it looks easy but when i tried it out , it was so hard. I think if i had enough patient i would mastered it. Anyways, be prepared. It is not as easy as it look. It took me around 1 week to get the hang of it but i couldn't keep the momentum and couldn't turn. I just realize that this is only use on the street. If you try to ride on sidewalk or something, it's hard because of the cracks. Especially when you move from sidewalk to side walk, you should watch out for the bump. I prefer sticking to the old roller skates 1 since i feel more secure and can easily move from sidewalk to sidewalk. Good luck to all those who attempt to master it.

I bought these skates for my son and he took about three days to learn them, and he loved them so much, I just couldn't take them off his feet later. But he spent about $60 with new bearings and wheels, because the ones that came with it were mediocre, he said. He bought swiss bones bearings and 65mm wheels for longboard. Besides that, I found them a little pricy, too.

Freeline Skates are extremely exciting to learn how to use. Once you have the basics down - most weight on front leg, toes in and out, keep your rear foot from trailing back, you are set to have some serious fun. Product came to me as advertised, they are real, and not the knock-offs. I am happy with delivery and would order again from these people. Thanks for the excitement.