In-line Skates - What do you think of them?

Design Discussions general design discussion
1

I am designing some in-line skates and wanted to know what you thought of them - good or bad.

Thanks

2

They’re over.

3

i agree. i was really into them 9 years ago…

4

Put 10 wheels on each blade.

5

ok so dont design the same old skate, make them new, interesting, have a twist. you are a designer, i bet some sort of new skate comes out, why not you. i mean, i saw a ton of skaters just yesterday down by the beach. so i would not say they are over, but they can be redeisned

6

you know what, they are so gay, people in spandex with urethane wheels stuck to their boots sounds like something out of a bad 1970’s musical, and cruising the beach side strips of Malibu is for posers. Maybe you should redevelop these things they had out for about two weeks when I was young called kanga shoes. picture a ski type boot with a car suspension coil spring stuck on the bottom. If you can get past the broken/sprained ankles you will have a winning product for sure. Then again you could combine the two and have the rollerblade wheels on a flexible track that works as suspension.

7

I still skate. A bunch of us started to go back to the local skate parks a few months ago. It is fun, even picked up a new skateboard to compliment the inlines.

8

It depends on what type of skates your designing. The industry has changed over the last few years. (rec,sport,aggresive,etc.) I think the potential is still out there for the sport industry especialy for winter skiers and ice skaters training in the summer. As a recreational activity (for grown-ups), I think its day has come and gone, but of course there are still those die hard fans that skate for “fitness” as an alternative to joining a gym and running in place for hours. Plus Kids will always want to skate (elementry-higheschool), and not only domesticly.

Hope that helps you or just reinforces your feelings.

Rob :sunglasses:

9

I would agree that the big time of inline is passed, though I am not cool enough to worry about desparaging a sport that is past it’s prime. Skates are still a good time. Most of the people who have moved on were never really good enough on them to have much fun anyway and the only thing more lame than cruising the beach in spandex is watching people do it. :wink:
If you want to push skates in a new direction you could always work on suspension. One failing of inline skates has always been impact. It’s fun to catch air but the landings can sometimes be a bit harsh. Another is rough ground. Even minor gravel or broken pavement can stop skates dead in their tracks. Off road inline skate exist but could really stand some design improvement.

http://www.kiteblading.com/php/blades.php

Some of the best things are re-inventions of things that are done. Also “Kangoo” boots are still on the market. If you want to see where the idea sort of went check out this Russian tech from way back in 2000. Probably when some of us were kids.

http://www.times-archive.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/07/07/timfgnrus02003.html

Best of luck

10

“Heelys” are what’s hot in this category… At least for kids.

11

those heelys come in size 12, big enough for this big kid’s foot :laughing:

12

Not for this big-kid size 14’s. :cry: