Anyone interested?

[Phil]

You might also want to have a look at http://www.heelys.com I really like Heelys but have only tried on other peoples, okay so they aren't skates but the concept is very good.

I've got a pair of Hypnos and apart from the fact that they are really too stiff to use as normal shoes the major prblem I found was that I couldn't drive my car whilst wearing them. I found that the holes where the skate frame attaches would stick to the Accelerator/brake pedals in my car which spoiled the whole idea of them for me because I want to drive somewhere, attach the skate frames and go. Some kind of plug to cover the holes would be great.

[Phil]

http://www.yuhjou.com.tw/htm/i.htm

Those things look like they'll have the same problems as shopping trolleys, they'll go in every direction but the one you want.

[Joniquai]

quads are quite unbeatable in the fact that u can just slip them on and off!

[Cedric]

I was thinking about rigidity for Step-in. What about a plastic bar that would stand 90° from the frame going along the shoe up to the top of the ankle ? Hard to explain. Well, I'll make a pitifull attempt at drawing that.

! x !
! x !_____
! x
!_x______

Ok, don't beat me for this, that's pretty crappy but it's as good as I can get. The "x" thing would be the plastic bar (metal ?) bar. I would see it as something that is not permanentely attached to the boot (with velcro or something like that) and that could be bent along the frame when the boot is out of the frame.

Just thought about this while reading this topic, so there are a lot of chances that it would be a stupid, useless and dangerous device (which are 3 good reasons to design it).

[Freeman]

I think that these are probably the best skates for the job, just strap them over your shoes and roll away!! they are probably the lightest skate around.

http://thinks.com/cgi-bin/aws/aws.pl/it ... e/best.htm

[Caz]

I was thinking about rigidity for Step-in. What about a plastic bar that would stand 90° from the frame going along the shoe up to the top of the ankle ? Hard to explain. Well, I'll make a pitifull attempt at drawing that.

yeah a friend got some skates from cash converters that were like that. the liners came out and were sort of like soft boots, with a sole. not good for everyday wear but ok for on the bus etc. the cuff etc of the shell was mostly hollow with the liner not in and folded flat against the sole to take up less space (imagine an xjaso, or whatever they're called, that allowed the L shape of the rigid outer boot to fold flat to a = )

was a good idea but pretty poorly made.

[Harald]

Quads with a heel brake. Only a German could post that! LOL

That's true. We germans only drive quads with a heel-brake.


Quadrix germanicus

[xsfred]

Detachable skates have got very little research lately. When you look at recent success in skates, you get :
- Tecnica twister for slalom. Best weight/rigidity/maneuvrability compromise, at a ridiculous price
- Salomon FSK : sturdy, maneuvrable, comfy

Now when you look at the detachables offer now, you get ugly clumsy unreliable things not even worth a look. Many are actually dangerous (too detachable).

Carbon as a multi purpose material : Rollerblade last year, Fila this year are using actual carbon for fitness boots ; carbon frames are being researched right now, and you will get them in the mainstream realm in 2-3 years.

What you need now is a device that would adjust to any of the modern running shoes (in the 60-100 EUR series) : people are using these all the time. You need 4 or six attach points, easy and reliable, with a light carbon-based frame and big wheels. Designed in Europe, produced in China.

All that is merely a remake of the laced-up quad frames of the 50s. Revisit the notion with inline and carbon in mind.

[Look no Skywater]

Those funny skates. I can't see how they would turn without trucks in an "out of line" configuration.

Caz's extendable frames idea. Anything that has moving parts will either be more flexble and prone to failure or more heavy to counter the flexibility or made out of an exotic material or three. Any of those is going to give it limited appeal and will already cost more than a standard skate without the volume to keep the costs under control. Probably why you only see this in skates for little people with growing feet.

New style of detachable skate. The idea of a detachable quad is more sensible than inlines for the reasons people have stated above ankle support requirements or the need to have a shoe so stiff that it isn't suited to walking. See speed skate boots and compare to recreational ones.

This leaves the exoskeleton approach which goes round a shoe and has a section that goes above the ankle for the required support. It needs to flex in the right way. Forward but not sideways or too far back. Lastly it must fold/collapse to a compact size when removed to make it more practical than carrying a pair of skates and a pair of shoes. COme up with something like that and you could be onto something. I'd be willing to give then a go.

[Harald]

The idea of a detachable quad is more sensible than inlines ...

On the other hand... We kiddies in the early 60ies had nothing else than strap-on rollerskates. They did work and I wonder why this principe isn't taken and solved with contemplorary material and methods.

[Binky]

I still don't know if it's what it's all about, but some guy in France invented some
kind of rollerskate "for beginners" (so he said)

http://www.roller-numerique.net/portal/ ... ticle&k=33

Those skates are supposed to give better performance and to be easier to use
than standard skates (so he claims). You can't do backward skating with them though,
because of how they're designed, let alone do freestyle stuff. There used
to be quite a lot of discussion about them in french forums lol.

[Cedric]

There used
to be quite a lot of discussion about them in french forums lol.

And the general consensus (does that word even exists in english ?) pretty much was that it probably was not more efficient, despite what was claimed.

[lemming]

It looks like they're only allowing forward motion through the use of a bit of metal to stop the wheel turning backwards. Surely it's just gonna knacker your wheels more quickly.

Consensus is a valid english word...

[Jex]

already exist:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 37093&rd=1

Hey, don't knock it. I learned to skate on those when I was a tot...

[Look no Skywater]

Don't know why it would knacker the wheels more? it's on a ratchet, which I guess must be fixed to the bearing. Bit like a non-fixed wheel bicycle cog hub. It would increase bearing friction a bit and it could allow you to use the skt more like a nordic ski where you push backwards to move forwards (like total gumbies too) It would allow you to run in them. I would guess marginally more efficient for starting off from stationary then bloody noisy as the ratchet clicked round which is extra friction which decreases the efficiency.

Not all innovations are better but they have to be investigated or tried to find out which ones are or we make no progress.