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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS);faqs.496



If you have trouble balancing or find your braking ankle a little
weak, you can try the following trick:  form a triangle with your
legs (from the knee down to your skates) and the ground.  This
means putting your back knee either right behind or next to, the
brake-foot knee to form that triangle.

Eventually you'll want to stop at high speeds.  Basically, the more
pressure you use on the brake pad the faster you stop.  Maximum
stopping power is achieved by putting your entire body weight onto
the brake by lifting your back foot, and leaning onto the brake.
This takes some practice but is very effective.  It is possible to stop
within 15-20 ft even when going over 20 mph.  Practically
speaking, you may still want to keep the other skate on the ground
for balance.

Note that the amount of leverage, and therefore the amount of
stopping power you have, is dependent on how worn your brake is.
A half-worn brake will provide better leverage than either a new
brake or a worn-out brake.  Some people sand or saw off part of
new brakes to avoid the annoying breaking-in period.

One important point to keep in mind when using the brake-pad:
You can still steer while braking.  Just keep the brake-pad on the
ground and pivot on your heel wheel slightly to go the direction
you want.  This is very useful while going down a very narrow and
curvy path or while trying to avoid curbs, pedestrians, parked cars,
trees, and the like.

A brake-pad generally runs from $3 to $6 depending on what type
you buy.  Compare this with wheels which are $5.50 or more each
and the freebie stops: runouts, wind-braking, billiard ball stop
(freebies since you're not wearing anything down).  Wheels are
expensive, and the freebie stops are infrequently available, if at all,
for the large majority of skating situations.  The brake can be your
standard stop, provided that you learn it well.


% V-STOP/SNOWPLOW:  For a low-speed rolling stop, point your
heels inward (for backwards) or your toes together (for forwards)
and let your skates bang into each other.  This might throw you in
the direction you're going (depending on your speed), so take care
to be prepared to lean forward or backwards to compensate.

You can do a more exaggerated snowplow by spreading your legs
out past shoulder-width and pointing your skates inward or
outwards as before (and you won't bang your skates together.)
Here, use leg strength to press your inner edges against the ground,
and you'll slow down appreciably.  This can work even at very high
speeds.


INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

% ADVANCED RUNOUTS:  Skating off pavement onto
grass. You can weave from pavement to grass and back to
pavement to control your speed, especially when going downhill.
To stop completely just stay on the grass.

As you hit the grass, knees are kept bent, and one foot is ahead of
the other. Nearly all weight is distributed on the foot that will hit
the grass first, and you keep that leg real stiff, as if plowing a path
for the trailing leg to follow. Very little weight is on the trailing
leg. Muscles in the trailing leg are relaxed. The only function of
the trailing leg is stability and balance. The leading leg does most
of the work.

Beginners are often intimidated by this procedure, but it is really a
very simple physical feat. The hard part, if any, is simply
understanding mentally what it is you are trying to do, as I
explained.

This is a lot of fun, too. I like to hit the grass full speed, and then
skate as far down a slope as possible before the grass stops me.

One important requirement is that the ground should be dry.  Wet
dirt or grass will clog your wheels and your skates will also sink
into mud (yuck).


% (REGULAR) SPINOUTS/LUNGE STOP:  This is where you
skate into a spin to transfer your linear momentum into angular
momentum.  To do this, you sort of stop-n-hold one skate at an
angle to act as the pivot foot and the other traces a circle around it
(and you).  It may help to think of having each skate trace
concentric circles, with the pivot skate tracing the much smaller
inner one.  The pivot skate will be turning on its outside edge, while
the outer skate will be on its inside edge.


% SPREAD EAGLE SPINOUTS:  A spinout with your skates in a
bent spread eagle position (i.e., heels pointed towards each other,
skates at slightly less than 180 degrees).  There is no pivot foot
here, instead both your skates trace the arc.

There are inside and outside spread eagles, where you skate on both
inside or both outside edges.  The above paragraph describes the
inside spread eagle.

A sustained outside spread eagle is more of an artistic skating move
than a practical stop, although I use it occasionally to stop on flat
surfaces.

NOTE that all types of spinouts require a fair amount of room.
Your forward motion is quite suddenly changed to angular motion
so I'd recommend this mainly for low traffic areas where you won't
have people running into you from behind when you do the
spinout.


% CROSSOVER STOP:   This stop works both forwards and
backwards at higher speeds.  I call this the crossover stop because
your feet are held in the position of a spread-out crossover.  In this
stop, you're going to be arcing to one side.  The harder and sharper
you turn, the faster you stop.  If you tend to trip on your skates,
spread your skates farther apart (forwards-backwards).

The braking pressure comes from the turn. The harder you press
with the outer edge of your back skate, the faster you stop.  So if
you're turning left, your right skate is in front, the left skate is
almost right behind it (so that all your wheels are in line).  Press on
the outer edge of your left skate (your back skate) and on the inner
edge of your right skate.

There is also the inverted crossover stop where your feet positions
are reversed:  so you turn left with your left foot forward and right
foot back (and vice versa for right turns).  Watch ice hockey players
just after play has stopped.  More often than not, the circle around
in the inverted crossover position.

Both crossover stops are good for high speed stops but make sure
you have plenty of open space.


% SLALOMING/PARALLEL TURNS:  For skiers, this maps over
very nicely.  This is more of a speed control technique rather than a
stop, but it's very useful to know.  Explaining slalom turns can take
an entire book in itself, so I will merely suggest that you find a skier
or a ski book to show you how.

One way to practice this is to find a nice gentle slope with plenty of
space at the bottom, set up cones in a line, and weave through the
cones.



ADVANCED LEVEL

This next set of stops require good independent leg control.  These
advanced stops will require you to be skating only one foot for
some portion of the technique.


% T-STOP:  This stop uses your wheels as a source of friction.  To
do the T-stop, place one skate behind you, nearly perpendicular to
your direction of travel.  Bend a little in both knees to drag your
wheels.  You should think more of dragging the heel than the toe.
Apply the braking pressure to your heel.  If you drag the toe too
much, you will end up spinning around.  Keep your weight mainly
on your skating (front) foot.  As you learn to stop at higher speeds
you will apply more downward pressure to the back skate (but your
weight is still on the front skate).

NOTE:  One particular phenomenon to avoid in the T-stop, or any
wheel-dragging stop (such as the toe drag) is the "flats".  If you T-
stop or toe drag such that the wheels do not roll as your drag, you
will end up with a flattened wheel which will not roll smoothly at all.
In effect, ruining your wheel(s).


% TOE DRAG:  Similar to the T-stop except you drag only the toe
wheel instead of all four or five wheels.  Unlike the T-stop it's not
critical to keep the skate perpendicular to your line of travel.  In
fact, you're free to drag the wheel anywhere in a 180+ degree arc
behind you.  Also, your toe can be pointed into the ground at
pretty much any angle.  (If you have old wheels, the toe position is
a good place to put them if you want to avoid shredding your good
wheels.)

The toe drag is better than the T-stop in that you wear down only
one wheel, and more importantly, you are also allowed much better
control over steering, since you can still stop effectively even if the
drag wheel rolls too much.  The toe drag can stop you even when at
cruising speeds, although at  significantly longer breaking distance
than the brake-pad or the T-stop since you are dragging only one
wheel.


% BACKWARDS T-STOP:  This is a T-stop when you're rolling
backwards.  There are two ways to perform this stop.  The first way
is to stop by dragging the outside edge of your skate (i.e., toe
pointed outward).  The harder way is to point your toe inward,
much like a reverse New York stop (see New York stop).


STEPPING STOPS

These three stepping stops are essentially advanced low-speed stops
("advanced" since they require good independent control over each
skate).  They could also be called "pushing" stops, since most of the
braking action is done by pushing a skate against your motion.
Many advanced skaters will do this intuitively, but I will detail them
here for completeness.


% BACKWARD STEPPING STOP:  This is like while wearing
shoes, and someone pushes you from the front.  One foot
automatically steps back to keep you from falling backwards.  On
skates then, while rolling backwards, you simply put one skate
behind you, 90 degrees to the other skate, and hold it there so that
your body doesn't roll any further.  This is basically a very low-
speed power stop, and so without the sliding and scraping action of
the wheels (see the Power Stop).

The faster you are moving, the closer you are to doing a true power
stop.  This may be a good method to learn the power stop,
gradually building up speed.


% FORWARD STEPPING STOP:  A low-speed stop very similar
to the backwards stepping stop except you're rolling forwards, of
course.  This time you plant your skate 90 degrees out in front of
or right next to the rolling skate.  Your front heel will be pointing
inwards (it's probably easier for most people to keep the toe pointed
outward here).  This is especially useful at curbs, like just before
you accidentally roll into an intersection, in crowded indoor places,
or if you just want to get a little closer to people you're talking
with.

This stop should halt you immediately.  Once you plant your foot,
your body should stop moving forward.   You may find it easier if
you bend slightly at the waist and knee to give your skate a better
angle to grab.

You can also use this stop in a sort of shuffling fashion:  stop, roll a
little, stop, roll a little, etc., until you get to precisely where you
want
to be.


% REVERSE STOP (FORWARDS SNOW-PLOW):  While
rolling, point one skate (only) inward, lift and set it back down.
Roll on it and push off slightly at the heel.  Now lift the other skate,
and do the same.

Essentially you are skating backwards even though moving
forwards.  Keep doing it and you will eventually start skating
backwards.  This can be done even at high speeds.


% BACKWARDS HEEL DRAG:  This is for rolling backwards.
Similar to the toe drag except you drag your heel wheel.  If you
find your drag skate rolling sideways, apply more pressure to your
heel wheel.


Now that you can do toe-drags, heel-drags and spinouts...

% TOE-DRAG SPINOUTS:  This is a one-footed spinout with an
accompanying toe-drag on the other foot.  The toe drag will be in
the inside of the spinout.  So for a right-foot toe-drag spinout, you
will be carving a right turn.  It takes a bit more balance and strength
and will shred your toe wheel a lot.  The more pressure on the toe,
and the sharper/harder you carve your turn, the faster you stop.

At maximum effectiveness, it can stop you very quickly.  The
skating foot will be nearly doing a power slide (see Power Stop)
and the dragging foot will be doing a very hard toe-drag.  Done
correctly at low to medium speeds, it takes up at most a sidewalk's
width.  At downhill speeds, expect to take up most of a car lane.

NOTE that hitting a crack or rock during this stop really bites since
you've got most of your weight on one skating foot.  Look for any
debris or holes ahead of you and be prepared.


% HEEL-DRAG SPINOUTS:  For this spinout, just plant one of
your heel wheels on the ground out in front of you and spin
around it.  The only tricky part is that the pivot heel wheel may roll
a little, so keep some downward pressure on it.  It probably helps to
keep your pivot leg straight and slightly locked to help stabilize the
pivot.

A variation on heel-drag spinouts is to use your brake-pad as the
pivot.

This stop looks pretty neat when going backwards, although you
should be careful to protect your knees if you have to abort.  To
perform this backwards, start a heel-drag stop (you're skating
backwards), carve the skating foot behind and to the inside, and you
should spin around the heel wheel/brake.


% CURB RAMMING:  You approach the curb at around 90
degrees (i.e., straight on) and lift your toes enough to clear the
curb.  This should jam your wheels and runners into the curb.  You
should be prepared to compensate for the sudden change in your
motion.

An alternative curb ramming stop is to do a spinout near the curb
and ram the back of your skate into the curb.

Both these techniques cause quite a bit of shock to your skates
(especially at high speeds) so if you really love your skates you
may not want to do this stop too often 8-)


% POWER STOP/POWER SLIDE:  This is one of the most
effective stops, and also one of the hardest.  To do this stop, you
should be able to skate forwards and backwards well, and also be
able to flip front-to-back quickly.

There appear different approaches to learning the power stop.  The
end result should be the same, or nearly so, but both are detailed
below.  It is left to the reader to decide which one is easier to
follow.

One way:

You can piece the power stop together by combining two things:
1) flip front to backward.
2) place one foot behind you and push the entire row of
wheels at a very sharp angle into the ground.

You can practice this by skating backwards, gliding, and then with
nearly all your weight on one foot, bring the other foot behind you,
perpendicular to your direction of travel (see the Backward
Stepping stop).

You should start out doing this while traveling slowly.  Your wheels
should scrape a little.  If they catch, you need to hold your braking
skate at a sharper angle.  Once you get this down, you can practice
flipping front-to-back, coast a little, and then stop.  Eventually, the
combination becomes one smooth move:  just get the braking leg
extended as soon as you flip.

You can use any flip (mohawk, 3-turn, toe-pivot, etc.) for this stop.
This stop is good for hockey, and a good stop when going
backwards (especially at higher speeds).  A power-stop using a
jump turn is called a chop stop (see following section).


The other way:

The second method involves one continuous motion instead of
two:  Skate forward on an outside edge, while extending the free
leg to the side. All weight is on the skating leg. The free leg is
dragged along the ground. Now sharpen the turn on the outside
edge of the skating leg (with its knee greatly bent), and swing the
free leg in front. This continuous transition causes the skating leg
to turn, so it's now skating in reverse.

The key is to have all the weight on the skating leg. If you place
any weight on the free leg, you will go into a spin and lose
control.

Some prefer this method because you do not need to go into a
complete power slide to stop. At any point in the continuous
motion, you can abort if something is going wrong.  Only at
higher speeds is it necessary to completely turn the skating foot.
There is less risk of catching the free leg on an uneven surface
because it is already extended and dragging before you swing
around.


% CHOP-STOP:  For skating forward or backward at low to
moderate speeds. This is much like the hockey stops done on ice
except, since you can't shave asphalt, you need to jump and turn
both skates and hips perpendicular to the direction of travel.  Land
with the skates at an angle (like in the power stop) and push your
wheels  against the ground.  To maintain balance you can keep one
skate mainly beneath you, while the other goes out forward to stop
you.

Most of the shredding will be done on the lead skate, where the
inside of your lead leg should make a sharp angle against the
ground.

Basically what this is, is a power stop using a jump turn.

The jump isn't so much for air time as for lifting your skates off the
ground so you can reposition them sideways.  The lower the jump
you can get away with, the less off balance you should be when you
land. However, if you don't jump high enough you may not be able
to place your lead skate at a sufficient angle.  Caution should be
used even more so in this stop than in others.

The particulars of the jump aren't crucial.  You can lead with one
foot followed by the other, and land in that order; or jump and land
with both feet at once.  Pick whatever style you're most comfortable
with.


% NEW YORK STOP:  Harder than even the power stop, the New York stop is
  mainly a power stop but you don't turn your gliding foot!  It doesn't
  appear that just anyone can perform this stop, since it seems to
  require quite a bit of knee flexibility.

  L = the track left by the left skate,  R = ditto by the right skate

  ------ direction of travel --- >

  L----------------------   |  <-   slide with skate, scraping edges of
                            /   |---all the wheels like the power-slide
  R---                     /   <-
       \                 /
         \             /          (A NY stop with the right foot)
           \         /
             \_____/



This stop requires your knee to be twisted inward (not a natural
position, by far), so if you can't do it, I wouldn't say it's a big loss
since it seems to have above average potential to cause injury if
done wrong.


% COMBINATION/SEQUENCE STOPS

  Once you've got some stops perfected, the next thing you might want to
  try is a sequence or combination of several stops.  These are
  definitely more fun and a bit more showy.  These are some of the
  random combination stops that I do.  You can easily make up your own.
  (Sequences are denoted with "->" and combos with "+")

  S-stop:  Crossover stop -> turn opposite direction -> toe-drag
           spinout.  So for example, you can crossover stop to the left,
           ride your left skate and do a toe drag (right toe pivot)
           while turning to the right to complete the S-pattern.

Double crossover stop:  crossover stop -> inverted crossover
           stop (or vice versa).  This also traces out an S-pattern.

Braking T-stop:  T-stop with non-brake foot + brake with brake-pad

Braking toe-drag:  Brake with brake-pad + toe-drag on other skate The
           braking toe-drag and the braking T-stop are the two of the
           most effective ways to stop that I know of when cruising.

Braking spread-eagle:  Spread-eagle (follow w/ spinout optional) with
           braking skate in front + braking with brake-pad

Braking glide stop:  glide -> reverse feet positions -> brake-pad.  The
           effect is that of shuffling your feet quickly and stopping.
           (Glide:  a heel-toe glide, one skate out, and one skate back;
           use only the back toe and front heel wheels.  The back skate
           should be the one with the brake since the assembly gets in
           the way on the front skate)


Related Topics

FALLING:

Falling should be one of your last resort techniques, but everyone
falls some time, so it's a good and safe thing to know.  Falling can
be practiced at low speeds to get used the idea that indeed, you can
plop on your guards and pads, and come away safe as houses.

1) One of the less graceful and more painful ways to stop is to
wipeout into a face plant or another nasty, bloody occurrence.  I
daresay no one does this "stop" voluntarily.  These stops work
vicariously:  If you see someone else do it...you're likely to stop or
slow down too 8-)

2) At low speeds, a better (and less painful) falling-stop is to
collapse your body in a way so that the primary scraping areas are
the knee pads and your wrist guards/gloves.  Bend your knees, fall
on your knee pads and follow by falling on your wrist guards.
Keep your wrists loose since there is still some risk of injury.  See
the collision section below.

If you tend to fall backwards, your rear-end will probably be your
biggest cushion (just how big, depends on you 8-).  You should try
to spread out the shock to your arms and over as much body area
as possible (in general)...the less directly on your wrists and elbows,
probably the better.  NOTE however, that your tailbone is, after all,
located in your duff and a hard fall at too sharp an angle will either
bruise or fracture/break the tailbone.

At high speeds, when you desperately need to stop, an outright
collapse on your protection gear may not be enough.  High speed
falls are best when you take the brunt of the force with the entire
body, save for the head (besides, you're wearing your helmet,
right?)

Rolling with the fall is a key to reducing the force of impact.  So if
you happen to be careening down a hill, if possible, turn sideways
to your direction of travel and fall uphill (to keep you from
tumbling further down the hill).  When you hit, keep your body
loose, with hands up near your face or over your head.  With luck,
and no other dangers eminent (such as approaching 18-wheelers or
rolling off a cliff), you should be able to stand up, thank your
favorite deity, wipe yourself off, and go take a lesson in skating
safety and control.


COLLISIONS WITH STATIONARY OBJECTS:  Hopefully
you will never ever have to use a collision as a means to stop, but if
you insistIkeep your limbs bent and be a big human shock-
absorber and cushion your contact with bending of the arms and
legs.  Locked limbs will only increase the shock going into your
joints causing likely ligament/tendon tears or other damage.




Bottom line

Practically speaking, all the stops that require dragging the wheels
will put a bigger dent in your wallet since wheels cost a bundle.  If
you don't use your brake-pad, harder wheels may slow down the
wear on your wheels.



[Copyright 1992 by Anthony D. Chen.  All rights reserved.
License is hereby granted to republish on electronic or other media
for which no fees are charged (except for the media used), so long
as the text of this copyright notice and license are attached intact to
any and all republished portion or portions.]

=END OF PART 1==========================================================
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From: [e-mail] (Tony Chen)
Subject: rec.skate Frequently Asked Questions (Part 2 of 7)
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Posted-By: auto-faq 1.23
Archive-name: rec-skate-faq/part2


REC.SKATE FAQ - PART 2:  WHEELS, BEARINGS, AND BRAKES (draft)


                                 Inline Wheels
                                 -------------
                             (written May 17, 1992)
                          (last changed Sept 10, 1992)


TECHNICAL INFO

Inline wheels are made of polyurethane.   Although wheels are classified
on three criteria: diameter, durometer (hardness), and rebound, you will
usually see only the diameter and durometer marked on the wheels and/or
packaging (e.g.,76mm 78A, or 70mm 82A, etc.).


DIAMETER

The diameter of the wheel is basically how tall the wheel is.  The usual
diameters are 80mm, 77mm, 76mm, 72.5mm, 72mm, and 70mm.  More recently,
82mm wheels have been introduced.  Generally, racing skates will fit up
to 82mm wheels, high-end skates up to 77mm, and the rest of the models
up to 72.5mm.  Although these are the designed ranges, skates can take
slightly taller wheels than what they're supposed to.  For instance, the
Bauer XF/3's, with the front and heel wheel spacers moved in (for a
shortened wheelbase), can use 76mm wheels for all four positions.
Extension modification (i.e., scraping down) of skates are need for
wheels much larger than the intended size.

Although still subject to some technical debate, in general, taller
wheels will let you go faster (i.e., 76mm are faster than 70mm) but
there is a point where taller wheels will only make you go slower with
added weight (harder to start rolling) and less manueverability.

Shorter wheels are cheaper, but in general don't last as long since they
have less material to wear down overall.


DUROMETER (hardness):

Durometer is a relative hardness measure frequently used for rubber and
plastic products.  There are several scales, with the "A" scale (hence
the 78A, etc.) used for wheels.  The number is the rating from 0-100,
with 0 being no resistance and 100 being very hard plastic.

Inline wheels generally run from 74A to 93A, with 78A, 82A, and 85A
being the most common.  For outdoors, the softer the wheel, the better
the shock absorption on bumps, cracks, pebbles and other vibrations.
The trade-off is that softer wheels last a shorter time.  Harder wheels,
since they have less drag, are preferred on indoor surfaces which are
usually very smooth.

Hockey players may prefer harder wheels because it allows them to slide
somewhat.


Rebound:
This is how much the wheel will return the energy when your wheels are
compressed.  So a higher rebound, will provide more response on each
stroke.  There doesn't seem to be a rebound scale (is there?) as there
is for durometer.


HUBS

The hubs are very important to the overall performance of the wheel.
Hubs which are too large will not hold the bearings tightly enough.
This can allow the wheel to become "cocked" so that it rubs against the
frame.  Only one wheel needs to be out of alignment to mess things up.

This is a serious problem, not only because it causes drag, but because
it heats up the wheel which will soon cause it to seperate from the hub
and expand, which will very soon destroy the wheel.

I have noticed this on several sets of Kryptonics Turbocores.  The
first sign is that the wheels creak as you switch your weight on the
skate. And if you remover the wheel from the frame, there will be a arc
clear of dirt and dust where the wheel was rubbing.

If you notice this, put your hands on your wheels after a long fast
skate and see if any of them are much warmer than the others.  If so,
they are probably rubbing.

This can happen a lot easier on frames like the Mogema and the Darkstar
that have very close tolerences and the side of the frame is close to
the side of the wheel.  I'm not sure if is as big as a problem (or a
problem at all) for recreational skates like the Areoblade.  But the
creaking is bothersome in any event.


AXLE KITS

Another important aspect of your wheels is the axles that go with them.
There are several axle replacement kits (such as the Hyper Hop-up Kit
and the Blading Edge Kit) designed to let your wheels roll much faster
than with your stock axles. These kits are usually made of aluminium and
steel.  What they consist of is two axles per wheel, each screwing into
the threaded bushing in the wheel. This also prevents overtightening,
which is common with the regular axle system.  When putting your wheels
back, make sure the wheels are just snug enough so they don't move
around.  Anything more just increases the friction on your bearings.