Before I get into reviewing these skates let me first explain the problems I have with other skates.
I have, what might well be called, weird feet! Think clown feet: not huge, but wide across the knuckles near the toes and thin heels. What this means is that, in most of the skates I've tried, I get pressure points on the outside of the little toe and either heel lift, or heel movement. In the past I've reduced the latter by wearing Ezee-fit ankle booties, but have never solved it completely. Of all the skates I've tried the most comfortable I've ever got is the Seba FR1 with a Juggernaut Vent liner: the aggressive liner gives comfort for my toes and holds my feet well.
With that out of the way let's get onto these skates. Note that the images I've taken aren't great, I just wanted to get this review up and I'll revisit them soon.
Technical Specs
| Boot | Fiberglass shell; SHMR technology; heat mouldable; Universal Flap System; 165mm, X-Slot mounting |
|---|---|
| Frame | Hardcore Frame; 7005 Aluminium, single axle system; pitch & stride control; 231mm (38-41 EU / 5-8 US) / 243mm (42-46 EU / 9-13 US) |
| Wheels | Matter Slalom F1 76mm (38-41 EU / 5-8 US)/ 80mm (42-46 EU / 9-13 US) |
| Bearings | Powerslide German |
The Powerslide website has more information, specifically on the Powerslide FSK Hardcore Evo skates.
Boot
The Powerslide FSK Hardcore Evo boot is a mixture of fiberglass and fabric, with strips of leather (what a friend called crocodile skin because of the pattern!). The fiberglass forms the sole and heel area of the boot, with the fabric making up the upper part and a nice stiff inner cuff around the ankle. The back of the boot is cut with a low V, much lower than that in the Seba Carbon skates.
The fiberglass section of the boot is heat mouldable, using the same SHMR technology that Powerslide use in their speed skates. This means that you can put them in the oven, heat them up, then press or pull the fiberglass to give you a better fit. More importantly, you can do this as many times as you want, unlike some heat mouldable skates that have a limited number of goes. There are no instructions specifically for these skates, which is a slight oversight by Powerslide and I would have like to see them included in the box, but their website has instructions for their speed skates.
The laces are slightly waxed, giving a better hold when pulled into position, and there are three straps to hold the foot in place: a velcro strap at the toe, a wide strap with rachet across the top of the foot, and the top buckle. The wide strap is adjustable by placing the screw in one of several holes on one side, and by changing the screw position on the rachet side. Unlike the Seba skates, where the top strap feeds inside the cuff, Powerslide have opted to have it emerge outside the plastic cuff; personally this feels like it'll give a better pull to close the top cuff. The toe strap is removable: it's like a loop that attaches to itself with velcro.
The top strap also has a nice clip feature. On Seba skates you have a lever on one side of the top buckle which you can lift to loosen the strap and, on my FR1 skates, this has worked itself loose so that, sometimes, it flicks open. Powerslide have put a small hook that this lever clips into, with a release button to unclip it, and it works really well.
The laces themselves appear to be a little short! When threaded through all eyelets you have only a few centimeters left with which to tie them. A little bit more length would have been better but maybe there is something I'm missing, like Powerslide expecting you not to tie them, just pull them tight, as they are slightly waxed.
Inside the padding is minimal and the footbed has a feel of suede. The lining of the skate, which is not a removable liner as in many skates, has a plastic feel to it, unlike that of the Seba liners which feels like fabric. This gives me the impression that the Powerslide FSK Hardcore Evo padding will not wear through without a lot of movement as socks slide easily over it.
There are slide protectors, on both the inside and outside of these boots, but they are not replaceable, as with the Seba skates. The fabric around these areas, and the toes of the boot, looks like it'll take a bit of a beating but I doubt very much it'll last if you're going to be sliding. These boots look like they are slalom first, street skate second; unlike the Seba FR1 boot which is clearly the opposite.
The mounting points for the frame are Powerslides X-Slot technology: each mounting on the boot has a slot that runs in the toe-to-heel direction, and the frame has a slot running left-to-right. The freedom to move the frame forwards or backwards on the boot is slightly more than the left-right adjustment, and it would appear that the boot can accommodate frames of varying length.
Click on any thumbnail to reveal the full image
Frame & Wheels
The Hardcore Frame that comes with these skates is either 231mm or 243mm long, depending on the size of boot. They're incredibly minimal in their use of aluminium, looking more like holes with metal round them than metal with holes in it!
The Matter Slalom F1 wheels (read my review of these wheels) that come with these skates are 84A, and either 76mm or 80mm flat setup depending on the frame size. Their fit within the frame is tight, very tight: trying to wiggle the wheels reveals no play whatsoever and trying to remove them is an effort. Pushing the wheels into the frame is an effort in not only physical strength but also patience, as you tend to push hard which moves them past the point where the bolts will fit through and have to pull them back!
With the 243mm frame, and the 10.5 UK boot, the toe and heel wheels project slightly past the toe and heel of the boot.
There is, what I believe to be, a design fault in these frames. The front mounting bolt, when the frame is positioned centrally, is touched by the wheel at the second position from the front. This may only happen when the wheel is new and 80mm but it does mean that the wheel does not turn without significant force (you'll see in this photo that my wheel has already marked the mounting screw). It's not possible to adjust the position of the frame to prevent this from happening, and Powerslide could have moved that front mounting slot forwards on the frame to solve this (after all, it only needs a millimeter to make a difference). I've removed the washer, which gives more than enough clearance, but will be keeping an eye on what that does to the bolt and the frame (after the wheel has been worn down a little a will, more than likely, replace the washer or try to find a slightly thinner one if possible).
Click on any thumbnail to reveal the full image
Fitting & Feel
Getting into these skates is a mission in itself: you have to unlace the top 3 eyelets and then seriously loosen the rest. If they are in anyway slightly pulled you find that your sock will catch on the suede foot bed, causing it to crumple and pull your toes. Rather than sliding your foot into these skates, you place it.
Once the laces are done up and the straps pulled tight your foot is extremely well held. Because of the slightly waxed laces, once they are done up, you can skate without the buckles if you wish; personally I have wide strap tight to hold my foot down and the top buckle loose. The support from the upper neck of the book is incredible, so much so that my top buckle is a lot looser than in other skates I've tried.
I've never had a skate, out-of-the-box, that feels like it is in full contact with the sole of my foot. From my toes, through my arches, to my heels, this skate presses every bit.
Without heat moulding I still get movement in the heel: it's definitely not heel lift, but twisting my foot with all wheels on the ground does move the heel slightly. I also get the pain around the knuckle of my little toes although, having heat moulded them in this area, it has improved.
Heat moulding
The heat moulding process is relatively straight forward and you should read the Powerslide instructions (it's an FAQ about their speed skates and the same SHMR technology is used in the Powerslide FSK Hardcore Evo skates). Failure to follow the Powerslide instructions will invalidate your warranty, so make sure you get it right.
I removed all of the detachable parts from my boots before doing this: the laces, toe and wide straps, the cuff, and definitely the wheels. I heated my boots for 5 minutes at 90 degrees, checked the fiberglass to see if it was mouldable, then I repeated this at every minute until it was. They didn't become pliable until about 8 minutes and the heel area remained stiff, so I'm expecting to have to heat them for longer when I tackle that area.
I followed Powerslide's advice and sat in a chair when moulding my skates: the mounts for the frame on the boot are fiberglass and, because this will be soft and mouldable, could be damaged by placing weight on the skate. I was also extremely tentative with my moulding: I've done a small amount but, because this process can be repeated indefinitely, I figure it's worth being careful.
Ride
These skates are clearly for slalom, rather than street skating. The ride is hard, with most street surfaces giving you the sensation of a good foot massage, and rough surfaces being towards painful! This may be because I'm not used to a skate that is in full contact with the sole of my foot but, if you're planning to do any street skating, I'd recommend looking at getting a sole insert (flat, because of the shape of the footbed) to give you some padding.
I feel unbelievably centered on these skates: my one foot balance is significantly improved. Part of this may be because of the freedom in the adjustment of the frame position, but it also comes down to the feedback you receive from the boot itself. The fiberglass boot is rigid and the slightest movement in the skate is instantly transferred to your foot; if I was describing this for the Seba FR1 skates I'd be talking about much greater movements before I was aware.
Just general striding is improved too, and that is almost certainly down to that feedback from the hard boot, but also to their weight. These skates are incredibly light and feel more like shoes that skates.
I've rockered these skates, changing the Matter Slalom F1 wheels for pink Gyro wheels (side note: the boot is a little dull so brightly coloured wheels are a must to make these skates really stand out!), and have only one word to describe my first skate in this setup: twitchy! Like scarily so at times. I normally skate a rockered setup but these skates are so responsive to the slightest muscle movement that I actually had to really concentrate on not over exaggerating everything.
That responsiveness has also improved my slalom. I typically struggle controlling the edging with my left foot when doing one-cone crazy, but it was much easier in these skates.
Toe and heel wheeling, neither of which I'm good at, is a lot easier in these skates than any other I've tried. That low V cut in the back of the boot gives you the ability to get up on your toes much more easily than a normally shaped neck. Put it this way: my heel wheeling in other skates is a case of blink-and-you'll-miss-it, but I can hold it for a few seconds in these Powerslide FSK Hardcore Evo skates. Two toe spins are much easier for me, and 3-turns were really easy.
Conclusion
These are definitely the best skates I've tried, and certainly had, with only the Deshi Carbon skates giving me no heel movement. For the £290 price tag they are also the most expensive but certainly feel like they were value for money. I wouldn't say these skates have improved my skating, more that the other skates I've had are limiting my abilities.
I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed in the issues I've spotted, in particular the second wheel touching the front frame bolt. Powerslide have gone to great lengths to make a really good skate, especially with the inclusion of their SHMR technology, and yet they appear to have made a few, minor, faults. They are exactly that, minor, but that makes them all the more frustrating.
It's hard to say how I'll feel about these skates in a few months: I'm concerned that the toe area of the skates will wear if I use them for street skating (I tend to be lazy lifting my trailing skate over obstacles, as the toes of my Seba FR1 skates will attest to!), and the fact that there is no removable liner worries me a bit (I'd hate to find the padding wearing through in a few months, even though it doesn't look like it will). For the moment I'm glad I spent the money on them and hope to enjoy them for a long time, but my trusty Seba FR1 remain my choice for street skating, with these being my slalom skates.
If you're in the UK, Club Blue Room are the only retailer (at the moment) who have them in, and that includes online retailers too! They're doing them for £290, which sounds a lot, but if you consider that they are retailing for slightly over £300 in Europe, and the Seba Carbon skates (probably the most similar skate at the moment) are close to £390, these appear to be worth the money.
Update on 20th July 2009
Having skated in these skates for a number of weeks now I have a little more feedback on them:
- The mounting points on my left boot aren't level: they cause the frame on the skate to pronate, something that I've never suffered from in any other skate. I know of at least another 2 people who have also experienced this so it's something to check for in any pair you buy. It's fairly easily solved by purchasing some shims: small wedges that fit between the boot and the frame.
- The rachets for the strap that goes over the foot are fading fast on my skates. When done up properly they hold my foot well in place, but they sometimes won't release. I've had to resort to lifting the little rachet lever, pressing the release levers and then pulling up the clips (found underneath the ratchet lever).
- I've scuffed the toes slightly (once through a fairly heavy fall) and I remain concerned about them wearing through. They've held up reasonably well so far, maybe a little better than I expected, but this is certainly looks like a weak area in the design.
- The good thing is that the skates are actually starting to feel a lot more comfortable. Initially I found that I could feel every little bump in the road, which made rough surfaces almost painful. Whether I'm just getting used to it now, or what little padding there is in the boot is starting to settle down, I certainly don't worry about doing some street skating in them.
For me they are still very good skates, and remain a slalom skate more than a street skate, but the little niggles I've had with them frustrate me slightly. They are quite clearly first generation skates and I'd hope that Powerslide will address some of these in the next version.
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