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Inline Chassis

Aggressive Inline Skating

History

Inline Skates, skates designed to work like ice skates during periods of warm weather, were invented by Louis Legrange of France in 1849. Legrange designed the skates for an opera where a character was to appear to be skating on ice. The skates were problematic and unsuccessful as the wearer could not turn nor could they stop.

In 1980 a group of Ice Hockey players in Minnesota were looking for a way to practice during the summer. Scott and Brennan Olson formed the company Rollerblade, Inc., to sell skates with four polyurethane wheels arranged in a straight line on the bottom of a padded boot. In 1988, Rollerblade introduced the first aggressive inline skate, the Rollerblade Lightning TRS. Aggressive inline skating finally developed as an organized sport in the early 1990s. The Aggressive Skaters Association (ASA) was formed by a number of aggressive inline skaters in 1994 as a forum to develop rules governing competitions and equipment. The sport was included in the first X-Games in 1995 and included vertical ramp and street event competitions. Aggressive inline skating was removed from the ESPN X-Games in 2005 although it is still included in the Asian X Games, LG Action Sports Competitions, Montpellier Fise, and many other large competitions.

General description

Tricks in aggressive skating can be performed on street obstacles or on ramps. Street skaters perform more grinds and slides, where as ramp skaters have more air-time and therefore can perform other tricks. Aggressive skaters can perform grinds by using the frames and plastic plates on the bottom of the skate. Grinds are usually done on rails and ledges although they can be performed on any obstacle which slides.

Types of Skating

Trick being performed in a half-pipe.

Street

In street skating, also known as freestyle skating, the skater performs tricks by utilizing features existing in a common, everyday environment. This involves skaters grinding hand rails and concrete ledges, jumping stairs, ramping off of embankments and generally turning anything on the regular street into an obstacle, ramp, or grind rail.

Park

Park skating refers to skating that occurs in various private and community skateparks. This style differs from street skating due to the specific nature of skate parks, which are designed for skaters to do tricks on eg on the top of the ramp (coping). Park skating often emphasizes the technical side of aggressive inline, focusing on the variety of tricks a skater can do and encouraging skaters to connect tricks. Skate parks often feature quarter pipes and half-pipes, curved ramps and other features that are not usually found in a regular urban setting.

Vert

Vert, short for vertical, skating is a style of skating performed within a half-pipe. It focuses on complicated aerial maneuvers, such as spins and flips. The intent of the skater is to build speed until they are of sufficient height above the edge of the ramp to perform various aerial acrobatics. They may also grind the lip of the half-pipe sliding their skates from one point of the lip to another. In competitions skaters have limited time, often less than a minute, to impress the judges by landing numerous and difficult tricks.

Skate description

a pair of Edwards Chocolate aggressive inline skates

Aggressive inline skates are specially designed to be tougher and stronger than normal inline skates, due to the high levels of stress placed on the skate by the stunts and tricks a skater performs. A typical skate consists of the;

Cuff: an ankle support cuff with a buckle or Velcro

Shell: a boot made of high-impact plastic that surrounds and protects the feet

Liner: a soft inner boot

Soul plate: a flat, hard plastic plate on the sole of the boot

Frame: a hard plastic chassis for the wheels

Wheels: four polyurethane wheels with bearings

Typically each part is replaceable, and certain manufacturers provided parts that have been divided into individual sections, so a skater can replace specific worn areas.

Frames

The chassis of the skate, called the frame, bolts to the bottom of the skate. Skaters grind on the frames, which are designed for this purpose.

There are several different variations on frame design. Originally a skate had four wheels on each skate, with a gap between the middle wheel where a plastic insert called an H-block was used for grinding. Each wheel was the same size; all wheels touched the ground and rolled. This is referred to as flat set up. As the sport evolved, skate companies started manufacturing wheels that were intentionally undersized, in order to facilitate grinding. The undersized wheels are called anti-rockers. Since some skaters skate with only two wheels on each skate, some frames are designed to match this (a variant called a freestyle frame).

In the late 1990s, the Universal Frame System (UFS) was introduced by frame manufacturers to allow the user to easily customize their skates. This led to increased customization of skates within the sport by allowing the user interchangeability between different company's frames. Today all major frame and skate manufacturers support UFS.

Wheels

Modern skate wheels have undergone many years of development and iteration. The development of the main material, polyurethane, has been dependent on advancements in the polymer industry. The balance between hardness and grip is the key to an optimum skate wheel. Aggressive skate wheels are usually between 50 and 60mm, while anti-rocker wheels are between 35 and 45mm.

Notes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Aggressive inline skating

^ a b c d e McKenna p. 11

^ a b McKenna p. 15

^ McKenna p. 23

^ "Inline No Longer X Games Competition". March 8, 2005. http://espn.go.com/action/news/story?page=EXPN.no_xg_inline. 

^ a b c d Murdico p. 37

^ Weil p. 11

^ a b Weil p. 12

References

McKenna, Anne (1999). Aggressive In-Line Skating. Capstone Press. ISBN 0736801642. 

Murdico, Suzanne (2003). In-line Skating: Techniques and Tricks. Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN 0823938441. 

Weil, Ann (2004). Aggressive In-Line Skating. Capstone Press. ISBN 0736827080. 

Categories: Aggressive skating | Individual sports
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