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What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

entertainment.howstuffworks.com

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Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#61

Post by ehnto »

mikestew wrote: post #11
bobbytit wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Specifically the one famous joke (that even made it onto The Sopranos).... What is the hardest thing about roller blading? Telling your parents you're gay. I never knew a joke could change the course of history.

But why was rollerblading ever associated with homosexuals to begin with? As one who did not know anyone in the 90s who was both a rollerblader and an out gay person, is it a "yeah, but looks gay" thing? I dunno, seemed like one of those things one says when they can't afford rollerblades, or can afford them but sucks at it and gave up.

My intuition from my scene was simply that skateboarding was the cool kid thing to do, and if it wasn't skateboarding it must be lame. That stigma had it's application on BMX, scooters, even different types of skateboards weren't free from the mockery of skateboarders. It's not skateboardings fault, it was just the culture. I like to think it's changed and thanks to the internet you can always find people doing what you like.

Back then all I had was rateaskater.com to share the sport with.

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#62

Post by OJFord »

vr46 wrote: post #20

Still hundreds of us in London going out every week and my mate’s skate school has FLOURISHED during lockdown with online lessons being taken up by ice skaters, locked out of rinks everywhere…

When I played ice hockey, roller hockey seemed pretty popular (never tried it myself) if nothing else than a way to do more of something a bit similar, since ice time is pretty limited (by rinks being few and far between, and mostly not used for hockey) here.

(Haven't skated since coronavirus, hadn't realised missing it so much until your comment.. I'd only just managed to get in with a new team's rec session too, having not really played or even skated much after graduating.)

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#63

Post by hateful »

No proof, but I think that their short lived popularity is what killed roller rinks. Everyone wanted to inline at the roller rink, but you can't really skate slow in inline's - so they eventually banned them. So everyone wanted to inline, but couldn't do it in the rink so they stopped going. Then a lot of them closed before the popularity waned.

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#64

Post by ehnto »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #42

Roller skating and inline skating have been gaining popularity for the last five years or so. I took it up (sort of again) in my late thirties, due to my son being invited to a roller skating birthday party, and discovered how much I enjoy it as both a challenge and Zen-like experience of focused concentration on both nothing and 'everything going on around me'. I only do it at a rink and in that context I love it. I…

> so much so that it makes me question my own maturity / adulthood, but nowhere near enough to suppress that enthusiasm

Part of maturing is realising that a kindred spirit is something to cherish. Trying to maintain a facade of maturity is what becomes immature.

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#65

Post by kbrosnan »

aix1 wrote: post #38
mingus88 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's incredibly uncomfortable. I don't want my cleats to score up someone's floor so I end up walking on the side-edge of my feet. And every step makes inordinate amounts of clicking so that I feel like I'm a hot girl in heels walking on tile, drawing attention to myself. And let me tell you, drawing attention to myself while I'm sweaty and wearing bike clothing is the definition of uncomfortable.

I don't race and so having optimal power transfer isn't important to me. I do like cleats though, so I ended up standardising on SPD across all my bikes (including road). I have a pair of Vaude Sykkel shoes. They're leather, super comfy, look great (IMO) and the cleats are recessed: when I walk around the cleats don't make contact with the floor. https://www.vaude.com/en-GB/Women/Shoes/Bike-Shoes/Sykkel-Bi...

Depends on the shoe. I have definitely marred wood floors with SPDs and Shimano lace up CX shoes. Looked like someone took a hammer and smacked it at an angle in random places on the floor.

I thought much like you that SPDs were recessed enough not to make contact. I was wrong.

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#66

Post by vanderZwan »

mkl wrote: post #35
the_third_wave wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happened is that I moved to the Swedish countryside and as such was confronted with hills and unpaved roads. When I lived in the Netherlands I used skates for transport in lieu of a bicycle because they're far easier to take along on public transport. I skated to the station, skated into the train, skated off it after 1.5 hours and 150 km, skated to my job and repeated this on my way home. I was just as fast as…

You spent >3 hours a day just commuting? I can't imagine doing that. What did you do on the train?

More likely twice a week: at the start of the weekend when going home to parents (and their washing machine), and at the end of it when going back to uni.

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#67

Post by masklinn »

mkl wrote: post #35
the_third_wave wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happened is that I moved to the Swedish countryside and as such was confronted with hills and unpaved roads. When I lived in the Netherlands I used skates for transport in lieu of a bicycle because they're far easier to take along on public transport. I skated to the station, skated into the train, skated off it after 1.5 hours and 150 km, skated to my job and repeated this on my way home. I was just as fast as…

You spent >3 hours a day just commuting? I can't imagine doing that. What did you do on the train?

> You spent >3 hours a day just commuting?

Sad to say but a lot of people have car commutes in that range. The Bay has tens of thousands of "supercommuters" whose commute is 90mn or above.

In Europe train commutes in that range are probably more reasonable: you can sleep in the train (super common for the early HSRs), or it can count as part of your work-day (e.g. handle your mail or whatever, a good train seat often works just as well as an office desk).

I've known quite a few people who worked in large cities but wanted to live in the countryside (or at least in smaller cities, way out from even what's usually considered suburbs), they'd take regional or even high-speed train into and out of paris. Not necessarily cheap (especially if you take HSR), but frequent rider and (usually) company contribution made that surprisingly realistic.

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#68

Post by BXLE_1-1-BitIs1 »

Toronto traffic moved me from a bike to blades. On a bike you are totally at the mercy of the driver coming up from behind. With blades I could skate facing traffic and transition to the sidewalk or boulevard if oncoming traffic was too close. Also blades are harder to steal than a bike locked up where you can't keep an eye on it while at work.

Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)

#69

Post by ajsnigrutin »

fuzzfactor wrote: post #44
Nasrudith wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heelys wound up recalled and banned in schools over safety issues with the shoes themselves - as opposed to the lack of helmets.

Now there is this: https://kickspeedrollerskateshoes.com/

This would look so much better, if the wheels were hidden by the sidewall when collapsed inside... they'd look like normal sneakers when worn inside, and then "bam!", skates!
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