I’ve been looking into buying a pair of roller blades for the past month or so. Any recommendations? Never really roller skated aside from a couple of roller discos but used to play ice hockey so should be easy enough. I’ve discovered a nice scene in London for this, lots of different ethnicities and ages roller skating/blading and usually always good music and vibes. Looks like a lot of fun
What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)
111–120 of 207 posts
Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
That sounds like a riddle. Do the trendsetters control fashion, or does fashion control the trendsetters? It's probably a complex dynamical interaction. The fact that the favored brands kept changing though, suggests to me that the corporations weren't exactly in control (otherwise the first winning brand would have presumably preferred to permanently monopolize the market).
Why does fashion of the kind "this is the look right now" and "that look is so last season" exist? To what degree would we do fashion naturally, if there weren't parties looking to exploit fashion dynamics for selfish advantage?
> if there weren't parties looking to exploit fashion dynamics for selfish advantage?
What parties are those, the elites using fashion to signal higher status, the people selling the elites the latest fashion, or the underdogs trying to catch up to what the elites are wearing so they can attain high status too? Aren't they all following selfish motives?
Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)
#113I had been quad skating since the 80s during the day for recreation, and then Sunday nights for dance skating, jamming, not figure skaing. Roxy would have skate nights too. It was a blast. I started blading in the early 90s, and would head up to NYC Central Park with my ex-wife to the skate circle to dance all day Saturday and Sunday, and blade home to our apartment in Hell's Kitchen through side streets and avenues…
Edit: seems like I didn't manage the tone here. I didn't mean it as any kind of insult. I've just genuinely never heard of anyone getting along with their ex partner in this way, so I am curious to know more about the dynamic
Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
> A skateboard doesn't have a speed problem like rollerblades Nonsense, utter nonsense.
It’s easier to both bail (jump off) and control speed (by dragging your foot or doing power-slides) on a skateboard. So yes, skateboarding does have a speed problem but it’s easier to control for.
You can drag your foot exactly the same way to lose speed on skates by dragging one perpendicular to the direction of travel, while your other foot is still perfectly capable of jumping you over any cracks or edges since the skates are strapped to your feet.
I'll admit it's easier to never go too fast for comfort on a skateboard, by simply not riding the skateboard; you get off and walk on shoes. Which is a problem for rollerblades. But that's kind of irrelevant beginner territory isn't it?
Once you're competent enough to be riding either at speeds above a run, the skateboard has significant speed governing challenges, as do rollerblades.
I street skated for years and never became competent enough to use power-slides for governing speed on anything but the most ideal uniform asphalt surfaces. To propose that as some kind of accessible braking method strikes me as disingenuous at best. For most, attempting that'll be a spectacular prelude to a broken clavicle.
Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
You might have just given me a solution to a problem I thought about this weekend: a place I need to visit for work is >= 1 km from the next public transport stop - the walking is a little tedious. I was using my car for pandemic (currently: train strike) reasons, but I want to stop that again after, and I do own rollerskates... still from the 90s.
Go for it, wear some wrist protectors and you should arrive in one piece. That is the only protection I use given that it actually work as intended and broken wrists are fairly common in all forms of skating.
Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
FYI, that's not what "kindred spirit" means.
So it isn't! I had assumed it was evolved from the the germanic word for children, kinder, but it looks like it evolved from the Old English word kinraden, which meant related in lineage more or less.
Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
Homophobia is the accepted term for this kind of thing in both Dutch and Swedish, so you shouldn't feign surprise that "fear" comes into the terminology. The Netherlands and Sweden are among the most LGBT-tolerant countries in the world. Not having to worry (much) about homophobia is a huge privilege. The way you are talking, it sounds like you are neither gay nor have you ever given much thought to the plight of gay…
Yes, homophobia is a thing even in NL; what I think the GP post was trying to point out is that there’s been no connection between inline skating and any particular sexual orientation in NL. That rings true to me as another Dutchman who owns inline skates (though only for three years).
Is it common in either language (or perhaps English is used in this context) to make fun of things that disgust you by calling them gay? Growing up in the Midwest of the US in the early 90s, I knew to call things 'gay' if I wanted to discourage my friends from doing them much earlier than my Christian parents allowed me to find out the secret of males/females having different genitalia. (A much younger neighbor boy finally leaked the secret to me when I was 12.)
Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)
#118Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
Go for it, wear some wrist protectors and you should arrive in one piece. That is the only protection I use given that it actually work as intended and broken wrists are fairly common in all forms of skating.
The first thing hitting the concrete when falling is your palms, so having a glove with plastic protection will help not losing any skin from your palms. Also wear a helmet.
Re: What the Heck Happened to Rollerblading? (2017)
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
Go for it, wear some wrist protectors and you should arrive in one piece. That is the only protection I use given that it actually work as intended and broken wrists are fairly common in all forms of skating.
The first thing hitting the concrete when falling is your palms, so having a glove with plastic protection will help not losing any skin from your palms. Also wear a helmet.
Yes, if you're young and have good reflexes, you can break your wrists. If you're old with slower reflexes, you can't get your arms out in time so you break your hip instead.