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Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Tuesday Night Skate to Queens The first TNS (Tuesday Night Skate) on a reality basis. During the winter, we skated but the group had been relatively very small, such as 3 or 4 people. Today we were a party of 12. I like this size. In the beginning of the season, many skates show up with new skates on. This is a fun part. I was on a new pair(Rollerblade Lightning 8) last Tuesday, but not today. The boots hurt me so much, and I decided not to use that pair of boots. So, today, I was on good old TR Mag3. Met at 72nd at 20:00, left at 20:20 to Queens Flashing Meadow via 59th Street Bridge. Temparature was not too cold, but I was wearing shorts so it was bit chilly. We stayed "Globe" place for about 20 min. or so. It was quite unusual since TNS is known as a very little breaks. We skated along the east river on the way back to the bridge. Came back to Manhattan at 23:50. It was a great skate. I was filled with very happy feeling. :: DATA :: Skates: Pilot 9 Pro 2 (evening), TR Mag3 (night) Route: West Side Path, Queens via 59th Bridge Mileage: 47.0 km. Weather: Temp. 46F (+8 C). Winds 8 mph, Events Clear, Humidity 61%.
Wednesday, March 9, 2005
Microbearings are so micro that hard to maintain Did microbearings maintenance because one of the bearings no longer spin well at all.
The most difficult part comes in the beginning - to take the "C" ring out. All is so small. A pin hardly catch the end of the ring, instead push.
Finally got it out. Then the shield did not come out. It is OK, I put the bearing to a small container with bearing cleaner fluid.
Shook well, then the fluid became dirty. This is sort of good moment of bearing cleaning. (Yay, getting cleaner !)
Opened the washer container lid and throw the liguid away. The shield was opened due to a shaking action. Good. Bearings are very dirty - so decided to wash some more. But where is the shield??? It is not possible just to be disappeared. Looked for a floor, telephone (in the middle of cleaning process, I got a call from somebody), inside of the washing container etc and there was none... I washed the bearings again, anyway. Next time I opened the container and let the washing fluid go, found the shield. Strange. The difficult part of 688 bearings cleaning (compare to 608) is its size. Everything is so tiny. After cleaning, bearing regained spin. They are nice'n'clean. Good. Added a little bit of lub, then, put the shield back and secured with "C" ring. Reassemble of bearings were not as difficult as when opened. :: DATA :: Skates: TR Mag3 Route: 9th Avenue, 6th Avenue Mileage: 7.0 km. Weather: Temp. 28F (-2 C). Winds 15 mph, Events Clear, Humidity 60%.
Monday, March 7, 2005
Impulse Buying
Bought Rollerblade Lightning 8 without thinking ... when I went to a skate store to buy some parts, a pair of RB Lightning 8 caught my eyes. Their frames looked so good and could not resist trying.
They (MOGEMA M-55 80, 326mm frames) felt very nice. next thing I noticed I was passing my credit card to the sales assistant for purchase.
Went to Central Park for test run in the evening. They run OK. Frames are great, but wheels and bearings are not exactly my taste. In addition, my ankle started hurting after 30 minutes skating. Rollerblade boots are very hard construction and did not agree with my feet. They are very light skates. The reason is the wheels. So called "Lite" wheels which is a larger hub design means uses less urethane. The design resulted lighter in weight but also lighter in durability. A skate friend of mine has expereienced Rollerblade wheels breakage so often. Maybe it's OK for somebody like me, who weigh only 100lbs. But I will have to replace with better wheels (more trustable wheels such as Hyper or Labeda) after few hundreds miles. Bearings are micro, but they have very short free spin. I have accustomed to Twincam micro, so this nameless micro bearings surprised me for their poor performance. I will have to replace them with better bearings. It is interesting to learn each manufacturer's philosopy. RB chooses high grade frames but lower gradde on wheels and bearings, in my opinion. Salomon uses all high grade (frames, bearings, wheels). K2 chooses good quality for entire construction as well. So, overall rating of this pair of skates is acceptable. Great frames (balance, speed + maneuverability) but boots don't agree with me. Oh well, this is the result of impulse buying. But it's OK, because what I wanted was frames and I will mount these frames with different boots. MSRP for skates = $379 MSRP for frames = $269 (if purchase frames separately )
Saturday, March 5, 2005
Great Skating Day // Test result (Pilot 9 Pro 2) Nice and warm Saturday. Started with the test run of Salomon Pilot 9 Pro 2 arrived on Monday. I changed wheels from 90mm to smaller size and removed the heel brake. They became better, but not good enough. So I noticed the reason I do not like this pair is not because of wheels, but frames. The frame setting is too to the back, and also not long enough. I like longer frames. If not long, it should be set little more to the front. Boots are good, so I tried to replace frames with different ones (that I have), but the frames of this model are not detachable.... So, there is no way to use this pair, but bearings - ILQ9 - they are great. Changed the skate to speed skate and skated rest of the day. :: DATA :: Skates: Pilot 9 Pro 2 '05, Pilot V Pro Route: West Side Path, Central Park Loop Mileage: 6.5 km. Weather: Temp. 34F (1 C). Winds 13 mph, Events Overcast, Humidity 48%.
Wednesday, March 2, 2005
New Skates - test run Skated with brand new pair, Salomon Pilot 9 Pro 2 arrived on Monday.
The two major points for this 2005 model are; (1) 90mm wheels (2) ILQ9 bearings.
90mm wheels are large (compared to 80mm and 84mm wheels), and should be faster. But this is not the point I was interested in. My interest was the bearings equipped with these skates. They are ILQ9 which is a new product of Twincam and it is said "beyond ABEC". ILQ9 is totally new design consist of 6 balls (instead of 7balls for other bearings) and each ball is larger (4.5mm diameter). It has real long free spin. Very low maintenance is also attactive. So I had pretty high expectation on ILQ9. But I was not a satisfied user - they are really very heavy. I, as a micro bearings lover, cannot afford heavy skates. In addition, it was very windy today. So I will give another chance probably in this weekend, but then probably I will replace bearings. I skated only 6.5 km but felt like skated 50km when I came home because of tiredness of my legs... :: DATA :: Skates: Pilot 9 Pro 2 '05 Route: West Side Path, Central Park sm. Loop Mileage: 6.5 km. Weather: Temp. 34F (1 C). Winds 13 mph, Events Overcast, Humidity 48%.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Indoor Practice Joined the "Indoor Practice" of the skate club, speed division. The practice is held at "Skate Key", an indoor skate rink. It is in Bronx, however, is just on a border of Manhattan and only third stop from midtown by express subway '5'. Practice started at 18:00. Frist running, followed by stretch and "dry skate" training such as walking lunge etc. Then skated from 19:00 to 21:00. It is fun to skate on a smooth wooden rink. :: DATA :: Skates: Pilot V Pro Route: Indoor at "Skate Key" Mileage: 10.0 km.
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Sunday Evening Solo Skate became duo Skated in the late afternoon. Went to Central Park, but the park was packed by tourists and was not skatable, so after one small loop, went West Side Path. Met J near Intrepid and skated together to Chelsea. He said that he ordered new skates with 100mm wheels. Looking forward to see them on next Tuesday night, probably. :: DATA :: Skates: Pilot V Pro Route: Central Park Sm. Loop, West Side Path Christopher St. R/T. Mileage: 14.0 km. Weather: Temp. 35F (+1.7 C). Winds 5.8 mph, Events Overcast, Humidity 40%.
Saturday, February 19, 2005
Skate the Gates
Met at Columbus Circle at 18:00 and skated through The Gates on narrow paths with relatively long stretch in Central Park.
It would have been nice if we could do so during the daytime under a warm sunshine, but the park is way too crouwded during daytime and is not skatable at all.
It was a wonderful experience. I am not sure if the night effect was considered by the artist Christo, but was a bit mysterious and fun. :: DATA :: Skates: TR Mag3 Route: Central Park small paths. Mileage: 8.0 km. Weather: Temp. 30F (-1 C). Winds 10 mph, Events Clear, Humidity 49%.
Saturday, February 12, 2005
New Wheels // Christo's "The Gates" Replaced the wheels of TR Mag3. My favorite 80mm 83A wheels got worn out, so I've been using Trainer 80mm 81A wheels that came with TR Mag3 originally. I never liked these wheels. They are soft but do not have good grip, and do not give me power when pushed. Most of my major falls had happened when I was skating with these wheels.
Anyway, new wheels are Hyper 360 Micro 80mm 80a. They look strange, because the color of wheels is white.
But their performance is great. I should've replaced them much earlier.
Went to Central Park to experoence the first day of Christo's "The Gates" project. It is amazing. I am so lucky that I can be a witness of this great event. :: DATA :: Skates: TR Mag3 Route: Central Park Small Loop Mileage: 5.0 km. Weather: Temp. 40F (4 C). Winds 10 mph, Events Overcast, Humidity 75%.
Wednesday, February 9, 2005
Ouch ! Skated West Side Path in the afternoon. The road condition was almost OK - still some puddle came from old snow. The temparature was unseasonably warm. It was a pleasant skating untill I stepped on a piece of wood (of course unintentionally). Normally I do not fall at all when I hit an obstacle on a street, but for some reason, I totally lost my balances ... and fell. Luckly I did not fall from my knee. But I landed with my left shoulder. My T shirt was torn and I have a good amount of raspberry on my left shoulder. I don't think I can wear clothes comfortably for a couple of days. Bummer. Well, but no elbow an no knee damage is at least a good thing. :: DATA :: Skates: TR Mag3 Route: West Side Path etc. Mileage: 12.0 km. Weather: Temp. 52F (11 C). Winds 3.5 mph, Events Clear, Humidity 74%.
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Getting comfortable - broke in the new saktes It is the 4th day of skating with the new 5-wheeler. Today is the first day I felt real comfortable in fitting. Some toes and instep hurted but it seems the padding is now becoming (molding) my feet shape. It is so called "a heat moldable insert for a customize fit" but without heating equipment, just skate in them a couple of times. When they fit well, then manipulation becomes easier too. 84mm wheels are OK, but I still prefer 80mm because of weight. A friend of mine said that they will soon be 80mm, it is true, but it will take a coupel of months. In addition, I may want a littel bit softer in durometer in order to absorb street "noise" - to prevent hurting knees. I thought a quite number of skaters on the park because of a dry weather, but reality there weren't many people. Maybe too cold? I enjoyed skating on the loop and band shell bery much. :: DATA :: Skates: TR Mag3 (AM) Pilot V Pro (PM) Route: 5th Ave., 6th Ave., and Central Park Loop Mileage: 19.0 km. Weather: Temp. 32F (0 C). Winds 7 mph, Events Clear, Humidity 45%.
Friday, January 7, 2005
5-wheeler Got a pair of new skates ! They are 5-wheel-speed-skates !!
Equipped with 84mm 83A race wheels on 340mm extruded aluminum frames.
I was so lucky that I could find my size (I have real small foot).
Went to Central Park for a trial skating. It was my first experience of 5-wheeler and was not too different from 4-wheel-skates. They are fast, well balanced; on the other hand, they are heavier than my 4-wheel skates. Because of longer frames, it was a bit difficult for manipulations such as forward cross, transition, small turn etc. but I think I will get used to soon. I think I like them. :: DATA :: Skates: TR Mag3 (Morning) Pilot V Pro (Night) Route: Broadway, Central Park Loop Mileage: 17.5 km. Weather: Temp. 35F (1.5C). Winds 3.5 mph, Events Overcast, Humidity 57%.
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