FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

What's a good beginner skate?

The shortest possible answer?

For Roller Skates, try our Glitter pop and Jam Pop size adjustable Roller Skates here:

https://www.crazyskates.com.au/glitter-pop-jam-pop

 

For Inline Skates, try our 148 Size adjustable Inline Skates here: 

https://www.crazyskates.com.au/148-size-adjustable

 

The Not So Short Answer:

What makes a good skate doesn’t change for a beginner or an advanced skater. Quality components and a great fitting design are the essential elements of a great skate. What makes a great skate for a beginner or advanced skater is then answered in the same way.

The most important element of a skate is fit - getting a boot that fits your feet well is 90% of the equation. Making sure that the boot is made of quality materials and built to last is a problem that has already been taken care of - you are already on the Crazy Skates webstore!

 

The next most important element is having the correct skate hardware and components. All Crazy Skates models come standard with:

- Poured Urethane wheels that are non marking and suitable for multiple surfaces.

- Urethane Bushings (for roller skates) which allow grip, turning and maintaining an edge.

- Full precision bearings with the correctly fitted spacers.

- Natural rubber or poured urethane stoppers and brake pads - non marking, long wearing and fast stopping.

 

As you look through our range, you can choose models with higher end features:

- Higher performance plates with greater rigidity (Galaxy, Apollo, NTS and Venus Plates)

- Wheels with shapes and hardnesses for specific purposes (Control Series, Wheel Candy and Zoom Wheels)

- Boots with heat moulding technology for competition use (Our DBX range)

- Boots with more luxurious materials for feel and breathability (Our suede leather Evoke range)

These features are simply extra performance or luxury upgrades that you can add or choose to make a good skate into a great skate for a specific purpose. They are not necessarily required for beginner skaters, but are nice touches. 

 

Things to avoid in cheaper skates that might be hard to notice:

- Plastic bushings, or no bushings at all - gives no ability to turn your roller skate.

- Skates that use very cheap foam and glues in their boot construction (check google reviews)

- Skates with a cast urethane or plastic wheels.

- Skates with plastic toe stops and heel brakes.

- Skates where no spare parts are available for purchase. 

- Skates that list the rating of the bearings as their primary marketing point.

- Skates with non-precision bearings.

- Size adjustable roller skates that use inline skate boots as roller skate boots.

- Inline skates that have soft, thin or weak ankle cuffs.

These can be very difficult things to observe when purchasing skates online. We highly reccommend visiting your local Crazy Skates stockist for a fitting session, or calling us at our office to ask which skate might best suit you or your child.

 

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How do I find the correct size?

The best process to find your correct size is to use physical measurements from your best fitting shoes, and then find a skate with matching dimensions. Relying on a shoe size is leaving more to chance because shoe sizes differ greatly from brand to brand and even between models.

To take the guesswork out of it all, we have created a step by step process that you can use to find your correct fitting skate (or find the size of someone else, without them knowing about it!).

Watch our sizing video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS_yXZETkwE

See our sizing infographic here: https://www.crazyskates.com.au/sizing-guide/
 

Remember that each skate model may have slightly different sizing, so it's best to double check your measurements as you add your skate to cart to make sure you are getting exactly what you want. 

 

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Which is Easier? Roller Skating or Inline Skating?

Whilst there are subtle differences between roller skating and inline skating, the similarities far outweigh the differences. Some people may find one a little easier than the other, but everyone agrees that they are both great fun!

As a general rule, inline skates tend to be:

- Easier to learn

- Easier to skate in when skating outdoors

- Slightly faster than roller skates

- More similar to ice skating (If you can ice skate, chances are you’ll find inline skating very easy to transition into).

 

Roller skates tend to be:

- A little less stable than Inline skates. This agility makes dancing and spinning great on roller skates.

- A little more difficult to learn because they are slightly less stable.

- Are not quite as fast as inline skates.

- Roller skates are more susceptible to catching on debris on the ground than inline skates.

 

The honest truth is that most children who are learning to skate for the first time, will easilly be able to master the basic movements of skating within about a 30 minute period of effort. So we suggest to go for the colour or style that your child is most attracted to. If your child loves the teal glitter coloured roller skates, don't worry that Inline skating might be slightly easier, your child will very quickly learn to rollerskate and will love the colour so much - they will want to skate even more! Practice is really the key to success more than the style of skate.

If you are lucky enough to live near a rollerskating rink, we strongly advise spending time ther trying both styles of skating to see which one you are most comfortable with. Most people will quickly choose a skating style that they feel most comfortable with and this makes the decision very easy. 

 

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How much growing room should I allow when purchasing skates?

This is all covered in our sizing video and PDF which can be viewed here:

Watch our sizing video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS_yXZETkwE

See our sizing infographic here: https://www.crazyskates.com.au/sizing-guide/

You can always call us if you don’t understand the video or have further questions.

Remember that sometimes it’s best to not oversize an adjustable skate, it’s better to have a great skating experience in a skate that fits correctly. You can offset the cost of buying a new pair of skates later on by selling the Crazy Skates that you have now - our skates fetch a healthy resale value in marketplace communities.

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How fast do we process and deliver your orders?

During business days Crazy Skates processes all orders placed through our website before 1:30pm AEST. We use both Australia Post and Star Track to get our customers’ orders delivered quickly and safely. In the current climate, we have seen lengthy delays with transportation due to COVID-19. The below information was obtained from Australia Post’s current delivery times.

All orders are shipped from our warehouse located on the Sunshine Coast, Australia. For same state deliveries expect orders to be delivered in 1 – 2 business days for both standard and express shipping methods depending on the postcode. Some items may take up to 5 days to arrive. For interstate deliveries using the standard service, most orders are arriving within 4 business days but may take up to 6 business days depending on the postcode. Most items using the express option can expect delivery within 1 – 3 business days though some items can take up to 6 business days to arrive depending on the postcode.

What sets our service apart is our ability to get your order out of our warehouse as soon as possible - usually the same day you submit your order. Delivery timeframe after that is purely the responsibility of the freight companies. You will be provided a tracking number to your email on the day your item ships, you can use this tracking code to follow your item from our warehouse to your door. Freight companies will provide you ETA and status information on thier tracking pages. If you have questions regarding the delivery status of your order, it's fastest to contact the freight company directly with your tracking code. 

 

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What is the difference between indoor wheels and outdoor wheels?

Modern urethane compounds used in our wheels are perfect for skating on many different surfaces. However, what is accepted as "Outdoor Roller Skate Wheels" is a wheel with a hardness rating around 78a (this is generally the softest skating wheel made).

By having wheels that are very soft, it will allow a skater to skate on rougher outdoor surfaces by dampening the vibrations that come from the rough surface. Adults and skaters with a higher body weight will feel these vibrations more strongly than a child or lighter skater, so it more common for skaters to get outdoor wheels when they fit one or more of these categories:

- They have a high bodyweight

- They are skating long distances

- They are skating on rough surfaces

 

The downside of having very soft wheels is that the squishy wheel will absorb some of your speed as you skate. Skaters who really want to hit and maintain high speeds easily, tend to go for a harder wheel which will not squish and absorb speed as much. Harder wheels (usually hardness ratings from 90a to 100a) are harder and work well on smooth rink surfaces where vibrations are less. Harder wheels give you the ability to maintain spins, reach higher skate speeds and engage in slides. It is also essential to have harder wheels when skating at a skatepark, where the ability to slide in and out of stunts can mean avoiding serious injury. 

 

So, Can I use my outdoor wheels inside?

- Yes, but they will be slower when you skate, it will also be harder to do spinning tricks or slides. 

Can I use my indoor wheels outside?

- Yes, but they will transfer more vibration into your legs and you do take the small risk of taking chunks out of your wheel if you hit very sharp rocks or debris.

- You will also wear out hard wheels faster using them outdoors.

 

Wheel choice is less important for small children, as they are so lightweight that the need for dampening vibrations is lessened. They also don’t need to worry so much about softer wheels slowing them down. 

 

General Recreational skaters often needn't worry about what hardness of wheel comes on thier skates. If you are skating at only moderate speeds, over short distances, on mostly smooth surfaces - you can use almost any wheel without noticing a large speed or vibration difference. If you are just learning to skate, almost any wheel on our standard skate packages will be a great starting point for your skating, regardless of your choice to skate indoors or outdoors. Later on, once you decide what sort of skating you love doing (Speed, Dance, Skatepark, Derby, Artistic, Fitness....) you can choose a specialised wheel that will best suit that discipline.

In short, with the myriad of wheel options available to you it’s important to not get too lost in the technology and remember to focus on the joy of skating. Wheels are just one element of the experience. As long as you are skating on a wheel that is compatible with your skating environment and that wheel is a POURED URETHANE WHEEL (which comes standard on ALL Crazy Skates Models) you are sure to be having a great skating experience. Cast urethane wheels or plastic wheels offer a much lower performance experience and a much greater chance of slipping while skating as well as a higher chance of damaging the surface you are skating on.  

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What is the weight limit of the Infinity Scooter range?

The tested weight limit of the Infinity Freestyle and City Series Scooters is 100kg. As the scooters increase in price, their general rigidity and comfort level for heavier riders increases.

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There is no international standard for roller skate weight limits and capacities. But rest assured that our skates are as tough as they come. Some of our models are deliberately made to be lightweight for learning and growing children, these skates will be less suited to skaters with higher body weights due to the flex that can occur when skating. 

Similarly, we produce some competition skates that are more than capable of handling the largest of skaters in high power racing and roller derby competition at the international level. Each skate has its own suitability to terrain, skate style, bodyweight range and skater power range. 

In short, it comes down to each individual skating style and situation. If you are concerned about the suitability of a particular skate model's suitability to your bodyweight and skating power - please contact us and we can give you general advice on the suitability of particular models for your situation. 

 

As a general rule of thumb, heavier skaters, powerful skaters and skaters with very large feet should consider our more expensive models of skates. Higher pricepoint skates in our lineup are strengthened and better accomodate the forces generated by larger and more powerful skaters. You can always call our office and we will be happy to advise a model that will be best suited to your specific circumstances.

 

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What is the Difference between the Trix Adjustable Pro 3 Wheel and 4 Wheel?

The Trix is an advanced level skate. The three-wheeled option gives you greater outdoor performance and higher indoor speed. But, this comes with the need for a well-developed technique to control your skates as they are at a greater height. 

The three-wheel configuration also cannot be fitted with a heel brake however the four-wheel configuration can be fitted with a heel brake.

The Trix frame is the same on both the 3 wheeled and 4 wheeled option, you can swap backwards and forwards between the two using your same frame and different sets of wheels.

In short, 3 wheeled skates are in general more difficult to ride but are lighter and quicker outdoors, with a tighter turning circle. 4 wheeled skates are easier to ride and offer more grip in a rink scenario. 

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