Hi Inferno, and welcome to our little derby-filled corner of Gaia!!
I've been skating on Radar wheels for years, and they're quite good, especially the ones with the aluminum hubs, such as the Devil Rays (although they are a bit more expensive). However, some people find 95A to be too slippery if you're skating indoors on polished hardwood. I find that hardness to be just right for skating on other indoor surfaces such as sport court or other synthetic surfaces (and even some painted concrete surfaces), but for polished hardwood, I can't maintain my maximum speed in the turns on them - I just go sliding off the track! My practice space is a super slippery hardwood floor, so I've switched to 88A Atom POISON wheels, which are just wonderful and keep me on the track even at top speed, which is especially important for me since I'm a jammer.
For outdoor wheels, pretty much anything softer than 88 will do - do NOT spend a lot of money on outdoor wheels, because you will wear them down very fast (about 3-4 times faster than indoor wheels) so you'll be replacing them much more frequently. I'd recommend getting the cheapest wheels you can for outdoors, since you theoretically shouldn't be doing any real scrimmaging outdoors anyways, so you don't need really precice or specific wheels.
And lastly for bearings, I'd buy cheap-a** ones to wear everyday for practices (ABEC5 or higher), and then a second set of really good quality ABEC 7 or 9s to wear ONLY for bouts or major scrimmages. It's the same concept as those karate experts who wear weights on their arms and legs to slow them down during training. It may be slightly tougher on the slower bearings during practices, but it will vastly build your strength, so that when you play in bouts it will feel like you have wings on your feet!!
But of course, all of this is just from my own personal experience, and every skater is different and has different preferences. Since you've only been skating for a couple of months, you still have plenty of things to learn and discover, so just play around, ask to borrow some of your team mates' wheels for a bit and take them for a quick spin after practices, and get to know what works best for you! And most of all HAVE FUN - that's what derby's all about hehehehe!
Xenons_Inferno
Ok, so Hi, I'm Inferno (the tag I usually go by online). Little introduction, I've been skating for a month and half now, maybe more, maybe less. I'm only able to do simple maneuvers, (just tight turns and some good speed, backwards skating and crossovers are still annoying to do).
But I've been helping my friend train for Derby, and as I've gotten better, I've started to feel held back by my skates just a bit. I want to be at the top of my game when I'm helping her so I'm looking for hardware that will let me do my best, without completely breaking the bank.
On to the root of my post. I've heard derby girls know their stuff when it comes to equipment (bearings, wheels and such) and was looking for some advice on deciding what to get. For my budget I've found 2 sets of wheels I want, and a set of bearings I'm considering. For the wheels I've found Radar brand has some nice wheels and people have good things to say about them, but I wanted to hear from people that skate regularly, not from a mother that bought wheels for her 9 year old.
1. Indoor wheels. Radar Demon Wheels 95A Hardness and Size 62mm x 43mm. listed for around 40$ for a set of 16. Anyway have any knowledge of the brand and/or experience with the wheels?
2. Outdoor wheels. Radar Energy Blue 65mm 78A Hardness and Size 65mm x 32mm. Around 50$ for 16. They seem like nice soft sticky wheels, great for outside, but are they worth it? Again knowledge and experience would be great for feedback
and finally 3. Bearings. I've been looking into so many brands and chances are some of you have either looked into or used them. The one that stands on top for their price (that i can find info on) is Mini-logo skate bearings. A cheap but effective, minimalist design design. I've heard they are as good as Bones Reds, but better protected from dust and dirt. So, is it true? Are they good? how long do they last? how easy are they to clean and lube?
Thank you in advanced for any help. If you have better suggestions of indoor and outdoor wheels for the same price I would love to hear them.I'm looking for the most bang for my buck, without spending hundreds of dollars, specially only skating for as short as I've been.
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