Copied from old forum:
December 3 2000 by doomwheels
this is a common question and some people have built their skates in this manner.
in my opinion, there is no advantage to lowering the platform. when you skate with a kite, you are seldom standing vertical. in fact, skating allows
one to use a very large kite and control the power by leaning against the pull of the kite. the harder the pull, the greater the lean. there are times
when i am leaning so hard against the kite that i reach out and drag my fingers along the ground. leaning over this far puts my skate at quite an
angle and the skate rails (platform) is therefore very close to the ground. to lower the platform would mean it would hit the ground in such a lean
and the skate would "skip out". not a very good situation to be in at high speed.
another reason i like the ground clearence is for cruising through varrying terrain. some dry lakes have motorcross tracks with jumps and bank turns
and such. this is another situation i would not like to bottom out.
considering that the platform is only between 4.5- 5.5 inches depending on wheels size / tire inflation / body weight, and factoring the leaning angle
of the skate (between 30-60 degrees), i have found a platform equal to the hight of the wheel axels to be best. others may disagree.
the method i use to add stability to a skate is to mount the skate boot closer to the inside rail (not centered between the rails like an ice skating
boot). this puts your weight force slightly off center and moves the balance point to the knees rather than the ankles. plastic or aluninum spacers
can be cut to position the boot at your desired position between the rails. i place it 3/8 inch from the inner rail, but you can play around with this
to find the best point for you.
this trick makes the high skate quite stable. keep in mind that standing on the skates has a completely different feeling than skating pulled by a
kite. adjustments should be tested while powered by a kite.
have fun!
bc
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