As I have told some of you, I used to race inlines. There are no indoor rinks here in Chicago in reasonable distance to me, but there is a decent outdoor following of the sport. My work offers money every year as part of a "Wellness reimbursement" to buy things like bicycles, gym memberships, kickboxing lessons, and this year they just added skates to the eligibility list.

I have been badly wanting to get back into skating, but my old speed skates are in rough shape. The wheels needed replacing, and the boots were starting to wear out from old age. I got the boots in 2002, so 12 years is hard on skate boots without regular upkeep for the leather and carbon fiber.

At any rate, I ordered some new Bont SemiRace marathon skates about a month and a half ago. I just got them today and put them together at work. I have to get them home and pop them in the oven before I can fit my foot inside, but I can tell they will fit like a speed boot when I am done heat molding them (anyone who speed skates will tell you that speed boots fit better than gloves)

Here are the new toys!

Nice blades. Will you be kiting on asphalt with these or just rollerblading? Seems like they have very little ankle support for kiting.

They are marathon style boots, so they have slightly higher ankles than short track boots. Unfortunately, I do not know of any pavement in my city that sits in a good location to use steady winds. All the places I know of that could work have too many bystanders to be useful.

I skated on the waterfront for miles one day while visiting Chicago. Maybe the right time of day or season could be doable?

That is the trail that I will be skating, but there are too many trees and light poles to fly a kite other than a small NPW off the bridles, to say nothing of the pedestrians. It is a 14km bike trail that runs from pretty far up the north side all the way down town. Beautiful trail, and that is the trail I actually walk 1.5 miles each way to get to my local beach. Bikers and joggers give me funny looks when they see me with a large backpack and pulling my buggy also loaded down with gear.

I was into inline stunt skating early in high school and have thought about getting back into it, esp. In a kiting capacity, but funds prohibit that from happening.

All of that is to say, those are some sweeeeeet skates. Thanks for sharing!

Take the lines off that 3.5 Reactor and fly it right off the handles. Should be great in parking lots or sidewalks.

Cheezy you think the Reactors fly off handles? Have you tried it?

Me personally no. However HoustonAirhead has posted several videos of himself flying a high aspect 5m with one hand while he rode his skate board. Both handles in one hand no lines.

kite skateboarding: http://youtu.be/7Djti6C3KWE

This isn't the video I was looking for but I'm sure you get the idea.

nice ones! , still rockin my mogema 13.40 and powerslide race c4 ???boots

bont was my first race boot,

i liked verducci for the longest time ,think powerslide bought him out .

nett racing was my source for stuff , at the time great prices, loved the blems he always had me in fresh orbs!

never made the jump to 100/110m

and the heat molding makes it no doubt! cool man ! chicago has gotta have a FNS . those are always fun..open road skate was my life for 10years

Yeah, I got out on the road as soon as I got done molding them last night...Holy crap I have some work to do on my skating muscles. I only made it about a mile before I couldn't even stand up straight anymore. Also, I LOVE the 110s for outdoor because of how much roll they have even on rough surfaces, but jesus I have to build up some more ankle strength because I am flopping all over the place. The skates have changed a lot since I last raced, and I was never an outdoor guy. I always had a nice hardwood rink 15 minutes from my house. The nearest rink to me now is like an hour and a half away. Also, I seem to have totally forgotten how to cross over to the right. I think that is a symptom of rarely doing it on indoor tracks.

This will be a long and painful process, but I have some really good kit to knock the rust off my bones and muscles. All in all I am super happy with how fast these things are. In spite of the rust, I was able to pass several people riding bikes on the bike trail, it just hurt like hell :P

hawked many bike group here !

pack training is hard here because there is no one else around, so i would jump behind anything moving. i liked skating, the race element was all novelty to me...just another workout. all the guys in the skin suits, just could not do it. i would be the only guy in shorts and t shirt in the pro pack ..i was solo 99% of the time so running with folks was alien...kinda like kiting on land. A2A was a favorite event, brutally fun , talk about apex love hate ! keep rolling ! actually my wife wants to build a rink!

Wow, Bonts have come a long way. Back in the 80's and 90's I ran the Skate School for Central Park Skate Patrol in NY. Crap, how big are those wheels?

Now that my cardio health is restored, I should pull out my skates.

When I get home I will have to get my old Bont's out for a picture to compare them next to the new rides. I have Bont Shark boots, Suregrip Accelerator frames, Swiss Bones Black bearings rolling on Hyper Hyoctane wheels. They are great skates, but the only parts really usable on them now are the frames and bearings. All of my experience is on 5 x 80, so this is very new to me. They require much stronger ankles. Although the thing I had trouble with the most in my maiden flight yesterday was the back pain. When I was last skating regularly, I weighed 135#... I am a touch over 200# now so I have a much bulkier trunk to keep hunched over. I have been biking and kiting long enough now that my legs can hold up to a lot, but my back was freaking killing me after only a few minutes. I will have to work on that.

Angus they are 110mm. My old inlines are 80mm x 5. The new skates next to the old ones is actually pretty comical to look at. Skate technology has come a long way, and there are even companies trying to get 120-125mm wheels into production and allowed in official races. As it stands right now, 110 is the fastest wheel out there, but has noticeably less carving ability than 5 x 80mm. I used to be able to hockey stop on my 80mm wheels. I can hardly carve at all so far on these new "bigfoots". I think I will get used to them quickly once I get my sea legs back.

Great skates. I have the same skates and have skated a few hundred miles around Manhattan on them. Once you bake the boots they are soooo comfy. They love to roll and handle rough roads well. Fast, smooth, stable. Btw, watch the ratchet, I've broken one.

I also have a pair of rockered Powerslide FSS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-s for freestyle and the rink.

Best of both worlds.

Yeah, I love them so far. I come from indoor rinks exclusively, so skating outdoors has been a huge adjustment for me, but the 110's make it a much easier transition, along with the slightly taller SemiRace boots. As for the fit of the boots, excellent! When I got them out of the box I couldn't even get my foot started in the boot. After 20 minutes in the oven, they slide right in and lock my heel down. No pressure points anywhere, and my toes have plenty of room to wiggle around. As for the ratchet, I only use it to keep the laces tied down, so there is very little pressure on it. I put all the strain on my laces because those are easily replaceable.