Hey, we just got new Radar wheels called "Fuel" that I think you Crossfire girls are going to love.  They're 78A, so super grippy, but also narrower & taller than typical indoor wheels at 66mm (rather than 62) so they're quick.  They also have aluminum hubs... I just got them on 195s and they're pretty awesome.  Not too cheap, though.  I haven't tried crossfires, so I can't compare them directly, but from what I've know of crossfires they seem like a higher-quality wheel with the same features.

About the 195 boots, they're more like low cut sneakers than boots, like converse made out of high quality leather... they're super beautiful and really comfy.  I'm having a little balance trouble in them because they have no heel at all, and I keep feeling like I'm rolling over backwards on my heels - so they might take some getting used to if you currently have speed skates.  But they're totally, unbelievably comfy.  They seem a little wider in the toe than speed skates, though I'm guessing that has more to do with how the lace eyelets are spaced, because I think all the Riedell skates are made on the same foot models (called "lasts").  They have a super low cut ankles and smaller counters, though mine feel like they still have great arch support.  But the lower ankle & counters (meant for advanced jam skaters) adds to how totally agile they are.  They're really goddamn cool... can't wait to try them out in a scrimmage...

We'll have pictures and buttons up to buy the 195s in about an hour (its 2:30p PST on Wed as I write this).  The link will be:

http://www.sincityskates.com/2nd/195.html

... and the fuel wheels will be:

http://www.sincityskates.com/2nd/wheels/r-fuel.html

but give me and hour to get the pix up! VERY GODDAMN COOL STUFF!

(In the Music catagory because my last blog, accidentally catagorized as "Writing and Poetry" inspired haiku responses!  Anyone want to write a song in reply to this one?)

Breaking in New Skates - and Choosing Them in the First Place

First of all, if you are considering vinyl skates, they're not going to break in much - vinyl is very flexible and is usually pretty comfy right off the bat.  If they're NOT comfy, you probably have the wrong size!  The problem is, rather than breaking in, they pretty much just break down.  They're great, but don't last long.  You should know this if you choose vinyl. 

If you are considering leather skates, just know that there's a big difference in US-made vs Chinese-manufactured leather skates.  I guess they don't have a lot of cows in China???  At any rate, the reason skates are made in China in the first place is so that they will be inexpensive.  One way they're kept inexpensive is that they aren't made with the same quality of materials and workmanship as US-made skates.  This should come as no surprise to anyone.  What this means is that you get your money's worth.  And if you spend $100 on skates, you get $100 worth of skates. 

This isn't a bad thing.  Sin City recommends that new skaters start with good vinyl, inexpensive skates for a couple reasons:

1. odds are, sadly, most new skaters find that derby is a very time-intensive sport.  Not all women have the 6-20+ hours a week it can take to make attendence requirements and really excell in this sport. 
2. Another good reason is that vinyl skates are, like I said earlier, usually very comfy right off the bat. 
3. They're also set up for new skaters - longer plates for stability, mounted more center for a girl just getting her feet under her.  This can be very helpful when you're learning the basics of skating skill. 
4. They also give you a season or so to figure out what YOU like.  What kind of skates best suit you, what wheels you like, what position you're gonna play, etc.
5. And finally, they make great outdoor skates when you're ready to upgrade to good ones.  Slap some softie wheels on them and you're ready to go.

However, we also let girls know when they order $100 skates that they can't count on longer than a year / season out of them.  Less depending on how hard they are on them. We have a cub in our league who wanted on the team so bad she skated every single day - and wore out a pair of GT-40s in 2 months.  That's unusual, and she's a big girl skating very hard on them.  But its not outside the realm of possibility. 

But just know, that's the deal.  Cheap skates are cheap for a reason.  Get them fitting right from day one because they don't usually get MORE comfortable.  Ask questions about the fit - tell the person you're ordering from if you have wide feet or narrow, high arches, weird toes, whatever.  Try on other girls skates (keeping in mind that they are bound to be busted out if they've been skating in them for awhile).  Ask your teammates questions about their skates.  Check out the roller_girls database for even more info on skates:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/roller_girls/database

No matter what you get, its worth doing some research before you buy skates.  A couple years ago you were screwed... a rollergirl had maybe a handful of people they could ask, and who knows if they'd get reliable advice.  Now you have thousands of rollergirls who will be happy to offer advice and opinions on everything from new skates to the state of the bathrooms in Sudanese cafes.  Take advantage of it!

FIT: If your toes are curling, they're too small.   If your foot moves in the toe box, you got them too big and/or wide.  In both cases, you don't need to break them in - you need to get properly fitting skates.  Both too big and too small can cause painful foot cramps, blisters and WORSE, including permanent damage to your sweet, delicate little tooties.  Have you never spent $100 on stupid shoes you never wore?  Almost everyone has made that mistake at one time or another.  Well, shoes are one thing - most of us have more than one pair and can choose not to wear uncomfy ones.  With skates, few of us are lucky enough to have a closet full of them.  So make sure you get the right size and if you didn't, suck it up, sell them on ebay or something, and try again!

We have some more info on getting a good fit here to help:
http://www.sincityskates.com/2nd/about/sizing.html

Now that you know what size you want, let's just say you can afford US-made leather skates, and you're not interested in waiting a year to determine what you want.  There are several really good models that work well for derby.  But if you are a BEGINNING skater, there's something you should know about getting good skates: they're engineered for advanced skaters. 

By that I mean, they were engineered to support you for miles on a track, going fast and turning left.  They have extra interior support, looking down on the skates while standing up, on the left side of each skate, where you're leaning to the left and forward, pushing and stressing that leather and the connection between the leather and the sole.  Its called a counter, and the counter in US-made Riedell skates is actually a really cool piece of engineering.  If you know anyone with 122/125, 265s or 685/595 skates, ask them to let you feel them up.  That stiff piece from about the inside ankle around the back to the other side (different on the best skates from right to left skate) is the counter.

The counter is a piece of perforated support between the inner and outer soles of leather on the skates.  It allows the in- and out-soles to be made with very high quality, soft leather - and prevents the boots from losing their shape when they get broken in.  It supports your foot, arch, and heel, and prevents your heel from rolling out. 

It also prevents rookie skaters from comfortably skating upright.  In my opinion, as a team captain and trainer, that's a good thing.  You've heard your coach say it 1000 times: "Bend your knees!" - and "Stay low!" - well, advanced skates are made for skaters who do bend their knees and stay low.  So if you DON'T bend your knees and skate low, not only will you
1. get knocked on your ass easier,
2. lose your balance easier,
3. drag more air when you're trying to sprint,
4. fall harder,
5. have more trouble handing out good hits
6. etc - this could be a very long list, but you get the picture...
Well, not only all the above, but your new skates will also poke you in the achilles tendon, and it will hurt.  That's because advanced skaters lean, and you aren't leaning! 

People ask us all the time how to break in their skates faster because they hurt their achilles tendon.  We try to be polite about it because we don't want to assume you're a rookie or you're skating tall.  But that is usually the case.  So here's how to make them stop hurting you:  BEND YOUR KNEES. 

If you are particularly stubborn about skating tall, or you are skating low and they still poke you, the next thing to try is leather conditioner - the stuff baseball players use to break in a new glove.  But don't just rub it in - bend the leather back and forth.  And if any part of the counter is bothering your ankle or foot, remember, its perforated.  The more you work it back and forth, the softer it will get and the less it will poke you.

If your skates are pinchy where your toes meet your foot, I've heard lots of advice for that, including putting a water bottle in them and leaving them in a hot car. You can also take them to a cobbler to stretch in the places they're tight.  Or you can put leather conditioner on and wear them. 

And now I must go... its dinner and I'm hungry.

Tell us what kind of stuff you want for X-mas.  We're working on a bunch of stuff so that you can send your mom, dad, aunts, uncles, grammas, grampas, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands & Santa a list that has us at the top -

"Dear X,

Please shop for me at Sin City Skates this year.  I really want this stuff:

_______

_______

_______

or a gift certificate so I can pick my own shit out!!

Love,

You"

OKAY, now just tell us what stuff to put in those blanks.  Want $20-30 gift-y items like maybe a skate maintence kit, with a tool, oil, shit like that?  How about a GGRD derby calendar?  Derby "accessories" (like what?!)... tell us!  We know you want skates but let's be realistic... your mom isn't likely to pick out the right skates with the right wheels and everything else - though if she is, I hope you appreciate that woman!  For the rest of you, give us ideas about stuff your mom will be interested in getting you.  Tell us what price range you think your santas want to buy for you, what items you think we should carry, all that.  IDEAS PEOPLE.  When we say we give a fuck we mean it. 

SIN CITY SKATES
http://sincityskates.com
702-892-9482
info@sincityskates.com

I'm so excited about our daily blogs and have a bunch in mind... but I broke a finger during our Carolina game last Sat, so I can't type so good.  But come back next week and hopefully I'll be back to my mouthy, know-it-all self!!

xoxox ivanna
sin city skates

Maybe you heard about them at Bumbershoot or Rollercon, but all you know is that we helped design some derby skates and they're coming out soon.  So you want to know more info and when you can get them?  You can pre-order right now by calling us at 702-892-9482 or emailing us at: info@sincityskates.com.  Here's the rest of the scoop about them.

They look like this:

That's our very own Dish & the Neander Dolls going up against the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls in the background in the Riedell catalog, how hot is she?  Photo c. Robert Folliard

We're pretty proud of her so I had to post the whole catalog page, but here's a closeup of the boots.  They're named the "wicked" and the "vandal" (disclaimer: we had nothing to do with the names!):

About the boots:  They are a combination of the best features of the 125 and the 695:
* 125/695 lace-to-toe design - Ideal for wide or narrow feet because you can adjust the feet yourself
* 125/695 speed strap - also great for adjusting your skates just right.  I like my laces tight but don't want my skates falling off... this helps.  It also protects your laces during falling drills.
* 125/695 hand-sorted highest quality leather construction
* 695 interior support design - they feature the advanced speed skating counter between the inner and outer leather that wraps around your heel, under your instep, and around the side of the skates to support your foot and heel, prevent ankle rolls, and keep your boot in shape after hundreds of hard track miles.  This is a great feature and one that no other manufacturer offers.  Ask us more about it if you're interested.
* Targa-style tongue - fastened with elastic so your boot tongue doesn't slip.  Love us for this - Riedell had a tough time doing this in their US factory because of production issues and they wanted to throw this feature out, but we insisted because it SUCKS to skate with your tongue licking your arches every night!!
* Sexy "retro" design - I know its a small thing, but the 90s graphics bugged us and we love the dually stripes.  So we asked Riedell to break out their 60s logo and put the stripes back on.
* Snyder mount for the frames (nylon or aluminum)- that means not the beginner mount with the longer plates, but a mount meant for an intermediate or advanced skater who knows how to lean.

Other features:
* We liked the "ever-dri" cambrill liner and 125 boot height / interior.  But other girls tested our prototype and they convinced Riedell to add synthetic padding to the ankles.  I'm not sure that's a good thing but we're testing it out.  My prototypes aren't padded, tho, neener neener neener!  I should probably erase that.  Oh well.
* Liner has been changed to Drilex (from the Cambrill liner featured on the 125) - another wicking material that allows your foot to breathe and stay dry
* Stitch and turn padded drilex liner also means the boot is slightly higher on the ankle than the 125/695 design, but not by much.
* Finally, the only way they could put the elastic in for the tongue is to add a rubber outsole instead of leather.  Not sure anyone will notice the difference, though.

MORE:
* Riedell will start shipping these skates, with the setup in the catalog (I'll detail it below), on Nov 1st, 2006.  You can pre-order them now.  
* These boots are available with any combination of plates, wheels & bearings that Sin City Skates carries, or boots only.  If you pre-order them with Radar wheels and KWIK bearings, they'll ship on Nov 1 - but if you want them with SG wheels or Bones bearings or something *other* than Riedell products, they'll ship to us on Nov 1 and we'll outfit them and send them along.   So look for an additional couple of days before they're on the way to you.

Stock setup:
WICKED 265
* 265 boot
* Powerdyne DynaPro Aluminum Plate
* Radar Tuner wheels
* KWIK Abec 9 bearings
Retail: $329 ** SCS Price: $297

VANDAL 265
* 265 boot
* PowerDyne Nylon super light plates
* Radar Tuner Wheels
* KWIK Abec 7 bearings
Retail: $ 269 ** SCS Price: $249

You can pre-order right now by calling us at 702-892-9482 or emailing us at: info@sincityskates.com

Oh my god, RollerCon was fun.  An incredible amount of work, a total sensory overload, and more skating than I ever thought I could pack into 10 days - but now that I've recovered from it a bit, I wish it wasn't over!

It was so great to meet so many of you, and to get to skate with some many girls who were wearing skates they got from us!  I have never had such a satisfying job, seriously.  I just want to say thanks to everyone.

And while we're thanking people, I also want to thank everyone who donated money to Pirate after her attack.  She's out of the hospital and recovering now.  She still can't skate yet until she finishes one more surgery, but in the meantime she's attending practices to shout encouragement while we train for our first bouts of Season Two.  She escaped with just a few scars on her face (and they look pretty cool), and she got a chance to wear an eyepatch for a legitimate reason for awhile, which she loved, in spite of the circumstances. 

Her hospital bills were all sent directly to the Victims of Violent Crime Compensation Fund, so your money has been used to pay her rent and living expenses until she can work again, and until we see if the Fund covers all the surgery and medical attention she needs.   After December, she's going to donate what's left back to the Victims Fund so the next person - who isn't as lucky as she is to have so many amazing people on her side - will be covered, too.

They never did catch the men that attacked her.  Or at least, if they did, they must have been minors, because Metro never told us about it.  But at least she's doing well and them... well, they're just karmickly totally fucked, and that's going to have to do for now.

Thanks again, to everyone.  It really meant a lot not just to Pirate, but to all of us, to know how much our group looks after each other.

Love, Ivanna