Welcome to my eagerly awaited Skate Review!

Okay, I am getting a hint of a taste of a touch of originality in my life, so I have decided to actually write me own review this ear and not just hock some hard working product reviewer. Plus, this makes things more interesting. I have to remind you that everyting stated on this page is to be considered satire. Any products mentioned are products of their respective companies. 'Kay, so don't flip on my and get all legal. Now, on to the review!

1998 is going to be a good year for aggressive skaters. Finally it appears that skate companies has listened to what we have suggested and they have started to put out good skates.

Ohh, baby!! These are the skates that K2 hid in the closet last year for fear of them being cool enough for the general public. Well, now they are coming out of the closet (delightful pun I worked in there, don't you think?) for the waiting crowds of skaters that just want a skate for vert with the stiffness and long lasting cuffs of dedicated hardboot skates, but with the ventilation, and light weight of soft boots. K2 delivers with quite a bit of extras. It is hard to get information on them right now, but the general consensus in my seat right now is that they have an internal cuff system, with the standard K2 powerstap, a powerstrap to replace the ratchet-buckle. Click the small piciture to see...

They also come with 60mm 85A Tom Hyser Face wheels (Team model blanks, some as the Backyard Bob), ABEC 5 bearings by Humor Truck, all metal hardware, and replaceable metal or UHMW (the same material that extruded snowboard bases are made out of) base inserts. These make it easier to grind the coping or curbs, respectively. The biggest thing that K2 has unleashed this year is the totally replacable skate. These things can be field stripped (Except for the H-block. Sorry boys, it's intrated. That means if you want it out, you have to Dremel it out or take your time like the rest of us who leave them in.) in about 15 minutes. Putting them back together is harder than hell though. This is cool, beacuse if you break a piece of your skate, K2 can ship you the part in 3-5 days, instead of 2-4 weeks for you to send them in and get them back. Next great idea for K2: sell a skate in all the pieces and if the customer can put it together correctly in 10 minutes, give them their money back. K2 Fatty: Same basic model as this year. SRP at around 260. This and all K2 aggro sizes should go up to size 13, and maybe 15 if response is good. They also should have something replacable for the soul area..

Razor Skates: This skate will be Razor's top-of-the-line aggressive model, I'm not sure about the name, I think it's the Tribe or the Rebel. It features a frame very similar to the Fatty with an integrated grindblock. The frame is made of a plastic called Zytel which is said to be extremely durable, it is low to the ground and pregrooved. The grindblock is replacable. The boot is equipped with a buckle protector and replacable backslideplates. The technicians also noticed that a lot of pros tends to use a flat setup, so they left enough space between the middle wheels. I don't know exactly what kind of bearings and wheels will be used, the ones on the picture look like 55 or 56mm. I think it will be priced between Fatty and Majestic and looks very sturdy in my opinion.

The low-price skate of the new Razors line is the Impact . When I first looked at it, it seemed like a mixture between Lightning (the cuff) and Fatty (the frame). Raphael Sandoz, a famous vert skater from Switzerland, rides the Impact for vert. Wheels are 62mm Hyper in different hardnesses. The material of the frame is Zytel, a replacable grindblock is included. In will cost about 200 bucks in the US. But maybe they will offer it even cheaper..

There will be four new aggressive skates. They will be named Flat, Tribe, Impact and Rebel. As far as I know, you can also attach the soulplates of the Stunt on some of the skates.

K2 Backyard $200: Just as in the Pro model, they looked almost exactly like last years model. The only difference that was obvious was a slightly beefier tongue. Supposedly the plastic compound has changed, but that's hard to test. The royale area plastic looked a little beefed up as well, but that was it. Oh yeah, the model I saw was a tan/green color combo. Its prices in at around 230 and comes antirockered with FR Ryan Jacklones and Dave ortegas. Its supposed to be the low end model.

Roces 62 Impala: They offer both the standard black cluff and the Cesar Mora inspired yellow cuff. They come with a pregrooved metal frame, with both metal and plastic grind plates able to fit in the custom groove. The last difference between these and last years model is that they now come with 4 Senate Big Core 62mm 90A wheels. They look like Sloth's, but I guess with just different graphics. Of note is the fact that the 62 with the yellow cuff does not have the buckle deflector but the black cuff'ed one does. They also feature a 'hard core liner' with internal reinforcement and ankle protection, a anti-shock footbed, aggro grab strap, central grind post, ABEC 3 bearings, and brass spacers.

Roces Majestic 12's: This years model comes in both navy blue and the all white colors. There are a few differences between this and the 96 models. These come with a very slightly pregrooved frame. Also of note is the half length black interchangable soul plate. They will come with 56mm 88A $enate wheels, ABEC 3 bearings with brass spacers, and 4 position aluminum rockering spacers. They have the grab strap on the back, and a reinforced Slo-memory foam liner.

Roces Chapter 322: This will be the low-end entry into the aggro market. Supposed to be around $200, this looks to be a good deal. It looks a lot like the old roces streets, but has the white full-length soul plate. It comes with Hyper 56mm 88a wheels, ABEC 1 bearings, brass spacers, and aluminum rockering spacers. It also is supposed to have a new formula in use for the frame called Aero-Plus that should last longer. It has a lace up boot and a buckle up top with a deflector.

Roces is also rumored to be designing a skate with/for Rawlinson. He wants it to be bordeaux (yes, bordeaux). Its a maroon or dark red color. Roces is also coming out with 2 offroad skates. The first is called the Big Cat. It looks much like a rec skate, but it has an extended skate frame and on each end it has 110x43mm 78A wheels. The inside wheels are just like normal, and are 56mm 78A. It comes with ABEC 5 bearings and brass spacers. It is made of the hard plastic shell, and sports both buckles and laces. The wheels come built with the DRT (Damping ring technology) that is supposed to act as a shock absorber. The second skate is the soon-to-be-changed Enduro. This puppy has 3 buckles and is also like a rec skate. It features 3 90mm 78A wheels, and an antishock footbed. It comes with ABEC 5's, and brass spacers. Oh yeah, the buckles are aluminum and the frame has vents in it so your foot can breathe. This skate is for more casual off-road use..

Oxygen ATV: This is a skate put out that looks almost exactly like the fatty. It has the mesh upper, hinged cuff, and everything else that we know the fatty for. The model I saw was maroon, just like the fatty pro. In fact, it looked almost exactly like the fatty pro, except for a little less sturdy looking.

Oxygen is also coming out with a Tasha Hodgson pro model. All it is is a white (light blue) set of Argons that has 'Tasha Hodgson' written underneath the AR1.1 logo.

Rollerblade is coming out with 2 skates- The Chocolate and the Trooper. The trooper is a white vert skate with wraparound grind plates that cover the inside half and leave the royale area open. Basically just a different looking Tarmac. The chocolate is a brown boot cut much like the trooper. It has a buckle protector, and a cut in the cuff to make royales easier. The frame is low and flat like the fatty, and it comes with a combo soul/backslide plate. It also comes with Black Hole 57mm 90A'ish wheels..

The pros of the chocolate: The cut in the cuff works great, the liner is much more comfy than the old one, the buckle is metal and has a protector, the liner and boot lace as one, it comes with scribe plates. The cons of it are the liner stains your socks, the frame is still too tall, the royale part of the soul plate isnt durable, the frame wears quickly, the system isnt split-rockered so going flat is hard. Bauer is coming out with the shifty and classic aggressive skates. The shifty will come with plastic plates and the classic with metal ones. Dont expect any innovations over the current ones. Senate 25mm Frame: This is a replaceable frame that fits normal sized wheels.

Senate 30mm Frame: This is a replaceable frame that uses skateboard sized wheels. Its suposed to be the starting salvo in the war of $enate vs the big bad skate companies. These puppies are supposed to change the sport. We'll see! Back to the Review page