Roller skate buying guide
Your First Aggressive Inline Skates: What Top Bladers Recommend
Across the 18 aggressive bladers in our compilation, a first aggressive skate is a boot chosen for the shape of your foot, a frame and soul plate built for grinding, and small hard wheels of 56-64 mm at 88-92A, set flat or anti-rocker. Only two of them give advice aimed at beginners in so many words, Bobi Spassov and Ricardo Lino: learn to skate on regular skates first, and wear full pads including shin guards. The bladers split on flat versus anti-rocker; both camps are named below.
Gear on this page: seven products are named further down — Rollerblade Blank Team skate, Triple Eight Certified Sweatsaver Helmet, Triple Eight Wristsaver, Triple Eight Saver Series Pad Set, Triple Eight KP 22 knee pads, Triple Eight Exoskin shin guards and Soared 3D hip and butt padded shorts. They are optional, the page works without them, and the links to them are Amazon affiliate links. One aggressive skate is linked: the only one we could read with an offer on Amazon.
Amazon prices were read on the listing on 7 October 2026, for the size and colour Amazon shows by default; other sizes and colours can cost more or less. Price and availability are set by Amazon and can change.
What top skaters recommend
Features first. Almost every setup below comes from a sponsored rider describing their sponsor’s gear; the sponsor is named each time. Most setups come from Be-Mag’s “Blade Check” column, where riders explain their setup and what wears out.
Know how to skate before you buy
- Bobi Spassov, Israeli pro with signature Roces models (sponsor: Roces), says to know how to skate before starting aggressive: these skates are not made for long distances and give blisters. (Ricardo Lino channel, 12 May 2024)
- From the same video: what makes a skate “aggressive” is the soul plate and the frame, not the boot (Spassov and Ricardo Lino, an instructor with close to 40 years of skating by his own account; competitive record not verified).
Boot: chosen for your foot, then tuned
- Dominic Bruce, 2nd pro at Winterclash 2019 (sponsors: Razors, Ground Control), says pick the boot that suits your body’s shape to spare yourself long-term pain; he blames a lasting ankle injury on a boot that did not fit. (Be-Mag, 2 Oct 2018)
- Andrew DiPaolo, New York blader (Razors) has stayed on Razors for 13 years because they suit his wide foot (Be-Mag, 25 Aug 2017); Hazen Bell (Razors, Reign) picks boot and liner for comfort on wide feet (Be-Mag, 7 Jun 2019).
- Nick Lomax (Powerslide/USD) chose a boot because it “fits me like a glove”, a quote from the video description, about an urban skate rather than an aggressive one (Powerslide, 12 Jul 2021).
- Liners. A better liner is common: Bruce and Bell (Reign), Gabriel Talamantes, a long-standing Chicago blader (Roces), who adds an Intuition liner to firm up a soft boot (Be-Mag, 8 Dec 2023), and Tomek Przybylik, Summerclash AM champion (USD), on MyFit liners.
- Tuning the cuff is a matter of taste. Chris Haffey, X Games gold 2009 and 2011 (Remz at the time), cuts a V into the cuff and removes the buckle for a slimmer boot (Remz, 8 Oct 2008); Jon Julio, founder of Them Skates (his own brand), designed the Them 909 to hold the top of the foot more firmly, with a cuff you can set high or low for more or less forward flex (Jump Street Podcast, 27 Aug 2019). Neither presents it as beginner advice.
Wheels: 56-64 mm, 88-92A
- At least eleven of the compiled setups sit in that band: Haffey 57 mm/88A, Si Coburn 59 mm/90A (Rollerblade, Lade; Be-Mag, 29 Oct 2019), Stephen Babcock 60 mm/90A (Blank, Moonshine; Be-Mag, 4 Apr 2023), Talamantes 59 mm/92A, Alex Burston 57 mm/89A (Razors, BHC; Be-Mag, 3 Apr 2015), Sam Crofts 58 mm (USD, Undercover; Be-Mag, 15 Apr 2015), Bruce 62-64 mm, Niko Salaman 64 mm (Seba, Famus; Be-Mag, 10 Aug 2020), and Spassov 60 mm.
- Disagreement on hardness. Bryce Orfield, Midwest street blader (Blank, Undercover), runs the hardest wheels he can for durability (Be-Mag, 11 Jul 2023); Talamantes goes softer (88-90A) in the park and harder in the street, and rotates his wheels.
- Bigger wheels exist. Przybylik (USD) and Dustin Werbeski (Xsjado, Undercover; Be-Mag, 13 Mar 2015) ride 72 mm for speed. None of them says this is a starting point.
Flat or anti-rocker: the main disagreement
- Anti-rocker (two small hard wheels in the middle for grinding): Babcock, Burston, Werbeski, Orfield and Spassov. Spassov says it makes grinding easier.
- Flat (four equal wheels): Przybylik, Coburn (after 20 years of anti-rocker), Salaman, Crofts (“58mm flat handles business on all terrain”) and Lino. They cite easier turns, more speed and better landings.
- Common ground: Spassov and Lino both tell beginners to try both and choose. For a beginner who wants to grind, they present anti-rocker as the easier start.
Protective gear, shin guards included
- Spassov wore wrist guards, elbow pads, knee pads, shin guards and a helmet for his first six years. He calls shin guards “super important” for learning grinds, and wrist guards protect against backward falls that break hands. Lino puts the helmet first and still wears pads; he adds padded shorts for hips and tailbone. (Ricardo Lino channel, 12 May 2024)
Keep it simple, keep it tight
- Fred Bukowski, Winterclash AM champion 2015 (Seba, FLAT), rides one flat all-terrain setup (Be-Mag, 27 Dec 2018). Coburn checks that his bolts are tight; Crofts wants anything that rattles gone. What wears first: wheels, laces, soul plates and buckles (Przybylik, Bukowski, Babcock).
What we could not find
- No top pro (Haffey, Julio, Lomax, Dre Powell, Joey Lunsford, Montre Livingston, Chris Farmer, Richie Eisler) has a readable “what to buy first” video or interview. Nobody explains sizing in words: the Them size chart is an image.
From the skater behind this site
- Size: follow the brand’s own chart and advice, including “go up a size” when the brand says so; sizes vary a lot between makers. Measure in millimetres, standing, at the end of the day.
- Tight means the fastenings, not the size: laces, strap and buckle done up firmly.
- Hardness: his rule for recreational wheels is 78A-85A outside and 95A and up on a rink. Aggressive wheels at 88-92A are harder than his outdoor range: expect a firmer ride on rough ground.
The gear that comes with it
| Model | Price seen (date, where) | Recommended feature it meets | Who it is for | Weak point |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rollerblade Blank Team Unisex Adult Fitness Inline Skate, Gray | Amazon.com $299.00 (B0BQWTDSBK), read 2026-10-07 | Blank shell and soul plate with the frame mounted straight on the shell (direct mount): the grind-ready soul plate and frame Spassov and Lino describe; Blank is the sponsor of Babcock and Orfield | Beginners who already skate and want to grind | Wheel size, hardness and sizing not stated on the listing; sold by Gritr, only 5 left in stock when read |
| Triple Eight Certified Sweatsaver Helmet | Amazon.com $54.99 (B077VYDVDY), read 2026-10-07 | Helmet first (Lino, Spassov); sized by head circumference, XS/S 51-54 cm to XL/XXL 60-63 cm | Every beginner | Sized by the brand chart only; try it on |
| Triple Eight Wristsaver | Amazon.com $26.00 (B0000DZIJ6), read 2026-10-07 | Wrist guards against backward falls (Spassov) | Every beginner | Wrists only |
| Triple Eight Saver Series Pad Set, Medium | Amazon.com $41.00 (B002WTT2J2), read 2026-10-07 | Wrist, elbow and knee pads in one (Spassov’s full set, minus helmet and shins) | Beginners who want everything at once | No shin guards, which Spassov calls super important for grinds |
| Triple Eight KP 22 knee pads | Amazon.com $49.99 (B0000ASZ8S), read 2026-10-07 | Knee protection (Spassov) | Park skaters who will fall on ramps | Knees only |
| Triple Eight Exoskin Shin and Whip Guard Pads | Amazon.com $60.43 (B00B1364XM), size Medium, read 2026-10-07 | Shin guards, which Spassov calls super important for learning grinds | Beginners learning to grind | Listed for BMX and mountain biking; only size Medium was read |
| Soared 3D Hip & Butt Protection, XPE padded shorts | Amazon.com $39.19 (B0B2PGY2G5), black, size Medium, read 2026-10-07 | Padded shorts for hips and tailbone (Lino) | Park skaters who fall backwards | Only size Medium was read; sold by a third-party seller (micchange) |
One aggressive skate is in the table, the Rollerblade Blank Team: we only list prices we have read ourselves, and it is the only aggressive skate we found with an offer on Amazon.com on 7 October 2026 (the Roces M12 listing had no offer; Razors, Them, USD and Roces Fifth Element did not come up). Use the features above to judge any other model.
Beginner FAQ
Should a beginner start on aggressive skates?
Bobi Spassov (Roces pro) says learn to skate first: aggressive skates are not made for long distances and give blisters. Their soul plate and frame are built for grinding, according to Spassov and Ricardo Lino.
What wheels should my first aggressive skates have?
Most compiled setups use 56-64 mm wheels at 88-92A, for example Chris Haffey 57 mm/88A, Si Coburn 59 mm/90A and Stephen Babcock 60 mm/90A. Bryce Orfield prefers the hardest wheels for durability; Gabriel Talamantes goes softer in the park.
Flat or anti-rocker for a beginner?
The bladers split: Babcock, Burston, Werbeski, Orfield and Spassov ride anti-rocker; Przybylik, Coburn, Salaman, Crofts and Lino ride flat. Spassov and Lino tell beginners to try both, and call anti-rocker easier for learning grinds.
How do I choose the boot?
For the shape of your foot first: Dominic Bruce says the right boot spares long-term pain, and Andrew DiPaolo and Hazen Bell chose their boots for wide feet. For size, follow the brand chart, says the skater behind this site, and do the fastenings up tight.
What protective gear do I need for aggressive skating?
Helmet, wrist guards, elbow pads, knee pads and shin guards, which Bobi Spassov wore for his first six years; he calls shin guards super important for learning grinds. Ricardo Lino adds padded shorts.
How this page was compiled: 18 aggressive bladers cited by name (two of them, Spassov and Lino, with explicit beginner advice), drawn from our skater compilation of 7 October 2026. Each claim links to its source. Full compilation and method: the skater gear compilation.
More for beginners: quad vs inline · skates for wide feet · protective gear that fits · size calculator · wheel hardness · how to fall safely · rotate your wheels
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