#roll line

Size 41 hockey boots (I loved my Meneghini Waves beyond reason but they're fallen apart and discontinued) to hug my spindly frequently-sprained ankles

170mm wheelbase Roll Line Blaster plates (long enough to keep me stable, metal not plastic, sturdy-yet-responsive, great cushions - what do you mean this is the cheap entry-level plate?)

Roll Line Ambra Hockey toe stops (big and sturdy enough to keep me on my toes, not so big I trip over them)

Roll Line Fox wheels (small enough to make me look agile, slippery enough to let me use my edges, hard enough not to deform under my weight - only downside is you have to use a bearing press)

I like a light setup. Even down to the toe stops I use. I prefer the Sure Gip RX toe stops because they have a hollow stem. This makes them a bit lighter than the other toe stops out there. They also last longer than the other ones I used to use, so win for me.

For a long time I ran my stops all the way up. The stems on the RX stops are a bit long, so I cut them down. Great. Now they're where I want them AND they're lighter!

After watching video of myself doing sprints off skates, I decided I would want to have my feet in a similar position when I'm toe stop running on skates. So I lowered them. This happened:

Pretty sure this was a product of not enough thread engagement. Only three threads were in the plate. The rule for steel threads into steel is at least the with of the fastener. Steel into aluminum is at least 1.5 times the width of the fastener. Three threads isn't even half the width of this fastener (toe stop stem)

The practice before my local team, the Glenmore Reservoir Dogs was to travel to Loveland, Colorado for Mayday Mayhem. Not only is the stop ruined, the boss in the plate was damaged as well

You can see the damaged threads. What to do????

Behold! The mighty 5/8" NF hand tap. Not to be confused with the taper or bottoming variety. The Hand tap is less tapered than the taper and more tapered than the bottoming. $35 plus tax at the local tool supply company. All toe stops with the exception of Roll Line stuff are a 5/8"NF thread.

The Snyder Advantage plate is 7000 series aluminum alloy and much harder than the toe stop stem. So there was very little actual damage to the boss. Mostly sheared off material from the stem

I was able to chase the threads using just my hand to turn the tap. No wrench needed.

Ok, I have about 4 hours on these so far. Tried them out at the local rink, Lloyd's Recreation last Wednesday. I was very surprised by the weight of them. They are VERY light. First impressions were that I had to push very hard to get them to do anything, but they seemed very precise. Weird, but ANY movement when I first put them on the floor resulted in a change in direction. I'm sure this is due to the direct connection the plate has with the trucks. It took a few laps to find my balance point to allow me to glide straight, once I had that figured out, I decided to get some speed. 

They felt very odd at first, the faster I went, the more they would wobble, but they were very easy to adjust to that wobble. It eventually went away and I tried to get them to turn. Turning sharp required so much effort that I needed to take them off after 15 minutes of skating. My feet hurt that much. I had installed the softest butterfly cushions included in the box. The light blue ones. Hmm. Some fix would be required if I were to skate these for real.

Lacing on my derby skates I returned to the floor. Wow. My short forward Advantage plates with all yellow SG supers on full loose felt sluggish and slow to react.

I performed some modifications to the yellow butterfly cushions and installed them.

I skated about 2 hours at a derby practice on Monday night. Huge difference in how they act now. VERY easy to turn, yet very stable. Nearly no foot pain. Very nimble. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked them. They skate like a very precise DA45. Every tiny movement you make is immediately noticeable.  It was mentioned to me that the power transfer on these is better than a conventional plate. I will say that they definitely feel more solid than a conventional plate. Skating laps was very easy and energy did not feel wasted at all.

I let another skater try them and the first thing she mentioned was the weight. What do they weigh exactly? Derby ready?

This is very light for a derby ready skate. The boots pictured are a size 7. The wheels pictured are Roll Line Heliums. I don't normally run a narrow wheel, but I wanted my Bont/Advantage combo ready to skate if these weren't working for me. The Arius uses 8mm bearings, my Advantage use 7mm. 

Yes, they are very far forward. I like them like that.

The toe stops I had on did not work very well. The toe stop boss is nearly vertical and does not allow a standard toe stop to work where I like it, Up at the very top. You can see the angle here is no good for toe stop running. This issue was rectified by installing a set of the Bionic toe stops with the angle on them. They are about 35 gr. heavier than the toe stops pictured. Not a deal breaker. 

I really like this plate. I do not like the lack of adjustability with the cushions and action. I will need to work on it some more to get them exactly right for me. I will likely go stiffer or la bit less action in the front. I have yet to try my Aussie Scotts on these but I will put them on eventually. 

The Roll Line Variant is a good plate for a good price.

Basically just stay away from Powerdyne Plates.