The Basics of Inline Skate Maintenance

Well-maintained wheels keep the rolling fun and smooth. There are differences of opinion on how often you should rotate your wheels. Some folks say after every outing. Others say to rotate every few months. It really depends on how often you skate. The key is to inspect your wheels and notice how the “wear patterns” emerge. If you are a runner, then you are familiar with the fact that your particular gait as you run causes different areas of the sole of your running shoe to wear down faster than the other parts. This is the same with inline skaters, but the effect is seen on the wheels and not the boot of the skate. Besides your weight and style of skating, other factors that affect the wear of your skates are the type of surface you skate on, the size and quality of your wheel and even the weather.   Rotating your skate wheels regularly helps to even out the wear on your wheels, thus extending the life of your wheels. Your owner’s manual should give you specific instructions on how to rotate your wheels, and there should also be a tool in the box your skates came in to help you remove the wheels. Rotating the wheels must involve two types of “swaps,” so to speak. You have to flip the wheel so that the side of the wheel that is starting to show wear or “cone” is turned in the opposite direction. Then, like you would with car tires, you have to change the position of each wheel on your skates. You should exchange the wheels with the ones that show the most wear with the wheels that show the least wear.    Finally, it is helpful to interchange wheels from the right skate to the left skate and vice versa every few times you rotate your wheels because every skater has a stronger leg and will thus have greater wear on either the left skate or right.   Eventually the wheels of your skates will need to be replaced. Some inline skaters find themselves having to do this every few weeks, though most people are not skating such high miles to require frequent wheel replacements.

 

Every time you rotate your wheels, you should wipe down your bearings.   There are two types of bearings in inline skate wheels: serviceable ones and non-serviceable ones.    Serviceable bearings have some sort of metal or plastic shield that can be removed so that you can disassemble the bearings and clean each component. Non-serviceable bearings have shields that can not be removed. Check your owner’s manual to be sure what kind you have.  If you wheels have gotten wet, you should definitely wipe down the bearings with a dry, clean cloth. If you have serviceable bearings, you probably should remove the bearings and the spacers and let them dry. This might sound crazy, but if your bearings are wet and you don’t have time to clean them, it is better to but them in water and clean them later than to just leave them alone and risk having a rust problem. Though water is a culprit of rust, keeping the bearings in water prevents oxygen from interacting with the steel and thus turning into rust. Besides the bearings getting wet, there are other reasons to service your bearings. The key indicator is usually a sound, often called a “crunching” sound because sand, dirt or other grime from who knows where has gotten into your bearings. If you don’t clean them, your wheels will not spin as effectively and eventually damage the metal in your bearings. Another sound that you may hear is one of metal on metal. This means that your bearings are dry and need lubrication. It is probably a good idea to clean your bearings before you add lubrication. To clean serviceable bearings, there are four basic steps: The first step is cleaning off the old lubrication and grime that has accumulated. Special solvents are sold for this, but you can use a full strength detergent, citrus cleaner or even nail polish remover. Occasionally, if your bearings are especially dirty, you will need to soak them over night before attempting to use a small toothbrush to clean off the old lubrication and dirt. The second step is washing off whatever you used to clean the bearings. This can be done with hot water and a little soap. Be sure, however, to rinse off all traces of soap. The third step is thoroughly drying the bearings. Many people use a hair dryer. Others just let them air dry.   The last step is replacing the lubricant. Again, special lubricants, both in oil and gel formulations, can be purchased for your inline skate bearings, but some people just use a few drops of sewing machine oil or their favorite automotive grease.   After the bearings are lubricated, you must put back together the bearings, wheels and the skates.  Finally, if none of this bearing cleaning is appealing to you, find a skate shop and there is probably someone there you can pay to do it for you. 

 

Brakes should be inspected before and after you skate. Being able to stop safely is something you can’t take lightly. The last thing you would want would be to have the screw exposed on your heel brake because you have not replaced the brake in a timely manner!  Things to look in inspecting your brakes include:

1.     Are the brake components loose?

2.     Are the brake components functional?

3.     What about the “wear line” on the brake pads? You should replace your brake pads before you reach the wear line.

 

Since each inline skate company has a slightly different braking system, be sure to consult your owner’s manual for specifics about your inline skates.