Freestyle Skater (RSS)
Seba 1 Skate Review
I got my Seba 1 skates today, and I couldn’t wait to try them out. After mentally making love to them for a few minutes, I got to work testing them out, and eventually took them for a spin down Kelly Drive, and then over to the Eakin’s Oval parking lot to do some cones. I’m very impressed with the quality and handling of the skates. They’re also very comfortable, which I’m guessing contributes to the fact that they are somewhat of a project to actually get onto your feet.
First Impression
The first thing I noticed about the Seba 1 is the amazing attention to quality that clearly went into the skates. Some parts of the hard plastic shells are made with a slightly rubbery plastic which doesn’t dig into your skin because it flexes. This is found mainly in the buckles and parts that go across your shin. The other hard plastic parts of the skate are coated on the inside with an almost sneaker like layer (on the inside and the outside). This isn’t the liner, mind you, but the hard plastic shell. This sneaker coating provides not only a touch of softness, but also grips the liner to the boot very nicely, preventing any slippage. The liner itself is also coated with a rubbery sole to make the gripping effect even stronger (so much so that it was quite an effort to put the liner back in the skate!)
The buckles, wheels frame and all other hardware have a similar level of quality. The buckles, especially, are 10 times more solid than the Rollerblade Twister buckles. I got the 231mm frames, which I later found would give me amazing maneuverability. The wheels are also top notch, which is refreshing. Usually when I buy skates, I take for granted that the wheels will suck and I’ll have to replace them. I got 72 76 76 72 rocker, 85a hardness. They grip the ground so much i had trouble doing power-slides, but that always happens with new wheels.
Putting on the skates
Putting on these skates was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. There’s just no easy way to get your foot in there with the laces not extremely loose, and then it takes a while to tighten them back up once your foot is in. And after you tighten the laces, forget about quickly taking them off. I remember reading in another review that you don’t really need the laces, so i took them out, and putting on/taking off the skates become much quicker. I’m sure they’ll be just as quick if not quicker than my Twisters once i get used to all the buckles.
Test Drive
Woah. I got the feeling in my hallway, and then confirmed later, on the streets: These are the most maneuverable skates ever. Doing the Crazy and the Mabrouk I felt like I was skating on ice, not pavement as my feet flowed along the cones. Of course i knocked more cones over than usual, but thats because I naturally skated faster in these (I think the bearings are great too, because i would go really fast if I let myself roll down a slight hill). I had a flashback to watching Marie from France do the crazy, and how effortless her skates moved, as though they wanted her to do the Crazy. In my Twisters, I always felt like the Crazy wasn’t a natural thing to do on skates, and required energy to make them do it. In the Seba 1 skates, that went away, and all the tricks I know felt natural (and a bit clumsy from my feet moving so easily). Doing the Mabrouk felt similar: the part where you turn from back to forwards was so smooth and my forward speed transfered completely into a stationary spin, and that momentum easily went back into rolling motion again.
When i was just skating down Kelly Drive, i noticed that the skates want to turn at the slightest hint. So much so that I had to focus just a bit more on the accuracy of my pushes. I’m sure this is a good thing for slalom, since I’ll want to control my feet very precisely.
Conclusion
Comfort, great support, amazing maneuverability. My only complaint is that its a bit hard to get the upper buckle as tight as I want. I think i just need to trim some of the length of the buckle off, since it actually goes inside the skate, and is probably hitting a point where it can’t go much farther. Thats a minor concern, though. These skates are without a doubt the highest quality skates i’ve ever seen. They seem to be the most comfortable i’ve ever used (including my custom skates with a Riedel Gold Star figure skating boot). And they’re definitely the most maneuverable. I’ll get back to you on the comfort, since I only skated 45 minutes or so on them, but they’re better than the Twisters. Those hurt my first time using them. Oh and if you have the “extra ankle” problem, I have that too, and it didn’t seem to be a problem in the Seba 1 skates.