Roller Skates Anatomy - Plates Mounting
This article is put together by Lou’s Skate Garage, a trusted skate building and maintenance service in Melbourne, Australia. Questions and comments to be directed to louskategarage@gmail.com
Table of contents:
Plates mounting
Plates Mounting
pressure points in standard mount
Standard mount
Mounting skates may be considered as an art. But there are basics, which skaters should know. Information about “how to mount roller skates plates” seems sometimes handled like secret knowledge. Mastery of mounting consists of a mixture of art and experience, nevertheless there are fundamentals to know. So the right size of the plates is only one factor on the journey towards a good setup.
Once you have been skating for a bit, you may hear people talking about 'standard mounts' or 'short forward mounts', ' dance mounts' or similar.
Dance mount
A short or dance mount is a plate that is one size smaller than the boot size. A shorter plate provides the skater with a shorter wheelbase and therefore a tighter turning circle and greater agility - once you get used to it. A short mount will be less stable, as the heel wheels will not be directly under the heel. Therefore a short mount isn't recommended for beginner skaters, who tend to fall backwards more. On the other hand, if you get used to this set-up straight away, your learning curve will be steeper, but you will never need to re-learn how to use this set-up. A standard mount is recommended for ramps or street skating where stability is important.
Short forward mounts increase agility, turning ability, skate control, and if done right and if a skater is in the proper stance, they won’t lead to the skater falling backwards (at least not after their first try on a short forward). This sort of mount actually lends to derby better than longer “standard” mounts. Long, “standard” mounts are great for stability, but they aren’t great for turning or reacting quickly.
Short forward and sport mounts (a type of conservative short forward), use a plate with a smaller wheelbase (the distance between the front and back axles) and place the front axles either right at the ball of the skater’s foot or just in front of the ball of the foot. This means that all of your power and importantly all of the instructions you are giving your foot are going directly two the wheels. You get more power out of your stride and you fight with your skates less. It’s overall a more natural mount because the axles are right near the points where you put weight on your feet.
Forward mount
45 degree plates were traditionally favored for short mounts. The idea here is that 45 degree plates usually have a longer wheelbase than traditional 10 degree plates when compared to the same plate size. With that said using a smaller size plate will give you the same wheelbase as a longer 10 degree plate. This will also shave considerable weight off the plate. This setup can also go more extreme and the skater can use an even shorter plate. The idea here is simple, the shorter the plate the shorter the turning radius, as well as some serious weight reduction.
In practice the “best mount” depends also on the shape of the boot or sole, the incline of the heel, the length of the plates and location of the axles in relation to the boot, – and more elaborated, the use of the skates, the skills or style of the skater and personal preferences.
BIG FAT DISCLAIMER
Take everything with a grain of salt - don’t trust anyone blindly and do your research, experiment and see what works best for you and your use of your skates.
There is no universal/miracle solution.
And remember…..
Keep roller skating fun :)
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Sources :
olisskateshop.co.uk
rollerskatenation.com
gingerskates.nl
derbywarehouse.com
doublethreatskates.co.uk
rollergirlgang.co.uk
roller.sk8.berlin
derbygearadvice.tumblr.com
QuadSquad FB group
The vintage skates coalition FB group
Extreme quad skate builds FB group
Corey skates PTY LTD FB group
rollerskaterevival.com
rollerskatedad.com
rollerskatedad.com
rollergirl.ca
machinedesign.com
bikeradar.com
