- ABEC:
- Stands for Annular Bearing Engineer Council. The ABEC-1, ABEC-3, ABEC-5
ratings you see for bearings are supposed to be indications that the bearings
meet the stated ABEC specifications of a certain precision level. ABEC-5's
are supposed to be fastest but there is yet no hard evidence that in real
world situations that this is true.
- bearings:
- These are those metal things inside the hub of your wheels. There's two
per wheel. Inline skates currently use bearings that were already standard
in the bearings industry, before inlines were popular. They are "608"
bearings, indicating the inner (6mm) and outer diamters (8 mm).
- bearing spacers:
- These are those small parts that go in between your bearings so that
the axles can go through your wheels. Most stock spacers are plastic, some
may be metal. Hop-up kits provide metal ones. Some spacers may also be
threaded (so that axles screw directly into the spacers instead of just
passing through).
- anti-rocker:
- This is a wheel configuration used by many rail-sliders which has
the larger wheels on the toe and heel positions, and the smaller wheels
(like Lil' Roxx or Midgets) in the middle to allow the sliding to take place
without the wheels being in the way.
- bashing (stair bashing):
- A synonym for stair riding. Also sometimes called "stair bumping".
- crossovers:
- Skating crossovers is simply skating along a curved path while still
stroking. To do this, you have to cross the outer skate over the other one
and hence the term "crossover". Done properly, a crossover will not only
let you maintain your speed going into the turn, but also let you increase
it to an extent. The turns that ice speedskaters do during the Olympics are
all crossover turns. Figure skaters will often do backwards crossovers
during their routines, and hockey players do a variety of both during games.
- durometer:
- Durometer is an industry hardness rating for polyurethane, which is the
primary wheel material. Ratings such as 78A or 85A are usually seen on
wheels. The higher the rating the harder the wheel. 100 is the highest
(although no skaters probably go beyond 92 or 95).
- frame spacers:
- These are those small parts on your skates that go between your wheels
and the runners. Many skates have eccentric, oval shaped frame spacers so
that you can flip them 180 degrees to rocker your skates.
- fakie:
- A prefix used for any trick done backwards, as in a "fakie 360".
- grind plates:
- These are flat metal or hard plastic plates that are bolted on to runners
for grinding and rail slides so that the original runners won't get shredded
to pieces.
- hop-up kits:
- Hop-up kits are simply upgrade kits that include frame spacers, bearing
spacers, and axels. They're made of aluminium or brass or some other metal.
Some incorporate threaded spacers too. The advantage in using hop-up kits
is that you can crank down real hard on your wheels without compressing the
spacers. The stock plastic spacers on most skates will compress or even
crack if you do this a lot.
- monocoque:
- This means the entire skate (boot and runners) is manufacturered in one
solid piece. This can produce a lot more stiffness in the skate, which may
or may not be good, depending on your skating style and purpose.
- rail slides:
- This is a skating trick where you slide along a rail in various stances.
Most often an anti-rocker or all-small-wheel setup is used in order to let
the runners slide along the rail. It wears down plastic runners fairly
quick so rail sliders usually put on grind-plates on their runners.
- road rash:
- Any scrapes, gashes or other injuries incurred from wiping out and sliding
on pavement.
- rockering:
- Rockering your skates means to arrange the wheel heights to approximate
a curved (ice skate) blade. Normally this is done by raising the front and
rear wheels slightly by flipping the frame spacers, or by lower the middle
two wheels, or by doing both. Rocker provides for much more responsive
turning at the cost of some stability.
- skitching:
- Skitching comes from "skate hitching". Skitching is simply hanging on to some moving vehicle and letting it pull you along. Potentially dangerous of course.
- stair riding:
- This is a common skating stunt where you literally ride down a set of
steps. It's bumpy, but with the proper stance and balance it's pretty fun.
Always use protective gear when doing this!!!
- wheel rotation:
- Polyurethane wheels eventually wear down, but you can often extend the life of your wheels by flipping and/or rotating your wheels amongst themselves so that you can skate on the less-worn areas of your wheels.