Rollerskate Building 101:
Building a Vertical Rollerskate

Why?

From my personal experience, most "professionals" who center plates, do so inaccurately at best. I was shocked to find double holes drilled in some areas when I took off my plate! Not to mention they were centered out to the middle of my big toe with the wheels centered on the inside, really off! Also, with outdoor skating and vertical skating, the setup can be quite different. Its hard, if not impossible, to find someone to do a non-artistic set up. Simply put, they freak! Once you learn, that opens up the door to a world of possiblities.

Step 1: removing the old plate

Unscrew the old bolts from the plate. Sounds easy but maybe not so! I had to file them down on the sides since the bolts were stripped at the end. A better method would have been a grinder, dremel or cutting them off with a hacksaw.

Fill holes. I used a plastic wood filler that I had on hand. I would recommend something else like plain wood filler. When you drill, this filler felt like I was hitting cement, so I would recommend a softer one. The drill would stop while I was drilling and punch back. So then I had to use my awl to bread off the plastic wood filler. Sand gently.

Step 2: put together plates

Put your plates together so the trucks are on. When you center, you want to double check to make sure the wheels extend evenly on both sides. I had Sure Grip Probe plates, inverted style, so I just added the bushings, trucks, etc. like this diagram. You do not need to install wheels at this time nor tighten down the bolts for the trucks. You will probably remove them while drilling.

Step 3: centering plates

The best method in general I think is Dave's. But I did it another way since my boots wouldnt accomodate the plate going to the outside quite that far.

First I found the center of the heel. This is the area right under the ankle bone. Take a tape measure, find the center and mark it.

Then I found the center at the ball of the foot which is the widest part of the boot. Take a tape measure, find the center, mark it.

Take a straight edge and line up the two points. Since I put on the longest plates possible for an European vert setup (the longest Probe plate actually only put the front wheels under the base of my toes), I made a mark just on the outside of the rear heel and the top part of the toe, on the side of the sole. This way I could still see the marks with the plate covering the full length of the sole. For me this made the centerline up front to the middle of the second toe rather than between the second and third toe. Since I only wear a size 5 1/2 boot, and I was using Probe plates which actually entended 1/4" beyond the toe, I could not move the plate more towards the outside of the boot without the bolts going into the side of the shoe. Also, I discovered that my soles weren't even! They were about a mm or so off. So on the boot when I marked the holes from the plate onto the sole, one was on the stitching, the other was just inside. This is where a good eye is required to make sure this was right.

Turn over the boot to make sure the wheels extend evening on the widest part of the boot the same distance on each side. If so, they are centered.

*A note. Depending upon which stance you use would depend upon how you want to center it. As a frontstance skater, you want the wheels evenly extended on both sides at the widest part of the boot. Just remember, if using a speed boot and if you are extending the wheels to the end, the boot narrows inward as you get towards the big toe. So it will apear at the tip to be too far over the outside. Center line is at the ball of the foot. For sidestance, you may want it to extend further to the outside of the foot to ease the turn out during skating. Just if you do both stances, this setup would have the skates pulling outward.

Step 4: build a wooden foot

Take a 1x3 piece of wood. Step on it lightly and trace your foot. Take a jigsaw and cut it out, rounding out the toe areas. Take a sander and round the edges on both sides. Make sure it fits in the boot. You may need to take it in to make it smaller.

Step 5: drilling

This is actually the most difficult step and the most scary! If its your first time and you have old shoes, practice on those first.

First, with the plate centered, take an awling and punch in holes.

Put the wooden shoe into the boot. Put it in a vice if you have one to steady the boot. Double check all measurements!

Drill in a front hole. My mounting bolts were M5 and I used 4 drills starting with one less than 1 mm in diameter and ending with a 1/4 bit. The hole just needs to be a touch bigger than the bolt. With the rubber sole you want to rock the bit back and forth to eat away at the rubber. Otherwise it will cut the hole but the insides will still be there.

Take the wooden shoe off, put in a bolt and put on the plate on top the bolt. Double check the placement of the rear hole to the other side of the shoe. Dig into the boot with the awl to make a big hole in the center. Triple check it, really. You do not want to rush this step. Put in the wooden shoe, drill again.

You can also check with the small hole done, place the plate on top to make sure its still in center. Not sure why or how, but sometimes the hole will move inward so if you dont check it, it can come up short. Dont sweat it if this happens, drill a wider hole if needed but it can be corrected in the beginning if caught.

Put plate on with bolts in to make sure its centered right and the holes are correct. If so drill the other front one, repeat process. If not, if one hole is bigger, not a big deal, just make sure the rest are perfect!

Step 6: put on the plate

When all holes are drilled and correct, put on the plate. Insert all four screws, put plate on. You might have to screw in some into the plate. Screw on nuts and tighten them using a screwdriver on one end and the appropriate wrench on the other. Take a hack saw to cut the bolts down so they are not too long to mar your wheels. When you cut almost all the way through the bolt, you can break them off. They might be hot though!

Step 7: drill second boot

Double check the plate alignment between them because you want the plates to be placed evenly with one another. Take your time and when done, put on the second plate. Try to get the difference between the two to almost nil.

Step 8: put together the skate

Add the trucks if you took them off. Using a press to insert bearings into wheels and put those on the axel. I like to add one washer before the wheel. Add nuts and tighten down til there is no play but they roll freely. Adjust the trucks to your liking. Add insoles, laces, toe stops, toe guards, etc.

Step 9: installing ramp trucks

If you want to get into grinding and/or want more stability, I highly recommend installing ramp trucks. Take a skatetool and remove the nuts to take the trucks, washers and bushings off. Since my plates were the Probes, and I had an inverted kingpin set up, I took off the nut and the standard kingpin on the ramp trucks and put the set up on my skates using the inverted kingpin set up (washer, bushing, hanger, bushing, washer, then I added two jump bars for grinding, then added the nut). At first I left off the last washer by the jump bar since there wasn't much room left to screw on the lock nut fully, but after 2 sessions, the bushings settled, and I was able to add the last washer. Screw on the lock nuts and add the wheels. Thats it! So how much does it all weigh? 3 pounds, 10 ounces, amazing!! :-D

Step 10: test it out

Now you are ready to roll! Take them for a spin, adjust trucks. Have fun!

Equipment reviews:

Riedell 265 speed boots - by far my favorite boots! I had to get the heel narrowed since my heels are very narrow, but they give me the best in maneuverability and support for a vertical skate. Only negative is the need of toe protection. I especially like the fact that these fit snug since I like my skates to move exactly with my foot. Any movement within the boot can be disasterous on the ramps.

Probe plates - lightweight! Absorbs the shock when skating. I do not feel any flex whatsoever due to my weight so I love these! Not overly reactive which has proved to me to be a problem at high speeds. I did not like the vibration nor weight of metal plates. So far, indestructible! Negatives - I could only turn them out so far when installing them since I wanted the trucks under the base of my toe. May not be ideal if I go sidestance.

Narrow ramp trucks - I LOVE LOVE LOVE these trucks!!!! No lie here, I've never had such a great time skating! I can really throw my body into everything now, getting more power and speed with my new set up. Its so stable, these trucks turn really well to my surprise, now I can also grind. Grinding is insanely fun!! I really have no complaints how they handle. I really didnt notice the weight difference either to be honest. Now I never fall sideways. The skateboarders thought they were cool too!. :-D The only negatives, they dont take skateboard wheels, so if you can handle the wide ramp trucks, go for it. The kingpin also extends beyond the trucks slightly so I need to do 50-50s to the sides of the nuts. But, be warned, you might not want to stop skating with these, they are way too much fun! I would recommend the narrow ramp trucks for aggressive street skating too. These trucks have honestly given me the ride of my life. Very, very happy with them.

Wheels - I love the Roller Bones but switched to the Aerobics for more grip so I can skate more aggressively. Aerobics are slower, more sticky, but I jump the transitions usually, so its not an issue. Still looking for the ideal wheel! I would prefer a larger diameter wheel height for increased speed and plan on upgrading my bearings to Bones Swiss soon.

Grind bars - I used 2 jump bars instead of the grind bars since I'm extremely lightweight and didn't think I would really get into it. Was I wrong! I had RollerGirl's grind bars which are much more stable, but did not clasp on well or Bernhard Scheffold's slider set up instead. The one inch bar didn't give me much to balance on for plate grinds. As you can see to the right, they aren't very strong. This is just after a few stalls! They bend very easily. I later updated to UHMW sliders which I love!