Rollerblade review - Lightning 05 inline skate 2002

My first impressions of this skate when pulling it out of the box were that it was a very good looking skate, and that the skate was very comfortable to wear:

The Rollerblade (TM) Lightning 05 inline skate is a four wheel, low ankle cuff fitness skate with some cutting edge performance features. The Lightning 05 is the top of the range four wheel fitness skate from Rollerblade, and sits right under the Lightning 07 and 09 skates (which are both 5 wheel skates). This skate should retail for around US $250.

Lightning 05 Boot

Rollerblade claim that lots of improvements have been made to get this skate as light as possible, and that does seem to be true, as it's the second lightest pair of skates ever reviewed on LondonSkaters.com at 2740g for the pair. The lightest skates here were a pair of Mission Proto VSi Team 2000 skates at 2720g. (Please note that skate weight will vary slightly between pairs of the same model, and that shoe size also has an effect).

The skate has laces to cover only the front two thirds of your foot up to the top of the arch. The heel area has a heel strap which is quite effective at holding your foot down in the heel pocket, but the Velcro strap is a little hard to slip into the small metal loop. This metal loop is recessed inside the zipper laces cover, which makes it and the laces just a little difficult to get to. It's not a major bugbear at all, and I don't mind the trade-off given that the laces cover looks sharp.

Above the Velcro ankle strap the only further support is the plastic ankle strap, which fixes the ankle cuff around your lower shin, and is held in place by a buckle. This buckle has a ratchet system similar to that found on some snowboard fittings, and is essential to tightening the ankle strap because the strap is hard to close properly via hand pressure alone. I have some small reservations about the durability of this strap and buckle, although they functioned perfectly during my sessions on this skate. Only a much longer test of these skates will show whether there is likely to be a problem here.

When Bob Cardone reviewed the Rollerblade Core Carbon, he noted that the skate was very hot and suffered from a lack of ventilation. These skates have had a lot more effort put into cooling, with lots of ventilation holes put all over the skate, so kudos to Rollerblade for listening to their customers. These skates feel a little cooler than my TR Vitesse in terms of airflow.

Liner and Foot bed

The liner is surfaced with CoolMax to wick your sweat away from the interior, and there are holes all the way through the foot bed, liner, and boot shell to improve ventilation. The skate feels comfortable and firm, and the hold is enhanced by the ankle pad inserts. These, together with the Velcro heel strap, keep your heel firmly in the back of the boot.

Rollerblade put a vibration absorbing yellow elastomer, called the ShockEraser, into the bottom of the heel pocket. It seems fairly effective, and certainly the vibration from rough pavement is noticeable at the toes, but very much deadened at the heel.

The foot bed is thick and very comfortable. Those who've read Bob Cardone's Rollerblade Core Carbon review on this site will recall that his foot bed had some issues with the top layers rolling back and hurting his foot. This foot bed seems well made and the top layer hasn't yet parted, but only extended mileage and a longer test will tell whether these foot beds will suffer the same problem.

Roller blade Ankle Support

This skate has a low cuff in keeping with the requirements of fitness skating. This helps to give a little more ankle movement and flexibility, which helps to get down lower and put more power into each stroke.

The boot build, combined with the cuff results in good side-side ankle support, at least for a low cuff skate. It feels comparable to my Salomon TR Vitesse - see review here in terms of side-side flexibility, and very slightly stiffer in fore-aft flexing. The difference is minimal, and it's certainly easy to get down low with plenty of knee bend. Both the Lightning 05's and the TR Vitesse have free moving ankle hinges.

Heat moulding

These skates aren't designed for heat moulding, and instead have Rollerblade's Progressive Fit System, which conforms to your foot more and more each time you skate using memory foam.

Rollerblade Lightning Frame

This is the Roller Lightspeed space frame that has been the subject of so much discussion on the newsgroup rec.sport.skating.inline. The concept behind the frame is to be able to significantly reduce the weight while keeping strength and torsional stiffness high. The skates are certainly very light, and the frames feel extremely stiff to me, but I'm by no means the heaviest of skaters.

Much of the discussion on rec.sport.skating.inline was around the lower cross braces between some of the wheels, and whether enough wheel wear would cause the cross braces to grind. I don't believe this will be a problem on the Lightning 05. As you can see from the photos there is a lot of clearance, and in fact the wheel hub extends below the cross brace, so you would be skating on the hubs before the cross braces ever touched down. The cross braces are about 25mm from the axle line, so you should be OK with wheels wearing down to perhaps 60 or 65mm diameter. I'm not sure how the reduced ground clearance would work with rougher surfaces or detritus such as twigs and pebbles.

The frame offers plenty of adjustment fore and aft (11mm each way), and sideways (5mm each way) at both the front and rear mounting points. This is a big improvement on last years Rollerblade Core Carbon skate, which didn't allow any sideways adjustment. You need to remove the two wheels in positions 2 and 4 in order to be able to adjust the frame.

Rollerblade have taken the slightly unusual step of supplying the skates without a fitted heelbrake. A brake does come in the box, but it isn't fitted. The skates have a warning label attached to warn consumers that stopping without a heel brake can be dangerous.

The heel brake is easy to fit, although the retainer pin requires a bit of knocking to get it into place. Taking the heel brake off won't be easy unless you have a rod to knock the pin out as it fits very firmly in position. I'm not sure how well this pin will stay in place given the extended vibration it's likely to be exposed to on a series of long skates, and that the pin is only held in with friction. I'd prefer to see a different pin with some kind of fastener, but this is a minor point. The heelbrake also seems to have a little less brake material than the equivalent Salomon brake, seems a little softer, and wears a little faster.

Wheels and Bearings

I was impressed at how much grip these wheels give, given that they are made with a relatively hard compound. The wheels are ultra large hub 82mm, and are quite hard at 82A durometer. The impression of hard wheels is further increased because of the large hubs, which mean less urethane to absorb bumps and vibration. That translates into less rolling resistance because there is less wheel deformation, but results in more vibration and shorter wheel life because there is less urethane to wear. This is especially noticeable in the toe area because there's no shock absorber there. I think that the trade off is worthwhile, given how fast these skates feel, but given the shorter wheel life your mileage may vary. The hubs are aluminium, although they appear to be coated with plastic.

Bearings are 688Z micro bearings, with no ABEC specified. I'm not a fan of ABEC ratings as they don't relate well to factors that affect rolling resistance on inline skates.

Axles are one-piece, and thread into one side of the frame. I personally really like one-piece axles like these as they are strong and make maintenance very easy. Some people have concerns about damaging the thread in the frame with this kind of axle, although I believe it's not very likely that you'll strip the thread. This is because the axle is held exactly straight by the first hole in the frame and by the wheel the axles goes through. However, should the thread get damaged for whatever reason, then that will almost certainly mean a new frame.

You may notice from the above pictures that the supplied wheels don't appear to have a lot of urethane to wear before you'll be running on the hubs. Appearances may be deceptive, though, as measurement shows that the wheels should wear to about 65-70mm from their original 82mm diameter (I'm guessing how far the hubs go into the urethane). Many fitness skaters won't want to wear their wheels too far down anyway before replacing them.

I wasn't particularly impressed with the quality of the Allen key supplied with the skates - the long end had burrs on it that prevented it being inserted into the hex sockets on the axles until I cleaned off the burr with a file.

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Rollerblade Lightning 05 - Overall Conclusion

I like these skates a lot, and in my opinion they are a very capable pair of inline fitness skates. They are fast, are quite comfortable, and well ventilated. I'm very pleased that the frame is adjustable at both the front and the rear of the skate as this is an important feature for all serious fitness skates.

These skates really are incredibly light - they are the lightest recreational / fitness skate ever reviewed here. I think that they have great handling, and I've thoroughly enjoyed rollerblading on these skates.

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Disclaimer

As usual, this review is only my opinion about these skates, and your mileage may vary. You should always carefully judge whether the skates you intend buying are best suited for you and for the purpose you intend using. Remember that fit and comfort are extremely important, and you may wish to read the inline skating buying guide here on this site.

Rollerblade Lightning 05 - 2002

Inline skate review

May 2002

First Impressions