Inline Skate Review - Salomon X-TR Wave 2002

March 2002

Review by Mike van Erp.

Thanks to Salomon for providing the skates for this review.

X-TR Wave Skate Boot

On first impressions this skate has a pleasing appearance with it's blue, yellow, silver, and black colour scheme.  The skate has a comforting fit with it's well cushioned single piece liner, and feels nice and firm.

The skates weigh in at nearly 3.3kg, with the heel brake adding an extra 150g or so.  This is an entirely average weight for recreational/fitness skates.

Minor point, the little loop at the top of the ankle cuff is nice, but the one on my first pair of skates, the K2 Cirrus 2000 mens' inline skate was rather better.  The K2 loop was made out of a big loop of rope which was remarkably easy to pick up, and made carrying your skates in one hand so much easier.  The Salomon loop is OK, but you have to make an effort to get your fingers into the strap, unlike with the K2s.

The skate comes with a useful heel strap that helps to hold your heel back in the heel pocket firmly.  That's important to me! The laces are the same quick lace system as used on the Salomon FSK CrossMax, and have locking eyelets at the top of the boot.  These make it easy to tighten the laces to your comfort, and then lock them off, leaving you to tie them without having to strain to stop the laces loosening.  Personally I prefer the speed lace system as used on some of the higher end skates, but I can see why that wouldn't make it into a budget skate like this.

	View of the toe of the skate, showing the air vents
	The foot bed - simple and lightweight.		A view of the disassembled skate with the liner and the red dense foam shock absorber.
	The liner can be removed for washing - useful!		The one-piece liner and red shock absorber, which sits below the liner in the boot.
	The Salomon shock absorber.  Note the cut-off toe portion.		Boot with the liner removed

Available boot sizes are: Mondo :24-30,5 USA : 5,5-13 UK : 5-12,5 Eur : 38-48

Ankle Support

The high cuff and firm padding lead to excellent ankle support, if slightly on the firm side for a recreational skate.  The cuff buckle and the heel strap combine to hold your ankle firmly but not too tightly, and both keep your heels well down in the bottom back of the boot.

The "energyzer" is the flexible part of the ankle cuff and, according to Salomon is designed to absorb some energy by flexing as you bend your ankles (and knees) at the start of a stroke, and then return that energy at the end of each stroke in the form of a little spring.

At least one person has complained of foot pain because of this "energyzer", but skates fitted with this allow you to unbolt the energyzer to suit your needs.  This thread on rec.sport.skating.inline shows how altering the skate can improve performance and comfort for some.  Personally I like the pressure and support that the energyzer gives, so I don't remove the bolt.

	Rear view showing the Salomon energyzer.
	K2 Cirrus Mens' 2002 skate.  Note the loop at the back of the skate.

Heat moulding

Nope, not this skate!  This is a budget model, after all.  The liner and foot bed are designed to conform to your foot after a period of skating, so the skate does still end up with a form of custom fit.

That's a good reason not to let other people use your skates, as the internal shape will change after it has fitted to your foot.

Wave Frame

	The skate is riveted to the boot.		A _short_ frame on my Mission Wicked Light skates!  Note how close the wheels are, and that this and the 72mm/80mm Hi-Lo wheel combination allows such a short frame.

Salomon's one piece DR100 frame is relatively short at 270mm for a recreational/fitness skate, only a little longer than that on the CrossMax (247mm).  Compare that with the Mission Wicked Lights at 233mm, the TR Mg Elite 2 at 289mm, and the TR Vitesse 2 at 326mm.  (Remember that frame lengths change with skate boot (foot) size, so these lengths are for my foot size at a UK 9, US 10, or Euro 27.5/28.)

Frame lengths for the different skate shoe sizes:

24>24,5 : frame length = 258mm
25>28,5 : frame length = 270mm
29>30,5 : frame length = 285mm

DR100 is supposed to indicate the frame's flexibility, so according to Salomon this frame is not as stiff as the TR Mg Elite 2 at DR150, or the TR Vitesse 2 at TR 200.

The frame is more than up to the job of keeping things stable and under control.  I was quite surprised at how firm and controllable the skate was when I took it for a burn.

X-TR Wheels, Axles, and Bearings

78A 80mm wheels give a great combination of grip and speed, and combined with the short-ish frame, make for tight handling. The bearings are ABEC 5, although I'm no fan of the ABEC rating system as far as skating bearings go.  More important to me is the quality of the bearing.

The wheels give plenty of grip and a comfortable ride with their hardness of 78A.

Maximum wheel size is 80mm

Salomon X-TR Wave - Overall Conclusion

This is a budget skate aimed at people who are looking for the most performance for their buck.  It's low on unnecessary frills, yet has plenty of usability, and I think that most people would find this a very satisfactory skate to own.  I certainly enjoyed this skate, and I think it has an excellent balance between good cruising speed, comfort, and manoeuvrability.  It has surprisingly good build quality and comfort levels for such a skate.

At an estimated retail price of 200 Euros (around 175 USD or 121 GBP), this skate easily beats the price/performance barrier below which it's not worth buying new skates.

Comments on this review

If you'd like to comment on this review, please visit this thread on the Salomon X-TR Wave on our forums.

More Salomon Reviews

Check out this summary page, listing all Salomon reviews on this site.

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.

Inline skating lessons :: About us :: Disclaimer :: Press Page

All material on this website is © Copyright 2000-2007 LondonSkaters.com, contributors, and associates. Please do not reproduce anything without permission.  If you wish to use photos or other material from this website, please contact me first.