Monday, January 5, 2009

How to fix skates that are loose in the heels

It seems the occupation for all roller derby girls is a constant search to make your skates fit right and work well. I feel your pain. Of late I am thinking about my heels, which don't fit very well in my skate and are always coming up off the footbed when I skate. This seems like a bad thing. A couple of solutions I have found (but not yet tried):


Powerslide ankle stabilizers:
(available from several places including Connie's Skate Place)

The DIY beer-solves-all-problems solution:
originally posted on the SkateLog Forum.
























Perhaps a combination of the two?



Anybody else out there found other solutions?

8 comments:

Ivanna Shoverova said...

I have to say, I've tried the stubby holder/beer koozie solves all remedy, although unlike Hot Lips and Dr Hell, my ankles are so much smaller than my boots that I didn't trim the excess that peeked over the ankle of the boot - I rolled it back over so there's two layers. Then, because the two layers of material were pushing my toes into the front of my boot, I cut out a V so it's only padding in the sides of my ankles.

It's such an easy little thing, but it made me reconsider buying new boots (until my ankle strap broke last night, then the good old Carerras were back in the doghouse!).

Mary X said...

I've been wanting to try the koozie concept but alas where does one come by a koozie in the middle of winter?
Heel Slippage has driven me crazy. I would love to find the solution that fixes the problem without creating another (tight toes). Keep us updated on what you experience.

Ivanna Shoverova said...

I live in Australia, so it's summer here and it wasn't hard to find any - in fact, I don't think it'd be hard to find them around here even in winter!

With only one layer of the neoprene fabric at the very back of my ankle, I've had no problems with my toes being pushed forward. With two layers (rolled over) it was quite uncomfortable.

Apart from that, it's made my first two sessions back for the year much better (since my feet aren't trying to get out of my boots!)

Anonymous said...

I don't know if they will work for everyone, but I've made these detachable straps, myself (I have small heels) and few other girls use them and they work, also I showed them to the guys from Riedell at RollerCon and they thought they were pretty amazing...feel free to email me if you're interested evildoll13@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

I just want to thank you for this blog. I'm fresh meat and really appreciate all of the ideas and links you post!

Kari T. Ryder Wilkie said...

Thanks!

Hot Lips Cruelihan said...

Hiya -
Those photo links are going to break in our league's website redevelopment process - email me for the original photos if you'd like to host them yourself. beck.wise@gmail.com

Cheers,
Hot Lips Cruelihan

RitaManeata said...

I am about to get new skates, we'll see if they are loose in the heel. This is a super awesome tip, along with the bungee cord one. I live in the South, so koozies are aplenty. Always.