Derby Gear Advice

First off, package skates are rarely a good idea. Find boots, wheels, and a plate that you like and put them together yourself. You’ll get much more bang for your buck that way because everything will be perfect for you and fitted to you.

As for the Rivals, generally Powerdyne plates have lots of breakage problems. Depending on the plate, they have broken trucks, easily destroyed pivot cups, and even twisted and snapped plates. For that reason I usually advise skaters to just stay away from Powerdyne altogether. However, they seem to have finally realized that their plates have lots of issues and the Rival seems to be their solution. So far it’s had very few negative reviews, but the plate is still very new. It’s a risk. This could be Powerdyne’s first solid plate, or it could just be that they just haven’t started breaking yet.

Of course, though keep in mind that package skates are rarely a great idea to begin with.

I’ll break down each part of each package for you.

Boots:

Both are leather, padded boots. The 165 boot on the Vixen is more narrow than the Spyder, which is a wider boot. The Spyder boot will be more durable than the Vixen boot.

Obviously the Antik is a higher cut boot, and the Vixen boot is a bit lower. That’s totally a personal preference.

The Plate:

They both use the same plate. The Triton is notorious for being one of the worst metal plates on the market. Powerdyne has recently made some changes to the plates to improve them, but they haven’t really been out long enough to say if they’ve been effective.

Wheels:

The Vixen package comes with Radar Tuners. They are big, wide wheels and are decent starter wheels but they aren’t fantastic.

The Spyder comes with Reckless Envy wheels, which are hybrid wheels. They are a good idea if you’ll be skating on an incredibly slick surface. Their advantage over the Tuners is that they come in multiple sizes, but double check with the store you buy them from that you get to choose for your pair.

Toe Stops:

The Vixen comes with the standard round, black Powerdyne stop. It’s not a great toe stop. The Spyder comes with the Gumball, which is definitely a favorite amongst lots of skaters.

Overall, the Spyder package seems to have a slight edge, but it’s also slightly more expensive. In the end they are about equal.

I really don’t like recommending R3s. There are better starter packages out there where you get more for your money. The toe guards are honestly not that great of an incentive. Hockey tape is cheaper and does a great job anyways. The wheels are decent starter wheels so that is a good upgrade.

You would still need to upgrade cushions (a pretty cheap fix, just around $10) and probably bearings right away, but the scary part of an R3 is the plate, and that is an expensive upgrade. The plate on the R3 flexes and twists and breaks, and over time it will not only become unsafe, but you can lose a lot of pushing power when your plate is flexing.

Also, the R3 is good for narrow feet. If you’re feet are wide, stay away from them as they will be very uncomfortable for you.

Overall, they aren’t a great starter skate but you can make them work if you are conscious of their issues.

I definitely think there are better skates out there and that by buying used you could get a better deal on a better skate.

Why do you only use Riedell? I can’t in good faith recommend a single Riedell plate.
Give me more info on your skating and feet and I’ll do my best to help. It would also help to know what you are currently skating on and what you like and dislike about the setup.

Great! Keep us updated and thanks for letting us know how it worked!

The Riedell Wickeds are not a good package, and they are definitely NOT an “expert” skate. No stock package skate is, and the Wicked is a big, heavy boot (265) that doesn’t fit a lot of skaters very well and gets a lot of complaints from skaters that find it to be a painful boot that takes forever to break in.

The plates on the new Wicked package, the Rivals, are new but only a small step up from the Dynapro, a plate with an incredibly long list of problems and breakages.

Please don’t buy into the idea that the Wicked is “the” derby skate, because it is not.

However, getting better than beginner skates when you are first starting out is not a bad idea, but rather a great one. The only reasons I would suggest someone hold off is to save money and to spend some time figuring out exactly what you like. Get the best skates for your feet that you can afford. You might just find yourself wanting something a little different later, so it might not be the best idea to sink $500 into the setup.

Also, please consider buying components and not a package.

Because Moonwalkers come in different colors already, I haven’t heard about dyeing them.

In theory, you should be able to dye any of the colors black, but it would be difficult to dye them anything other than black.

You would use the same steps as for Gumballs, I just don’t know if Moonwalkers will hold the dye as well.

If you test it out, please let us know how it works!

I generally steer skaters against getting package skates. They will usually have one part perfect for you and then the rest is either the wrong product for you or sized incorrectly. It’s best to pick and choose each part individually and put them together yourself or have someone do it for you (plus it can save you a lot of money if you get some of the components used).

The plate on the Spyder package is an “improved” Triton. The Triton is a heavy plate with an obscene amount of breakage and bending issues. Making them an unsuitable and unsafe plate for pretty much all skaters, but particularly heavier ones.

I’m assuming their improvements were aimed at solving some of the problems, but as they are very recent and I’ve heard no reviews on them (or even seen a pair), I don’t quite trust them.

The boots look really nice, I wish they’d sell them alone because they are quite pretty.

As for the rest of the package, the Gumballs are great and the new hybrid wheels will probably only perform slightly better than your poisons. 

You’ve only been skating for 3 months, so if you aren’t having any serious problems with your setup then you probably don’t need a full new skate anyways. My best advice would be to start upgrading your setup piece by piece. It will help spread the cost over a longer period of time, and you’ll start feeling the effects of better gear right away.

The first thing you should upgrade is your plate. Get a sturdy metal plate. There are lots of reviews and questions here on different kinds, and of course we’d be glad to answer any others you may have.

Then go for your wheels. You should get aluminum hubbed wheels. They won’t flex or deform under pressure and just generally are more responsive, particularly for heavier skaters. Keep in mind that Atom’s alloy wheels are not aluminum hubbed, they just have an aluminum cap over a plastic hub. If you get a high quality wheel in a softer durometer, you probably won’t need hybrids, because nicer wheels tend to just stick better anyways.

Then you can upgrade other things like your toe stops, bearings, and then the boots whenever you feel as though you want some new ones. As long as the boots fit you, they aren’t going to cause any performance issues, which is why I saved them for last.

Of course it will!

The exact weight would vary depending on the size of the skate as well.

The plate on the R3 ranges from 2.08 ounces per plate for their smallest size and 5.6 ounces per plate for the size 10 (the largest size). http://www.roller.riedellskates.com/Documents/Nylon%20Chart.pdf

I’m not sure the weight of the boot, but it is pretty heavy. 

Sorry I couldn’t give you a better answer, I’ve never weighed a pair personally, and I can’t find much information about their weights. Skaters are usually more concerned with weighing higher end skate setups.