With many areas opening stores soon, (if you’re reading this in the future and its past 2020), that means hockey stores will be opening! However, we are entering summer and for some communities, the ice won’t be back up until late summer early fall. That means you could be off your ice skates for a while longer. You may be thinking, I’d like to skate but don’t want to buy skates, can I convert my ice hockey skates into inline skates? The answer is maybe…
Converting a pair of skates isn’t uncommon when it comes to higher-end players. While working at a hockey store for several years, we did several pairs. However, the reason it’s maybe is for a few reasons…
The first reason is you don’t want to convert your current ice hockey boots. You might have different rivet placements through the sole of the skate and converting back and forth isn’t the best option.
The next reason that it’s maybe, do you have old skates? If you have old skates, you can think of it. To convert old skates, you want a mid to high-end boot to be able to have a decent enough sole to support having a new chassis drilled through it. If you have let’s say a Bauer Vapor 2.0 or 3.0 from a few years back, then this is a highly ill-advised thing to do. Your skates won’t do very well in the transition.
If you have a good enough boot then congrats you made it to the next step! Do you have chassis, wheels, and bearings? Spare chassis can be purchased, along with wheels, and bearings, from InlineWarehouse or Pure Hockey (Need advice on wheels? Check out the newest guide on outdoor wheels.). However, if you’re looking for a more simple solution, then a cheap pair of skates from your hockey store (if they have them since roller blades are hard to get a hold of right now)may be best. Wheels, bearings, and chassis can run easily over $100 or even $200 depending on what you pick out (If you don’t have any laying around). If you have your list of wheels, bearings, chassis, and a boot you just need the last piece!
The last piece to making the maybe a YES is the hockey shop (or a rivet machine yourself). If you have a shop, then they can remove the ice holder and align the new chassis. If you’re lucky enough to have a great pro shop staff, they can hopefully do the conversion. They might even make some recommendations like plastic lifts under the chassis to help mimic your ice blade, or for better wheel clearance. Most shops have a small fee to do this conversion too. (My old shop did it between $20 / $40 ). If you have a shop that can do this and you have a few days to wait, then this might be a cheaper way to get a quality pair of roller skates.
With more hockey shops opening, and more people wanting to skate, getting a quality pair of rollerblades is a great option to stay in hockey shape. So can I convert my ice hockey skates into inline skates? …. Maybe!
Our Social Media
