Why 5 Wheel Skates?
Why would you want a pair of 5 wheel skates, especially ones like the TR Vitesse, that are not for serious racing? Well, for me the reason was that these skates are still very comfortable and relatively cheap, and yet they are very much more efficient than 4 wheel skates. There’s a bit more than this as well – I’m Dutch, and skating with long skates is something of a Dutch national obsession. The Netherlands is after all the home of the “Elfstedetocht”, or eleven city tour, where thousands of skaters travel some 200km around 11 towns on frozen canals. In modern times, though, the canals have not been frozen very much, thus preventing the race from happening, although an alternative happens in Austria. It’s almost hard to credit how much more efficient these skates are than my older TR9s – I’m simply amazed by the performance of the TR Vitesse. Admittedly, it’s the first time I’ve skated on 5 wheelers. By the way, my TR9s have just had brand new bearings installed a week or two ago, and
