I’m messing around with my skates again. I just received another order from Inline Warehouse, this time with wheels, bearings and axles for the Soul 7’s that I ordered from them before. I’ve been riding them stock for the last few months, which was a change on its own: a much shorter frame changed the balance points substantially. Now, it’s a whole new game.

The first change is to get rid of the brake pad. I’ve always had it there, even if I don’t always need it. I can stop a few different ways, but when I need to stop fast, I rely on my brake. The next couple weeks are going to have to be a bit slower, at least when outdoors. I’d been meaning to remove the brake pad for quite a while, but hindered by the lack of a proper axle to replace the brake mount with. K2 uses a flush-mount axle design that seems to change with generations of skates, which has made it impossible to find a spare at the local skate shops. As a result, I had to order a set of 8 in order to get the one that I needed. So, I’ve got 7 spares.

The second change is a bit of a rocker. I put two different sizes of wheels on the skate: 76–80-80–76. The distance isn’t huge, but the difference is going to take some getting used to. It almost feels slushy as weight shifts forwards and backwards, and I have no idea how it’s going to feel when I try to stride out in a straight line. Now if only the world would send me some good weekend weather, I’ll do my best to spend the day not falling on my ass.

As an aside, when one buys a set of wheels and bearings, it’s a good idea to also buy spacers. I was lucky enough to have a year-old set of wheels that were lying around that I could cannibalise for the spacers within. The bearings were already partially frozen, but there’s no problem in recycling the spacers.