The MyFit liners brand is, without a shadow of doubt, one of the most succesful of Powerside’s projects. It also does have a positive image among skaters and the liners themselves are well received. In addition, the MyFit brand range is the most plentiful out of all companies in history of rollerblading, ever. No one else has offered so many liner types at the same time. It is easy to see that all aggressive skating and freeskating fans should find something for themselves here.
MyFit has entered season 2022 with 6 different models – and that's without counting pro-models and new Reaction liners, which are available in this year’s premium editions of Next skates, but still not separately. All signs point to line-up only growing bigger, too.
As the brand's offering is pretty varied, one may be a bit too confused when it comes to choosing the right model for themselves. If you need help, it is your lucky day. However, before we will start covering the models in detail, we need to address two characteristics which are present in all MyFit liners.
What makes MyFit liners so special?
First important feature is heat-moldability. Before we tell you more about this, we need to address a completely wrong opinion about MyFit liners – no, these do not need to be heat-molded to use them comfortably.
If you do not want to bake your pair in the oven, that’s fine, you can opt for breaking them in the normal way, by simply skating with them on your feet. We do recommend heat-molding, though! It takes only 8 to 10 minutes in 90°C, so it is rather unlikely for you to burn them (unless you use a gas oven – do not do it!). In return, you get a liner fitting you anatomy and shell of the skate so much better, right from the start. Of course, normal break-in will still occur, as the liner will micro-adjust to your feet over time, but it will be much faster. You can have really well fitting, responsive skates without a long period of adaptation.
On a side note, even though majority of MyFit liners are still heat-moldable only in ankle and heel area, a new generation of high-end models like SPC liner is starting to appear, allowing you to adjust almost whole of their volume.
Another thing unique to MyFit range of liners is that all of them are dual-fit. What does that mean? Every liner fits two sizes, thanks to stretchy material of toe box. It is a genius solution, when you think of it. No matter if you are on the smaller or larger size, or somewhere in-between, you get a snug fit around your toes. But where this idea came from?
Skate shells usually are made for two sizes each, for cost-saving measures. Furthermore, sometimes two skate sizes using the same shell have the same size of a liner, too – just a different insole. Yup, EU41 and EU42 can have the same shell, the same liner and differ only by an insole. Having dual sizing of the liner makes it less of a headache for both shops and customers, that’s all.
Having these matters out of the way, we can proceed and talk about …
...the MyFit liners collection
MyFit Fat Boy
It was the very first liner released under MyFit brand and remains a true classic. It has debuted in Powerslide Imperial, years before MyFit became its own thing and brought revolution to world of freeskates – there were no heat-moldable options on the market back then, even top-tier liners lacked it. And Fat Boy was a stock option in one of the mid-range Imperial models, like Imperial EVO, for example.
Over the years, Powerslide have improved the design tremendously. Additional artificial skin patches to protect liner from damage, silicone prints to prevent it from moving inside the shell, lacing, new generation of foams – all of these were added over time. Nowadays, Fat Boy is undoubtedly a “best bang for your buck” liner out there.
As you have probably guessed by its name, the Fat Boy liner is best for wide shells, however it will work in medium ones, too – giving a really snug fit, resulting in great control, especially if you heat-mold it.
My Fit Crown
When it was first released, Crown was state of the art liner in MyFit range. Since then, even more advanced models like SPC took the crown (no pun intended), but it is still a very good liner and does have its applications, which make it a preferred option for many.
The easiest way to describe Crown is: Fat Boy on steroids (on a side note: this reads like a serious medical case, doesn't it?). Almost every aspect has been improved, while preserving similar form and thickness – it will work in the same types of shells.
The most important difference are Recall foams which mold to your anatomy under body temperature and “remember” their shape after taking skates off. Thanks to them, the liner micro-adjusts to your anatomy every time when you go for a ride, always providing optimal fit. The same foams are used in MyFit Recall liners and – as an additional, comfort layer – in higher end SPC one.
Even though it has been kind of dethroned in terms of technology, Crown remains the most feature-packed liner of a whole line-up. It does come with a cuff support strap, attached by Velcro – it gives us two additional pairs of eyelets and allows for more efficient tightening. We can move it up or down to some degree, achieving different levels of ankle support. We can also alter its rigidity to the sides, as it sports two pockets with removable plastic inserts – take them out for more flex, leave them in for better lateral support.
There’s a similar solution used in the tongue – if you want a more rigid one, which you can lean against, simply leave the plastic insert in. If you want more forward flex, take it out. Furthermore, the liner comes with an optional shock absorber, also attached by Velcro.
Just like many other MyFit liners, Crown comes with silicone prints (in this case, dots) preventing it from moving inside the shell and artificial leather patches to reinforce it in buckle and cuff bolts area. One additional thing to note is a high quality, gel insole. Overall, it is a great liner!
In the past years, Crown was released exclusively in red&black colour combo, but this year, an orange&black pro model of Chris Farmer has hit the market. These two version do not differ in any way apart from colours and the fact that Chris is getting a royalty cut for every pair of his pro model sold.
Historically, a lot of people have looked at Crown like it is supposed to be a Powerslide’s response to high-end liners aking to Intuition. It must be stated clearly that it is NOT this kind of liner – the closest equivalent is, long out of production, Trust liner, which was designed to work best with spacious shells like Razors Genesys or SL and couldn’t even fit in most medium width ones. If you are a fan of thick, beefy liner, Crown is a solid replacement and upgrade over Trust - even though it is not as excessively "fat".
MyFit Recall and MyFit Recall Next
These two liners are made with high quality Recall padding – the same one as used in Crown. As stated previously, the foams adjust to our anatomy each time we put the skates on, delivering a high level of comfort and optimal fit.
The liners themselves are simpler and not as feature-rich as Crown, but are slimmer and thus, will fit a wider range of skates. What’s more important, the two versions, Recall and Recall Next have different sizing each. Recall comes in even sizes (i.e. EU41-42) whereas Recall Next in odd sizes (i.e. EU42-43). This allows you far more options when it comes to adjusting the liner to shell sizing. The name of Recall Next comes from the fact it was designed for Powerslide Next skates, which come in odd sizes.
Recall has been designed to be perfectly balanced between performance and comfort. The rest of MyFit liners lean more towards one or another, depending on the model, but here Powerslide have managed to achieve a solid middle-ground.
Quality of life features are the same package as in case of Fat Boy liner: protection from wear from cuff and buckle screws, silicone prints preventing liner from moving inside the shell, lacing of the upper part.
To sum it up, if you are looking for a liner that will fit as wide range of skates as possible, deliver great comfort and good level of performance – choose one of available Recall models.
MyFit 2nd Skin
This one is unique. Through the history of rollerblading, thin, slim liners were rare and far between. Putting older Powerslide Vi liners aside and focusing on higher end ones only, the last one which comes to mind is Trust Spec Ops.
2nd Skin fills this niche and is a great option for skaters who prefer narrow shells or want to downsize.
Wait, but what is downsizing? If you’ve read the Recall liners section, you know that one size of shell usually covers two boot sizes. Sometimes, if you are really unlucky, you may find yourself in a limbo of sorts – with smaller size shell being just a little bit too cramped for you and bigger one too spacious. Going for smaller shell would benefit you, as skates would be lighter and more responsive, but if you risk restricting blood flow to your toes, it may not be the best idea.
However, you can try to overcome this obstacle using a slimmer, thinner liner.
2nd Skin foams have less volume than any other MyFit liner and to compensate that, these are denser and a bit more rigid. Thus, even with low overall thickness, you won’t feel pressure of shell against your ankles. This improved rigidity also makes the liner a more performance-oriented offering, great for those who seek improved power transfer and precision of movement.
Another factor worth mentioning is that this liner can actually help people with wide feet to fit into regular shells. For example, instead of getting Powerslide Zoom, a freeskate with one of widest shells right now, you can try to fit into Powerslide Next.
A feature worth praising is the liner’s tongue. It is made out of thin but rigid, pre-shaped foam with deep cuts, making it adjusting to your anatomy very well. It is the same design as seen in old USD Phoenix liners and USD Carbon skates – it is relatively thin, but foam is very resilient. Coupled with proper lacing, it provides a perfect level of heel lock.
One distinctive thing about this liner is the x-shaped cuff piece attached by a Velcro – you can adjust its position. It is different part than one found in Crown model – does not come with additional lace loops and is thicker. Its functions are as follows:
- Increasing overall liner volume, making it more suitable for shells which have spacious ankle area.
- Increasing cuff area rigidity.
- Creates deeper heel pocket, by pushing liner a bit farther from back of the shell.
- After taking it off, liner can be used for downsizing
2nd skin is, thus far, the most popular liner among Powerslide’s pro-skaters. Nothing surprising, considering that focus on control and energy transfer is resulting in precise skates, it we couple it with correct size shells.
MyFit SPC
This liner is built with a new concept of “Superfoam” named SPC. It stands for “soft polyurethane cast” – or maybe not, because Powerslide is not actually explaining it in their promotional materials. But the fact is, the cushion in this liner is made out of injection-molded polyurethane. If you know anything about materials used to make skates, then surely you know that PU is mostly used for making skate shells (for example FR Skates models) and wheels. Of course, the hardness and density varies depending on application.
How this works? There’s a liner-shaped mold into which liquid polyurethane is injected. Vacuum makes it expanding rapidly and filling the whole volume of mold. After PU cools down, it is taken out and the resulting cast is used as a base to make a liner. It is easy to add more layers, like Recall foams used for increased comfort. As polyurethane foam is both soft and resilient, it wraps around the foot perfectly, effectively eliminating a need for any break-in period.
Furthermore, the liner is still heat-moldable. This time, though, this applies to almost whole area, not only heel and ankle part. The only exception is neoprene toe box. Thanks to material properties, SPC adjusts to both your foot and the inner shape of the shell. You can repeat the process over and over. In addition, the foam does not compress like other types used in liners over time – it can preserve its properties for years of frequent use. As a result, the SPC can serve you across multiple pair of skates through the years, always delivering high level of comfort and always allowing for achieving perfect fit thanks to ability to heat-mold it.
Do you want more? PU foam is extremely good at transferring push energy and absorbing shocks.
It can be said without a bit of exaggeration that SPC liner is one of the best ever created. But Powerslide have not said their final word on the matter, so we may yet see something to go even beyond this extremely high standard.
The SPC liner is of medium volume, making it suitable for most shells (even slimmer ones, after heat-molding).
MyFit liners – upgrade your ride!
As you can see, there is something for everyone when it comes to MyFit collection. It doesn’t matter what type of hardboot you ride, there’s a liner for you! Powerslide is redefining what “liner” means and pushes the technology into new directions.
These get our warm (pun intended) recommendation!