Iqon CL 15 - Blue Inline Skates

Have you ever wanted to have a pair of Powerslide Next skates, but with a 165 mm frame mounting instead of Trinity system? Well, your wish has come true. Sort of, anyway. Meet new IQON CL 15 skates – entirely new hardboot which have a potential to make some waves on freeskating market.

The skates may appear as – bordering on lazy – rework of Next at first, but take a closer look and you’ll see echoes of Roces M12 and Them 909 here. As stated – it is new mould, although it shares a lot with its’ inspirations.

As always, we’ll go piece by piece, from top to bottom. Cuff is highly reminding us a Powerslide Imperial One, although modernised – but no need to reinvent the wheel here, it works excellent, provides great level of support and looks good. In addition, it comes with position adjustment system, known as canting. It allows you to place the cuff a bit higher, but also to tilt it to the side to compensate for pronation or supination of ankles. This solution is becoming a standard in high end freeskates, so no surprise to see it here. Top buckle with metal lever is well protected and provides tight closure.

Shell have classic shape, with a slight vibe of retro-futurism. Impression of being a Next’s carbon copy is truly skin-deep.

Instead of having one strap protecting toe and side areas of the shell, skate comes with more traditional slider. Red rectangle under the heel reminds of Powerslide Imperial or classic Rollerblade Twister and gives away that shock-absorber is locked inside the shell and not attached to liner via velcro, or glued to separate insert. Hockey-style, high lacing is improved by introducing flex area with notches to lock heel better. Obviously, we still have w 45 degree ratchet buckle here – the same model which has been already used on countless skates. It is a proven, good design, so nothing against it.

CL 15 skates are described as well fitting even for wide feet and there is a lot of truth to it thanks to the liner. They come stock with MyFit 2nd Skin liner, which was designed for downsizing and gaining more room in narrow shells to begin with.

This liner is targeting performance and control. This is why it is made out of stiffer foams than ones used in many other MyFit range models, i.e. popular FatBoy. It also improves ankle stability. Tongue is made out of foam piece with pre-shaped cuts allowing it to adjust to anatomy better, resulting in improved heel lock.

When it comes to frame, no one should be disappointed – it is IQON Decode SE model. Not as fancy as “full fat” IQON frames allowing for multiple wheel configurations, but that’s no reason to complain. It is very solid piece of high grade, extruded aluminium allowing for two possible wheel configurations: 4x90 mm and 3x110 mm. In both cases, the outer wheels are raised by 1 mm in relation to middle one(s).

You know what this means, don’t you? This is another stock option allowing you to get a taste of flowskating/wizard style and for a price only a bit higher, than pair of dedicated frames alone – even if we speak about ones way cheaper than original Wizards, something like Rockin’, for example. The value is tremendous here.

Stock setup comes with IQON Access Natural 90 mm diameter wheels with 85A hardness. The use UHR urethane blend, same class as famous Undercover wheels. As a result, they are really fast wheels with great rebound, grip and slow wear. ABEC9 bearings by Wicked get them rolling – yeah, they are pretty common, but you don’t need anything more fancy for urban skating.

We also encourage you to give 3x110 mm setup a go – the frame length makes it wonderful for city skating and you shouldn’t miss it if you like to go fast while cruising.

We have started this product description with recalling Powerslide Next, but if you have read all of it, you must have surely noticed that it is a major oversimplification. New IQON CL 15 skates are great value offering, with their own character and high quality parts. At their price, they pose a strong competition to other players on the market.

It is also one of the best points of entry if you want to start practicing “artistic” way of freeskating and a solid choice for anyone looking for a pair of fast, reliable skates.