Powerslide Arise SL - Black/White/Red Inline Skates

Are you looking for a pair of skates made for speed slalom? Maybe you are looking for lightweight, high quality, lower cuff alternative to Harcore Evo Trinity, to fill you urban skating needs? Good news – Powerslide cooked something extra for you.

Powerslide Arise is a new generation of semi-race skates from German brand. These skates were built from the ground up to deliver excellent performance and riding experience to skaters who are ready to make the jump from fitness models to faster ones. Forget everything you know about similar, past skates from Powerslide – Arise are truly a next level.

Ok, but you probably have a question in your head by now – how all of this is relevant to speed slalom and freeskating?

It is not a secret that speed slalom is currently dominated by skaters who use low cut boots with short, 243 mm frames and 3x110 mm wheels. This trend was started by Yohan Fort, who skates for Powerslide and wanted more ankle freedom. So, he took a low, speedskating boot and thanks to Trinity mounting, put a freeskating frame on it. It worked and these skates allowed him to break new records, but there’s a catch here – Yohan does have leg muscles like few people do… Most skaters will need more support than in typical low cut speedskating boots. This is where Arise SL comes in to play.

Arise boot is of really high quality – their carbon shell is equipped with Trinity mounting, ensuring excellent energy transfer on push as well as precise control. Furthermore, the vibrations generated during skating spread more evenly than in case of two point mountings, making Arise much more comfortable to ride on rough surfaces. The center of gravity is super low, too. Overall, these skates are lightweight, great fiting and can be heat-moulded for further increase in comfort and precision. This is true not only for the carbon shell, but for inner MyFit foams, too.

To give user maximum comfort, Powerslide have implemented an innovative external cuff – it is mounted on just one screw on the rear of the heel, removing two side pivot points which quite often caused problems with ankles in high-cut marathon skates. You can quickly and easily take it off, if you want more ankle freedom.

Arise SL comes with identical boot as more road skating oriented Arise RD, but have one significant addition which comes in handy considering these skates are intended to be used in speed slalom competitions. It is a wide Velcro strap in the front part of the boot (you can take it off if you want, by the way). What is the purpose of this strap? During speed slalom competition, you need very tight fit of the boot for maximum control. Wiggle room is your enemy. In practice, though, you cannot last very long is skates laced and closed super tight – your feet are going to hurt pretty badly. Someone in Powerslide came up with an idea – if “crushing” fit is needed only for several seconds per speed slalom run, it makes zero sense for skaters to lace the boots (which is time consuming) to the point blood flow is restricted and have them like that for prolonged time. This strap is simple but brilliant solution – lace the boots normally, then tighten the Velcro as much as you can right before your run. Then you are able to quickly release it after and save your feet from pain.

The Arise SL boot is so versatile, you can even swap these frames later for totally different ones and still have a fun and well performing setup. Use 4x90 or 4x110 frames and you’ve just made yourself a great inline alpine skates. Use shorter, freeskating frames and they will feel right at home in urban enviroment. Even freestyle slalom is not off-limits. Because this boot is compatible with all Trinity mounting frames, the array of options is super rich.

Frame used in SL model is high quality Ego SL model, extruded and CNC machined. Considering that two other Arise models come with gravity casted frames, this one is the most advanced one. It measures, as expected, 243 mm and fits three 110 mm wheels. It will come in handy not only for breaking records, but also for urban skating.

In the frame you’ll find new Undercover RAW wheels. These are made using the same famous urethane compound as regular Undercover wheels, but are made in China instead of USA. Worry not, though, their quality is still very high. The 85A hardness, bullet profile and excellent rebound make them real speed demons. They roll thanks to Wicked ABEC9 bearings, which are a very good trade-off between quality and price.

Arise SL are more than speed slalom skates. They burst with possibilities and how you’ll put them to use is limited only by your imagination.