Rollerblade Blank Team - Pigeon Inline Skates

Rollerblade does have a mixed relationship with world of aggressive skating. Back in the 90’s and early 2000’s, they were undoubtedly one of the strongest companies making skates for this style. Later on, for many reasons, they have almost fallen into irrelevance, even though they were still releasing skates for street.

It is worth to mention Solo skates here, seeing that they were well designed in some areas but clearly not polished enough in others. Their strongest point was the boot/shell – not only it was shaped to provide a perfect heel lock, it also came in more sizes than most skates on the market (8 different shell sizes compared to usual 5). This allowed for much better, tighter fit for most users. Another outstanding feature was their shock absorber. Skates have flat bottom of the shell (unlike many others, i.e. Roces M12), but still, the heel is raised – there’s a thick shock-absorber inside. This solution was also used in cult classic Salomon ST and STi skates and giver you benefits of forward-tilt stance (i.e. easier to skate backwards and perform grinds) while still providing an excellent amortisation on landings.

What is more – the frame is mounted directly to the shell, without soulplate in-between. This allowed for lower centre of gravity and great responsiveness. In addition, Solo were made using high quality materials and their top-tier models came with premium Blank liners and frames.

The element which was criticised the most were Solo’s soulplates. And it was only fair, seeing that they were ugly and inelegant in design. Furthermore, early versions cracked easily, which gave them rather poor reputation. The skates weren’t that aesthetically pleasing either – they had multiple vent holes and spots of shiny plastic even though most of the surface was matte. To put it simply, Solos looked more like a freeskating boot than aggressive one. There was some truth to that, seeing that Rollerblade made Fusion line of freeskates, using the same shell (minus soulplates).

Solos were eventually out of the picture and Fusions went down along with them – even though the latter were pretty popular. It looked like it is the end of Rhino boot history (Rhino is a codename for this shell). However, as it turns out, Tom Hyser – aggressive inline legend and product marketing manager at Rollerblade – and his team have been busy tweaking the Solo skate to make a comeback in style. This is how Rollerblade Blank came to be, the most polished Rollerblade aggressive skates ever released. The first release was named after Sean Keane, talented skater who remained faithful to the company for over a decade. Then, the company has proceeded with Team version in fresh "Pigeon" colour.

What has been changed in comparison to Solo? Almost everything, even though it is obvious the these two are related. However, every part has been redesigned and improved.

Let us start with the most important change – soulplates. They are more streamlined, sleeker, stronger, lighter and much better looking, too. They were designed by Kyle Sola, famous industrial designer who made Them 909 shell and his own jaw-dropping line of Sola frames. Even though soulplate wraps the boot around this time, the frame is still mounted directly to the shell. This is very handy considering recent advancements in aggressive inline frames – a lot of taller models for bigger wheels hit the market, like Ground Control Mega or Oysi. Having such frame recessed into souplate gives you grinding experience which is much closer to using regular setup (i.e. 4x56 mm flat with frame mounted under the soulplate) when it comes to royale angle. Some would even say that using these boots with regular frames is a kind of a "cheating".

When it comes to boot itself, aesthetics have been improved – vent holes are gone, so are “shiny” spots. The boot is stylish and uses matte plastic. The cuff has been redesigned and given a normal buckle (Solo used a wide Velcro) with well designed shielding from damage during falls and slip-outs. The lower strap is now mounted on three screws, allowing you to tighten the skate more efficiently and preventing it from warping. Thick shock-absorber is making a return the same as it was before, but there's no need to tinker with something which was already reallly good.

Inside the shell you’ll find a new Blank V2 liner. The original version was a great liner already, especially when it comes to quality. However, they were pretty heavy for a liner and not very practical – came with shoe-like lacing system, which was rather cumbersome to tighten when liner was in the shell. The new version is slimmer, comes with more practical lacing system, is covered in breathable mesh material and have stretchy neoprene toe. It still comes with a kind of slim sole made from a rubber which prevents the liner from moving inside the shell, which results in improved feedback and transfer of movements. Memory foams guarantee a high level of comfort.

The Blank frame has been given a facelift too. The groove is a bit shallower, making it more suitable for skating flat setup. The frame walls are shaped to slide well on soul tricks and topsides. In addition, it comes with axles which require just one allen key to tighten and metal spacers, ensuring a great roll without worrying about over-tightening.

The Hydrogen Street wheels, which come as stock option, is a top-tier offering. Blank Team Pigeon comes with antirocker setup stock, as opposed to flat found in SK version. Thus, they have 42 mm plastic antirockers in the middle. Last but not least, you also get high quality bearings made by famous Twincam factory.

Rollerblade is making a great comeback and prove that they still “have it” and can design a great aggressive inline skate if they want to. These were worth the wait. Tom Hyser and his team reworked Solo boot to the point in which it is now one of the best skates available on the market.