Seba ST MX - Blue Inline Skates

The Seba brand is associated with high quality, advanced skates for freeride and freestyle slalom. Truth to be told, they were never that active in field of skates for children, which has been a big gap in their catalog for years. Yeah, the Seba Junior existed for a long time, but it is a very basic skate, not really up to the task of going against what competition has to offer. After more than a decade of being dormant in this niche, Seba have finally created a children’s skate worthy of the brand’s name: the ST MX.

ST MX are solid and supportive hardboots that share more with proper freeskating models than softboot fitness skates. Skate is closed by two buckles which, in conjunction with lacing, secure the foot firmly in place. A lace lock for easy and quick lacing is a welcome addition. The boot is adjustable and each shell size covers four boot sizes: EU29-32, EU33-36, EU37-40. Thanks to it, there’s no need to replace the skates each year — they can grow with your kid’s feet. Inside the boot resides a comfortable liner with thick, anatomically shaped padding. A replaceable slider protects the side of the shell.

ST MX come with extruded and CNC machined aluminium frames, made with the same technologies and material as those in “grown up” skates. Stiff, aluminium frame provides smooth rolling and superb energy transfer — it is also more resistant than plastic composite ones. Furthermore, the frames have rockering option – thanks to adjustable outer axles you can set the skates up with flat setup (4 wheels down), for better stability, or with “banana” rocker (two outer wheels tilted 2 mm upwards) for more manoeuvrability and cone skating. Of course, nothing stands in the way of rockering just the front wheel up, which will make for a bit more agile, but still stable setup. Furthermore, you need only one Allen key to change this setting!

The frame length differs in relation to the shell size. Boot sizes EU29-32 come with 205mm frame and 68mm wheels, EU33-36 come with 219 mm long one, fitting four 72 mm wheels, whereas EU37-40 is equipped with 231 mm long frame for up to four 76 mm wheels, respectively. Thanks to the frame being adjusted to user’s feet, the children won’t struggle with too long frames impairing manoeuvrability or too short ones, impacting stability in negative way. A huge bonus of Seba using these particular frame lengths is wide availability of 72 mm and 76 mm wheels – there’s a lot of models to choose from in every price bracket.

What about stock wheels? Skates come with pretty okay Seba Street Kings wheels which are a good pick for lighter users like children. The urethane compound of 85A hardness will last many skating sessions. The wheels come with ABEC7 bearings for smooth and fast roll – they may not be top-shelf, fancy precision bearings, but for youngest skaters, there’s no need for high end ones and there’s nothing to complain about here. Important: ST MX do not have a brake – these are intended for children learning freestyle slalom and freeskating.

Seba has managed to create solid, versatile freeskates for kids. ST MX come highly recommended, especially for kids taking their first steps in cone slalom and more advanced young skaters who need a solid gear for freeskating. These skates can easily go toe to toe with similar models made by other brands and rockering option makes them standing out from the rest of the pack.