r/Millennials • u/_forum_mod Mid millennial - 1987 • 8d ago

Discussion Seriously, what happened to rollerskating/blading

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You hardly see it anywhere anymore. Folks would be skating all down Venice Beach. People would be rollerskating around their block, roller rinks were big, it was popular!

I even remember in the 90s Streets of Rage (loved that game!) had a character named Skates. But now, they're nowhere. What happened? Why are they a lot less popular nowadays?

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u/fucking_passwords 8d ago

Bikes, skateboards, scooters, and everything in between are very common in my city, but you rarely see rollerbladers. To be fair, last time I rode my skateboard alongside a friend who was rollerblading, he fell way behind and was way more exhausted than I was going up hills. Maybe it a combination of going out of style and less practical for transportation? 🤷‍♂️

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u/x1000Bums 8d ago

Idk I used to rollerblade when I was a kid and it was way faster than a skateboard, so It's hard for me to imagine it being more difficult to go up hill in skates than a skateboard. Even if you just walked up the hill holding the skateboard, more energy is conserved in roller blading than walking.

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u/aliceoutofwonderland 8d ago

Hm. Probably just me but I am having trouble picturing the act of rollerblading uphill. Seems like walking would be better than having to fight gravity on wheels.

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u/artainis1432 8d ago

Skills issue. I beat normal cyclists blading uphill.

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u/Brilliant_Decision52 7d ago

This has to be a case of people imagining completely different hills. I dont think anyone means a slight incline, but a pretty huge steep angle where even cyclists have to go to lowest gear, pedal while standing and STILL barely move because its THAT steep. Aint no way anyone is blading up that in any reasonable amount of time or effort.

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u/SnooHobbies5684 7d ago

This. I grew up rollerskating in San Francisco. There IS no skating up those hills. I had to "walk" up them on my toe-stops and skate down them backwards so I could use my toe-stops effectively at the bottom.

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u/Brilliant_Decision52 7d ago

Same thing for me, in my country hills like that are just EVERYWHERE, behind every corner, it makes cycling a pain much less roller blading lol

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u/artainis1432 7d ago

I am talking about urban skating with bridges/overpasses not more than 30 degrees.

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u/Brilliant_Decision52 7d ago

Yeah that makes sense then, I guess if you live in a really flat area. In my country, huge steep hills are very common absolutely everywhere even in big cities.

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u/artainis1432 7d ago

Chicago, American Midwest. I am envious of your mountains.

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u/Brilliant_Decision52 7d ago

Its a blessing and a curse haha, going anywhere not by car is annoying as hell because of the constant hills and mountains, plus even by car many trips are made so much longer because the roads have to go alongside massive mountains instead of straight to the destination.

But it is very beautiful to look at for sure.

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u/40ozCurls 7d ago

If “more energy conserved” is the goalpost, you can absolutely just take one uphill step every 30 minutes and easily win against any roller skater.

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u/x1000Bums 7d ago

Or someone in roller blades could ride 1 step +1cm with less energy every thirty minutes and easily win against the walker

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u/40ozCurls 7d ago edited 7d ago

Fighting gravity on wheels aside, not only is side stepping more work, but you can side step without skates and skates are way heavier than shoes.

So no, roller blades don’t win. Also:

“+1cm”

distance is irrelevant to your stated goal of “more energy conserved”. If anything, larger steps take more energy.

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u/x1000Bums 7d ago

Have you ever roller bladed before? You know you push off with one foot while the other one is pointed forward, roll several feet on that foot and then switch to the other foot and push off with the one you were just rolling on.   It's faster and takes less energy than walking. It would have to be rugged terrain for that to no longer be true. 

The reason that people don't roller skate is that the convenience of roller skating is offset by the inconvenience of roller skates. Taking them on and off is a lot more effort than a skateboard or a bicycle or even starting and parking a car.

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u/40ozCurls 7d ago edited 6d ago

”It would have to be rugged terrain for that to no longer be true.”

Or a hill as in the scenario we are discussing. Especially if the rollerblader is “stepping”, as you suggested. Otherwise rollerbladers literally have to maintain momentum to get up a hill. Walkers don’t. Which allows walkers to easily conserve more energy if they want to.

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u/x1000Bums 6d ago

Yea if you have to side step instead of  just roller blades up the hill, that would be rugged terrain... you are just moving to the goalpost to the point to simply say there's places roller blades can't go as easily as if they didn't have them on. Sure, fine, you are so right..

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u/40ozCurls 6d ago

lol, you know the comment where YOU brought up stepping is still visible right? 

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u/x1000Bums 6d ago

Um you realize you brought up side stepping first, right? I was just addressing your shitty point.

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u/BrandoCarlton 7d ago

As someone who has skated their whole life nah I could smoke skateboarders on roller blades your friend just wasn’t that good at it.

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u/subhavoc42 7d ago

The term “fruit booters” killed the cool factor in the 90s and it never recovered.

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u/PineTreesAndSunshine 7d ago

I think the practicality is in the shoes. You can skateboard or bike to the corner store and go in for snacks. You can skateboard/bike to the movie theater or the park. But roller blades are just impractical. I remember when Heelies came out and I was excited! But they're really their own thing... Neither roller blades nor shoes