Inline Skate Maintenance and Repairs 101

Now that you have invested in a good pair of inline skates, many doors that lead to outdoor adventures, social fun, exercise, events and competition are wide open. But, your wonderful new (or new-to-you) inline skates are not maintenance-free. You must take good care of your inline skates, so they can take good care of you. Next to you, the skater, your inline skating equipment is the most important part of your skating. A few basic considerations and a little preventative cleaning will help keep your inline equipment safe for skating and will make them last a lot longer. Proper inline skate maintenance will help your equipment’s performance and your performance, too.

Down the road, there will be many advanced maintenance, troubleshooting, upgrades and repairs that you may need or desire for your inline skates. But, the following basic items will help any new skater keep recreational or fitness inline skates in good working condition.

Keep Your Owner’s Manual After Buying Inline Skates

Be sure to keep the original owner’s manual and/or parts list for specific information you may need later for skate maintenance and repairs.

Take Maintenance Into Consideration While Inline Skating

The things that you do while inline skating are part of your equipment maintenance routine. There are some things that a pair of traditional inline skates are not made to do.

Know the Things to Do for Basic Inline Skate Maintenance

Basic maintenance of your skates requires only a few tools and supplies, and with experience will take very little time. Not every maintenance session will require wheel and/or bearing removal, but you should be prepared to do these things, just in case.

Some Inline Skate Service May Require a Professional

Many inline skaters take care of their own repairs, upgrades and fitting issues. But if you can't, there are pro shops, rinks and individuals (often coaches or instructors) who can take care of the more advanced inline skate services that you may need.