‘A revolution’, ‘The biggest breakthrough since skaters moved from quads to inlines’, ‘Extraordinary gains in speed’, these are some of the terms being used to describe the introduction of inline clap skates. Is it all hype, or do they really make a difference, is probably the question most asked at present.

Lets firstly look at why it has taken inline claps so much longer to develop than their ice counterparts. Ice clap blades are very light, hence they can use a very small spring. The spring can be mounted on the side of the blade or under the mounting blocks, as there is a lot of room to mount it. When an ice skater pushes to the side using their toes instead of their heals, the toe of the blade digs in to the ice and slows the skater down. So there is a big gain to be made by allowing the skater to not only engage the calf muscle at the end of the push, but also stop the toe from digging into the ice. On fixed frame inline skates we don’t have that problem because we can already push with our toes and the front wheel will not dig in. Also we need a spring capable of returning 5 wheels and 10 bearings over and over again without fatigue. This spring makes an already heavy skate even heavier. We must then consider the height of the clap mechanism. Any height increase in the skate will mean less stability.

Do we really need all five wheels to clap? No. The reason we don’t need five wheels is: 1. On an inline clap skate, all your power is coming from the ball of your foot almost right above your second wheel. Having two wheels clap is unstable but three wheels gives you the same amount of grip and power as a five wheel skate without needing to clap all five wheels. 2. We can then use a smaller spring because there is less weight to return the frame to the boot after every push. 3. There is less fatigue on the spring. 4. A five wheel clap skate claps back right under your heal. With all that weight smacking your heal over and over again, even if there are dampeners it will be little surprise to see skaters developing Achilles problems later down the track. A three wheel clap frame on the other hand, breaks in the middle and with a lot less force created by the weight of only three wheels the force is dissipated between the front and rear of the frame.

Other benefits of the Bont Slingshot clap frame are: 1. The spring is ingeniously built into the frame. This means that you are skating at the same height as on a fixed frame. 2. Your frame not over extend thanks to a stopper built into the front of the frame. 3. Rubber dampeners in the clap block cushion the clap impact and quieten the clap noise.

Okay I still haven’t answered the most important question ‘Do they make me skate faster?’ Yes, they do. By using the calf muscle and increasing grip at the end of the push where you have the most power, skaters have been increasing their top speed by 5km/h+ using the slingshot clap skate.

Bont Slingshot: Available now Click here