Installing the leash

The leash system I designed for speed skating provides much improved brake performance by helping the skater apply leverage to the brake pad. In this post I will discuss mounting the leash on speed or rec boots.

Using the leash it is possible to apply a ton of pressure the the brake pad and still have a full control for the system. The key is that on a speed skate you can’t apply leverage to the pad since you don’t have a stiff boot cuff like rec skates. With the speed skate boot the pressure on the pad comes from the use of the leash to solve the leverage problem and at the same time improve control.

Mounting the leash on a speed skate boot is simple provided you use the Gatorback skate frame. The frame provides nice tunnels for routing the leash pull cord in the front and the leash elastic retention cord in the rear. These tunnels make routing the cords easy and in addition the strong light weight frame provides the best possible brake angle with the highest possible strength to weight ratio plus IMHO it looks fairly good. The other advantage of the integrated design is that the leash cords are protected since they don’t fray at the frame/cord interface. I have been on the same leash and cords for about a year. (Even with the low potential for frayed cords it is good to inspect prior to each skate).

For skaters on rec skates, it is possible to brake well without the leash but I don’t think you can stop nearly as fast as when using a leash system.

It is my belief that on rec style boot the leash still provides a potential increase in the stopping power. With the leash it should be possible to do controlled one footed stops on such boots and the leash should increase the raw stopping power available to the skater. The issue is one of learning curve and also one of trying to mount the thing. Some skaters using this style of boot might find the product helpful especially in hilly areas.

Mounting the leash on a rec boot like Rollerblade Cross Fire and similar models in far more complicated and usually involves some head scratching, trial an error, and a bit of out of the box thinking. Plus without the cord routing tunnels such a system will require far more care to avoid frayed cords. (leash cords should be checked prior to every skate).

The result will provide a lot of brake improvement but it is going to require a bit of effort to get a good mounting. Also since rec boots are made in many styles each boot model will require a slightly different approach and some out of the box thinking especially when it comes to cord routing for the leverage system.

On the RB boot I routed the front cords using an approach to hold from the sides of the frame without traveling between the wheels. I use a zip tie to keep the cords tight around the sides of the frames and all the knots are up at the top.

Here is a close up photo of the front of the boot.

At the back I am doing a slightly simpler routing.