Powerdyne Arius, part the Second
Ok, I have about 4 hours on these so far. Tried them out at the local rink, Lloyd's Recreation last Wednesday. I was very surprised by the weight of them. They are VERY light. First impressions were that I had to push very hard to get them to do anything, but they seemed very precise. Weird, but ANY movement when I first put them on the floor resulted in a change in direction. I'm sure this is due to the direct connection the plate has with the trucks. It took a few laps to find my balance point to allow me to glide straight, once I had that figured out, I decided to get some speed.
They felt very odd at first, the faster I went, the more they would wobble, but they were very easy to adjust to that wobble. It eventually went away and I tried to get them to turn. Turning sharp required so much effort that I needed to take them off after 15 minutes of skating. My feet hurt that much. I had installed the softest butterfly cushions included in the box. The light blue ones. Hmm. Some fix would be required if I were to skate these for real.
Lacing on my derby skates I returned to the floor. Wow. My short forward Advantage plates with all yellow SG supers on full loose felt sluggish and slow to react.
I performed some modifications to the yellow butterfly cushions and installed them.
I skated about 2 hours at a derby practice on Monday night. Huge difference in how they act now. VERY easy to turn, yet very stable. Nearly no foot pain. Very nimble. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked them. They skate like a very precise DA45. Every tiny movement you make is immediately noticeable. It was mentioned to me that the power transfer on these is better than a conventional plate. I will say that they definitely feel more solid than a conventional plate. Skating laps was very easy and energy did not feel wasted at all.
I let another skater try them and the first thing she mentioned was the weight. What do they weigh exactly? Derby ready?
This is very light for a derby ready skate. The boots pictured are a size 7. The wheels pictured are Roll Line Heliums. I don't normally run a narrow wheel, but I wanted my Bont/Advantage combo ready to skate if these weren't working for me. The Arius uses 8mm bearings, my Advantage use 7mm.
Yes, they are very far forward. I like them like that.
The toe stops I had on did not work very well. The toe stop boss is nearly vertical and does not allow a standard toe stop to work where I like it, Up at the very top. You can see the angle here is no good for toe stop running. This issue was rectified by installing a set of the Bionic toe stops with the angle on them. They are about 35 gr. heavier than the toe stops pictured. Not a deal breaker.
I really like this plate. I do not like the lack of adjustability with the cushions and action. I will need to work on it some more to get them exactly right for me. I will likely go stiffer or la bit less action in the front. I have yet to try my Aussie Scotts on these but I will put them on eventually.
Very impressed so far. Worth $400+? I don't know yet.
