What to Look for When Buying Toe Stops for Your Skates

Roller skating is an awesome activity to take up at almost any age. It’s not only fun, but also has health benefits—both physical and mental. If you’ve leveled up from renting skates to buying your own, you’ve probably realized that you’re going to have to get familiar with your skates. While it’s nice to have your very own pair of roller skates that are only for you, the trade off is that you will have to perform maintenance on them, just like we do on all of the rental skates at our skating rink. 

Learning the parts of a roller skate is a good place to start. One of the parts of your skate that is subject to wear and tear and will need to be adjusted or replaced at some point is the toe stop. The toe stop is the big rubber piece bolted onto the toe of your skate boot. Just like it sounds, it can help you come to a stop while you’re skating. All you have to do is point your toe down and the friction of the rubber stop will slow or stop you. 

While toe stops are an important part of the skate for many people, others find that the bulky protuberance gets in their way. Jam skaters, who do a lot of intricate footwork and dance moves, are especially likely to feel that the toe stop is unnecessary. In that case, they will replace the toe stops on their skates with jam plugs. These alternatives to toe stops will not help you stop like a toe stop would, but they will keep the skating rink floor from getting damaged. 

What to look for when buying toe stops

• Think about how you skate and what you plan to do with it. 
• If you’re new to skating and are still finding your footing, you may want to opt for larger stops, which can help you with your balance. 
• If you primarily skate indoors at a skating rink, you should opt for softer toe stops, which have a little more bounce to them. 
• Harder toe stops have extra grip that can come in handy if you skate outdoors. For outdoor roller skating, you’ll need need that grippiness to stabilize you as you encounter many more textures and uneven surfaces like concrete, asphalt, gravel, etc. 
• Skating is incredibly individualistic, so while it can be helpful to talk to other skaters about how their skates are set up, ultimately you may need to try things and see what works for you. 

You can always visit us at the Rainbow Roller Rink pro shop to discuss your skate questions; we’re happy to help you find exactly what you need.