Finally! My Sebas are here! Last year when we starting freestyle slalom, I bought the Roces SKT100s. I found a few different problems including non-working hinges, oddly placed frames, and the largest problem, bendy-plastic! When it gets hot out, or if they have been in the car for a few hours, the plastic boot of the skate bends in half at my ankle. I was planning on making a video of this, but then I think…

Who cares?!?! The Sebas have arrived! I got them from Momo Sports in Canada. Momo was super nice and speaks English and even took American dollars! The first time I called them, they said that they were going to get Sebas in about 2 weeks and to call back. I called back in two weeks and they said the same thing. I called back in a week and they had them! They said they had both red and black sized 40. I said hold a red size 40 for me. Then I called back to ask about pricing and address information and they said they had no red ones… I was like ummm… someone before said that they were holding a red pair for me. They were like.. yeah we don’t have any red ones… I said, ok ok… black is fine.

I sent the check and off it went into nowhere land. They originally said to send a check for 520.68 Canadian dollars. I looked up what it would take to do that and it would end up costing me like 40 bucks to do the conversion on a bank check. I called Momo back and asked them if they would take American dollars and told them about the problem with converting here and they said it was totally ok. I went to the bank, got a bank check, which cost 10 bucks, for 466.97 US dollars and sent it to:

Momo Sports
530 Jean Paul Perreault
Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
J1L2Z2
Attn: Yan Josselin
1-800-914-3077

In about a week, they called me back and said they got my check and they were confirming my order of a red size 40!! I’m like… wait… you DO have red? They said, yup… we do! We’re holding them for you.

Just yesterday they came!! I have them on right now. If I were a good posting doo-bee I would have pictures and videos and MORE pictures… But I don’t. I just have skates on my feet. Yesterday I put them on right away and went out for 10 mintues for a quick jaunt around my condo complex. They were so smoothe and elegant and easy to manuver in! I tried cones but they didn’t come rockered so I was uneasy. The wheels are also super new of course so they stick!

I just came back from skating and I LOVE them. I heard a lot about how they make yer feet numb over and you have to keep taking them off and putting them back on again until you “break them in”. That’s kinda happening for me but not really. My feet only fall asleep if I just sit in them (which I’m doing right now). But if I’m skating in them, the bloods a flowin and my feet are mowin down those cones. So awesome.

Jeremy went to Paris and he said he’d bring me back some wheels. I thought I had told him that I wanted 76’s and 80’s cuz that’s what the old Roces took. I was bummed when I saw the new skates had a max size limit of 76. But then I asked Jeremy (because I was too lazy to look in my skate bag for them) about my wheels that he got for me. He said that he did get me 76’s and 72’s! woo hoo! Before I went skating tonite, I totally rockered them and I have to say… new wheels rockered are PERFECT. I love how they stick. Maybe it’s just the quality of the Seba brand wheel! Who knows.

My feet are now numb after sitting here in them typing for 10 minutes. I must go take them off and sigh as I longingly gaze into their eyes and sigh and smile with hearts all around them… Haha! Kidding! I wouldn’t do THAT… That’s just CRAZY…

When I started slalom skating with Jeremy, both of us bought new skates. I chose the Roces SKT 100 and he chose the Sebas. I think both are great skates. I have been skating in the SKT 100s for about 6 months now. Recently I went to Philadelphia to visit Jeremy and have a skate practice weekend. At the very end of the session on Sunday just before I headed home, Jeremy was comparing skates with someone and both of their skates had a hinge up on the boot for your ankle to be able to move forward and back. I was very surprised to see their skates bend like they did.I wondered why mine did not as they were the SKT 100 skates designed specifically for slalom as are the Seba skates. Even skates that are not designed for slalom but have the hinges bend the same way. I looked on my skates and found two bolts on the back of each skate that bolted the upper boot to the lower boot preventing the hinge from working like a hinge. I am not sure why Roces decided to do this. I removed the bolts pictured to the right, and now the hinges work like they are supposed to. I can not believe I have been skating on them for 6 months without the hinge. I think skating will be different now. (If only it would stop SNOWING.)

Update (7:10pm):
It did stop snowing finally. I went out front and just did some simple moves around the parking lot and oh man is it so much better. I have a feeling that the shoot the duck is going to be much easier. Possibly toes and heels easier too.

Update (Dec 9, 2006, 9:52pm):
From Bayside Blades online store rep, Jenny:

“The bolts are in place to make the cuff stiff and supportive so that it
remains very responsive. The FSK skate range is the same. It has hinged
cuffs but bolted in place at the back.

The FSKs were the best selling freestyle skates for last year so they must
be fixed for a goor reason!”

I really want to know what that goor reason is still!

I got my Seba 1 skates today, and I couldn’t wait to try them out. After mentally making love to them for a few minutes, I got to work testing them out, and eventually took them for a spin down Kelly Drive, and then over to the Eakin’s Oval parking lot to do some cones. I’m very impressed with the quality and handling of the skates. They’re also very comfortable, which I’m guessing contributes to the fact that they are somewhat of a project to actually get onto your feet.

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