Choosing an aggressive skate can be a confusing nightmare. Especially if you haven’t skated for a while. If you’ve been skating and doing tricks non-stop for years then you’ll probably have a good idea of the available options out there and what’s best for you, so this recommendation is not necessarily for you (though these are an excellent pair of skates and you’d probably be happy with them).
As a quick summary of what matters in aggressive skates – wheel set up, comfort, responsiveness, inner liner, boot shape, material, grind plates.
Let cut through all the noise and just come out and say it – the best all-round aggressive skate is the USD Aeon 60. Especially the ‘Basic’ – this is not a crazy amount of money, around $160, and it’s a crazy good skate for that money. You wear this skate, you will enjoy riding in it, it’s super responsive, the grinding is really good, it’s supportive, comfortable, and you are going to struggle to find fault with it. And that’s key – it’s going to do its’ job because it ticks all the required features, and that’s what you want.
It is a fantastic skate, recommended by almost everyone who’s tried it out, and a popular choice.
Why is that? What can you expect? Which version should you get? Well, let’s answer all that next.
What Makes The USD Aeon Skates So Good?
The Aeon skates are different from basically every other aggressive skate – they’ve made a bold design choice, a risk if you will, and it has completely paid off. So, what have they done? Every pair of skates ever made for the last 20 years or so has subscribed to the UFS – Universal Frame System – which means there are two bolts in exactly the same place under the skate, attaching the skate frame to the boot. This makes it easy to swap out the frames and customise your skate, which should be a good thing, right? Well, yes, it is a great innovation and helps the skate sport as a whole…
USD themselves went so far as to release a skate with spare customisable parts for almost every piece, but in doing so, they perhaps went a skate customisable component too far. So, they flipped around, threw out that approach with the USD Aeon, and made a skate that has the boot and the frame beneath it as one single piece. You cannot swap the frame out on this.
Well, this has resulted in a couple of critical changes that make this skate stand out. The first is that in the UFS frames, the position of the bolts stops you moving the wheels in a certain position (because the bolts are there). Without it, they’ve been able to do two incredibly important things. The first is to move the wheels out further away from the grind area, whilst still keeping four wheels touching the floor. Usually with aggressive skates to give you this much space to grind they either have to take out the middle wheels or make them small, hard wheels only used for stability while grinding. But with the USD, you get all four wheels on the floor while having a large grind groove.
And at the same time, you get your boot really close to the ground. You can totally feel the difference there, like hovering just above the floor, giving you incredibly stability on the skates.
With the skate boot and the frame moulded as one piece, and you being low to the ground, and you being strapped in well, you have the great control, great ability to accelerate, great feeling of the skates responding to what you want them to do, and it’s set up to be excellent when for grinding. It also minimises hardware (these skates are unlikely to rattle). This is what you want to experience from an aggressive skate, and it pretty much doesn’t hold you back in any area.
It is possible that as you become an expert (as I’m assuming you will) you’ll know your skating style so good that you’ll find another skate that’s better for your individual style. But then again, this skate is so good, you might never find one better.
Which Version of the USD Aeons Should You Get – 60,70,80?
Okay, so it looks like they saw they were doing a good thing and decided to make a million versions of the skate. This can make it a bit overwhelming when knowing which to get – should I get the USD 80, USD 60, USD 72 USD 60 Lomax, USD Aeon 60 XIX, USD 60 Sam Crofts, USD 60 Basics?
Well, the first thing to know is that there’s not a huge amount of different between them except for the wheel sizes being what the numbers are. The Crofts and the Lomax are the Basics with a thinner (but more expensive) liner, and just come in different colours. The XIX are in white, have a Velcro strap at the top, and a softer top to the boot part over your actual foot, which can be good for comfort. I recommend getting the USD 60 Basics or if you prefer a skinny liner any version of the other 60s. I recommend getting the 60mm size wheels because they give you the most control and most room between the grind plates. The bigger wheel sizes will be harder to skate (which is fine for some of course).
Do not be put off by the word “Basic” thinking this is going to be some cheaper version, the components are the same, same wheels, same bearings, same frame. It’s the same skate, the only difference is, it has a thicker liner. And in the world of pro-skaters, I think they prefer something that gives them more responsiveness. And the thinner liner has more “technology” in it than the thicker one, so it’s more expensive. But for me personally, I’ve got the Basics not because they were cheaper, but because of the liner. I was planning to buy either the XIX, Lomax or Crofts before I’d tried them on. But as I’ve had surgery on my ankle a while back, the pins in my ankle were sticking into the thinner, harder liner and hurting within seconds of putting the skates on. So the thicker liner works much better for me, and I’m nowhere near good enough to benefit from the performance you might be able to get with the thinner liner. Same skate, but cheaper price.
Now, that’s the difference between the basic and the 60s, simply the liner. So you choose which Aeon you want based on the colour you prefer, and the liner you like. No big differences. Both liners are heat mouldable, one is just thinner with some sort of special technology in it I don’t understand.
The difference with the white ones, other than looking really white, is that they have a soft top over the foot bit, this basically can make them perhaps more comfortable overall, with lace up liners to hug your feet, they also have a Velcro strap over the top which I wasn’t fond of, and think actually you should replace that with a proper plastic mechanism as found on the other skates. I actually didn’t find them more comfortable because of how thin the more expensive liners were, and I was put off by the Velcro strap at the top (and currently too impatient to change it).
What style of skating are they for?
These skates are for people who don’t really know what aggressive skate to get. If you knew, you’d have so much information about your skating style and different boots for you, that you might be able to identify the ideal one for you, but these are good for everyone else precisely because they are basically a little bit good at everything.
They are good for topside tricks because the angle and space of the grove allows it, good for souls.
What are their specs:
Heat-mouldable MyFit dual-fit liners which can shape to your foot like a glove. A full flat set-up of eight x 61mm / 90A wheels loaded with WCD ABEC 7 bearings.
Aeon unibody design (shell, soulplates and frames are all one piece) mean also that it is lighter, and allows the wheels to recess under the boots for a low center of gravity.
Comes with a 45 degree strap to keep the heel in
