Sidewalk Skates vs. Rink Skates: Understanding the Difference

Question
what is the difference between sidewalk roller skates and rink roller skates

Answer
Carmen,
The main dirrerence between street skates & rink skates is the wheels. We prefer softer wheels for outdoor skating & harder wheels for indoor skating.
Many people prefer inline skates outdoors, because they are faster & the wheels being in a single line present less surface area, which helps to circumvent debris & small obstacles that may be harder to avoid on quads that have a wider wheel base.
Quad skates are more versatile for the type of skating one does indoors & definitely lend themselves to dance skating & the style of skating we do in the rink.
I recommend using wheels of 78A to 85A durometer (hardness) outdoors & for indoors, durometers of 95A to 103A depending on how much grip or slide you want in a wheel. The lower the durometer the more grip you will have & the higher durometers give you more slide. The softer the wheel the more forgiving it is on outdoor surfaces. I hope this helps.
Roll on!!!.................................Lezly (Lezly Skate School - NYC - estab. 1979)