2 Skate Setup Mistakes Holding You Back (+ My Top Beginner Tip)!

Does something feel off when you put your skates on but you can't quite put your finger on it? You're not alone. Nine out of ten students who come to me haven't even checked this and it's stopping them from feeling stable and actually enjoying time on their skate. I'm Tracey from Suns Out Skates Out and today we're diving into two of the most common skate setup mistakes that could be holding you back. They're simple fixes but most beginner skaters don't even know they're And stick around to the end, I'll be sharing my number one tip for nervous new skaters that will instantly make you feel more secure on your skates. I'll show you exactly what to look for and what's safe to adjust so you're not just guessing. The last thing you want to be is the skater who doesn't know how to tweak their own wheels, right? And trust me, a skate tool is a non-negotiable. It's your best friend. Keep one in the car, in your skate bag, wherever you skate because you always need it and it's when you least expect it. Tip number one, checking your spin on your wheels. This is one of the biggest things I see with new skaters. Your wheels are either spinning way too freely or they're barely moving at all and you might not even realise this is what a healthy wheel looks like. It should be spinning smoothly but stop within a few seconds but not keep spinning forever like a fidget spinner. And here's what an unhealthy wheel looks like. It spins for a second or so and then comes to a stop. If your wheels are too loose and unstable, honestly this is a safety risk and if they're too tight it feels like you're pushing through glue on your skates and it's hard work and it's not fun. We want to make sure that all four wheels are spinning roughly at the same speed. So if you think about if you're riding a bike, you don't want one wheel spinning at the front and one wheel stuck at the back. Now if you have a bolt on a wheel that's too loose, it's actually really dangerous because it means that the bolt can come loose and the wheel can come off. So what we want to check for is that there are no clicking sounds. So if you move your wheel up and down, that's too loose. I can hear clicking so we never want any clicking. So you're just going to loosen a tiny bit, check as you go that there's no clicking, loosen a tiny bit, no clicking, no clicking and then check the speed. That one's going a little bit more freely so we need to loosen this one a tiny bit, check again no clicking, there we go, perfect. So we're just looking for wheels that spin roughly at the same speed. You're going to check that on all four wheels and just play around with getting to know your gear. It's all part of becoming a skater. Tip number two is checking your truck tightness. If they're too loose you'll feel like you're on a tightrope and if they're too tight you can't turn properly which makes everything harder than it needs to be. If you're new here, here's the simple version. Trucks are the middle part underneath your skate that hold your wheels and let you turn. You can lean left or right and your trucks flex to steer your wheel. If they're not set up right, everything will feel really off. So if you press down on your inside edges of your foot, your trucks should be flexing a tiny bit. So this flex here, that's exactly what we want. So here's what to look for when adjusting your trucks. If your trucks are too loose, you'll see here these two wheels are wobbling around. That is going to feel really unstable and really wobbly even just standing in your skates and it's really dangerous. So that's definitely too loose and if they're too tight, when you press on your inside edge, you won't get any flex at all. No matter how hard you press, you're not getting any flex in your trucks here. That's not budging at all. So what we want is a slight flex in our truck so that when we turn a corner, our trucks will flex a tiny bit and we will actually go around the corner. So if your trucks are too tight, when you press on an outside or inside edge, your skate just doesn't go. So I see this a lot with beginner skaters when they're practicing balancing or just trying to turn a corner. Their skates aren't working with them, which is usually a sign that their trucks are too tight. So how do we fix this? On the bottom of your skate, using your skate tool, you have these bolts at the bottom and you're going to either loosen or tighten them depending on how your trucks are feeling. So if they're too tight, you're going to loosen them up and you're just going to turn the bolt about a quarter turn on both and then see how your trucks are feeling. So that's already given them a little bit of flex. And then if they're too tight, lefty loosey, righty tighty, you're going to nudge the bolt to the right a tiny bit to tighten them up. Okay, it's as simple as that. Now, depending on the skates that you have, you'll see that these skates here, you adjust the trucks at the bottom and you need to unlock that bolt with your skate tool by loosening it off. So just turn it to the left, loosen that off and then adjust your trucks. Once you have adjusted your trucks, then tighten that bolt. My chuffed skates here, you'll see that they don't have that bolt underneath. So with skates like this, you just need to adjust the bolt here. So once you've adjusted your wheels and trucks, make sure you check and feel after each tweak that you do on your skate. Don't be scared to adjust these parts of your skates. Just do it a little bit at a time, then pop one skate on and feel the difference before you start skating. It's the only way that you're going to get the right skate set up for you. And if you're just starting out and want more help, I've put together a free beginner mini guide with my top tips to get you rolling safely and confidently. The link's in the description below, so go and grab that. As promised, here's my big tip for those of you who are brand new and feeling super nervous. First, make sure you've done those two checks, your wheel spin and your truck tightness, so you know everything is set up properly. Once that's done, here's the confidence booster I use with every beginner. Tighten your wheels just a little more than usual. It slows things down and you're not going to be rolling everywhere and it gives you that little bit of extra stability while you find your balance. I do this for every kid I teach who's skating like a baby penguin and honestly it works just as well for adults too. So how to do this? So using your skate tool or a spanner, give each wheel one or two small turns. So at the moment the wheels are spinning freely and we're going to nudge that a tiny bit. Still spinning freely, so I'm going to tighten that one up a little bit more. You can see now those wheels spin but not as freely. Perfect. Then pop one skate on and feel the difference before you start skating and once you're comfortable you can always loosen these wheels back off for more flow. But for now this is going to give you a little bit more confidence. So there you go, two quick checks and one confidence boosting tip that can totally change how your skates feel. Don't be scared to get to know your gear. The more you understand it, the faster you will progress and the safer you will feel. Now I would love to know and be honest, have you ever actually checked your wheels? Comment below and tell me and hey if the answer is no, there's no shame. It's actually more common than you think. If you found this video helpful, please give it a like and subscribe if you are interested in seeing more skate tips like this each week. Thanks guys and I'll see you in the next video.