Skate recs for practicing ice skating

I’m sure this sub gets this question and variations of it constantly. Sorry to add to the noise but I haven’t been able to find an answer that seems to meet my criteria yet!

On mobile, so apologies for formatting.

I started learning ice skating back in March of this year and have really been loving it, but getting on the ice to practice outside of a weekly class has been nearly impossible after the closest rink to me suffered a water main break and has been closed ever since. The other nearby rinks don’t have open skate in the summer or at hours that work with my work schedule.

I’ve started to think that maybe doing some inline skating to help build strength, balance, and muscle would help in the meantime, but don’t have a pair of skates or really know what I need.

Here’s the limitations or conditions I’m working with:

- I’m NOT learning figure skating. I use an ice hockey-style rec skate with a longer, flatter blade than most hockey skates. I don’t want any skates with a toe stop.

- The plan is to mostly just skate around my quiet suburban neighborhood as there’s not many dedicated skate parks or trails in my area. There are no sidewalks so I would be skating on the side of the asphalt road. I’m not sure what wheels/setup work best for that?

- I have not put any sort of rollerblade on my feet since elementary school, and that was about 20 years ago. However, I’m in LTS 4 in my ice skating classes if that makes any difference!

- I’d like to spend under $200 but don’t fully know what skates go for. I’m basing the budget off what I spent on my ice skates.

Any advice is much appreciated!!

Posted Jul 9, 2026, 7:52 PM UTC

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