Information on ski-Rollers and rollski
Rollski is a sport with a long tradition. Originally the first ski-rollers were developed for cross-country skiing to ensure an efficient training in summer. The aim was to simulate the same motion sequence as in cross-country skiing.
It did not take long until rollski for modern skating techniques were developed additionally to ski-rollers for classical diagonal techniques.
Rollski sport on ski-rollers is gaining more and more relevance since the development of effective calf brakes. Braking on ski-rollers without assembled brake is a technically challenging issue. It is not long ago that ski-rollers were not appropriate for everyone due to safety reasons. Today you can find a variety of ski-rollers with brakes and especially cross-country-skiers do enjoy practicing their sport in summer.
Most ski-rollers differ from nordic cross skates when it comes to tyres. While cross skates have 150 mm air tyres, ski-rollers usually have rubber or polyuethan tyres. Since 2010 the manufacturer Powerslide offers ski-rollers which are delivered with 150 mm air tyres. This combines the advantages of ski-rollers and nordic cross skates into one new product. Apart from that rollski have less ride height and a bigger axis distance than cross skates, which makes ski-rollers ideal for usage on flat asphalt. Nordic cross skates (from Powerslide) are a better choice on rough pavements and forest tracks.
Categories of ski-rollers:
Ski-rollers for classic technique:
- Rack length/Binding piece length: 600 mm - 700 mm
- Wheel width: 30 mm – 50 mm
- Wheel size: 70 mm – 100 mm
- With return stop on front wheels
Ski-rollers for skating technique:
- Rack length/Binding piece length: 520 mm -620 mm
- Wheel width: 20 mm – 30 mm
- Wheel size: 80 mm – 100 mm
Combination models for classic and skating in one product:
These ski-rollers are a mixture of a classic and a skating device due to their characteristics and their type of construction. Those combination models usually have a “chocolate discipline” which they are best in. Combination ski-rollers are an interesting low priced option for people who want to use both techniques.
Skating poles:
The same type of nordic sticks are used for rollskiing and for nordic cross Skating. Those poles are equipped with hard metal peaks. Only the stick length deviates. More information on the right pole length for nordic skating and cross skating can be found here.
