Razors Shift Inline Skate - Review
These are the Razors Shift skates They’re the new top of the line skate from Razors and retail for around $300 US. The boot includes an internal heel pad shock absorber like the Razors SL series, the same style you found in the old Salomon skates from the 90’s. The liner is thick and features the new heel retention system, which helps keep your foot in the back of the boot. They come stock with Ground control Featherlite 3 UFS frames with 64mm wheels with ABEC 9 bearings and anti rockers.
The hallmark feature though is the new Instant Frame Change system. The base is a two part system, the soul and the slider. By pressing the two IFC buttons, you can remove the slider and then the soul plate. Because the frames mount to the soul plate using UFS, this means you can get another set of soul plates and change your frames without having to get to the UFS bolts. Extra soul plates run around $40 for the set. It also means that as you wear down the soul plate from grinding, you can easily replace the sliders, which run around $20 a set.
How do they measure up compared to the SL3 skate? The soul area is a bit larger while the negative is a bit smaller. The ride height is 7mm taller. This means the SL3 has a lower center of gravity than the Shift. I measure ride height as the distance between the bottom of your foot and the bottom of the frame. They’re also slightly lighter, but not by much.
Over the next few weeks I skated them every day. I made sure to switch between skate park and free skating so I could give the IFC system a real world test.
The IFC system worked great, no problems at all. Being able to switch frames in under a minute was really nice. I can imagine people in more urban areas really appreciating this for skating between spots. The souls have some good wear on them but nothing out of the ordinary. I was worried that the IFC buttons would get worn quickly, but because they’re so close to the frame it doesn’t look like that will be a problem.
The Razors Shift skates are a worthy replacement for the SL3. The combination of the new liner and the IFC system make this a great upgrade if you want to replace your SL skates. The liners took a few hours of skating to break in, but now they feel even more comfortable than my SL3s did.
Are these skates for everyone? Maybe, if you set your expectations properly.
The IFC is a great system, and switching between big wheel and grinder setups is pretty great. But you’ll need to purchase a second set of soul plates if you want to take advantage of it. I would argue that switching frames with a powered screwdriver is almost as fast, and probably cheaper.
I wouldn’t consider the frame changing the only reason to go IFC though. I do a lot of soul tricks and will wear through this slider eventually. Rather than buying a new skate, or a new soul plate, I can just replace the sliders for $20.
I’m really hoping that someday Razors will release a complete IFC frame. If they don’t have to support UFS, they could create a soul plate that includes the frame and royale groove. This could make a stronger, lower wheelbase with a big split and big wheels.
Until then, I’m very happy with my Razors Shift skates. The comfort and design of the boots are perfect my style of blading and the IFC is really handy for swapping between different setups.
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