Aggressive Skate Blog

Xjsado Latimer Pro Skates

By Kihal Baker aka BASSKATERDX

Well my birthday was coming up and decided that it was time for some new skates. I have a hard time deciding what skates to get. I went from wanting Rollerblade TRS to Razors and even Salomons. I wanted to spend as less money as i could well still getting something decent. I went for the Xsjado Latimers. Since I wanted to spent as least money as possible, i ordered them without the footwraps.

I also got the 1.7 mook frames, and since i had K2 wheels which are still in excellent condition, i didnt waste money on new wheels. When I arrived home from school I saw the package on my porch and was really excited. I went inside and just tore it open to reveal my sweet new skates. At first I thought they sent me the small shell instead of the large. I was mad because then i would have to wait another week to get the large shell. It turns out it was the large shell, and i was surprised it looked so small. I loved the black/brown color combination, I think its the only brown skate that looks good.

I’ll first talk about flex and support since thats most important to people. You can adjust the amount of flex you want by adjusting the two straps on both sides. The straps make it so you can have the flex of TRS skates or as much as Remz. Even if you have it so the skate flexs a ton, your foot will still stay perfectly in place because of the ankle binding and toe strap. The ankle binding makes it so your heel stays perfectly in place, you get no heel lift at all. Which is something most skates have. It has a high cuff so you still have plenty of support and a nice big shock obsorber for those gaps. The xsjado ankle straps do lose their stick after about 5 months, everytime i would jump they would come loose. It’s a simple matter of buying some new ones.

Next is the footwrap / liner. I dont have much to say about it because I dont have one. I use my Sifika shoes in it, and it performs and looks really well. The skate is really comfortable. I kinda thought it would feel like two different things on your foot because of how you use a shoe, but it doesnt. I’ve heard that using your own shoe feels a lot better then the footwrap. Its nice though skating around and if you want to go into a store or something, you can just take your skate right off and your shoes will be already on. Its also a lot easier then having to carry a backpack with your shoes in it everywhere. You cant just slip your foot into Xsjados like you can with any other skate, but it really isn’t that long. The top liner is really comphy, when you bend your ankle you cant feel the cuff hitting your ankles and hurting like with other skates.

Onto the Xsjado soul plates. The souls are HUGE, pretty much the biggest out right now. Its easier to lock on, espcially if your skating a ledge thats rounded off. They slide pretty nice, on anything really, even unwaxed ledges. They dont slide at all really on pvc pipe. They do last a while so if your a fan of cess slides, they’ll last you along time. Even if they wear down due to anything, they’re so wide that you’ll still have plenty of soul space left. I love the backslide plate. You can get real low on your royales unlike any other skate. Whenever I skate any other type of skate now i feel like im barely royale-ing. I want to get down deeper for that style, but i cant. The backslide plate also keeps you locked on very well. The negative plates are pretty big, even as big as regular soul plates on some skates. These skates make it easier to cess slide, do negative tricks on, and lock on better.

The whole skate is unlike any other. If your feet are still growing and you dont want to spend another $200 after you just spent that on another skate, Xsjados are perfect. You can change the shell to different sizes. Xsjados look cool, even when your not doin some huge gap or waist high handrail, they still are awesome just to skate around in since they look so unique. I just really love the look of them.
When i first saw them i was like, “How could anybody like these?” They grew on me though and im glad they did. It’s also one of the many customizable skates there is. From the flex to the way they feel on your feet. You can adjust the hight of the ankle straps, you can move the buckle for the ankle binding forward or backward, tons of things to make it so it can perform unlike any other skate. Theres the colors of the baseplate, soul plates, and cuffs. I changed the front of my soul plates to the putty color. Everything on the skate matches one another. Overall, this skate is a hate it or love it skate, so i
give it a 8.5 out of 10.

Finally, onto the frames. I got the 1.7’s cause they’re stronger, and look better in my opinion then the 1.6’s. I wanted to try freestyle because i skate a lot of ledges andi hate getting caught up on them with flat-rocker. Anti-rocker wasn’t doing it for me either, the anti’s would always wiggle around and make a lot of noises which i don’t like. The frames don’t wear down fast. I’ve had them for 5 months and they still have a long ways to go. They slide really fast, and like the Xsjado souls, on anything to. Once you have
a good groove in them they’re even better, but sometimes i still slip out of them on ledges. I thought they werent going to be good for vert, but i was wrong. They feel just fine for vert. Even the whole “set in” thing actually works and is really good. The frames make it also so you feel lower to the ground, which helps for grinding and jumping onto things. The grinding space on them is 8 inches wide, which is HUGE like Xsjados souls. The only really bad thing about them is that since they are so low to the ground, on a little bump they will catch and scrape against the ground, sometimes causing you to trip and fall which is
embarrasing in front of a lot of people. I give these frames a 8 out of 10.

Last but not least, the wheels. Although most people wont ride these wheels i will still say a little about them. They’re really good wheels. They are size 57mm with a hardness of 85a. Even though they are soft wheels they’re really good. I’ve had them since august and they have not chipped or cracked at all. They are barely worn down at all. They still have a long ways to go until they are down to the core. These are
probably one of the best stock wheels ever. They are from the K2 Schrijns skates. If you ever have a chance to get these…do it, you wont regret it. I give these wheels a 10 out of 10.

Overall, this is a really good skate. Its very customizable in a lot of ways. The whole concept is very good, and like Xsjado says, “You now have the right to evolve.” Pick up a pair of these from Roller Warehouse.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 16th, 2006 at 10:53 am and is filed under skating, xsjado, razors, dustin latimer, aggressive, rollerblade. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete innapropriate comments.