Xsjado Stockwell Boot w/ 50-50 Core Frames

Xsjado Stockwell Boot w/ 50-50 Core Frames

Review by Robert Green aka Inlinenz

So I’ve been rolling my new skates for a couple of months now and it’s time for some feedback.

My setup is:

• Xsjado Stockwell boot
• Fifty/50 Core frames
• Craps Bearings
• Undercover Oli Benet wheels

The Boot:

Let’s start with the Stockwell footwraps. I remember when the first Xsjado skates came out a lot of people said they probably wouldn’t wear the footwraps when not skating. Well these ones are both comfortable enough and stylish enough that I DO want to wear them when not skating. What more could you ask for really?

Now onto the boot. The first thing you notice is just how light they are. Even compared to my old Deshi dk4’s, which are no heavyweights, they’re noticeably lighter. Coloured in multiple shades of grey and a few black highlights, they’re much less of an eyesore than the original Xsjados, though for many the Xsjado look is still a love it or hate it thing.

The adjustability of the Xsjado boot is unmatched. It’ll take you a dozen sessions just to try all the different possibilities and find the perfect settings for you. Since I’ve never seen a list of all the options, I’ll cover them all here.

• The cuff section slides forward and back for different sized feet. I’ve seen a number of posts online suggesting that Xsjado boots hurt their foot at the closest point to the backslide plate. I had this at first but it went away when I got the right cuff position.
• Both the inner and outer part of the instep strap can connect to the cuff at two different points.
• The top strap attaches at both sides and the back of the cuff, and there are two holes on the strap and two on the cuff padding at each, for four different variations at each point. So the cuff padding can be raised and lowered, and there are combinations where the back is a little higher or lower than the sides. You could probably try having one side lower than the other, but I’m not sure you’d want to.
• The point on the instep strap which the top strap connects to can also be set in four ways, to help determine the height of the tongue relative to the rest of the cuff.
• Then of course, you have the footwrap laces, the toe strap, adjustments on both sides of the instep strap and both sides of the top strap.

Once you have all these set up right, the fit is incredible. If you lift a foot up and rotate your ankle, you’ll notice both how light they are and, more importantly, how well they follow your foot. It’s hard to imagine any skate having more control than this.

With the Xsjado skate, flex and support are up to you, largely determined by how tight you wear the top strap. Even with it done as tight as it’ll go, it’s still reasonable flexible, and by loosening them a little you should have all the flex you need, while still keeping enough support. What’s really impressive about the Xsjado boot though, is that regardless of how tight the top straps are, you still have almost complete control, thanks to the instep strap locking your heel in place.

The souls on the Xsjado boot have a reputation for being the largest on the market. On the large shell this may be true, but on the smaller one (which I’m skating) they’re not quite that large. They’re certainly smaller than the new Deshi souls, probably around the same as TRS. They’re of a decent speed once worn in, and Night plates are available if you want them to go even faster. The backslide groove is extra large and will let you get really low on torque/backslide tricks.

There’s got to be some downsides, right? There are only a few minor things that could be better with the Stockwell boot. The screws used for the straps seem to strip too easily. I’ve got one on each boot that I can no longer remove. Not much point in making every part of the skate replaceable if I can’t get the old one off now is there? Also, there’s no denying it, all those straps do take a while to put on. That extra minute is hardly likely to be a deal breaker, but hey, I’m just scraping for any negatives here. The last one is that the padding at the front of the footwrap is rather minimal. Under the ball of the foot there’s a footbed and a thin sole on top of the plastic base, so you’ll feel the big landings there if you don’t have all your weight on the heel. I stuck another footbed (from a pair of skate shoes) on top of the existing one and this problem disappeared.

In summary, my impression of the Stockwell Xsjado boot is almost entirely positive. Comfortable, very light, flexible, good support, big souls, stylish, plus an extra pair of shoes when not skating. There’s really not much more you can ask for in a skate.

The Frames:

The Fifty/50 core frame, as you probably know by now, combines a metal core for strength with replaceable grind walls in a freestyle setup most similar to the Xsjado Mook frame, but with a more traditional rounded groove in the centre.
Much like the boot, there’s very little wrong with this frame. It’s fast, it has a huge grind area and the centre groove gets a perfect lock on coping and similar sized rails. It’s also got the little bumps on the side that Fifty/50 created for the balance frames that’s supposed to make souls and top-souls faster, though I can’t really say I’ve noticed a huge difference. The side of the frames hardly look touched at all though, so I guess that’s a plus.

I’ve never actually broken a frame before, but the core idea appeals regardless. If/when the frames wear down or even if I just want a change in colour, I can get replacements for little more than half what a normal freestyle frame costs.

The Bearings:

I’ve been skating Crap Bearings for a while now and I’d recommend them to everyone, especially those without flat setups, since the extra weight on each one demands a good quality bearing. At the time I got them I also got new skates, so it didn’t really register how much of a difference they were having. A few weeks ago though, I experimented with a different frame setup with abec 5’s, and suddenly the difference was obvious. Everything just took a little bit more work. A little more pumping to reach the coping, having to push a bit harder when trying to get up to speed from standing, etc. If you’re the kind of person who likes to skate all afternoon, these things add up. And if you skate freestyle, you can get an 8-pack of Craps for about the same as 16 generic abec 5’s, so it shouldn’t be hard to justify going above stock in this area.

The Wheels:

The Undercover Oli Benet wheel is a grey, 57/89 wheel. There’s not much to say about it really. They’ve worn down evenly with no few of cracks or chunking.

Summary:

There are a number of things I’d look for in the perfect skate. It would be comfortable, flexible, supportive, fast sliding with good size souls and freestyle frames. It’d ride fast, have a nice style and be as light as possible.

The setup I’ve just reviewed fits all of these to a large degree, leaving me feeling like I can never complain about my equipment. I can skate them all day without hurting my feet and ankles and there’s never a time I think “I’d try that trick, if only [something about my setup] was better”.

Xsjado Stockwell Boot w/ 50-50 Core Frames