Overview
The goal of this project is to make a set of roller skate toe guards that can protect my new gear while I’m learning how to skate outdoors on asphalt. There aren’t any good vegan options out there, so the option seems to be to make something!
Progress
*after thinking about what materials are built to withstand road friction, I spent an evening learning about polyurethane – particularly polyurethane sheeting
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- rationale behind this: car tires, and then eventually realizing that a lot of skate wheels are made from urethane
- most valuable thing I learned – 70A is about the hardness of car tires, and most bike tires
- places you can purchase urethane sheeting include: Universal Urethane, Prothane, Tri-Urethane
- considered using kevlar bead folding road bike tires as a base material, but it seems like they’ll either be too narrow, or just as expensive or more as urethane sheeting, if perhaps simpler to source?
- one of my partners used this tutorial to build zir toe guards, so planning to use this guide as well
- got quotes on urethane sheeting from the companies above
- Prothane: $140 + $25 shipping
- Tri-Urethane: $115 + ??
- Universal Urethane Products: $39 + $30 shipping (from Ohio)
