Aggressive Skates Buyers Guide - Find the Best Skates for Tricks!

Aggressive skating involves stunts like grinding on rails, sliding on obstacles, and jumping or spinning off various structures. It's similar to skateboarding, with an emphasis on tricks at skateparks or in urban environments.

For aggressive skating, you'll need aggressive skates, which are specifically designed for these stunts. These skates feature a strong cuff for ankle support, reinforced plates and frames for grinding, and smaller wheels to keep you closer to the ground. 

If you’re new to aggressive skating or coming back to it after a 15 year hiatus, you couldn't have come at a better time. The market is rich with passionate skaters making great skates. In terms of available options at decent pricing, it’s never been better than it is right now.

With so many available though, finding the best aggressive skates for you can be challenging. We've been aggressive skating for +25 years, so we think we have some skin in the game to be able to say, don’t worry. We’ve got you. Take a look below.


TLDR: Quick Loco Skates Recommendations

Best aggressive skates for getting back into it: USD Aeon Basic 60 Skates

Best aggressive skates for beginners: Razors Cult Level One Skates

Best junior aggressive skates: USD Glitch Skates

Best aggressive skates on a budget: Playlife Reactor Skates

Best premium aggressive skates: Them 909 Skates

Best aggressive skates for wide feet: Roces 5th Element Skates

Best Aggressive Skates for Returning Skaters - USD Aeon 60 Skates

If you skated back in the day, you’ll love how much the sport has evolved. While tricks might seem smaller compared to Chris Haffey’s era, the variety and quality of skates have never been better. Today, most skate brands are owned by legendary skaters who’ve shaped the industry.

For those coming back after a break, the USD Aeon Basic 60 Skates are the ultimate choice. These skates feature a unibody design, meaning the boot, soul plate, and frame are all one piece. This keeps your feet low to the ground, creating a responsive and connected feel. It’s like gliding across the skatepark with low-level flight.

Honestly, 99 out of 100 skaters would have an amazing time with the USD Aeon Basic 60. It’s our go-to recommendation for a reason.

Best Aggressive Skates for Beginners - Razors Cult Level One

There’s quite a few models we could have chosen for this category, but the Razors Cult Level One Skates are the standout option because of the incredible value for money. The Cult is a classic boot modernised with a one-piece soulkit. The Razors cuff is renowned for being super solid on landings and the Ground Control FLT3 frame is considered industry standard. It’s lightweight and comes with an anti-rocker (small hard wheels specific for grinding) in the middle, pre-installed. A full package at a price we couldn’t believe when we first saw it.

 


Best Aggressive Skates on a Budget?

For skaters on a budget, the Playlife Reactor Skates are a steal. Fun fact: the Reactor is based on the original USD Sway skates, a fan-favorite model. The Reactor shares the same fundamental boot design, with the only differences being the soul plate and liner.

Playlife includes Kizer Fluid 5 frames and USD team wheels—both aftermarket upgrades—making this skate an incredible value. While the soul plate isn’t the most stylish, it’s highly functional and perfect for grinding.

Best Expensive Aggressive Skates - Them 909 Skates

The two main reasons why some skates are more expensive than others is the sizing options and the liners. 

Most skate companies produce boots in just four sizes. This setup, called shared shell sizing, allows a UK10, UK11 and UK12, for example, to share the same outer plastic shell and use a different liner inside to represent each individual size. 

The advantage for companies here is lower manufacturing costs. Which helps keep the price low for you too. The drawback is that each shell is only a true fit for one of the contained individual sizes. Many people will have a skate slightly too big or slightly too small. Or worse,  you’ll be right in-between two shell sizes.

Without getting bogged down in technicalities, when companies offer more shell sizes, the cost for them is significantly higher. Which makes the cost of the skates higher too. The benefit though is a better fitting skate is more enjoyable to use. If you enjoy your skates, you’ll want to use them more.

One brand committed to better fitting skates is THEM Skates. An independent brand founded by Jon Julio. Not only do they have fully independent in-house designs they have six shell sizes, two more than usually found. This means you're more likely to have a true fit and less likely to have to compromise one way or another. 

Going even further THEM partnered with Intuition, a high-end ski liner brand, to create custom liners designed specifically for their skates, with patented materials. There is no other liner with Intuition quality. They are truly on another level. This collaboration, along with huge improvements to fitment has made the Them 909 Skates the best premium option available. **Note, the THEM 901 skates with intuition has limited availability from time to time, depending of production schedules**

 


Best Aggressive Skates for Wide Feet - Roces 5th Elements Skates

Wide feet can be problematic, but it’s not always as big an issue as certain users on blogs like to point out. All skates need to touch the side of your feet (so you're not moving around inside) and most boots will accomodate average to wide sized feet. 

Nevertheless, if you use barefoot shoes, or you have a bunion, or you do happen to have exceptionally wide feet, there are some narrow fitting skates to stay clear of (tip: use our wide and narrow filters on skate collection pages). 

If you're in this category, the best skates for wide feet are the Roces Fifth Element Skates. These have a large open shell and use dual density plastic. This is of benefit to those with wide feet because the base is built from harder and supportive plastic, but the dorsum section (the top and sides of the foot) are built from a softer and more pliable plastic. This makes the boot shape around the foot resolving common pressure points. It’s very forgiving in this sense. Not only that, it’s a really great skate used by top pros like Nils Jansons.

 


Comparison Table (Scored out of 10)

Frequently Asked Questions


How long do aggressive skating wheels and bearings last?

It depends on how often you use your skates and what surfaces you are using them on. It’s near impossible to give an umbrella answer to this one. But, it would be good to take away that an anti-rocker configuration will wear down faster than a flat setup. This is because there are less contact points taking the weight of your body and skates. 

Are aggressive skates good for general use?

No. Aggressive skating wheels are very small compared to general use skates. This means you will have to put in lots of extra work if you plan to use them while commuting. We recommend looking at our range of Inline Skates & Rollerblades if you want to use your skates more generally.

What are aggressive skates good for?

Aggressive skates are good for stunts like grinding on rails, sliding on obstacles, and jumping or spinning off various structures. It's similar to skateboarding, with an emphasis on tricks at skateparks or in urban environments.

What are the most comfortable aggressive skates?

The most comfortable aggressive skates are THEM Skates. They use a premium liner which is unavailable to any other brand and have better fitting skates generally.


Final Thoughts

Aggressive skating is all about pushing boundaries in a fun and creative way. You're grinding on rails and executing tricks in the skatepark. To do this you’ll need aggressive skates which are specialised with plates, reinforced parts and smaller wheels for maximum control. 

If you’re returning to skating after an extended time out, you’re in luck. Today’s choices are better than ever, with excellent quality available at reasonable prices. But, really you need not look any further than the USD Aeon 60 Basic Skates.

If you’re new, on a budget or after a high-end skate, we’ve got you covered too. Newbies will appreciate the quality of the Playlife Reaktor for the price. Those seeking the best comfort, fit and performance the THEM 909 Skates are unmatched. 

If you're still unsure and want to start looking for your perfect pair, explore our full range of aggressive skates now or email hello@locoskates.com for more expert advice.