Alpina RSK Summer Skate Rollerski Boots - Closeout

I wear a 11.5 shoe with narrow, low volume foot and this 11.5 boot fits nicely. The tongue slips from under the ankle strap, which is less than ideal. Otherwise, they're comfortable and better for warm weather than snow boots.

I’d like to preface this review by saying that rollerskishop.com’s staff were extremely friendly and helpful, helping me select the correct sizing, and this review is in no way reflective on the shop itself, just the product. Moving onto the boot itself: Put simply, these just aren’t adequate at all for any level of roller skiing. The RSK platform might be usable on snow, where you’re inherently more stable, but on roads they’re practically unusable. They have nothing in the way of torsional rigidity, which is only highlighted when you start to ski harder. They’ve buckled at the worst possible times, causing me to fall where I otherwise probably wouldn’t have. Additionally, the channels on the boots are narrow, so combined with the lack of stiffness in the boot itself, if you don’t land perfectly on the binding, trust that the boot will buckle outwards. In conclusion, don’t buy these, just spend the money and get ESKs because having stiff boots is so important, especially when rollerskiing. It’s not worth the potential damage to yourself and to the rest of your equipment to cheap out on the boots. Learn from my mistakes.

In brief, this entry level summer boot runs large and somewhat wide. I'd been skiing on snow using size 41s for years. This was to be my first summer boot, replacing an old Madshus winter pair I'd been using to roller ski. When I first tried on this RSK 41, I knew before skiing it was too big. The 40 fit better length-wise. Unfortunately, after about half a dozen sessions, I couldn't escape the perception that they were too wide (even when tightly cinched) to give the control I had with the old Madshus. For those of us without a local shop for trying and maybe demo-ing several options, I recommend ordering several brands, models and sizes and returning those that aren't just right. Return shipping is cheaper than getting the wrong boot. RollerSkiShop was really helpful in providing pre-purchase advice and facilitating the move from 40-41. And I'm quite happy with the Pursuit Fork Flex skis I just purchased. But these were not the right boot for me.