One Highlands Ranch business owner likes skiing and mountain biking so much that he combined the two sports into a hybrid via all-terrain inline skates.
While the concept of all-terrain inline skates isn’t a new concept, Scott Schroeder, 33, of Denver, said he invented the patented Footgear Suspension Device about a year ago, which has paved the way for the growing popularity of full-suspension skis, snowboard, skateboards and inline skates.
“We wanted to combine mountain biking with skiing,” Schroeder said. “It’s like carving powder snow on concrete or trails.”
Schroeder said he is a former ski racer and a big mountain biking buff, which sparked his desire to combine the two into mountain skates. Schroeder said he liked the idea of mountain boarding -- snowboarding with wheels, a la all-terrain -- and wanted to do something along the same lines with skiing.
“We kind of figured we’d do skiing in the summer,” Schroeder said.
The Colorado native owns AllTerraSkates in Highlands Ranch, which has been selling skates online for 10 years.
As of yet, AllTerraSkates hasn’t sold any full-suspension mountain skates. Schroeder said he is in the breakthrough stage of financing and getting his skates into the market at a reasonable price. Right now, the mountain skates run $1,000, while the all-terrain street skates cost about $550. Schroeder said he is looking to get the street skates down to $250.
While Schroeder and team AllTerraSkates are still in beginning stages, he said there is a buzz going around. Schroeder and his skates were featured on 9News last November.
“People just can’t stop talking about them,” Schroeder said about the mountain skates. “People love them.”
Barrett Blank, AllTerraSkates marketing officer, said the all-terrain skates offer greater flexibility than traditional inline skates. Blank said he tried them on one day and, within an hour, was skating well enough to be filmed.
“Within an hour, I was very proficient at it,” Blank said. “By no stretch of the imagination am I an expert skater.”
Schroeder said it has taken him about eight years to develop the skates to where they are today.
“It’s really a long, involved process,” Schroeder said about developing the all-terrain skates. “We’ve got some excellent designers who have done some really important things in the past ... and we’re still making better designs.”
Schroeder said the Footgear Suspension Device allows skaters to get much more travel out of the all-terrain inline skates than most mountain bikes. On his Web site, www.allterraskates.com, Schroeder states that his all-terrain skate is the first independent suspension skate and features a more stable and comfortable platform than other inline skates. The all-terrain skates also feature an excellent braking system, Schroeder said.
Schroeder calls the mountain skate a “downhill trail skate,” which can be used on dirt or concrete, wet or dry. He said the skates are suitable for both expert and novice alike. He said the mountain skates are more stable than ordinary inline skates, making it more difficult to fall down. Schroeder, however, did say he suffered an injury to his hand while skating 30 mph.