Otherwise known as stunt roller skates, aggressive skates are used for performing impressive tricks in skate parks or on the street. Stunt blades have between two and four wheels, which are designed specially to allow the wearers to perform skating moves, and wheels are usually small to allow for quick movements.
Street Skating
Street skaters, or freestyle skaters, are the people you see ramping off embankments, rolling down banisters, jumping from stairs and balconies, and creatively using whatever else is available on the street to perform tricks.
Park Skating
Park skaters use designated skate parks that house specially designed ramps and obstacles. The most famous equipment in a skate park is probably the half or quarter pipe, which looks like a large piece of pipe that has been cut in two. Skaters roll over the inner curve, and then spin in the air to repeat the move the other way.
Vertical Skating
Similar to park skating, vertical skating, shortened to vert, refers to skating carried out in the half pipe. The difference is, vert skaters tend to avoid all other obstacles, focusing solely on the half pipe. Skaters build speed on the ramp until able to perform acrobatics in the air.
Buying Skates
A lot of specially designed skates are out there, but popular beginner brands include K2 and Salomon. Skate wheels have a durometer number, which tells you how hard the plastic is. Aggressive skaters usually use hard wheels of between 90A and 95A durometer, as the strength allows for tricks.
Another thing to consider is bearings. Bearings keep the wheels moving and the ABEC Scale measures their quality, one being low and nine being high. Higher rated bearings will last longer, but whether they allow for more speed is questionable.
Safety Gear
Safety equipment such as helmet, knee and elbow pads and wrist guards are highly recommended. Buy a specialist helmet or use an ANSI or Snell approved bike helmet, as suggested by Tony Chen, writing for Skatefaq.com.
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