Fila has officially entered the freeride skates segment this year with its NRK line. As a side note, I’m curious as to what NRK stands for, as I have no idea, unlike FSK which is an abbreviation of Freeskate. Maybe just brands wanting to sound hype. We’ll know once people are no longer able to differentiate skate names from motorcycle names : FSK, ZZR, FRX, YZF, NRK, GSX.. we’re getting there!
These new NRK skates are clearly aimed at urban skaters looking for stiffer and more resistant skates than the typical fitness skates. The NRK and NRK Road (the 4x80mm frames models, with plastic and fibre shells respectively) are direct competition to the Rollerblade Twister and X5 as well as the Seba FR1, while the NRK A5 and NRK A5 Road (the 4x90mm active steering frames models) are direct competition to the Rollerblade RB-10 and X7 as well as the Seba GT.
I’ve dismantled the NRK Road and detailed a few of the interesting points which are revealed by the pictures.
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- Fila NRK Road
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- Fila vs. Seba heel buckles, 99% identical
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- The Fila heel buckle has a screw vs. rivet for the Seba
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- The top buckle is a bit hard to open, too close to the plastic
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- Screws everywhere, all parts are replaceable
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- The cuff screw looks familiar at a first glance
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- The eXtreme Slider, with not much to wear off
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- The very thin slider
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- The cuff screw is very different from the Seba on the inside
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- Removable liners with 3 heights of laces holes
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- Shock absorber made of foam and attached with velcro
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- The liner
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- Good looking inner soles
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- Good finish on the inside of the shell
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- Side view of the shell
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- Taking off the break mount
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- The break mount cleverly uses the main frame holes shape
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- The frame bolts use standard 4mm hex
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- The steel axles are very shallow for the hex key
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- Shell and frame
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- Two rear holes, but only one ready to be used
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- Three front holes, allowing for even more side adjustment
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- Low profile frame, requiring extra space above for the two front wheels
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- Comparison of the Fila and Seba mounting holes
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- Comparison of the Fila and Seba mounting holes
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- The centre of the three front holes
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- Seba 243mm frame mounted using the usual rear holes of the frame
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- Comparing the Fila and Seba screws
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- The frame with the screws where the holes should probably be
Being very picky, I do see a lot of imperfections :
- The frame is mounted too far back for my taste. Probably because of the low profile where the front screw needed to be separated from the second wheel. Not such a big deal, but it does also affect the looks.
- The eXtreme Slider is nearly useless : It’s too thin and the screws can get damaged very quickly, making it hard or even impossible to replace. Fila seems to have failed to see the difference between speed skaters and freeriders practising slides… I hope they fix this next year.
- The frame axles and frame/shell screws have very shallow heads, and will easily get damaged. They look even weaker than the first steel Seba axles, so be extra careful or prepare for some serious drilling.
- The adjustable cuff buttons feel shamelessly copied from the Seba FR skates (much like most of the skate, actually…), but since 9 out of 10 skates (or more!) don’t even use that feature on the Seba skates, why having even bothered?
Overall this is a quite a good skate. Skating with the NRK Road is enjoyable, as the shells are very stiff, the liners are comfortable, and the buckles work well, giving a tight and precise feeling to the skates. The original wheels (Hyper Concrete) are great, and for that price, it’s definitely a very good option for anyone looking for a decent freeride skate .
Comes the Fila NRK Road with a break which is on the first photo? Is the berak standard ex factory? Thanks a lot.
Yes, the brake comes with the skate, factory mounted, but very easy to remove.
i have a pair of nrk road, and i agree with you: the frame is too far back mounted. i want to order a pair of seba classic frames, and i would like to know if the axles from fila will fit the seba classic frame. or shall i also order new axles from seba?
The axles from both frames should fit the others. But all Seba frames are sold with axles (and spacers and Allen tools and mounting bolts for Seba skates), so you shouldn’t have a problem.
I made the same change: I mounted Seba classic frames, using the back wholes.
I will try them this evening, I am sure they will work better.
Have you had a chance to see if there are any improvements in the 2011 model?
No, I haven’t had the time to check out the 2011 model, but it seems to be exactly the same from what I just saw on the Filaskates website.
So the SEBA Classic actually fit with NRK?
Yes they fit fine, and the photo you can see here is the real result : The Seba frame is further forward than the original frame, and ends up being better centered.