Worth the investment!
I am still new to park skating, started around summer 2024 in my beach bunnies. As much as I loved those skates, my ankles were getting achy and my feet would hurt so badly even with nice insoles. I would try to learn my makios and 50-50s in them, but did not feel confident to do so because my ankles were feeling funny and I was afraid that if I didn’t land my stance correctly, I would twist my ankle.
So with lots of research and reading lots of reviews, I made the jump to the Jack 2s because I know that I want to keep up this hobby and want to invest in high quality skates that will last be for years. And boy, these skates are amazing! They are so stiff but sooooo comfortable at the same time. My ankles feel supported and as soon as I put them on, something in my brain changed. I felt like these skates were an extension of my feet now, my jumps became higher, I became confident in my 180s at a faster speed, and practicing the makios on a ledge/rail was so much easier! It was an instant level up! I was so amazed because I would get so frustrated trying to land these basic tricks in my beach bunnies but wouldn’t have a solid landing in them or I would bail because I got wobbly. And I KNEW I could do these tricks, I just needed to upgrade my boots.
I’m so happy I did, it was a bit pricy, but I didn’t want to risk injuring myself by pushing to get a trick right with my ankles feeling weird, and now in these boots the tricks are so easy to get. I just need to solidify my balance now. And for reference, I was using the same trucks, wheels, and sliding blocks on my beach bunnies, transferred the same stuff to the Jack boot and instantly felt better and safer.
If you’ve been on the fence about upgrading to the boot, I HIGHLY recommend to do so. It will pay itself off eventually and you will feel so much more confident in your jumps and strides.
The ONLY con to the boot is the breaking in period. My feet are on fire by the end of my sessions, again, even with an insole. I’ve put in about 10 hours so far, got a few more to go, but man is it tough on ya. Worth it though! They are starting to feel amazing.
