Articles of sports equipment, such as striking implements (e.g., sticks) and wearable articles (e.g., skates, helmets) for playing hockey or other activities, in which at least one of the characteristics (e.g., stiffness) of the articles of sports equipment is adaptable and can be altered during use of the sports equipment, such as by comprising an alterable component coupled to a controller, by comprising an alterable component that is autonomously alterable, and/or by an alterable component that can be altered in response to a command of a remote device.

An inline skate includes a skate boot; a front wheel mount secured to a front portion of a bottom of the skate boot; a front wheel rotatably secured to the front wheel mount; a rear wheel mount secured to a rear portion of the bottom of the skate boot; a rear wheel rotatably secured to the rear wheel mount; and two adjustable shock absorbers disposed between the front wheel mount and the rear wheel mount.

Method and apparatus directed to cushioned traction pads for self-balancing vehicles. The method and apparatus is comprised of a front cushioned traction pad that has a top surface and a bottom surface; attaching the bottom surface of the front cushioned traction pad to a first deck portion disposed at a first end of a frame, the top surface of the front cushioned traction pad configured to receive a left or right foot of a rider; selecting a rear cushioned traction pad that has a top surface and a bottom surface. The top surface of the rear cushioned traction pad further has a rear kicktail extending integrally upwardly and rearwardly. The method and apparatus further include attaching the bottom surface of the rear cushioned traction pad to a second deck portion disposed at a second end of the frame for receiving the left or right foot of a rider.

Device and methods for a ski assembly system and snowboard assembly system having a ski or snowboard with a centerline axis, a perpendicular axis, and a ski suspension system. The ski or snowboard suspension system has a suspension platform with two or more struts rotatably coupled with the suspension platform and at least one of a front mount assembly and a rear mount assembly.

A movable dasher board system optimizes user safety in a hockey rink or similar arena. A bottom structure, provided by a sliding bottom surface or roller assembly, has low friction characteristics, typically a .sub.s of 0.05 or less with respect to ice if a sliding surface, or if roller bearings an effective coefficient of rolling friction 0.04 or less. A dasher board assembly is operatively connected to and extends upwardly from the bottom structure. Biasing and impact force absorbing devices (such as pneumatic or hydraulic or spring-encasing telescoping tubes, or foam, gel, or compression springs) bias the bottom structure and dasher board assembly to a desired position and absorb the impact of a human hitting the dasher board assembly to minimize the possibility of injury to the human. The system may be installed in a pre-existing rink or other arena.

The present invention relates to sports equipment, namely, to roller skates design enabling an athlete to achieve high speed of movement with better comfort and improved motion control, in particular, in case of movement on a lower quality road surfaces. Roller skates consist of two skatesright and left ones, each comprising a spatial rectangular frame with its upper surface adapted to be attached to a frame of the corresponding shoe, either left or right one, and its lower side having two pairs of rollers pivotally attached thereto such that the rollers may rotate being in contact with the roadway and the rollers' axes are parallel to the frame plane, and according to the invention each pair of front and rear rollers of each skate is pivotally attached to the corresponding Z-shaped wheel arm, either front or rear one, which has its central section pivotally attached to the corresponding smaller side of the spatial rectangular frame, and the distance between the axes of the inner rollers of a skate is greater than the distance between the axes of the external rollers. The present invention is aimed to provide such roller skates, which would be more reliable and safe due to increased stability of the skates during movement, also in case of lower quality road surface and during cornering. This objective is achieved by way of creating conditions for uniform distribution of the load arising from the weight of the athlete during movement among all four rollers of each skate, even when moving on a lower quality road surface.

A skate including a shoe/boot part and a skate iron/blade part, wherein the skate iron/blade part includes a skate iron/blade and a rear and forward intermediate mounting element connecting the skate iron/blade to the shoe/boot part, wherein at least a part of the forward mounting element may be compressed in the vertical direction, said forward mounting element being equipped with a resilient device that may be compressed through vertically loading the skate and that mainly returns to its original form when the vertical load of the skate diminishes.

A bottom structure of a roller skate includes a sole; a frame secured to the sole and including front and rear supports and two hubs disposed on the front and rear supports respectively; a pivotal member disposed in the hub; two spaced sleeves disposed in the hub wherein the sleeves are further partially disposed in the pivotal member and secured to the pivotal member; a shaft passing through the hub, the pivotal member, and a gap between the sleeves, and rigidly secured to the pivotal member; and two enlargements disposed at two ends of the shaft respectively.

A movable dasher board system optimizes user safety in a hockey rink or similar arena. A bottom structure, provided by a sliding bottom surface or roller assembly, has low friction characteristics, typically a .sub.s of 0.05 or less with respect to ice if a sliding surface, or if roller bearings an effective coefficient of rolling friction 0.04 or less. A dasher board assembly is operatively connected to and extends upwardly from the bottom structure. Biasing and impact force absorbing devices (such as pneumatic or hydraulic or spring-encasing telescoping tubes, or foam, gel, or compression springs) bias the bottom structure and dasher board assembly to a desired position and absorb the impact of a human hitting the dasher board assembly to minimize the possibility of injury to the human. The system may be installed in a pre-existing rink or other arena.

A suspension system for a small vehicle is described that includes a shock absorbing spring, a chassis integration assembly, and an adjustment mechanism, wherein the adjustment mechanism is adapted to be able to adjust a travel range of the shock absorbing spring to adjust a range of compression of the shock absorbing spring relative to a force-bearing capacity range of the small vehicle. The chassis integration assembly may include two attachment supports that are connected by a rod-and-piston in a cylinder that connects to each attachment support using a hinge. The rod traverses the spring, and the spring creates suspension between the two attachment supports. The suspension system may be configured to be controlled by gas or any other means of dampening by extension or compression.