Inline skate wheel setups

Flat Setup
A flat setup is the most common setup used on inline skates. Almost all non-aggressive inline skates are sold with a flat wheel setup. Flat means that all the wheels touch the ground at the same time when resting on flat ground. Flat setups are not the most maneuverable but what they lack in maneuverability they make up for in speed. Flat setups are widely considered to be the fastest setups. Speed skaters and marathon skaters normally use flat setups. Aggressive skates are sometimes sold with flat setups, but with a small space in the middle for grinding.
It is worth noting that having a flat setup is just one factor in a fast skate setup. A long frame, low resistance bearings, and good technique all contribute greatly to a skater's speed.
Full 'crescent/banana' Rocker
Full rockers are used by skaters who favor maneuverability when skating on flat ground. Freestyle skaters, freestyle slalom skaters and artistic inline skaters tend to use this setup. This setup is called "crescent" or "banana" because it is curved, and mimics a curved ice blade profile. On flat ground this setup will only have 1-2 wheels touching the ground at any one time. This makes the skate much easier to turn but lacks stability so it is harder to balance on. In addition, a full rocker is slower than a flat setup in terms of top speed
Flat setups generally wear into a 'natural' rocker. This is because the front and back wheels seem to receive the vast majority of wear on inline skates.
Having a short frame (230mm-245mm) in combination with a full rocker is optimum for achieving the highest manoeuvrability when skating.
Front Rocker
Front rockers are often used by street skaters who want to combine the ability of a full rocker to handle imperfections in the ground with a flat setup’s sheer speed. Having a smaller wheel at the front encourages the front wheel to guide the rest of the skate over ground imperfections, rather than digging in and tripping up the less experienced skater. Maintaining a flat profile at the back allows the skater to transfer power through the rear of the skate efficiently to maintain a good speed.
‘Hi-Lo’ Hockey Setup
Some hockey skates and other skates include a HiLo setup. This is a great source of confusion to skaters. HiLo setups resemble a flat setup in that all 4 wheels touch the ground at the same time. Unlike a flat setup, however, different wheel sizes are used. The front two wheels will be smaller than the back two wheels. This is possible because of the location of the axles on the frame itself. One example is a Nike/Bauer frame that has a configuration of 72mm, 72mm, 80mm, and 78mm.
This setup is supposed to provide better maneuvering on corners while still giving the speed of the bigger wheels when going straight. It is also supposed to encourage a forward leaning ‘sprint’ posture, which may lead to faster skating. There is considerable debate as to whether any of these proposed advantages are true.
'TriDi' Hi-Lo Setup
Another variant of the setup in which there are three diameters of wheels. It is supposed to emphasize the same benefits as the HiLo system but with greater maneuverability due to the smaller front wheels. The configuration is 72mm, 76mm, 76mm, 80mm.
Aggressive Hi-Lo Setup
A few aggressive skate frames (most notably the Rollerblade Switch Frame) are designed so that there are two big outer wheels, and two small inner wheels, rockered so that they all touch the ground. This gives the benefits of a flat setup, while giving the rollerblader more space to grind on the H-block between the wheels.
Anti-rocker
Anti rocker is the most popular setup for aggressive skaters. An anti-rocker wheel is a small hard wheel that replaces the two middle wheels. Anti-rocker wheels almost never touch the ground except in cases where the terrain is uneven, such as skating over a ramp. Anti rockers can be made of plastic, or high density polyurethane. Some use bearings so that they can spin. Others do not use bearings so that they're lighter. The anti-rocker setup makes maneuvering harder, overall speed slower, a rougher ride, and a wider turning radii, but because of the extra space in the middle, it makes grinding objects much easier than with a flat setup.
Freestyle
The freestyle frame is another setup used by aggressive skaters. This setup simply has two wheels - one in the front and one in the back. In between the two wheels is plenty of empty space, which is used for grinding. Freestyle frames can be purchased, although removing the two inner wheels of a flat or anti-rocker frame technically makes it freestyle.
Tri-Rocker
Tri-rocker is used by some aggressive skaters. It is another method of making grinds easier. A frame with a tri-rocker setup has only one wheel in the middle, either in the second wheel position or in the third wheel position, depending on what kinds of grinds the skater plans on doing. The remaining axle has an anti-rocker wheel, a special grind block, or is just left empty.
The purpose of a tri-rocker setup is to give the skater good speed and maneuverability, like on a flat setup. But because of the extra space, grinding is also a little easier than a flat setup.

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