Spiritblades were, in 1997 when we bought them, Rollerblade's lowest line of skate. We didn't know if we'd like inline-skating so we didn't want to drop a lot of money on stuff that might just take up space in the closet, but we didn't want to get Walmart-quality disposable skates either so that we could give skating a fair chance. The Spiritblades are heavy, with a fully enclosing outer plastic shell with a removable inner liner. They are closed with two ratcheting straps, no laces. They have Rollerblade's ABT break, which works great. At the time, they cost $150 each. Spiritblades aren't made any more. Rollerblade's closest model now are Viablades, which are similar to Spiritblades, except they use three ratcheting straps, allowing a more adjustable fit. Last we looked, Viablades retailed for about $120. After 1000 miles, the inner boot liner on my Spiritblades has just about disintegrated, giving a progressively worse and worse fit; all the same, it is a testament to Rollerblade construction that the skates managed to maintain their basic structural integrity. Heather had some fit problems with her Spiritblades such that she would frequently get blisters unless she was very careful with prophylactic bandaids etc. We just got her a new set of Solomon TR7's and we'll see how those behave this summer.