Special Equipment is one of the oldest and respected speed skating equipment specialists in North America. Under the current management since the mid 1990s, we continue the tradition of bringing value and performance to our customers.

The most often asked question we hear is, "Do you skate?" I skate as often as time allows. I have competed in Ice short track, Long Track, pack style marathons as well as inline road races, and hill climbs. My favorite skating moments, are those rare times when Mother Nature graces us with beautiful, clean, crystal clear black ice on our lovely lakes. To me, nothing comes close to the supernatural sensation of floating atop near frictionless transparent ice. It is something I wish every skater experiences at least once in their lifetime.

I started speed skating as an adult, crossing over from cycling and cross country skiing. Living in the mountains of western New England, we are blessed with beautiful country roads, an abundance of ski trails and regular snowfalls most winters. After an unusual snow-less winter many years ago, I decided it was time to get some modern speed skates. I immediately fell in love with the sport. One of the biggest advantages I quickly found with modern skates was the ability of the boots to adapt frames and wheels, allowing year round use. Inline skating has added a whole new dimension to the sport of speed skating. Inline skating has the advantage of being accessible to many more folks and ideally suited for skating in fair weather. The possibility of great success increases with greater numbers of participants and the increased presence of top skaters coming from the inline racing community, shows this clearly. The added diversity also benefits the sport in general.

I inline skate in the summer and Ice skate in winter often. I try to personally test most every item before I offer it for sale. I don't carry items I feel are not good values or good quality. I care about what we sell and wish all a wonderful skating experience.

About our background

Coming from an engineering background with many years as a quality, process engineering in a variety manufacturing fields, helps us greatly in what we now do daily in the skating field. Developing and refining sporting products has been a passion of mine for the last few decades. For many years I was a quality engineer by trade and a bicycle frame designer /builder by profession. For a part-time / home shop builder I was honored to have had my frames compete respectably at cycling world championships. I apply the same high standards to all the equipment I select, combine, and to the custom machine equipment that I develop specifically to work on skates. We always strive to achieve the highest work standards possible..

We hope to show you.

Mario