Chris Farmer is back under the wings of the 50/50 brand, a respected manufacturer of frames for aggressive inline skating that has been making a very successful comeback over the past few years. Currently, Chris has a penchant for grinding long and big handrails which requires frames that are highly durable. Any skater who regularly skate handrails is well aware of how quickly a plastic frame can wear out during street sessions. That's why the 50/50 Prime model were the natural choice for Chris' signature pro model.
The Prime frame is an innovative idea combining an aluminium core and interchangeable plastic side walls. Mounted with just two outer wheels axles, the plastic sidewall will provide smooth grinds on any type of surface and are super easy to replace. So, if you're quickly going through your frame while skating street spots, the option of replaceable side walls could prove to be the great money saving solution.
It is also worth mentioning that you can create the side walls yourself using 3D printing technology. The web is full of ready-made, free designs, which can of course be modified to suit our own needs. As a result, we can, for example, create a side wall with a huge free style h-block or a hi-lo type frame — the possibilities are endless and only limited by our imagination!
The pro model of the 50/50 Prime frame signed by Farmer is also a first-class way to start skating with a flat setup, i.e. four wheels of the same size, in one frame. Chris has long been an advocate of the flat setups, so his Primes will therefore correlate well with his pro model 56 mm wheels from the Red Eye brand, offered in a matching bright orange colour.
Chris Farmer's 50/50 Prime pro frames are a trustworthy product for skaters of all skill levels. Their biggest advantages will be their versatility, range of customization options and far longer life. If you're looking for a bit more of a speed boost and a frame that works in all conditions we definitely recommend trying them out!
Size | Size S | Size L |
Shell Size | 38-42 | 43-47 |
Founded back in 1994 in California, Fifty/50 brand was established by Jess Dyrenforth and Ted Simpson. One of the oldest rollerblading company on the market, it broke the trends by making the products aimed exclusively to aggressive oriented customers. Fifty/50 was created to fulfil the growing needs of freshly emerged sport and quickly became manufacturer of specialized parts for inline skates.
The company started it all with the production of first after market grindplates. Made of characteristic mix of aluminium and plastic (hence the name Fifty/50), the grindpplates noticeably facilitated any grinding experience. It was the first, big success of the brand, followed by wide offer of signature products of well known skaters at that time. Next, the company came up with the idea of designing the after market frames to catch up with constantly growing demand.
Premiere, one piece Fifty/50 frames were made with CNC method and were quickly adopted by aggressive skating community. As the UFS had been not invented yet, the different mounting standards were quite problematic. Fifty/50 products came included with dedicated adapters for every type of skate boot. Yet, the cost of the machined frames was too high, and the materials weren't ideal, so Fifty/50 decided to switch to moulded frames. To make assembling a bit easier the idea of adapters was still here, but this time they were made of UHMW. The whole part was called 'Juice System' and it was another milestone in the company's history. This great solution became very popular among most of the professionals. The brand had earned the respect and trust of the customers and boldly entered the upcoming new decade of 2000.
Once the UFS mounting system became a standard, more and more frame manufacturers started to appear on the market. The brand tried to stay afloat for some time, yet growing competition unfortunately pushed it back. Occasionally, we could find small drops of products here and there, yet the brand almost disappeared for next few years. Around 2017 though, one of the original member of Fifty/50 crew Lawrence Ingraham decided to bring the idea back. Luckily the comeback was warmly accepted by the community and since then the company has been a solid provider of after market inline skating goods.
Nowadays Fifty/50 focuses mainly on frame production but also offers wide selection of inline skating wheels, backpacks and useful accessories. Professional skaters such as Stefan Brandow, Chris Farmer, Jon Fromm and Sacha Lopez have been constantly striving for the company's good image.
Fifty/50 offer includes products like classic and proven Balance frames, as well as modern solutions like Prime frames. A unique idea of a flat frame with aluminium core and replaceable plastic sidewall is getting more and more attention nowadays, making Fifty/50 a respected part of our industry.