Skating Bags

Ice skating bags

Here’s most everything you need to know to buy the best ice skating bags!

Finding the right ice skates is stressful enough on its own, mainly because there are so many different options out there to pick and choose from.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of different options to choose from – almost as many options as there are ice skates to pick and choose from!

Many of these bags are going to provide you with most everything you need to transport your skates safely and securely, but there are also other kinds of bags (gym bags, duffel bags, tote bags, and even backpacks) that fit the bill as well – and sometimes do even better job at securing your skates than ice skating bags ever could!

But by the time that you have finished reading everything that we have to share with you below, you’ll know exactly what it takes to find the best ice skating bag for your specific needs without ever having to blow up your budget, break your bank account or regret your purchase later down the line.

We are going to cover EXACTLY what you need to look for in an ice skating bag, but also everything that you should be looking for in other bags that you may use to transport your skates in from time to time. You’ll know everything that you need to get out of your new skate bag, everything that you need to ignore and avoid, and how to be sure that you aren’t ever wasting your money.

Here we go!

What are you going to use for your ice skating bags?

There does not exist such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” ice skating bag, regardless of what you may have heard from different bag manufacturers in the marketplace.

Sure, some bags are capable of doing “double duty” better than others – and many of the top skate bags available today are pretty versatile – but none of them are going to be able to accommodate all of your needs as well as you’d like them to.

And this is why you have to outline your expectations and your anticipated usage of your new skate bag so that you can begin to whittle down all of the different options available. Focus only on the top solutions that will meet as many of your needs as possible with as few compromises as you can get away with.

Figure skaters are looking for relatively lightweight skate bags that protected their relatively thin skates but also have room for everything they need to practice. Whereas hockey players are probably looking for a much larger duffel bag that allows them to throw their skates – and all of the rest of their gear – into one big suitcase without any a headache or hassle.

Neither one of those athletes (figure skaters or hockey players) could get away with using the others ice skating bags except for only real emergency kind of situation, consider it as the last option.

This is why you have to be serious about how you anticipate using your skate bags in the future. You have to zero in on the size of the bag you need, and how you are going to transport it and what exactly are you going to carry in it.

All of these little details will help you to make your decision and make it right. You don’t have to drop money without knowing that you are getting everything that you are looking for and even more!

Specific features to look for in the best ice skating bags

Now that we have covered the basics of what you need to do to find better ice skating bags for your needs let’s drill down a little bit into the specific features you have to pay attention for to get the best from your new bag.

For starters, you are obviously would like to find ice skating bags that are capable of storing and transporting a pair of ice skates with no trouble at all. Believe it or not, there are entirely a few inexpensive ice skate bags out there that can’t handle even this without causing a nightmare.

You are probably would like to find skate bags that include a separate compartment for your ice skates (ideally a separate and padded compartment for each skate in it), and it’s not a bad idea to purchase a skate bag that includes some blade guard in this pocket as well.

Your skates should fit into this compartment very snugly so that they don’t rattle around, but they should be incredibly easy to pop out of their chambers without having trouble every step of the way. You don’t want a compartment so small that it cannot accommodate bigger skates if you have to upgrade in the future, but you don’t want a compartment so large that your skates can bounce around – especially if you don’t entirely trust your blade guard.

Secondly, you need to hunt for ice skating bags that include heavy-duty zippers that secure your ice skates with no difficulty at all.

There are a lot of ice skate bags available on the market today that do not use zippered enclosures, but 99.99% of all those skate bags should be avoided at all costs. You need a heavy-duty zipper that is going to provide a very secure enclosure, and you have to be sure that it is effortless to manipulate both ways so that you don’t have trouble getting your bag open.

It’s also always a good idea to look for ice skate bags that have full zip pouches that come almost entirely off and almost entirely open, especially if these separate ice skate compartments are part of a larger bag. As mentioned above, it is better if you have an opportunity to pop your skates right out of your pocket without any difficulty and these full-zip pouches will make that possible.

Thirdly, you are probably interested in purchasing ice skating bags that offer waterproof material and ripstop material around the skates themselves.

It’s always a good idea to purchase ice skating bags made entirely out of these kinds of material. If you don’t have the opportunity to do that you’ll undoubtedly have to be sure that the pouches that contain your skates are going to provide any extra ice that may have melted inside the bag so that other things do not get ruined.

The ripstop material is pretty self-explanatory, and almost every single one of the top flight skate bags available on the market today are made out of this technical material.

Even still, it’s worth investigating whether or not your ice skating bag includes these features and materials – and it’s always worthwhile to invest a little bit of extra money in finding and ice-skating bag that does.

Finally, but certainly not least importantly, you should always try and find ice skating bag options that aren’t just for your skates alone.

Figure skaters, hockey players, and anyone else who is going to get on ice – outside of those who jump on a public rink only once a year and rent their skates – are going to bring other stuff to the rink, and your bag is the perfect way to do so.

Yes, you could probably get away with bringing multiple bags every time you go skating – one for your skates, one for your clothes, one for your accessories, etc. – but who wants to deal with all of this headache and hassle?

If instead, you purchase any one of the oversized ice skating bags (especially those designed for hockey players) you aren’t ever going to have to worry about finding room to fit things you’d like to bring to the ice. A goalie bag is probably going to be overkill (just because they are so much more significant than your standard ice skating bags), but even these are better than having a too small bag and having to bring multiple bags with you every time you want to skate.

Repurposing other kinds of bags as “skate bags.”

Not everyone has the budget in their bank account to drop $100 or more on some of the best ice skate bags available, but most folks have about $30 or so to spend on a pretty reasonable gym duffel bag  and get most of the utility and functionality of a skate bag at a fraction of the price.

Even still, if you are going to go in this direction, you have to be sure that you know exactly what you’re doing – and you also have to be aware of the compromises that you will inevitably have to make.

Gym duffel bags are probably universal “alternative skate bags,” merely because they are as close to a one size fits all solution that will effortlessly accommodate your skates and most everything else you’d like to bring with you on ice.

Many of these duffel bags aren’t going to include separate pouches for your skates, however, so you need to be 100% certain that you bring your blade guards with you. You don’t want to toss unguarded ice skates into your duffel bag and then have someone else probably around in there when they’re looking for the headphones that you said they could borrow, that’s for sure!

You can find these kinds of duffel bags in almost every size, every fabric, and every color imaginable and they do a pretty reasonable job as an alternative.

Backpacks – especially those usually used by day trippers and campers – are also a fantastic alternative as far as ice skating bags are concerned, but they do have a lot of drawbacks you’ll have to be aware of.

Many of these backpacks are going to include some separate pouch which you can use for your ice skates, but even then you have to be sure that your skates are completely dry and that they have their guards. Most of these pouches aren’t going to be waterproof or ripstop (though some may be).

Backpacks loaded down with heavy ice skates and everything else you have brought with you to the rink can also be more than a little bit uncomfortable (especially if you’re only using one shoulder strap at a time), so look for backpacks and ice-skating bag options that evenly distribute the weight across your shoulders and your back.

You don’t want to find your athletic ability compromised out on the ice just because you had to toss your skates into the back of a backpack and trudge them all the way down to the side of the rink.

It’s always a good idea to save up a little bit of extra money and purchase one of the top tier ice skating bags that have been made for that purpose than to get away with any of the alternatives we mentioned above.

Be on the lookout for top-tier brands that offer all of the features you are looking for, and research your options before you spend any money whatsoever on this kind of investment. Hopefully, we have been able to help you out!