Eli5: Is there a reason roller skates and roller blades don’t have spring shocks?

Question

I was thinking about this the other day…skateboards are flexible, bike tires are bouncy. Why aren’t there “performance” skates with shocks? Wouldn’t that be better for your knees?

In: 2620

Answer 1

You kind of answered your own question – you already have knees. Your knees are adequate enough to handle whatever small terrain disturbances there are while riding on skates/blades in normal conditions.

So why add extra stuff that isn’t needed? Extra shock absorption or springs just decreases the responsiveness of the skates and adds weight, all just in case you ever skate over a field of rocks, which you won’t.