I've seen a few guys leave an empty axle in their roller skates in roller hockey (giving them 3 wheels instead of 4). I was wondering if there was any reasoning behind this, or if it is just a case of guys having broken wheels/bearings and being too lazy/cheap to replace them.
less friction = faster straight line speed, but less traction for turns and stops. not worth the trade off, and also most roller leagues will require full set of wheels.
Pretty much whenever I've seen (or done) that, it's because the wheel broke/chunked/whatever and the person didn't have a chance to go buy a new one. But that's only in pickup games, any league I've been in has required a full set to play. One guy had a wheel chunk on him part way through a game and they wouldn't let him take his next shift until he found another to put on