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Lee-Bro

Building a better skate article

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Good read, interesting to see that they are planning on having a variety of price points this time around. I think this will be a tremendous boost for GRAF skates. it is also interesting to see that the direction they may be going is less stiff skates....I am not sure how I feel about this as I like a really stiff hockey skate.

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Think it's smart to offer skates at lower price points, the majority of people don't need or look at top of the line (say $399+) skates.

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I don't think they are heading in a productive direction because current skate options do offer plenty of forward flex. Even when they are tied all the way up there is still plenty of room for forward flex. Also, I think lateral stiffness is a good thing because you don't want your boot bending sideways when you do a tight turn or do crossovers. The holder and lower part of boots need to be stiff enough so that they don't cave-in under lateral pressure.

It seems like they are inventing a nonexistent problem, and trying to capitalize on fixing it.

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Claude could have been visiting a Sharks player or somebody from another team who was swinging through town and playing San Jose. This research looks interesting. From my own experiences I've found that I don't like the stiff skates and do better with a boot that has a moderate amount of forward flexibility. It took me a few pairs of skates to find the right pair, but well worth it now.

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I have worked closely with Claude on a number of occasions. He is super passionate about skates and skate fit, and he has some great ideas. It is nice to see someone who is trying to innovate in this market with so much personal skate experience

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definitely an interesting read. from the perspective of your average player with no real insight into how products are developed, you take it on trust that evolutions in equipment are based on real research. decreasing the weight of a skate seems fairly obvious. increasing stiffness (and consequently reducing ability for forward flex) -- are people familiar with how this came about? pros requesting stiffer skates, and reduced flex being a consequence of it?

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The article makes it seem as if nobody else is doing research.

Graf made a great traditional boot. They lost the tech race at pro; has absolutely nothing to do with endorsing players. 12 years ago they had the lightest boot in the game in the 704. Once Vapor10 surpassed that, it was game over. Whatever they came out with after was always a step behind.

Poor QC and their heavy-handedness with retailers is what made them lose whatever retail market share they had.

Fix those things and they may be relevant again.

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The article makes it seem as if nobody else is doing research.

Graf made a great traditional boot. They lost the tech race at pro; has absolutely nothing to do with endorsing players. 12 years ago they had the lightest boot in the game in the 704. Once Vapor10 surpassed that, it was game over. Whatever they came out with after was always a step behind.

Poor QC and their heavy-handedness with retailers is what made them lose whatever retail market share they had.

Fix those things and they may be relevant again.

JR I can tell you those things are sure on the top of the agenda!

As for the comment they are inventing a problem to fix something that isnt there then why did Reebok do the same thing?

If you know anything about Dr. Lockwood she KNOW'S her stuff and she is VERY passionate about what she is doing. I am sure people will be VERY surprised with what they will come up with and in the mean time fix things like the QC and the way dealers are dealt with!

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I am sure people will be VERY surprised with what they will come up with and in the mean time fix things like the QC and the way dealers are dealt with!

For the first time since I started attending shows, Graf people actually came looking for us. The local rep stopped me while I was walking around and made a point of asking us to stop by the booth. It was a very nice change from years past.

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I hope they work on QC. I tried on a pair of Ultra G35's and the left one felt pretty good. The right one, not so much! The toe cap had a piece of sharp plastic sticking straight out at the seam inside and almost cut me open. This was the second Graf skate I put on that had this issue. My other problem was that all the top end size 12 skates come with the outsole, holder, and steel off the mid level stuff. Plastic outsole, and the 3000 holder and steel I believe. 11.5 top end stuff, size 12 mid level.

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Sounds great, Lets wait and see. when my buddy opened his shop Bauer, Easton and CCM was great to work with. Graf not so much!

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