Leaderboard

I'm under a pro deal so I went through a rep. Retail custom process requires a visit to a dealer and is a $100+ upcharge from retail price. Final cost depends on what you request on the skates.

Well you're demonstrably wrong, here's their response to the VT study. Why couldn't they just have emailed this to Rick? The answer may not have satisfied him but at a response would have. https://www.bauer.com/helmets As for Ford, they often respond not only with words to third party test results that are unfavorable (ever hear of IIHS?) they often implement changes to address it. Why? Because they understand that consumer perception about safety IMMEDIATELY impacts their bottom line.

Just for giggles, email Ford today and ask them about some third party test results. It's not just the time it takes to respond, its the infrastructure needed to receive, sort and answer every email a company like Bauer gets. Those costs far outweigh what any single customer would spend. Beyond that, VT testing is a separate entity with no affiliation to Bauer. You aren't going to get any company to publicly comment on the findings of third party testing, unless of course they had a hand in it AND the results benefit them. Which in this case didn't.

That's ridiculous. It's a valid and relevant question unlike "gas mileage", and the absolute minimum would have been to reply with a canned response, instead of saying "we'll get back to you" and then ignoring subsequent inquiries. As far as lost time and money answering the question - it takes 30 seconds to email a canned response, and because they couldn't do that it appears they lost @RickDC as a customer, so I guess your point actually proved mine.

My new Graf 755 Pros. Had these made up last month: Carbon quarter, AMC liner, oversized toe cap, asymmetric tongue, LS Edge holder. Still haven't been able to get on the ice with them, but the fit is spot-on.

I never disagreed the VT study is flawed. I'm saying they should have sent a simple email to respond to a customer.

I have the AS1s now and the foot bed is very similar to a Superfeet except that it does not have any substantial heel lift like super feet do. There's a Velcro piece on the arch that you can place either high or medium arch support pieces that stick there, or don't use any of the pieces for low arch. I haven't skated on them yet but they feel decent. Let me just say that the pro custom fit is pretty good off the ice. While baking in store the boot and the heel especially felt like it was sucked into the boot, much more so than the stock retail. Hard to really tell without skating on them but so far I am impressed with the fit.

yeah i'm really interested in the process of getting custom Grafs made. also price.

Had some foot pain in the FT1 and needed to get a wider heel and more depth. These felt great right away.

Finally got a photo of the new pads, was a playoff game and I wasn't ready to wear the gloves yet.

few photos of the new beer league unis!

I'm loving the ccm insoles. I have nexus skates in EE as well.

From what I've heard thru the grapevine, within another year or two all of the top level skates will essentially be "custom" and shops will only be able to stock 2nd from top down, all as part of manufacturers' efforts to manage inventory control.

Yes, I’d recommend usually for people to try new skates in person, but the issue here is that 1) your LHS is 6 hours away, 2) LHS have extremely limited inventory right now and won’t have the sizes you need (even worse may push you skates they want to get rid off), 3) you seem to know that you have a particular feet that may need EE and most LHS stock D, and 4) you get to try the skates at home and take your time to do all sorts of random tests over and over again (like the pencil test). You should not go in with the mindset that your new skates will need to be punched. If it feels like it need punching right out of the box, it’s not a right fit. If you need wide toe caps, try the new RibCor, Tacks, or Nexus in D. If they’re pinching, try the EEs. If your toes don’t feel as snug as the other parts of your foot but there’s no pinching, try EE in Supreme and Jetspeed. Before you go to the store or purchase online, make sure to read and do the following: https://www.icewarehouse.com/lc/icehockeyskatesizing.html A final point: do not let a wider forefoot make you feel like you need a longer skate. A lot of people complain about pinching toes in narrow skates like Vapors and think they need bigger skates. This is not true. Measure your feet and be conservative (it’s probably smaller than you think and I’d fit you half size down even from what you measure at home). The width is independent of the length and those skates I recommended above are the ones with wider toes. The right skate should have minimal to no pinching pre-bake and at least one of your foot’s toes should brush the toe box.

A D retail skate usually has an A heel. A EE retail skate usually has a B heel. Some skate models have a last with a narrower heel and less volume; therefore, it can sometimes be better to go with a EE/B skate in a model where the heel lock is generally better than a D/A skate in a model that's built on a last that's not known for heel lock. For example, when I tried a Nexus on in a D, it felt very comfortable in the forefoot (almost too wide), but didn't provide good heel lock. An Easton Mako in a EE was wide enough for my forefoot, but still locked in my heel.