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An old adage comes to mind: Garbage in, garbage out. Here's the issue; irrespective of brand, the factory is relying on accurate scans to make skates properly, as they aren't doing the scans or the fittings themselves. This is the same issue that we had before scans; when we had a handful of skilled fitters who never had any issues with anything they submitted, but would hear the nightmares of those shops and reps who just submitted length and width, max stiffness and a quadruple thickness felt tongue with 2" length, because, you know you need that flop (yes, I know there's no such thing as a quadruple thick felt tongue, but I'm sure someone would've ordered it if it were offered.) Now that it is open to a vast majority of stores and employees, more problems will arise. And I'm not going to get into it about who does it best; I think you can achieve the best results for your customer with enough knowledge and communication with the factory. And I'm sorry, but being able to wave an iPad around or herd someone onto the Bauer scanner does not make you a skilled fitter. You're looking for other things. I would get back to my customer 2 days with the final spec sheet after doing the fitting. Why did I do that? Because you learn from every fitting you've ever done. And I felt that a 2nd look a day later was important, because there may be something that I had overlooked when I did the fitting, and I could draw from the previous fittings I had done to see if there was a different or better solution. In all of the years I had fitted customs, I had only one remake, which was when a customer wanted something I didn't recommend (oversized toecap which he insisted he needed.) And even then, I waived the relasting fee the store was charged. While I think True is trying to rectify the problem, at some point they should've asked the store what happened there. I do feel that stuffing the toe box with foam wasn't the right choice; that holder size isn't going to shrink by itself. Perhaps another scan and traditional measurements would've solved the problem. The fact that the shop didn't question it immediately just screams inexperience.

When I sharpened the new Step Steel for the first time on my Sparx I also noticed it got VERY loud (coming from worn down SB Black). Figured maybe it had something to do with harder steel as I had adjusted the height to reflect the change in steel. After that first go round the routine sharpening's have sounded normal.

I think mine have tape inside holding the anchors in place.

I have access to a riveter so i use the flat head tool and large hole support to drive the t nut into the sole (Screw is lightly started at the time), then tighten the screw. i use 2 standard rivets in each holder for alignment and stability. I use 4 screws per pillar (8 total per skate).

loctite 🙂

Hey Leif, Sound good my friend! Give that 7/16 a try and let us know how it goes. Like you said, you can always switch back to the 1/2 if it doesn't work for you. With the harder ice, I think you will find the 7/16 is a nice change that will give you a bit more edge and stability to work with during your edge drills.

I have used 5/8 Fire ring on my skates for most of the last 18 months or so. I am 6'4" and while I'm now 245 or so, I did weigh close to 285-290 in the early summer which made me even slower than I should have been for 45. I'm back to skating a lot better and have stuck with the 5/8 Fire as it gives solid bite with ridiculous glide even on fairly soft ice. On occasion, on some of the ice here in Texas in the summer, the 5/8 Fire is like a 1/2 ROH, but it is still my choice. The notable exception is our newest StarCenter which has, bar none, the best ice anyone in my family has ever skated on, to include rinks in Chicago, Toronto, Minnesota, Colorado, Arizona, New York, Missouri, and Iowa...it's that good. On that rink, the 5/8 Fire feels a tiny bit too "loose", bit I find that if I get really low in my stance and actually bend my knees properly on each stride, that significantly changes the bite I get. Almost all of the time (i.e. unless I'm skating at the new rink and it's also very cold and dry), I prefer the 5/8" to the 1/2". I have done the 3/4 Fire a couple of times in the summer when the humidity was high and the temps were also over 105. Mostly though, the 3/4 Fire gets used as the "cross grinder" since Sparx won't sell me an X-Ring for the home sharpener. My wife is about 5'8" and 130 pounds, and hates not having massive bit, so she demands the 3/8 Fire when hers need sharpening...not that she'd know when that was because I usually just sharpen them every week before we play (best way to not get chewed out for playing hockey on the weekend is to have your wife as your D partner). My 13 1/2 year old is about 5'6" and 150, and wavers back and forth between the 1/2 Fire and 5/8 Fire. On the home rink with the concrete hard ice, he wants the 1/2 Fire (he says it is just like a 100/50 FBV), but at some of the older StarCenters with softer ice, he'll have me do his 2nd set of steel at 5/8 Fire so he can switch after warmups if needed. I've not had as many good skates when I try the various ROH rings as I have the Fire Rings, but I suppose that's because since I started getting the 90/75 FBV, I've been able to tell whether someone gave me a FBV cut or a a similar ROH because at my size, the bite is about the same but the glide from ROH is inferior. As for my Sparx as a whole, I love it. We have VERY few decent sharpeners here, and even the supposedly good ones tend to murder skates on occasion. I haven't used my Sparx as much for others as I would have liked since my older son graduated and his teammates are using the Sparx at the rink to sharpen their skates when they work there, and most of my younger son's team is simply not good enough to be able to tell the difference between new steel and well sharpened steel and wouldn't be interested in compensating me fairly for my efforts. Other than learning to get better at doing custom Kydex shot blockers for my family and a couple of friends, I'm not doing any stuff for anyone other than my 13 year old, my wife, and myself. I'll tell you that while in actual cash spent on sharpenings, I'll probably never break even. However, as soon as you throw in gas, tolls, and my valuable time (estimated at my 1/2 my hourly rate at work is still $40+ round trip per sharpening visit), I'd bet I've already broken even. Accounting for the fact that I never send anyone in the family out without exactly even steel (the Sparx edge checker is really handy for sure), I'm ahead as far as I'm concerned. My next project, since my Sparks is significantly out of warranty, is to figure out how to find a good (but relatively quiet) wall-mounted shop vac and build a vacuum filtration system that mimics some of the features of the Sparx commercial unit, but better because it isn't underpowered. I need one in the garage anyway, so a dual use for it would really make it worth my while. I know this was more than what six501 was asking for, but since I've had about 18 months of lots of use on my Sparx, I figured I'd throw the rest of this in too.

Hey Leif, If I may and speaking from past experience with this issue myself, it sounds like to me you are not really getting out on those outside edges. The sliding of your inside foot is very good indicator that your are trying to make the turns by turning that inside foot in the direction you want to go (causing the slide) instead of actually using the outside edge itself. Now the question becomes, why is this happening? Could it be the new stiffer boot, blades? Or is it your experience and comfort level in using those outside edges? Again and this is only my opinion but I don't believe the 1/2 hollow has anything to do with it. I run Step Steel blacks with a 5/8 hollow on my Bauer 1X's and they have more than enough bite on any type of directional changes I employ providing I use the edges correctly. It really sounds like you just need to spend a bit more time working those outside edges and trusting yourself to use them. It can take a minute to really gain the confidence to lean onto those outside edges so keep at it. To answer your other question, when I first started, I used a 7/16 which had a huge amount of bite but it really helped me develop the confidence to use my edges because they really dug into the ice and that made me feel more stable. I found myself confident enough to lean further and further out on the edges with each skate because of that stable feeling. As I got more comfortable, I began to back off and went from a 7/16 to 1/2 and now the 5/8 and it's great. All the best.

🙈🙄

My two cents... In SMU's case, sounds like the shop is guilty of communication errors. However, now that True is no longer direct to consumer and added a "middle-man" into the process, it's on True to make sure that their authorized fitters know what they are doing and know how to communicate any issues back to True. I feel that this is the part of the process that broke down, and in SMU's case, it's on both the shop and True to rectify the problem. And look...if it turns out it's definitely more one-sided fault, then it's ultimately up to True to take command, since it's their product, not the shop's. So if the shop is just completely incompetent, True should take over for this specific case, and then later, either re-train the shop or "de-authorize" the shop from selling their product. Just because you're an authorized True seller/fitter, doesn't mean you're good at actually fitting & selling the product (like oldtrainerguy28 is). Luckily for me, the LHS I got scanned at, the guy who did the fitting really knew what he was doing, and he was the only employee in that store authorized to do the scan at that time. If you wanted to get True skates at that shop, you had to make an appointment, and only when he was at the store. Even then, at that time, he had only done a handful of scans (sold product), and he even mentioned that there were still kinks in the process, such as bad connectivity issues, etc. Hopefully a year later, those kinks have been smoothed out. Heck, I know of certain authorized True fitters, that have, at this point, only done 1-2 sold scans. Point being, I would highly recommend going to a True fitter you know well/has a great reputation or calling the shop ahead of time and asking how many pairs they've scanned and sold. Just don't assume that if they sell Trues, that all will be perfect.