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Leif

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Posts posted by Leif

  1. Posted · Report reply

    1 hour ago, stick9 said:

    You know that like a real thing now, right? It's not just some marketing BS.... No amount wear will get that boot to conform to your foot. 

    https://composites.pfsfabrics.com/what-is-curv/ 

     

    My Supreme 2S Pro skates have a CarbonCurv shell, having baked them three times, if they are thermoformable it is very subtle. My guess is the ankle foams benefit far more from baking. I believe they are thermoformable with enough heat and pressure. 

  3. Posted · Report reply

    7 hours ago, Vet88 said:

    Looks like a complete redesign, imho it was necessary due to the many many problems with the Swedish model. I have a prosharp skatepal pro 3 (which is built on the same platform as the home version) that I am gradually modifying to fix the cheap build sh*t issues.

    A local shop had a Skate Pal Pro 3, as well as a hand sharpener. It sat unused under a table, customers always asked for a hand sharpen and they had some issues with it. Eventually they sold it. I had a ProSharp BAT gauge that was out by a few thou, and a ProSharp depth gauge that was a cheap and nasty POS. Another local shop has a higher end ProSharp machine which seems to be excellent. What issues do you have with your SP3? 

    I’m very impressed with the quality of my Sparx. One sample tells us nothing, but online feedback is incredibly positive. They once had an issue with some wheels not being recognised by early machines, that was fixed with a firmware update. I’m not aware of other issues, though I wonder how long they last. Hand machines last decades. 

  6. Posted · Edited by Leif · Report reply

    13 hours ago, krisdrum said:

    Is it just an updated ProSharp Home?  

    The ProSharp Home was made in Sweden, which explains the high price. I assume this is pretty much the same beast but made in China to make it competitive. 

    Incidentally, if you Google “prosharp advantedge home machine” you can find the user manual. I won’t paste the link in case it violates the forum rules. 

  7. Posted · Report reply

    On 3/19/2024 at 12:59 AM, VegasHockey said:

    The brands don't care. They are trying to make two fit offerings that cover 90% of players, and anyone who needs something more narrow or wide can order custom.

    As I said earlier, Bauer custom won’t fit many people. I’m repeating this as I am angry that the Bauer marketing is deception, and screwed my skating for years, and people need to be aware of this. 

    I’ve talked to a lot of people, including shop staff, and the concensus is that CCM is midway between Bauer and True for mouldability, so I’m not convinced CCM custom would fit me either. 

  8. Posted · Report reply

    8 hours ago, mojo122 said:

    From a retail fitting perspective Bauer's 3-Fit system is better than the previous 3 line single fit lineup.  For those that have issues there's always custom.

    Except that custom doesn’t work for many people. Custom is essentially a pair of stock skates, individually sized to each foot in width and length. with a bit of pressure and heat applied. If your feet are far from Bauer shaped, the result will not be a good fit. If you have Bauer shaped feet, but there’s a bump or two that makes stock skates painful, or you are just a bit off Bauer shaped feet, then custom is ideal. 

    • Like 1

  9. Posted · Report reply

    For inline skating I bought some ankle sleeves made by Powerslide. Not ideal, but they might help. 

    https://powerslide.com/products/footie-high-2mm

    There are of course other brands.

    I rebaked my right skate today, and use a pair of ratchet clamps and a piece of wood each side of the skate, to tighten the ankle a bit. I placed a towel between the skate and the wood to even out the pressure. I don’t think Bauer skate shells are thermoformable, just the foams, but you might try this, assuming it is okay to rebake the skates. 

    Alternatively, True skates are very thermoformable, CCM are said to be thermoformable but I’ve never owned any. 

  12. Posted · Report reply

    17 hours ago, VegasHockey said:

    Scott started by initially building custom skates to establish himself in the market and provide players with an option for a better fitting and performing skate. Not saying that other skates didn't offer high performance, but some players were skating in significant pain, even in the custom skates, and many of them considered hanging up their skates due to constant foot problems. Once he built up the brand enough, he sold it to TRUE Temper, as they were looking to expand into the hockey skate market and had extensive access to research, development, engineering, materials, and distribution. He is a very smart individual and has a bachelor of Science Degree and a Masters in Biomechanics. What I find most fascinating about Scott is that, while other brands are constantly duplicating similar efforts in design, and getting similar results, he likes to think outside the box. 

    His family were big in speed skating, and he got to national level. The first skates he made were speed skates, so perhaps some of the ideas he has brought to hockey skates came from the speed skating world, as well as his later involvement in MLX. And as you mention, perhaps his biomechanics background helped. I can’t help thinking that the popularity of Bauer in the UK, compared to CCM and True, is due in large part to availability. 

  13. Posted · Report reply

    On 2/25/2024 at 3:38 PM, start_today said:

    For what it’s worth, I generally wear 15” gloves, but felt 15” Trues were too long in the fingers when I tried them on, and a touch roomier that I wanted. They were 7X and 9X. I honestly don’t know if they have had different iterations of those yet. 

    I assume glove fits change slightly person to person, depending on the size ratio of fingers to hands. 

    This is strange as they have arrived, and they are very snug and my fingers touch the ends. So the opposite to your experience! You must be right about size ratio of hands. I’ve always worn size 13” gloves (Bauer and Warrior, low and mid range) that are slightly loose. Never mind, it’s only a 15 mile drive this Saturday to do an exchange. 

  15. Posted · Report reply

    14 hours ago, VegasHockey said:

    Graf has carbon fibre skates, the Peakspeed line.

    https://grafhockey.com/skates/ice/player/peakspeed-pk7900/

    The issue is that their overall technology is still lacking significantly compared to TRUE, Bauer, and CCM. 

    In regards to how Bauer spends their capital and the overall profitability of that company, understand that none of the big brands are good generating significant revenue. CCM and Bauer are riddled with acquisitions and financial failure; look at their histories. The main reason is that there is not enough market penetration and not enough players. 

    • Hockey in the USA: <1M players  
    • Basketball in the USA: <23M players
    • Baseball in the USA: <15M players
    • Football: <7M players

    As someone who has owned multiple retail hockey stores of various sizes, a large hockey store would be any retail location that does more than $1M in gross sales annually. A friend who owns a similarly sized retail store (store square footage and addressable population density) makes about $5M. Its also significantly easier to sell baseball, football, soccer, and basketball equipment as compared to ice hockey. 

    Thanks, very informative. I always assumed hockey was very big in north america. 

    When you say Graf’s overall technology is still lacking, are you referring to holders, steel, thermoformability? 

  16. Posted · Report reply

    11 hours ago, mojo122 said:

    There's a lot of misconception here:

    1) Scott Van Horne was part of the MLX team so he did have previous production experience prior to launching VH and then having been acquired by True.

    2) Supplying non sponsored NHL players comes at the expense of the team so that is very profitable to both Bauer and CCM.

    3) CCM also has one-piece boots and thermoformability.

    I think you misread some of my remarks: 

    2) I referred to non-sponsored players to indicate that their skates were not free. I also used the phrase “I wonder if” to indicate that I don’t know if it is genuinely profitable. When you say it is very profitable, where does that information come from? 

    3) I know CCM has one piece boots and high thermoformability, and did not say otherwise. (I’ve only read about it on this forum, never having worn CCM boots.) 

    1) Fair enough, I read a biography of him which didn’t mention MLX. That said, he started out in a small company, and I know from experience of working in many small companies that it’s hard to scale up. Cash flow is your enemy, invest huge amounts without the sales and you’re finished. I guess that’s why he went custom first, you build on demand. You don’t need to tool up a large factory and build large quantities. Shops are loathe to stock inventory of expensive products that are unproven. I was chatting to an owner of a local shop, he said they hate top end stock boots. When the new range comes out, they have to sell off old stock on discount, and margins are low, hence they will lose money.

  17. Posted · Report reply

    25 minutes ago, Sniper9 said:

    If Graf started using more modern tech and materials, that would likely have to redesign their boots. You can't just replace the leather with carbon fiber and expect it to fit and feel the same but lighter and more durable. There's more too that than swapping materials. I don't see graf ever evolving to the level of technology as Bauer true and ccm. They have a market in Europe and it'll probably just stay that way.  I'm assuming they also don't have the size and money for the R/D as well. 

    I’m sure that’s mostly, or maybe completely, true. 

    The True skate was pretty much developed by one man and his dog in a shed, and they had no previous production experience. Bauer buy in tech such as CarbonCurv. The advanced hard foam in my Bauer 2S Pro shin pads is polystyrene. The soft squishy foam is bought in tech. They also seem to spend a lot of time designing somewhat dubious features such as CarbonLite blades. In addition Bauer spends a fortune on advertising and sponsoring players. And I do wonder if supplying non sponsored NHL players is genuinely profitable.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if Graf had the nous to figure out how to produce carbon fibre skates, they understand production on a smallish commercial scale. But they would be expensive. And they would need a decent selling point. True has thermoformability and one piece. True outsource their stock TF7 and TF9 skates to China, I assume they do the same for stock Catalyst and Hzrdus skates too. 

  18. Posted · Report reply

    1 hour ago, start_today said:

    For what it’s worth, I generally wear 15” gloves, but felt 15” Trues were too long in the fingers when I tried them on, and a touch roomier that I wanted. They were 7X and 9X. I honestly don’t know if they have had different iterations of those yet. 

    I assume glove fits change slightly person to person, depending on the size ratio of fingers to hands. 

    Thanks. Here in the UK we have the right to return a mail order product within 14 days anyway. They do have 12” (junior) in stock, just in case. 

  21. Posted · Report reply

    8 hours ago, Westside said:

    Same. I still remember my first skate on TF9s. Was blown away by how great they felt from the first stride 

    It took me a few hours to adjust, mainly because I had to go down from 5/8” to 1”, the grip is insane. Best skates I’ve ever owned. 

     

     

  22. Posted · Report reply

    26 minutes ago, flip12 said:

    What makes you say talent is "mostly a myth?" I consider it one of the "huge amounts of luck" factors.

    It’s based on a lot of reading around and experience. For example, I’ve come across a number of people who learnt to skate incredibly rapidly. I got to chatting to them all, and in every case their background explained it. One was a professional dancer. Another had boxed at a high level. Another was a black belt in martial arts. Another had skied for many years. A good example from a book is the case of Kenyan long distance runners who dominated in competition. Someone researched this and discovered they all came from one area where from a young age they ran long distances. Their culture had trained their bodies to excel. When you research successful people, you usually find an early obsession, or opportunities. If someone comes from a family of musicians, they’ll pick it up naturally, they will have ‘talent’. teachers will see ‘talent’ and give them extra encouragement and teaching. Matthew Syed was Britain’s top table tennis player. Most of our best players including Syed came from one street. Turns out they all had access to a table, allowing them to practice huge amounts. 

    Obviously you need the right physique for a sport e.g. fast twitch muscles for sprinting, tall for basketball. And you need a decent IQ to do well in academic scientific research. 

    However, everyone I have met believes that talent exists, that some people have it, some don’t. I won’t change anyone’s mind here, and anyway this is well off topic. 

    I recommend Mindset by Carol Dweck and books by Matthew Syed. 

     

    • Like 1

  23. Posted · Report reply

    16 hours ago, VegasHockey said:

    Equipment can never compensate for proper skating style and talent. I know many players who wear low end skates, they are smooth and fast skaters. The fastest and, arguably, best player in the NHL still wears first generation Jetspeed skates. 😉 

    I spent three years trying and failing to master several edge drills (powerpulls, backwards crossrolls, backwards scissor skate, forward inside edge three turns). After less than a month with skates that fit, I’ve almost mastered them. Talent is mostly a myth anyway. It’s hard work and good training with huge amounts of luck. 

  24. Posted · Edited by Leif
    Spelling     · Report reply

    2 hours ago, Sniper9 said:

    Yup it's all personal preference. Leif is obviously very excited about his new found love for true, but it's all preference. 

    My earlier post was probably a bit overenthusiastic. 

    However Bauer, even custom, don’t work for me because they don’t fit my flipper shaped feet with very narrow leg bones, and hence I can’t skate properly in them. So yes in my case True skates have given me a huge improvement in my skating. If you wish to call that personal preference, fair enough. There will of course be people for whom stock True skates don’t work. Or they simply prefer something else. So I don’t think it’s fair to say it’s all personal preference. Of course I might be very unusual, but I suspect not. Bauer and CCM have the hard task of producing a range of skates that fit as wide a range of people as possible, which is very hard to do, especially when Bauer skates are barely thermoformable. You just have to look at the three Bauer fits to realise they assume a certain forefoot width to heel width for example. I have no experience with CCM. True probably do better in that respect, but they get their fair share of complaints if not more. 

    One of the best amateur skaters I know - he skates pairs dance in hockey skates, yes I know, unusual (1) - wears secondhand Bauer APX skates. He discovered that they work for him, so he’s stockpiled lightly used second hand pairs bought for £50. One of the best hockey skaters I know wears old Grafs. Friends who play at a far higher level than me usually wear old skates. Someone more knowledgeable than me (my experience is limited) might correct me here, but I suspect fit is paramount, alongside skating ability, and the latest much hyped features such as the supposedly energy giving Reflex Pro tongues on my Bauer customs are little more than gimmicks. That said, Bauer speed plates are superb, and do improve my skating. So some features, of course, do work. 

    It’s only recently that I discovered that my difficulty learning skating drills was due to my skates. So yes I do think True are innovating by having very thermoformable skates, as there must be many people who don’t fit stock boots, or semi-custom boots. However, innovation is risky, and the market might not take to it. Scott van Horne for example went into making figure skates, custom and stock, but ran into financial difficulties, and had to sell his company to Wilson skates. 

    (1) He had skating lessons in hockey boots, with the intention of moving to figures. However, he got so much abuse from other figure skating coaches, some hate hockey skaters, that he now refuses on principle to get figures. For example, they would complain about the noise his skates make, or make derisory remarks in earshot. 

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