CCM Super Tacks

[cougarscaptain87 11]

 

I enjoyed doing my first review last night and have some time tonight so I'm going to cover my current skates, 2017 CCM Super Tacks with the stock speed blade 4.0 holder and speed blade black steel. I have them in size 9EE, I'm 28 years old 6'2" and 190 lbs. I play D league right now, and coach 3-4 days a week, I have been using these skates for the last 10 months. I've had a wide array of issues finding skates that fit, my favorite skates of all time were the original Reebok 9K PUMP I had those in size 9E and they fit me perfect, in my opinion. My most recent skate before the Super Tacks was Nexus 8000 in size 8.5D but that skate did not fit me well, it was too short in length, the heel was too wide, and the depth didn't match the shape of my foot at all. I'd describe my foot as a wider than average forefoot, average heel, deeper than average heel to top of foot depth, with average to below average forefoot and toe volume. I have had custom skates made, Nike Bauer Supreme One95 way back in the day and they were 9EA and 9.25EA with the next size quarter package to increase volume and depth, those skates fit great but honestly did not take over as my favorite skates from my old trusty 9ks.

Fit --- 9/10 ---

I'd describe the fit of the EE width version of the boot as a mid to wide forefoot, standard heel, and slightly above average depth. For the needs of my feet with the possibilities at retail this seemed to fit my foot better than the Supreme line, Ribcore, Jetspeed, and obviously Vapor line. My foot barely passes the pencil test in these, but the tongue is fairly low profile and I'm able to tie them loosely where needed to adjust the depth and fit. The full 360 composite boot molds to bumps that are on the sides of each of my feet, as well as wrap around my ankle to provide a custom like fit out of a retail boot. These skates come with CCM custom insoles designed to match your arch, but I have opted to use the thin stock insoles to add as much volume as possible and I've been very happy with them. I'd say a touch more comfortable foam in the "comfort pad" high ankle padding on top of the collar of the boot would help immensely for coaches, refs etc. When I have my shin pads on I do not notice any soreness or bruising but after 3-4 hours of coaching or skating with my kids with no gear my ankles where they make contact with those pads is sore and or bruised depending on how hard I'm skating.

Blade/Holder --- 6/10 ---

This is my least favorite part of the skate, my Nexus skates had the Tuuk light speed edge holder with the fusion steel, and I really liked the feel of the holder and steel and the ability to swap blades if needed quickly. The SB 4.0 has a mild forward pitch, and feels good under your feet, you can get low and not fear your boot causing you to loose contact with your edge and slip on cross overs, but beyond that I'm not a fan. The steel/bolt system has had a click in it since day one, my older son skates on Jetspeeds and his has the same click in both pairs he has so it seems to be common, all common sense fixes for the click do not accomplish anything. It should be noted a bolt has never come out, and the steel seems to be in there solid but for $900 I'm not looking for any clicking. The speed blade black steel is awful, it can not be traditionally honed and I think that contributed to the quickness that you loose or roll edges. I skate at a traditional 9/16" ROH and on my fusion steel I could get 8-10 hours before I needed a sharpen, on my speed blade black I'm lucky to get 4-5 hours without needing a trip to get a new set of edges put on, and I take very good care of my equipment. The speed blade 4.0 holder is miles beyond the old Epro holder so I'm not going to call it a total fail but considering what Tuuk is doing I think CCM could do better in this aspect of the skate. 
 

Weight/Protection --- 9/10 ---

These skates are very light, I'm not sure on the actual weight and I'd say top of the line Vapor, and Jetspeeds feel a hair lighter but for the construction of the skates and the protection they provide I would say these are some of the best skates available today, if they fit your foot profile. I did take one shot off the top of my left foot near the toecap but off the tongue where it connects to the boot that resulted in a broken metatarsal shaft (long skinny bone in the top of your foot) I was supposed to be off the ice for 6-8 weeks, however I was back coaching the next day, the stiffness of the boot and the support it provided made skating more comfortable than walking! This was a freak accident and would have happened with most skates, I have never considered additional foot protection, but if I had this could have been avoided. 

 

Durability --- 9/10 ---

If you take a skate blade directly to the carbon on the quarters of the skate, you're going to loose a bit of carbon material with the impact. Beyond that I have had zero issues; some paint and logos have worn off but I have no cracking, zero eyelets or rivets loosening or corroding, no tenon guard damage, no holder cracking or shifting, zero creasing, the felt on the tongue is in great shape beyond some staining from the red on my APX2 shin pads, and the skates have absolutely zero breakdown or signs of needing replacing any time soon, they still look mostly new.

Intangibles 

I enjoy the design of the skate, for some reason I like yellow so I don't mind the bright yellow accents but I know it's not for everyone. Less yellow, maybe a black liner but keep yellow logos etc would give the boot a more stealth appearance, and possibly appeal to even more perspective buyers. The skate seems as if they took their time to develop this skate before it was released, I tried on the 2016 Tacks and those we're no good for me. The super and ultra tack skates are a complete 180 from that, these are close to the foot fit and I'd imagine with the different width profiles there is a decent amount of the skating population this boot could work for, if you are in the market for a new composite boot and like the holder or don't mind swapping it at purchase or in the future I'd put the Super Tacks on your radar and get them on your feet to decide for yourself if they're your next new skates!

Conclusion

Boot Overall Score - 27/30 - 90% A- I'd say this is fair, I really enjoy the skates and with a few very minor tweaks it would be a perfect skate. I know they have been working on the next iteration of this model of skate, I'm very excited to see what improvements they have made to push their score up to an A+

The holder is really the downside to the skate, for $900 I and most people expect things to be perfect, I haven't changed the holder because I have steel left on there but once I need new steel if I'm still in these skates I'm going to have Light Speed Edge installed to really tie together the skate and holder to create the perfect (in my opinion) combo.