Supreme Skate moving to Vapor Skate

[stljrs 5]

My son has wore Supremes forever.  He had his foot profiled and surprisingly it came back vapor at all the points except the ankle wrap which was medium (Supreme) on one foot.  So he tried on some vapors and we bought them.  His toes barely scrape and he has no hot spots or slip and he says they fit great.  His only complaint is.....the wrap.  He's used to the greater ankle wrap he gets from the Supreme and says they feel a little loose up top and he's trying to get them tied tighter.  I know there's no way to fix that but is that something he will eventually just get used to (I hope) because otherwise the fit seems perfect?  I thought about having him use a loop to get it a bit snugger up top?  Or if the fit is perfect otherwise keep skating in them and they'll be OK?  They've been baked once; would another tying it tighter with a loop maybe help?

[Jscott40 0]

This probably sounds dumb, but try skipping the top eyelet. I'm in a similar situation and find that I like skipping the top eyelet better than using it.

[Vet88 673]

With enough time us humans can get used to anything. Keep him skating in them and in about 2 months he will look back and wonder what the fuss was all about.

[clarkiestooth 235]

I would strongly advise against tying them tighter, especially if his one foot is a medium ankle depth. That is a recipe for lace bite. If the Bauer fitting was correct, normal lacing should provide plenty of heel lock.

[stljrs 5]

1 hour ago, clarkiestooth said:

I would strongly advise against tying them tighter, especially if his one foot is a medium ankle depth. That is a recipe for lace bite. If the Bauer fitting was correct, normal lacing should provide plenty of heel lock.

Heel lock is not the issue, The only issue for him is looseness at the top one to two eyelets where it doesn't wrap quite the same as his old supremes and he likes it snugger there.  That is what he is trying to snug up, not the instep moving to the ankle.  That is fine.  Part of that could maybe just be new boot stiffness.  These are definitely stiffer than his old supremes which have significant wear and were not this stiff even when new.  The foot part is perfect and there is no slip or movement even without trying to get those top two eyelets tighter.  He didn't really notice it until he got on the ice.  Walking around was fine.  But it bothered him, especially laying the skates over on tight turns.

[clarkiestooth 235]

My point was that if he has good heel lock there's no reason to overtighten a skate. 

[stljrs 5]

On 11/5/2018 at 5:23 AM, clarkiestooth said:

My point was that if he has good heel lock there's no reason to overtighten a skate. 

I agree but it's just the top two eyelets.  I think part of it is it doesn't come up as high as the Supreme and might be tricking him into thinking there's less support in addition to not wrapping quite as much there.  Skinny lower volume foot with a bigger lower leg/calf makes wrap at the top more challenging.    He did a loop on the top two eyelets to snug them up a bit more.  Otherwise he's played a few games and had some practices and he still says nothing hurts and no hot spots and they are really comfortable.  He says forward flex is fine and honestly maybe it's mental for him but he seems to be faster, got his feet moving quicker.  Maybe having a really snug fitting and stiff boot is helping him.  He's got the XLTX Pro + SMU version which is an x800 boot with some higher line features.  Pretty stiff but he says beyond the boot itself the tongue in particular (which is from x900) is really comfortable.

[stick9 881]

My thought is it's all in his head. The Supreme likely had excessive wrap due to his thinner ankles. That what he's used to, so it's normal for him to second guess it.

[canqingz 3]

Yes, I believe he will get used to it in a short while.

I used to wear supreme one.8 and 190. But I made the transition to vapor 1 year ago, mainly because of the the better heel lock and better ankle flexibility in vapors. 

It took one game or two for me to adjust, but after that I was better off in every aspect.

[ViperRy 8]

Am I reading this right... he feels more forward flex with the supreme because his ankles are skinnier? I dropped to the second eyelet on my Vapors to get more forward flex and am happy. Ankles and heel lock are good and I still get the forward flex I need.

[stljrs 5]

Skinnier foot but at the ankle bone on up he's thicker with some decent size calves. It's up above the ankle where he was having the issue.  He is getting adjusted to it.  I think part of it is it's a new boot and up at the first eyelet it's still stiffer than his old boot so a combination of less wrap around the lower leg and tougher to get as snug in general.  He definitely fills out the top of the vapor boot around that first eyelet more than the supreme.  To me, it looks like he'd have more support.  Now he doesn't even take his old skates as a contingency.  He says forward flex is fine.  I would think you are flexing more against the laces if the sides don't wrap quite as much which also might be what he's getting used to.  For all his picky crap with tying them just perfect he's got no foot issues in the boot, no slip, no pain, no hot spots, and no movement which I guess if you have to have an issue with a new skate, getting them tied like you like them is better than having foot pain to address!