Leaderboard

My Bauer APX2 customs are flawless in terms of construction, performance, and aesthetics. And remain so 5 years later aside from normal wear and tear from puck marks et al. This isn’t an optimizer where you have to compromise on one dimension in order to nail the others. True just doesn’t have their sh*t together when it comes to QC on their finishes, end of story. Every other pair I’ve seen would have been sold as a deeply discounted cosmetic blem at a big box retailer if it were Bauer/CCM/Graf/Easton.

I don’t find CCM AS1 and Bauer 2s Pro garish, quite understated and tasteful actually. It is an aesthetic issue, and to me it suggests sloppiness, and makes me wonder how deep that sloppiness goes. My concerns could be completely unfounded, but IMO they should pay more attention to the first impressions. BTW Bauer Custom are handmade, and immaculately finished.

But that’s not really aesthetics, just cosmetics. The way it relates to the sense of touch appears to be primary in this case. Cosmetically, their skates could be better, but they’ve always played that angle of their skates down; thankfully, I’d add: it’s refreshing to have a decent skate on the market without all of the garish flourishes of the others.

Yes Kovalev pro. Online it only had the 5.5 lie listed which is what I ordered and received on my first order. Second order was for two 5.5 lies but received a 5 and a 6. So there are at the least 3 lies available in the kovalev pro. i will share a photo of the 3 later tonight if you like

It's progressive. Imagine a set of steel done up at 20', then following it with a 13' but just grinding in what is zone 2, then doing a 6' just in zone 1, but having the ability to have all of those transitions blended in. Once again; all suggestions/recommendations. You can put a Q0 on a 230mm. I'm hoping to get the smaller Zups/Quads to round out the testing but haven't heard back from Prosharp about it.

I've been ordering through Base since 2011, and this last order I noticed I was waiting roughly as long as you. I think they just did alot of volume over the holidays, plus black Friday was before that. I ordered a blade last summer and got it in 3 or 4 weeks.

The Luke Perry one gets me. I hated 90210 but he was only 52. That kind of thing always reminds me not to take things for granted.

Bauer N2700 + Alkali Magnesium

One of my OG Mako/Sprung conversions split, but after one skate I really like my new M7 conversion. The M7 actually feels stiffer than the OG Mako ever did, it fits the same and the weight difference is marginal (not noticeable while skating). The only real difference I notice is the thick white felt tongue vs. the thinner heat responsive tongue with the plastic metatarsal guard on the OG Mako. The M7 tongue doesn't naturally wrap as well and I had to fiddle with the lacing a couple times, but I'm sure it will break in with use.