Leaderboard

I have a few friends with failing boots. The issues they are having are much worse like the outsole separating from the boot, toe caps coming loose, continually replacing rivets broken or cracked tendon guards.

With the issues as described I'd look to have the tongues replaced before considering buying new custom skates. A good equipment shop could probably look at the toecap as well. I use Nash Sniper Tongues in my Nexus 7000s and absolutely love them so much so that I just found a pair of new pair of Nexus 2Ns in my size and I'm not even baking them until I get a pair of Nash Tongues installed.

For me, I just look at the over all condition of the stitching and seams, and feel how sturdy the shell is. My last pair of skates, the toe cap was beginning come loose from the rest of the boot and the shell was softening up, but I stretched the life of the skate out a couple of years. Skate was around 7 years old by the time I replaced it. Right now, my skates are around 5 years old. Other than surface abrasions, it looks like it should easily last another 2 years. They're S190s. I'm usually on the ice 3-4 times a week. Usually it's 2-3 games and/or 1-2 sessions of stick and puck.

When you put on the skates, do you pull them on by pulling on the tongue? Having the tongues come loose is an odd failure point, as there’s no torque or pressure otherwise being applied there.