Jason

I'm also curious to hear if anyone has tried both Tuuk and the Step/VH holders on the True/VH skates. A comparison would be great.

Very nice, Amiroo. Great choice on the steel. Those look like pro stock seats too. Beautiful!

I'm only going by what he told me. He said it was hard to clamp. I believe he was referring to the holder plastic somehow contacting the clamp or gettting in the way somehow. Kind of like it used to with those carbon fiber easton holders back in the day. I used to sharpen and profile with him at the shop and I am very well educated on things like pitch, radius, hollow, etc. I have also heard good things about Max Performance Sport's Pro Sharp Quad radius. I haven't actually tried it myself. I profile my own steel and I still skate on a standard 12' radius that I pitch forward slightly. In my experience with Step Steel in most holders, the pitch is quite consistent and usually comes so that the amount of steel that protrudes from the holder would be slightly taller (say 1/32") in the back of the working radius than it is in the front. You can measure it outside of the holder and find roughly the same result. This is not the case with some steel. LS4 steel would often come taller in the front with a very bulbous toe shape. What my friend was saying about the Step Steel for the VH holder was that it was taller in the front, thus creating a reverse pitch effect. Of course this can be corrected with some reshaping of the blade and all holders are pitched forward, so yes it does counteract that effect. I just feel like steel should always come neutral or forward pitched slightly because the majority of skaters like it that way. I don't personally know anyone that likes to skate on a reverse pitched blade. It seems a bit strange that the steel would be different in the VH holder than the other Step steel made for other holders. I don't have any pictures. I will talk to my friend again and get a more detailed explanation. By the way, I totally agree with your racecar analogy. That's the approach I take with my own skates.

All I can say was that he said they have a difficult time clamping them in to sharpen and that compared to Bauer or CCM versions of the Step Steel, the Step made for the VH holder is taller in the front of the blade creating a reverse pitch.

Where did you get that information? I know the Step name was on the original holders, but my old boss talked to the owner of Step and he said that he had no input into the design of the holder. Seems weird that they would manufacture something and put there name on it if they had no input into the product. My friend who sharpens at a LHS said that they are very hard to clamp in for sharpening and he said the Step steel that fits in them is always reverse pitched. I feel like they could have done a better job with these holders and steel.

Thanks for the video. For a machine called Sparx there are surprisingly no sparks.

@oldtrainerguy28hopefully they do this soon. I have been ordering Bauer customs for several years now and I've heard that they are not going to be offering the LS2 holders anymore. My current pair has LS2 with Step Blacksteel. I would love to keep using that combo until this issue is resolved. There is no way I would want to skate on a holder with a loose blade.

I've seen a bunch of loose steel with the new edge holders as well. They clearly need to go back to the drawing board. For serious competitive players that are on the ice multiple times per week, the holders don't seem to last beyond 6 months. This and the fact that I couldn't use Step steel were the reasons that I ordered my custom MX3's with LS2 holders.

It's funny that my friend just showed me this exact picture tonight. Apparently you texted it to him. We have a mutual acquaintance. The skates look awesome by the way.

I find it surprising that after hearing that Easton's hockey department is struggling that they have an MSRP of $799 for the Mako. If they put it at $699 I would think they would sell many more pairs. They just can't compete with Bauer in skates. They have to sell them cheaper to have a chance IMO. The MLX skates weren't marketed all that well, but they ended up selling them for 50% off within a few months of them being released IIRC. Two of my coworkers paid $400 for their MLX's. They were happy with the skates, but they wouldn't have spent $800 on them. I know that for sure. Plus, the skates broke down completely after just over one year for both and I think one of the guys even had his replaced on warranty partway through. Hopefully the Mako's are more durable. Definitely looks like an interesting skate though. I look forward to seeing them in person and trying them on. I just wish they offered them in a C width. Why did Easton ever get rid of their narrows?

Could you do the same thing with the front towers. I'd like to see the front to make a better overall comparison of pitch. Thanks.

I think the best way to correct your problem (I have the same issue) is to mount the right holder inside a bit and also toe in a bit more and then maybe add a shim on the outside of the holder. I tried propping my arch up a bit more, but it didn't seem to do the trick.

C/AA width. Low volume even though it doesn't look like it (I haven't molded them yet). Grip liner. Donut ankle with extra ankle padding. Not a heck of a lot really. I like the tongues on the skates, so I didn't need to change that. Only other thing that's different is that I installed Step Velocity XL steel in place of the LS2 Fusion.

My new custom Total Ones. I used a Sharpie to black out the heel cup and supreme logos.

Nice gloves Eugene, but those don't look like the Canucks colors I know. Maybe it's just the lighting.

I agree.

I like Laraque as a person, but I totally agree with Gainey that he is not helping the team win. He just can't skate at the NHL level. He barely ever fights either since he won't fight a guy below his weight class. I was really expecting more from him when he signed with the Habs. I thought he would be good for 5-10 goals and plenty of physical play and fighting, but that just wasn't the case. As far as the distraction goes... I think that he is a bit of a comedian in the room and I think that Gainey and Martin felt that his attitude was detrimental to the team. I was very disappointed when I saw Laraque and Price joking around with Cabbie last year during the playoff series against Boston. They were getting manhandled on the ice and they didn't seem to care at all.

I think when Pouliot is healthy, that they should consider sending Ryan White down rather than SK. I haven't been too impressed with him to date. Hopefully Pouliot can have a resurgence with the Habs. I was tired of waiting for Latendresse to blossom. It really bothered me to watch him skate. Pouliot is a huge upgrade in that category.

Is there any info yet on the X:60 gloves. Will they have a pro model like the XXXX did? Will they fit like XXXX's. I saw some pretty good pictures of them on the Bauer website, but there is no info.

I saw the X:60 stick in person for the first time the other day. I'm wondering if anyone noticed that the PM9 (and maybe other patterns as well) have a more squared off heel. Why did they change the shape? Also, if you have used this pattern, did you notice any difference in the way your puckhandling felt?

I'm not sure that I want to venture into the 80 flex area. I'm happy with Easton's 85 and I feel that Bauer's 77 is actually about the same. Not sure what you guys think about that. I've always found that Bauer and Warrior sticks are stiffer as compared to Easton in the same flex rating. I would rather go to the 90-95 flex zone as opposed to the 75-80 flex zone, so should I go with the R flex then? What do you think Spree? I'll have to see who in my area is carrying the stick so I can go flex one and find out for sure.

For someone that likes using Easton's 85 flex and NB's 77 flex, what flex would you guys suggest for the R10, whip or regular? I'm just thinking that with the whippy part being at the top that cutting this stick might stiffen it up at a faster rate than with other models. By the way, I tend to cut my sticks down to about 56.5 inches or so.

It doesn't have the link there anymore. There is a phone number to call. I'll give them a call and see what they want for one. Thanks.

I searched the website thoroughly twice and found no prices. Maybe I'm blind, but can you tell me where the prices are listed?

Does anyone know what MSRP is on the 52SE? When will it be available?