jimmy

The BFD is different than the real FBV, so it would be interesting to see a independent study. I've done my own study, 6000 switched to FBV, only 10 went back to hollow cuts. :-)

You are absolutely correct. A perfect example is just today I received a pair in the mail with a radius order and the customer selected an aggressive pitch. Not sure if he knew these already had an aggressive pitch on them (when combined with the rear tower), but I can imagine if I radiused them with more pitch, the skater would likely be having significant problems. I emailed him and am waiting to hear back.

Yea, I just couldn't remember which one as funded by them. I tried to get a copy of the Brock one years ago but Kelly wouldn't give it up.

At the training I went to last Thurs, Dave specifically mentioned that the stiffness level decreased in accordance with sizing, so while the juniors are made of same material, their stiffness will not be the same as the seniors.

Was that the study that was funded by Blademaster?

If you are asking if any aftermarket steel is available for this skate, the answer is not yet.

Only as a goalie skate, but I had zero problems skating from bench to the net. ;-)

Pitch is just one part of the profile, so with the CXN, depending on the skater, no additional pitch would be added. You can still get your 9' as usual.

I was thinking the opposite, those with LS2's could ditch those for the CXN, better performance, better attachment system, better steel.

Here's a pic of the rear towers of the Mako holder and the LS2 (both size 9's). Measured front to back, the Mako has approx .5 degree more pitch in the holder than the LS2. The Mako steel measured by itself has 1 degree forward lean. Sorry, I don't have a new unsharpened LS2 runner to measure. Also, Mako holes line up exact with LS2.

Easton told me 3 degrees.

Well, got to skate on mine yesterday for 1.5hrs, all I can say is I couldn't tell I had a skate on. I was nervous coming from a softer boot skate to these, but they were perfect.

The stores around me in Southern NH lie to their customers when they ask if they do the FBV. They are trying to pass of the counterfeit BFD as the real FBV, even call it the FBV. But customers aren't stupid, once they skate on the BFD, they know something isn't right.

The funny thing is I had one customer try them on out of the box no molding and he said they felt great, where for me complete opposite. But for sales wise, if I have a serious customer, I will take the time to mold before the sale. Having gone thru molding myself, I can attest to the vast positive change in feel after molding.

I wear a 8 RBK. Today I got my Mako's and a 9 was perfect. Didn't make sense, but skate fitting never does. BTW, I love this skate. They felt like crap before they were molded, but after molding they were the sweetest feeling skate I have ever put on. Can't even describe it, but they fit so well. I did the goalie conversion today and am anxious to test them out Monday.

No, but the law does. I'm not sure on Canadian law but in the US, it's pretty clear about replacement parts.

I don't see that happening, replacement parts are exempt from patent protection, e.g, same as auto parts.

I'm sure Step will have it's version.

Yes, I go thru their distributor, that adds to the mess.. Would be nice to have them up the street! It's also tough getting CCM steel right from CCM, seems they are frequently out. There was a time I literally robbed steel from every skate in the store just to fill orders.

Trust me, I'd like nothing more to sell a set of steel to anyone, but getting steel from vendors sometimes is very difficult. I could have a dozen of one size in stock on Mon and be sold out on Wed. Then I reorder and they are backordered. Step doesn't always have all sizes in stock and it can take weeks to get what I need. People say, well why don't you just order more, well I do but when they only send me one pair when I ordered 10, that sucks. For my business, there is nothing worse than losing a custom radius order because I didn't have a set of steel for the radius customer. Someone who just wants a set of steel, no radius can get them instead from their local store or one of the big online stores.

There is a reason we don't just sell steel anymore. In the past when the big online stores ran out, folks would find us online (we come up in the top google rankings) and then we'd get cleaned out of our supply. Then we'd try to reorder but manufacturers would be out for weeks. So, when we had a radius customer, we had no steel for them. We had to put the restriction on to keep the supply avail for our radius customers. Nothing to be afraid of, we clearly tell you up front what our policy is.

Yup, I already have 5 conversions lined up, including me! Was ready to do it with a MLX but then concussion happened, so I held off.

I sold a pair of Blackedges to a guy I skate with back in June. He told me yesterday he's ready for his second sharpening. 36 sessions for him. Not bad. Jury is still out on Blacksteel, still too new to evaluate. I do like the extra height on the STEP blacksteel, especially if you are an aggressive leaner in turns. But given that both will withstand many more shapeneings than regular steel, both would be good choices.

What I really like in addition to the fit is the new holder, 2mm higher and steel with almost a 3 degree forward pitch. I think it's going be a great perfoming setup. Simply change the stock 9' radius to what works well for you and you got a winning lower.

I got some of the blacks in yesterday, so I hope not. They look nice.