Vet88

Rbk pads are generally very durable - 7k / 8k / 9k / 11k - I've used them all. Their biggest failing is the straps which stretch after a short time, I always ended up taking them to a tailor and getting the straps replaced.

The 4k was a lower mid range elbow pad, your current pads are light years ahead in terms of protection. As to the durability of the 2S pro, hard to say as they haven't been out long enough.

If you are considering the Avision Zero Plus you need to take into account its sizing (the "senior" sized version only comes in a large). If you fit a large cage then the Avision Zero plus senior will most likely fit your face shape. If you use a medium cage the Avision, based on my experience, will not fit you face shape. Your chin will sit around 1cm - 2cm's away from the chin cup. You can't fix it because of how the cage is designed, they have pushed the visor outwards and the rest of the cage shape follows this so this pushes the chin cup away from your face. It's really noticeable when you put a medium cage and the Avision Zero Plus senior side by side. If you don't mind not having your chin in the chin cup then you might be ok with it, I couldn't get used to this. I still like the no fog of the Avision zero plus visor and am mulling over picking up another medium cage and doing some mods to fit the visor to it aka putin style. Edit - I purchased the cage as an early release when the info was a little bit opaque, I purchased a "senior" cage. The web site now has a lot more info and you would need to purchase the "Junior" cage (with a picture of a kid who looks about 10) if you are a small to medium adult fit, go figure that nomenclature.

Oops, you are right, I keep thinking of iihf rules or our national inline rules where a few years ago they introduced a specific penalty rule to cover this (players taking the puck behind the net and freezing it there). Thinking more on this there is another situation, which happens often, but not specifically covered in the rules is when an event happens (say a hand pass not in the defensive zone to a team mate) who then wont play the puck and an opposition player also wont play the puck because he is at a disadvantage (eg line changes occuring). You end up with players around the puck and no one wanting to play it. I've seen this happen a number of times and the referee blows the play dead.

63.1 could also apply and is very broad. I'd have thought they would have clarified this with some rule changes, iihf is quite specific about the flow of the game.

My only comment about the avision zero plus is its fit. I got a large to fit onto a medium E700 and had to do a lot of work to get it to fit, it was too small (yes, thats right, a large mask on a medium helmet was too small off the shelf), had to remove the shield, bend the hell out of the bars, refit the shield and do a lot of fiddling to get it right. Maybe it's something to do with Easton that made it a more difficult process than what I thought it should be. But I agree with what everyone else says, no fog issues. That said I'm most probably going to onsell it, the weight bugs me and I'm going to go for a titanium cage.

bolt hole of the South Pacific, New Zealand.

A good decision, I just think you left a little bit of info out, 2021 😷

I feel for you guys in other places of the world. Here we opened up 3 weeks ago and with no community transmission (except where they f**k it up at the border) we all feel reasonably safe enough to start playing again. All leagues start again in the coming weeks. I hate to say this but if you are in NA you are screwed until this thing runs its course / vaccine arrives as you are never going to wipe it out the way things are going.

The pain at the top of the boot is caused by your foot rolling inwards and the top of the boot pressing on the ankle. The quick fix for this is to heat up the top of the boot and roll this area outwards. Or pad the area with something like closed cell neoprene. However this doesn't fix the underlying issue of pronation. Heat molding does not fix pronation, you still pronate. All it does is help to straighten the ankle (as long as the boot fits well enough) but you are still pronating in the boot and over time, the constant pressure of the foot on the inside of the boot will eventually cause the boot to break down and open up. External shimming (between the boot and the holder, on the outside of the foot for pronation) isn't very well known in hockey circles yet is one of the first things you are evaluated for with any half decent figure coach and fitter. If you are struggling to find someone who can help you with shimming go ask someone in figure skating circles for a decent boot fitter. Arch support (and orthotics) will also not fix your pronation, the arch support has nothing to lever against to provide the support for the foot. If you want it to help shape your foot then it will work but to help address pronation, no. Internal heel wedges (when used inside the boot they are placed on the inside of the heel for pronation) may help, it all depends on how much and how you pronate. Cheap to buy and you can experiment yourself, it's worth having a go. Shimming on the outside of the holder or moving the holder inwards or a mix of both are still the primary way to address pronation in skates. There are a number of exercises to help pronation, they are all about strengthening the arch, ankle and calf. Here are 3:- One of them is to curl the toes inwards (imagine you are trying to touch the bottom of your heel with the bottom of your toes) as hard as you can and hold for 5 seconds then relax. Try to do 30 sets 3 times a day and as you get better, just keep doing as many as you can a day. Another is to find a ledge, put the inside of the foot on the ledge (first 2 toes and the ball of the foot, the outside of the foot hangs off the ledge) and then do calf raises whilst keeping the foot as level as you can. 30 sets 3 times a day. Another is to get a resistance band, sit on the floor and put it around a solid object and then around the top of your foot. Curl your foot towards you (without moving your leg, just your foot, imagine you want to try and get the top of your toes to touch your shin), hold for 5 seconds and then relax, repeat, 30 sets 3 times a day. I can also give you a guaranteed fix for pronation in skates but it depends on how much you can skate / train and how dedicated you are to it. Start by dropping eyelets, say 2, then train until you get comfortable skating like this. Then drop another eyelet, repeat. You are aiming for 5 eyelets down, at this point you completely lose the support of the boot for the ankle. Now don't tie your laces at all. Learn to use your muscles to control your balance over the skate blade, stop relying on the boot to provide support. This will correct your pronation, guaranteed. Lace up for games, train unlaced. Ice or inline, it works for both. If you don't have the time or inclination to do this and you don't want to shim (I personally do not like shimming) for whatever reason then buy the stiffest boots you can afford, tie them as tight as you can and go and skate. When the boots start to break down and open up then replace them. Depending on how hard you pronate and how often you skate will determine how long you get out of a pair of skates.

You will have to ring around but find a shop that has a custom skateworks boot punch, watch at the end of this where they do the toe Mark the area you want punched and then send the boot to them. They should be able to get near to 1/4" but that is a big punch in the toe. There is a downside, if the toe is sitting in this little pocket and a puck hits it, it's going to hurt. A length stretch is very hard to do and it comes more from deforming the boot or moving the toe cap instead of stretching the material in the sides. A guy I know who played pro in Canada had a 1/4 sized diff between his feet. He would buy the smaller sized boot then modify one by heating the toe cap area up and then pulling the toe cap out by 2mm. Really risky if you get it wrong as its very easy to rip the toe cap right out and then the boot is stuffed. The easiest way to get a longer boot is to buy a bigger size but I understand why that may not be your desired first option.

A few years ago we went to the worlds IIHF tournament in Germany and they dropped the "new" Bauer pucks on us (the IIHF tournament I was at before this they used IDS). It was a nightmare, every team hated them but Bauer had paid bucks for them to be used so we had to suck it up. We brought back 2 boxes of pucks and still have them sitting in the office, no one wants to use them lol.

Great vid, couldn't agree more except I have wooden hands so prefer the IDS for it's overall performance on the surface (slides better) but have team mates who prefer the rocket - for all the reasons you said.

Recently got a pup so walk her twice a day, it means I clock up around 8km's per day but still putting it on, waistline has gone out at least 3cm's, gulp. As I hate running I need to get back on the ice, nothing like 1/2 an hour of 1v1 battles to get the fitness back up.

It's the glues in the tape that start the damage to the palms, when they mix with sweat the result is toxic. So I use medical tape, buy it off amazon. If you want to take extra care of your palms use hypoallegenic tape but it costs more. Downside is you have to retape more often as it is softer than tennis tape etc but it will not eat your palms. When I switched myself and kids to medical tape, all the holes in gloves stopped and the stitching stopped falling apart.

I don't know about replacement parts. Previously Keith has said he has them but I don't see anything for sale on the Sprung site. Hopefully he will reply to your email. Try an offer for the frames, if you get them cheap enough it would be worth it even without spares.

Hi Petter - can you give us any info on what the required maintenance will be to keep the R1 in good shape and how easy it will be to perform eg what is required? Inline rinks accumulate a lot of dust and debris, how will this effect the rocker motion as the chassis gets dirty? Are you expecting owners to clean the chassis daily, weekly, monthly?

afaik Keith has no stock as he is putting all his focus on getting his new design out. However an ebay seller just put a bunch of frames up for sale, all sizes. https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Sprung-A6-A7-A8-IN-LINE-Roller-Chassis-Frame-6593/164181065317?hash=item2639f43e65:m:mL-oyL6x4__JWVveGEabUxw

What size are you? If you want to try some Sprungs I saw an ebay seller just list a bunch of them. https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Sprung-A6-A7-A8-IN-LINE-Roller-Chassis-Frame-6593/164181065317?hash=item2639f43e65:m:mL-oyL6x4__JWVveGEabUxw

Here we go again, I'm not holding my breath but I really do hope Keith makes it this time however the R1 has stepped up the competition.

If you have some tools at home it is relatively easy. 2 x C clamps, stones from the garden and some blocks of wood to form a frame. Here is a thread on it (as well as your own spot puncher), scan down to my post with pics so you can see what you need and it working: This is easy to set up, make sure you lace the first eyelets so the top of the boot keeps its shape. Measure up the width of the boot before you start and as you use the clamps so you can control the amount of the stretch. I don't use heat, just time. The downside is getting right into the toe cap area (if that is where you need to get to), the shape of the c clamps make this an issue. This is why boot stretchers use curved arms. A while ago I made another simple tool to get right into the toe cap area, you need a strap hinge, 2 round head bolts and a small length of hollow pipe (to fit over the bolts) cut to the required length (different sized boots require different lengths) and a ratchet spanner or ring spanner. pic here https://imgur.com/a/4APhUS9 You will also need something to pack the back of the strap hinge against the heel of the boot, this is to stop the device sliding back down the boot as you begin to open it up. I also packed the sides of the strap hinge to help keep it in place. Pretty self explanatory, cut the tube to length, slide the tube over the two bolts, fit into the boot and start winding away. I filed out the strap hinge for the bolt that has the nut on it so the bolt sat in the clamp and would not turn. This works really well, almost too well as I could see the toe cap starting to separate away from the boot. I subsequently made a clamp for the bottom of the toe cap to stop this from happening. Only downside with this is the further you get into the toe cap, the harder it is to wind the nut, you need patience, feel and time. If you just want to widen the forefoot area this would work really well. Edit - I left a washer out that sits between the nut and the tube.

I agree with the above, it sounds like the last they used to make your skates was not narrow enough in the heel. You are not the first to have this problem, there are others who have had issues with a narrow heel fit. Based on what you have said, you need to get rescanned then the boots remade with the fitter taking manual measurements of your heel AND noting the heel width eg same as Bauer A. Pressing the boot inwards at the base of the heel is not the answer, any pressure on it and it will eventually want to move to its original shape over time and this is accelerated if you have any bio mechanical issues such as pronation.

If anyone is interested, 2 indepth break downs on cost and break evens based on the NA market (the OP provides a link to the 2nd break down at the bottom of his post).

This is like trying to compare apples and oranges, a sparx unit versus a traditional sharpening unit both have strengths and weaknesses. Your running costs with a traditional unit will always be cheaper but it requires a lot more skill to get a good sharpening. A sparx is plug and push, no skill needed as long as the alignment is correct. You got 25 sharpenings, let's say you charged 10 euro a sharpening, if I was running a shop I would not be comfortable with that return. However as a home user at 3.2 euro per sharpening versus a LHS charge??? What is there to not like about that cost other than we always want it cheaper? If you are unhappy then maybe charge a per pass cost? Then if they turn up with massively damaged blades you get a higher return for your sharpening (if a financial return is a key driver of what you are trying to do).

I wouldn't hack the unit, I'd focus on the ring. Lots of different ways to do this and it's easy once you have the gear (a read / write unit).