Vet88

It works if you have a good neutral bio mechanical alignment and your boot fits well. As soon as either or both of those conditions aren't met your foot will rotate in the boot and this forces the tongue to twist to the side, even with these fitted. This is why I always had to tape my pads to my ankle, regardless of what else was going on they were always sitting in the right spot.

Unfortunately not. 1: 72mm wont fit in the space, they will rub against each other and the boot. 2: Even if you could fit them, this is a hi lo setup designed for the wheels you have. Adding 4mm to the front 2 will cause the 3rd wheel to lose contact with the ground. If you made the front 2 72mm, you would have to make the back 2 80mm (and run into the same problem for space as the front). If you want to go larger wheels you need to change the frame.

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.

I'm in the same boat, had my hips done 2011, bilat Birminghams. I run the 9k and have yet to find something good enough to take me away from it even though it is heavier than recent models. For added hip protection I wear nfl padded shorts underneath, there is a large range off Amazon, you can literally pick how much extra protection you need eg like these which I do admit may be way over the top for what you want but when combined with a good girdle / pant offer nearly bullet proof hip protection https://www.amazon.com/Tortoise-Pads-Impact-Protection-Density/dp/B07F5T389W/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=nfl+padded+shorts&qid=1586863954&sr=8-1

As I found when I started my journey without laces, skating backwards was a totally different kettle of fish than skating forward. Sure, I could glide backwards, do crossovers and turns and stops without any issues but as soon as I really drove hard onto the inside edge to generate power, my foot (due to my pronation) would collapse on me. This was still going on a long time after I had pretty much mastered my forward skating without laces. Even today I still get caught out occasionally, on my last skate 2 weeks ago I was at a stick and puck doing 1 on 1 D work against some ex pros, every now and then when I drove hard off the inside edge it would partially collapse on me. Backward skating power moves are the ones that expose any weakness in your foot mechanics the most. As you can skate without laces / untied I'd suggest that, once rinks are open again, go for a skate this way. If you find your foot collapsing on you doing whatever move it is that causes the pain then this is a good guide as to where you need to do extra work to correct it.

Top of the ankle bone or the edge of the boot? Skating backwards shifts your weight forward in the skate and requires a lot more effort from the mid foot and ankle muscles to support you in the correct position. So you could be pronating slightly into the inside edge (top of the boot pain on the outside of the leg) or the heel is lifting more than you think it is and the ankle bone is hitting the top of the pocket (top of the ankle bone pain and can be on either side of the foot). For the former the first fix is to heat the top and roll it out, for the latter try a punch at the top of the pocket. Neither option address the root of the problem but they do provide a simple fix which is often all most players want.

I have the same setup, if the Step steel is straight before you put it in, it should remain straight.

Got a file? File the top of the hosel on the blade down so that it will slide into the shaft easier. Apply lots of heat to the shaft and just enough to heat the glue on the blade. If it still doesn't slide in you need to file down the hosel on the blade, not hard to do, just time consuming. You can file down the inside of the shaft but this weakens it to the point it may fail (depending on how much you file away), advantage of filing the shaft is you can then easily replace the blade.

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.

Either push or tow a team mate and ask them to dig in.

Yes, that is one of the big changes you have to make, opening the feet and hips so that you can leverage the skate blade ie drive power into the ice and not have the skate blade move. Accelerating from a stop or slow speed is the other area where you have to turn the feet to the side, try pushing a goal across the rink (especially trying to explode of the mark) with laces untied, you will see what I mean 🙂

Where do your feet hurt?

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.

Primarily it's muscle memory that causes the heel lift. When you put skates on and skate, your body is trying to do the same thing as when you walk, push down with the forefoot and lift the heel is part of your normal stride. A simple test is leave your laces untied and really loose, now go for a skate and one of the first things you will notice is how the heel lifts in the pocket as you get to the end of your stride. So what holds the heel in place? It isn't the bottom 3 or 4 eyelets (the forefoot ones) or the top ones (around the leg), it's the eyelets that cover the front curve of the foot between the foot and the leg that lock your heel into the heel pocket and this is why you get lace bite if the boot does not have enough volume, the pressure of the lace downwards on the foot and the pressure of the foot lifting in the skate and coming up against the lace. The padding in the heel will help to a degree but the force of the lift is significant enough that no padding can ever hold the heel in place. It's possible that if you squeezed your foot into a size smaller boot (aka Paul Coffey) that the pressure lengthwise and the padding would be enough to lock the heel in place but do you really want to be in pain and limping for days after every skate? You can learn how to skate differently (aka no heel lift) if you can put the time in. Start dropping eyelets until you can eventually skate with laces untied, then train this way and you will find your skate mechanics change for a whole host of reasons, and for the better. Or buy skates that fit your foot - narrow heels and ankles means you are looking for Jetpeeds (2017 line) or Vapours or Rbk 50ks or Rbk 70ks or customs. If they are too narrow elsewhere get them stretched and or punched. If the volume is not sufficient use eyelet extenders or Rbk lacelocks. If you train laces untied you will learn that heel lock isn't that important, it's your stride mechanics that count. fwiw, I train with no laces and play games with only the bottom 3 (forefoot) eyelets laced up. Once you have learnt the lateral stability needed, the biggest change in your stride is when you accelerate or get on your toes, a lifetime of muscle training (eg walking and running) means you want to lift the heel and relearning how to accelerate and stride off the toes with no heel lift takes practice and time.

Have you looked into ESWT? There are a number of studies out over the last couple of years that show it's effectiveness in the right circumstances. Whether or not it is suitable for you I don't know but ESWT versus cortisone studies in hip injuries such as gluteal or hamstring tendinopathy have shown ESWT to be more effective.

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).

😲😲😲 the price of a sparx unit from ms europe, wtf.....

Have you considered using a reshipper like myus? For example it's around $15 for 2kgs to Europe and with a US drop box you can now shop at US local prices.

Clamp the steel in the vice then push firmlyish on the side of the skate. You are looking for the holder to move from an upright position and deviate to the side. If it is loose enough you will clearly see the holder go on a lean.

Theory is not my strong point, I'd start with weighing your boot then multiplying the kgs by 9.8, that will give you the newton force of the boot in a sideways jig (yes, I included the steel in the jig). If gravity is moving it then this force in a vertical jig should move it. And my apologies to the flare thread, this is my last post on this particular matter.

Why not? What forces are going thru the inside edge when you accelerate from a standing start? Foot pronating into the push, your whole body weight on one foot driving thru the toe. 100kgs then or you pushing on it in a jig?

I don't have access to prosharp, sparx or elite sharpeners (they are the ones I know of that use a vertical mount). But do I really have to explain how, if you can't move it by hand, it's not going to show up in a vertical mount that has very little sideways deflection occurring on the boot? You stick the boot in the machine and you press the button, it's not going to move sideways unless you are actually testing it and then it's up to the quality of the clamping unit. If you really want to test it in a vertical mount I'd suggest a bench mounted vice clamp would be a better proposition.

I have, if you search earlier threads about this issue I posted pics of my sons skates, neither I, the sharpener I was going to at the time or my son could move the blade by hand yet put his MX3's in the jig and the flop was very noticeable. Fixed it with Teflon tape but eventually they should have been replaced, I didn't as he moved on to other skates shortly after this.