Vet88

I'm fascinated as to how you reconcile "Kronwell wears them" and "not allowed in the NHL"? And pray tell what it is in health and safety that makes these a risk? afaik they have passed approval to be worn in the NHL, I am sure Per will clarify if that is not the situation.

If you can resolve it that would be much appreciated, thank you for your response.

Well this sucks, the seller (in Australia) will not ship to New Zealand because they say it is in breach of their distribution licence even though no one sells your product here in New Zealand. And Canada is one of the most expensive places in the world for int'l shipping so it looks like I will have to pass until someone I know next visits the States. Shame as I had lined up a lot of players to try this.

I have just purchased some twin packs from your Australian agent, will post an update when they get here as I have a bunch of players who want to try them. All up, if they work as stated I think they will be a great and necessary tool to have in the bag. Initially I'll be using them as an edge "renewer" between sharpens and then will be seeing how long I can go before I need to do a sharpen on the machine. I skate between 15 - 20 hours each week so I currently machine sharpen twice a week. Do you have a recommendation for the number of passes in different circumstances? Yes I know that is a loaded question because of the different pressures people will apply but say you just want to refresh an edge, one light pass per side, or two etc (based on your experience)?

You can get those and others on android, just search in the play store. For example I've used CoachNow on a Nokia Sirrocco phone and the slow mo is good at 8:1, you can add feedback etc and then post to the space or group or player you are working with. If you want to clip the vid I use Lightworks on a pc and then can post to a lot of different media, it's free and does just about everything you would ever want to do when editing.

Creating a pocket in the heel for a bump is really hard to do unless you have the right tools or the material on the inside of the heel has enough thickness to make a pocket. If not the latter (first skates I dd this on were pro spec apx2's that had very thin inner heel material), the heel is a very reinforced, circular area and it takes a lot of pressure to make it move. Typical punches don't work because they actually push the outer area of the punch inwards in the heel whilst you get a little bit of movement in the middle of the punch ergo no result. You need a punch that is shaped liked the heel for the punch to work or you can do this: I made a frame that clamped and locked the boot into the middle of it and attached another frame that sat outside the quarter panel where I wanted the punch to occur. Then I used a c clamp to pull the heel area at that spot out with heat added. You need a lot of pressure to get the heel to move so you have to be careful here with the heat and pressure or else you can distort the shape of the heel. This worked ok but it is a slow process. I now have access to a 3D printer and I print up a punch according to the boot size, heel shape and position of the punch. Good luck with the tissue process but I wouldn't be holding my breath, heat and pressure will most likely give you the best result.

Because they make mistakes, even after repeated attempts at remakes. He has every right to be concerned. What I don't get is why the customer is not more involved in the "remake" process, surely True want to get it right next time??? How hard would it be for True to tell you "we are going to do this, this and this, do you agree?" and the customer signs off on it. I'd rather have the remake take a little bit longer because of extra communication than have it done asap. But maybe that's just me showing my age and preferring to "do it once, do it right." Instead the remake disappears into a black hole and you just hope to god it comes out the other side ok. And to give True their credit, most of the time it does as long as the information they are receiving is correct AND correctly acted upon. But when it goes amiss you end up in situation like smu is in and its still not right after 3 attempts.

Those 4 sentences are what every parent should be able to say at the end of the season. You nailed it, I'd say your son will be back next year and you don't need to be a rocket scientist to work out which coach he will want....

Haha, I had to do a double take of that picture. At first glance I thought, jeez, someone left the nets out and it snowed really really hard overnight. And then I saw the bottom bar.... Jokes aside, that looks and sounds about as close to heaven one could get. And you can be legally happy whilst doing it, sigh. It sure as hell beats the 2 rinks we have atm, it's 35 degrees outside and the plant can't keep up, the zamboni cuts the ice and 20 minutes later there are still pools of water over half the rink. Puck work is just shite and you have to saucer every pass just to make sure it gets to the player!

It's like a gimmee in golf, who cares when it's 2 feet from the hole or 10 seconds left on the clock. Getting thrashed is generally not fun so the quicker we get off the ice the better so we can sink a beer and chew the fat. Problem of leaving it is she may 1: not know about this as a general beer league rule and 2: be the type who stews on shit like this. Next time you see her I'd just say "hey, sorry about the misunderstanding last time but it's generally accepted that if we are getting thrashed...." and see what she says.

+1 for Konixx. I can point you to 220lb player who I supplied a lot of wheels to over the years. Anything he used he destroyed really fast as he is an aggressive elite player who skates inside heavy. Then I convinced him to pony up the extra cash for Konixx, night and day diff to addictions etc. Yes they are expensive but you pay for what you get.

2.1's are around 5mm longer.

sidelineswap, web site for selling things. I sympathise, I reckon I just looked at my 9ks and then 20ks and the eyelets started to fall out....

LS 2.1's are similar to the fusion in profile. Whilst they don't hold an edge as well as Step steel I think they are better than LS2 steel. Last year a pair of training boots I have had 2.1's and the blade cracked on me, I had some LS2 steel as spares, put them on and sharpened them and there was a noticeable difference in the time between sharpens for me.

I disagree. I have seen dozens of edge holders develop slop where the steel fits, it is the most obvious thing in the world when we put it in the jig to sharpen them and the boot flops. It may be a generation issue (around the MX3 release it is very common), a change in design / material / production plant or it could be that they just haven't had long enough yet but the problem does not seem so bad on the latest S / X / N Bauer skates (I have only seen 2 so far that went back for warranty repair). Now dozens of skates may seem insignificant until you consider we would be one of the smaller markets (around a 1k player base in the city) so the amount of failures is statistically significant and is backed up by employees in our LHS (we only have one). On the other side of the equation "one good experience <> everyone must have had a good experience". As to what causes the issue I have no idea, it seems to be a roll of the dice as I have also seen MX3's that are beaten to death and the steel still sits straight. But there is an issue there (I am not the only person who has sharpened skates who has made this observation on this forum) and you saying you haven't had one does not make it go away. Which leads to a side issue but one that players should be aware of. Sparx, Pro Sharp and other vertical sharpeners can make the problem worse. The issue isn't apparent when getting sharpened so it requires the player or sharpener to use other measures to check for the problem (and be extra vigilant with maintenance checks). Just trying to wiggle the blade in the holder is not enough.

If you want hassle free, low maintenance skating stick with ls2, you aren't playing nhl so you don't need the speed of change or the few extra mm of clearance. I've never had a ls2 holder flop on me when I put it in the jig to sharpen but I've seen plenty of edge holders do it and the only real fix is to replace them. For around $20 you can get a new holder (ebay, sideline etc) so get it changed if you think it is the problem.

Whilst that may apply to a heavy person, that isn't the main concern. Skates, unless they are modified customs, are designed for a neutrally aligned ankle. Put a new skater in them or someone who pronates (an estimated 70% of the population pronate and it is more prominent in 1st world countries) and when they stand in a soft boot the general result is a wobble inwards. Now the boot has additional pressure on primarily the inner ankle and in its soft state it bends and opens up and now you have a looser fit. Sitting puts the ankle into a neutrally aligned position and as manufacturers know that most LHS employees have very little knowledge in the foot alignment field, sitting is the simplest and safest option to improve the chances of a good fit. For a boot that goes really soft like mako or true, any off center pressure is bad news.

Thanks but I'll trust my experience from years of fitting skaters (hockey and figure, ice and inline) into skates. But to the thread subject, it's reasonably self explanatory why True want you in a lunge position for the scan. Ironically it's at odds to the baking process, at the point where you really need to be weight bearing in a skating position you can't be because of the risks of distorting the boot and even True haven't solved this one yet.

Really? I have yet to have ANYONE fail this test when fitting for length (laces out, foot forward till toes "feathering" the toe cap, bend forward and fit the pencil down the back of your heel). "Most people can't tell if their toes are curled in the toe box or not"??? wtf. "nor can they properly tell if their feet are flat and bearing weight" - about the only time this sentence makes any sense is if they are lying on their back and waving their feet in the air....

JR said it but I also think it is a mix of economics and reality. Those of us that sweat enough to destroy the eyelets are in the minority, goodness knows what the figure is but I'd have a guess that of their overall sales we are in the sub 1% range. So from their point of view, why change when it works for 99%+ of their player base? They take a bit of stick in forums and warranties from those of us that do have issues but they will just ride it out and pocket the difference in cost. If anyone here from a LHS wants to offer some percentage figures of sales to eyelet warranties I'd be very interested to know. Personally I don't mind it, I know what will happen if I ever lace a pair of CCM's or Rbk's up again and I know how to deal with it (skate lace free!). What I do wish is that they would offer something to fix it. they know it happens and they know why and I wish there was a customisation option where I could choose T316 stainless steel eyelets or similar, I would very happily pay a premium for this (and it would give me another reason to go custom CCM). and whilst they may have some smart people working on their skates they still make really really dumb decisions, screwing up the sizing and releasing a skate that turns the laces pink (you would not believe how much this drives people nuts...)

It's not that it doesn't happen, it's how fast. My Bauer eyelets on my one100's are slowly giving up, I've had 8 replaced so far. However on Reeboks and CCM's I have replaced eyelets within a year and had to do the whole boot. Like for the player above, I sweat a lot and this destroys shitty eyelets really fast and normal eyelets over time. If you have had your Bauers for years and had no issues you will most likely be ok with CCM or Reeboks for many years. There are eyelets out there that don't react to sweat, Alkali used them in their top of the line inline boots (CA9's) and these eyelets were bulletproof.

The red foam will cover the area from where the liner ends on one side to the liner on the other side. It doesn't cover the roof of the toe cap. This is used primarily to prevent any carbon splinters getting into your toes and as a comfort addition, it is a finishing product they use.

This. I would never, ever trust the scan on it's own. If there was one piece advice I could give to every person looking to get customs it would be this. Make sure you measure up your feet (ideally with a Brannock or something similar that will give you a correct foot length and width) and that the measurements are included in the notes. If the scan data and the notes / physical measurements don't line up then someone should be contacting you to sort things out BEFORE they begin the build.

Your custom skates were made too big (for arguments sake lets say they are 2 sizes out), they get sent back to be fixed and get returned with the toe box stuffed with a rubber material and the sides compressed inwards to make them narrower. The fit is now ok (putting aside the holder and steel length) but is this an acceptable solution for custom made skates? - Would you, as a customer, accept it or request that the skates were made to the correct size? - Would you as a fitter or shop owner be comfortable selling this to a customer? - Would you as an agent of the skate manufacturer be happy that this product is an accurate representation of the quality and product produced by the company? Lets face it, if this scenario played out in a shop for a retail skate we all know what the customer's response would be : customer: I'm looking for a size 9 skate. LHS: I don't have any in stock but I do have a size 11. Let me pack the toes and squash the sides together so it will fit you........

Quite possibly so but when the shop puts information like "Current skates Bauer size 5" on the order and the True skates turn up the equivalent of Bauer size 7 (and then the remade left skate the equivalent of a Bauer size 6+) then I'm not sure how much more a shop can do........