Vet88

Haha, the difference in your skating is starting to become really noticeable now. From 4 months ago when you really started to work on dropping eyelets to now, much better edge control and balance.

And if you have ever seen him sharpening skates, he uses an oil to do the final pass / passes and it's more a polish than a cut. I suspect it is easier doing this by hand than readjusting the grinding wheel pressure on a sparx, if that can even be done.

Hmm, I wonder if there are regional differences. In NZ our Bauer distributor gets all his product from Europe, including customs. It could be a lack of knowledge all down the line. I will ask him again next time I see him.

As per what CCM are doing, for retail Bauer do not build from your last but a last that is the closest they have to your foot shape and then incorporating any additional specs you may make. Only True at this stage are offering a retail boot that will be built from your last. For my crystal ball gazing, once the manufacturers begin to 3D print their boots (and its not that far away when you look at what adidas and others are now doing) then all boots will be be able to be built from your last, for an additional price of course.

At this stage, no. Someone like JR could possibly better answer this but based on a recent discussion I had with a LHS owner - With Bauer you can select a tongue, heel size, forefoot width etc but its made from their last, not a last from your foot. CCM are about to offer a custom skate once their scanning platform is rolled out into retail stores but I'm not sure if it is truly based of your last or a last they have that is closest to your foot shape.

As HP are finding out as they try to stop clone cartridges getting used in their printers. I agree, not enough money in it for a 3rd party to reverse engineer a ring. Now if only Sparx were as common as inkjet printers.....

Yes that's the method but the Teflon tape I use is too rigid to fold over so I cut strips for each side then lightly chamfer the top of the strip (when it is on the blade) so that it inserts easier into the holder. I have various thicknesses of Teflon tape and try thicker ones on just the center of the blade until I can't get the blade to fit in by hand. Then I set the rest of the blade up and use clamps to press fit the blade. btw I tried masking tape and it works but after a short time it starts to go off and degrades causing the blade to get loose again.

Don't know about clicking but you could check for sideways fit. You would have to add some weight to the holder eg screw a heavy steel plate onto it, insert the blade into the holder and then put the setup into a sharpening carriage with a sideways mount. If the holder flops on the blade then swap it out.

You can't use 3rd party grinding rings (yet), Sparx have an ID tag in the ring, if there is no ID tag sensed then the machine will not sharpen. It's how the machine knows how many passes a wheel has done.

You can't use silicon or rubber as it would give and still allow the blade to flex sideways. Teflon tape is good as it does not give under pressure. I end up press fitting the blade into the holder and then resharpening the blade. It's a last resort because if the blade breaks or when it wears out then getting it out is going to be really difficult and anything new going into the holder will flop about. At the end of the day a new edge holder is the only proper fix. We have timed skaters (from standing starts) with this issue and they were all faster once the blade was sitting firmly in the holder.

Every edge holder I have seen that was clicking, when I put it in the carriage to sharpen the boot flopped. Put 200lbs of force into the boot as you push half way thru your stride and that sideways flex is only going to get worse. Whilst you can skate like this, its the loss of speed and edge control that is the worry. Testing players from standing starts (using electronic timers) and then I repair the holder (using teflon tape and pressing the blade into the holder for a secure fit) and they are all quicker in the next set of tests. You raise an interesting point, how will Marsblade deal with this? It's one thing to have it feel good as you turn and glide but if you suffer any loss of speed during acceleration then it's not going to work.

If you haven't seen them before, I consider the iTrain vids are one of the better vids around and this one is one of the best. The drill he shows at the 8:50 mark is excellent. Bust out as many of these as you can forwards and backwards, concentrate on the sound and form.

Did you tell True you pronate significantly on the right foot? I have seen earlier in the thread they will make allowances for this by building up the arch a little more. However that may not be your only issue, if the holder isn't mounted at least dead center (and even 1mm off center to the outside makes a big difference here) then your foot collapse will be exaggerated. Ideally you would have asked them to move the holder inwards by 1mm off the center line, it makes such a difference to your pronation and how the skates feel on your feet. 1mm may not be the amount you need to achieve perfect balance but it is a good start and in my experience of fitting skates it addresses around 90% of people with pronation, or at least getting them to a place where they can skate comfortably.

When you go to a public skate, you control the time and space of your skating eg when to move, how fast, when to stop etc. So you always seem to be in control and balanced. In a game, which should be a faster pace, you are having to react to the situation eg stop, turn, accelerate etc when you are not expecting it. Your balance, skating and timing gets disrupted and until you become a better skater you will continue to struggle. Bottom line is practice, practice, practice. As you become a better skater it gets easier. Skating with a stick in hand does help a lot. Skating with kit will get you used to it but at the end of the day it's how well you skate, not the kit you may or may not be wearing. And when you go to a public skate you need to work on your skating, not just skate in circles around the rink. Edge control, one foot balance drills, unusual skating positions, even figure skating moves (eg a 3 turn), all so you develop as broad a base as possible of skating skills. Youtube is a great friend here, type "Advanced edge control drills" into you tube, find drills you have never seen or done before then go and practice them. Or ask a coach to give you some drills, everyone I coach gets drills to work on when they go to public skates, all designed to make them a better skater.

You want to clamp in the area that is directly under the ankle bone, half way between the bottom of the ankle bone and the bottom of the foot.

Not necessarily so. Sparx has a different pricing model where the wheels, at this stage, are proprietary to them. Like printers and ink, sell the printer for as cheap as you can and make your money on the consumables.

According to recent posts the designer has made, they have been submitted and they expect an answer in the next 2 months.

I'll mention just one point as it makes one of the biggest differences in accuracy and generating power for people who are mastering the technique of shooting. This is also one of the hardest things to learn about shooting. Have a look at your bottom arm and the way your elbow works thru the shot. As you start the shot your elbow bends in on itself, this is a technique issue and the pressure of the stick loading into the arm. The back slow speed shows this the best. Hence you are not generating flex into the stick until you are nearly 3/4's of the way thru the shot, which is where your elbow starts to lock and you generate some bottom hand power into the stick. The side slow speed shows this the best, look at where the stick actually starts to flex. You have to generate the flex at the start of the shot. Watch here at the 25 sec and 35 sec mark (lol Kessel bends that baby like a soft noodle, he straightens his arm into the shot to generate more power), note how the elbow is locked at the start of the shot and thru the shot and not folding in on itself. This is not just a strength issue, you also have to transfer your weight slightly over the stick to help generate the power into the stick. Getting all of this to work in synch takes a lot of practice.

Putting aside views on whether they work or not, the primary reason pros are not wearing them is because they are not yet approved by the NHL. There is no way you would wear these outside of games and then switch back to traditional holders for games, it would screw with your muscle memory to much. Once the NHL approve them (if they do) then it will be interesting to see what pros switch, especially as it will be mid season. I would expect most to hold off until the end of the season before switching over so they can test the hell out of them before trusting them to game time. As to the validity of the product, sign me up. This follows along my line of thinking of a natural balance point your body finds when the ankle can move and is not locked into a heel pocket. A floating blade will really help here. These with no laces, I can't wait to receive them. My only reservation is the steel, I hope they get Step or Tydan or other steel manufacturers on board asap.

https://www.true-hockey.com/find-a-retailer/?location=Australia&location_id=ChIJ38WHZwf9KysRUhNblaFnglM&skate=false

Things are really slow. Still swollen, still can't do a calf raise, backward skating is a stumbling joke. Surgeon said 4 - 6 months before the pain and swelling disappears (but he was ok with me skating). Physio doesn't want me to skate, we agreed to disagree but I did back off training this week, only skated 4 times instead of 7 lol.

After baking and a month of wearing, you gain around 1mm

Yes, you hit the nail on the head there. Most skaters have no clue the holder is opening up, it's not till we point it out that they realise something is wrong. If you drop your skates off to a shop and don't see them getting sharpened and the sharpener does not tell you then unless you know to look for this you would not have a clue (and I reckon that would be 99.9% of the skating population out there). And as an aside a Sparx would hide this issue, I'm not saying this is a good or bad thing, just that if you used a Sparx you would have to check in other ways as opposed to a traditional sharpening method to highlight the problem.

I've sharpened a lot that are skates purchased from a LHS and have never had the steel changed in them. The Edge flop is the term we use when you put the boot into the clamp and it sinks down.....

5 eyelets down, yeehaa, nice to see.