Vet88

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.

I still have my moon boot which has a removable velco wrap soft inner liner. Will pull the liner out and I have thin, flexible ice packs that I can velcro to the inside. Hopefully will do the same job as no local shop in my country has the shockdoctor product. lol, walking once the 24/7 3 months cast / moon boot comes off is a weird experience. Just no strength in the foot, couldn't do a calf raise to save myself. Thanks for the replies.

My ankle isn't broken but I did have surgery on my heel that involved repair work on the achilles, 2 months after and the ankle is still swollen. Surgeon says this is really common with foot surgery, akin to broken ankles. So for those of you that did break your ankle and either did or didn't have surgery, how long till the swelling disappeared? Did you use ice and did it help and for long after the surgery did you use ice for? Or anything else for the swelling?

You will get around 1mm+ of extra length as the heel pocket settles in. 8.5 sounds just right for you.

True is engineered by a speed skater (Scott), so with your Graf comments in mind do you expect True to go the same way because they don't know what "works in hockey"??? There is a countering and growing argument to the high cut, ultra stiff, limited forward flexion, rigid ankle lock design that some of todays manufacturers are pushing in the desperate search for more speed and this is what some suspect is leading to more injuries. Lets take a common training technique in Europe and that a lot of professional players still use today, skate and train with no laces. Regardless of what skate you are in, now everything you said about graf (and I won't dive into the murky world of corporate and player sponsorship here as a reason for them going out of business) comes into play (low cut, soft boot, balanced forward on the balls of your feet) yet players are not getting injured from this? ParkseY - your boot was built to your foot shape (if you used the 3D scan) so adding superfeet is going to change that. Zac covers this in earlier posts. I don't know if this will work for you but you may want to try a reprofile on your blade with a +2 pitch (get the center moved forward). This will put you more onto your heel. Changing boots is activating different muscles in your skating technique, if you want to simulate a True fit in your Bauer skates then try dropping an eyelet or 2 and skate this way in your Bauer skates for a couple of months. The increased forward flexion and ankle roll you will get will help activate those muscles you are struggling with when you skate in True skates. Then try your True skates again.

What size are your current Alkalis, 9.5? If you can fit almost 2 fingers down the back then that's around 1.5 sizes to big. 8.5 might do or you may be able to drop to 8, it depends on how you like your foot, toes brushing the toe cap.

Don't keep your right hand up, get it level with the stick hand and let your arms move in motion with your body. If you keep your right hand up you are skating in a position that is totally different to when you want to hold the stick in 2 hands, this is why you skate with the hands relatively level to each other when you are skating with one hand on the stick. A transition to 2 hands on the stick means the top hand comes up a little and the bottom hand drops down a little but your shoulders, torso and balance are still consistent to your one hand on stick stance.