Jump to content
Slate Blackcurrant Watermelon Strawberry Orange Banana Apple Emerald Chocolate Marble
Slate Blackcurrant Watermelon Strawberry Orange Banana Apple Emerald Chocolate Marble

Vet88

Members+
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    2262

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    55

  • Feedback

    0%

Everything posted by Vet88

  1. Vet88
    Couldn't agree more. Not only the PH balance but the amount you sweat I think is critical. For example 2 of us purchased some Mission Boss black inline skates at the same time, I killed the rivets in 2 months, his held out for 4 years and were still going strong. I sweat buckets, team mate hardly sweats at all. I wipe down and dry my skates (in a shock doctor bag with a blower) after every game to try and slow the process down but to no avail. Sweat eats away at eyelets and rivets and I've even had the magnesium chassis in my inlines start to delaminate because of sweat. But the equipment some manufacturers use is more resistant to sweat than others so it's not just one factor but a combination of personal circumstances and the quality of material / coating the manufacturer is using.
  2. Vet88
    At the end there you are starting to get close, push the right heel outwards a little bit more as the blade slides across the ice and you are nearly at an inside edge stop. Stop skating the length of the rink to practice a stop, you can practice stopping over 10 feet. You tube has lots of videos on how to stop, I won't cover it because you can get the basics from there. What I would recommend you do is practice, practice, practice one foot skating. Inside edges, outside edges, slalom work. Frontwards first then add backward skating as you get better. Learn to balance over the top of your skates, knees bent. You have to teach your foot and leg muscles how to do this, it doesn't come naturally. Shin pads or knee guards really do help as you are learning, as well as elbow pads. Falling is part of learning and getting better. Again, youtube is your friend. Search for things like "ice hockey edge control drills" or "ice hockey stops". The Howtohockey stuff by Jeremy is quite good and I really enjoy the itrain hockey videos, - for balance control - edge control, the bubble c cuts are something you need to start learning now - for backward edges (the first drill is semi advanced) - covers forwards skating, balance and stopping (I really like these series of videos they are doing, long but worth every minute of your time) - for intensive edge control and good explanations (again, I really like these "train the trainers" vids)and for the slalom work, as you start just focus on getting your skates to change direction (turn left then right then left etc) with little weaves as you move down the ice.
  3. Vet88
    I must admit the eyelet issue is one that has made me hold off on getting a pair so far. I sweat buckets when playing and have had many skates (ice and inline) fail on me because I destroy the eyelets. Paying significant $'s for a custom skate and having them fail on me after a couple of months is something I'm not prepared to do yet. Yes, you can get eyelets replaced but there is the additional cost, time, hassle and if your LHS has purchased eyelets that aren't properly coated or are made from a poor material then you are in the same boat a couple of months later, been there and done that..... Best eyelets that I have found (aside from the injected lacing version on my MX3's) are the ones Alkali use on their inline range, these are indestructible. I'd happily pay a few extra bucks to get a quality eyelet put in as opposed to what they use now.
  4. Vet88
    It's a great way to cut bolts / threaded rods etc, and haven't broken a blade since....
  5. Vet88
    Give it 2 - 3 weeks of decent skatiing to change over, if after that time you are still wishing you had hi lo's then consider a chassis swap, wheel change as mentioned above or a rear shim (but alkali's are quite agressivley pitched forward). Just enjoy the boot for a while, it is a million miles better than the t7. I know a lot of players who have switched from Missions to Alkalis and all of them are still in the boot without any other changes.
  6. Vet88
    You definitely are not a 6.5 if your foot is 26cm long. My foot is 25.5cm's long and I'm in a 6.5 RPD Max and my toes are just off the toe box when laced up. Aside from how you measure you foot length, by what you have said it looks like you are one of those who would ideally suit a 1/4 size but it isn't possible from retail boots. Shift+ and rpd max fit the same in length so go back and try your friend's boot again, pull the laces and tongue right out, foot in the boot, toes feathering the toe cap, bend forward and see if you can slide a pencil down the back of your heel between the heel and the boot. If you can comfortably slide the pencil down then go for a 7, if it's a tight squeeze you might consider a 7 if you know anywhere that can do a toe punch otherwise you are a 7.5. Alkali typically fit a 1/2 size up from Rbk - Rbk 7 ='s Alkali 7.5
  7. Vet88
    It may be worth it to to buy some "ball of foot" gel pads (like these http://www.amazon.com/PediFix-Pedi-gel-Ball-of-foot-Pad-2-Count/dp/B004G8G4V6)and insert them under your footbed. This will raise the front part of your foot by about 1mm, not enough to cause any volume issues in that area but enough to change the pressure on your arch.
  8. Vet88
    Yep, couldn't agree more. Sweat runs down your chassis, into your bearings and onto your wheels. You start slipping all over the place and if you don't clean your bearings immediately after use they start to rust. If you are sweating a lot in your boots I recommend getting some shammy material, cutting it to the shape of your foot bed and put it in your boot under your foot bed (or on top if want but I have never tried it there). The shammy absorbs all excess sweat, if you are playing lots of games in a day cut multiple shammys to swap them out as they get wet.
  9. Vet88
    A bake and then a settle in period will give you around 1mm of extra length. Ideally your toes should just be brushing the toe cap when you first try them on, if they are cramped then you should go a 1/2 bigger.
  10. Vet88
    How long do you want to wait? If you can find the max at a good price (on clearance now) it is a heck of a good skate, the max+, imho, was an upgrade with small improvements - Justin may weigh in with a slightly different view on the + :)
  11. Vet88
    If you are looking for boots that you can adjust the holder in (and not going the custom route with someone like VH) then look at Grafs. The way the Cobra holder is designed and the manner in which Graf mounts it on the boot means you can easily move it inwards by up to 2mm. If you have a little bit of handyman skills and a drill or rat tail file you can easily do it yourself. If you want any more info send me a pm. Because of how the holder is designed and mounted on most other brands (Bauer, Easton, CCM etc) moving the holder is not really possible. If you want to stay in the boot then you need to consider changing the holder for another brand like the Cobra 5000 and then redrilling the boot.
  12. Vet88
    Length wise, I have found you need to go up 1/2 a size in alkali ie an 8.5 in a vapour is a 9 in an Alkali. But it all depends on how you like your fit and how the vapour boot fits you. What is "too small" - length, width, volume?
  13. Vet88
    If you want to keep the steps then you need to take the 2 blades (Makos and steps) to a sharpener who can reprofile the steps to the mako shape. It doesn't have to be exact but the general profile of the mako blade needs to be followed. The mid point will most likely be a little different and the overall height will be lower (because of the amount of steel that may be ground off the steps) but at least they will be close enough to the mako steels that you will not notice much difference. Or stay with them and keep practicing. If you still don't like them after 20 hours of decent rink time then get them changed or swapped out.
  14. Vet88
    It all depends on you. Some players can adjust quickly to different profiles and setups, others can't. In general I have found that the better the skater you are, the less you worry about the setup and the more tolerance you have for changes. You can get the step blade reprofiled to the original mako blade but, looking at the 2 blades you have, you are going to lose a chunk of steel from the step blade in getting this done. At this point you have nothing to lose. Try a shallower hollow, give it a few weeks of practice and if you still don't like it then either swap back to the originals and sell the steps or get the steps reprofiled.
  15. Vet88
    The shop should take very little off with the 1st sharpening, in theory the edges should be clean, unnicked and relatively true so all they need to do is to grind the hollow deep enough for the edge to set. I agree with MTHockeydad, the difference is very noticeable. The black steel is much flatter thru various sections of the blade, ergo more blade on ice and hence the chatter in the stop and a different feel in turns. I can't comment on the size. I always get them sent unsharpened, this way I can be sure they are new / unused and my own sharpener gets first dibs at them.
  16. Vet88
    I would think it's 2 possible reasons, the edge is sharper / deeper than you had on the stock blades or the profile is different. You can check the latter by comparing them side by side, if you are getting chatter in stopping on a blade swap and the edge is similar it's normally because a different profile is putting more heel (ergo more steel) on the ice as you stop. and yes, I agree about the snow, mine always seem to be covered in ice but I'll happily take that over the stock steel that came with my grafs.
  17. Vet88
    For what it is worth, I was talking to a guy from Maximum Edge and he said very few NHL players are on anything less than 1/2". Most are on 3/4" to 1", that kind of validates the theory that heavier skilled skaters are on a shallow hollow. And most are on a combo radius.
  18. Vet88
    somewhere earlier in the thread I believe Justin says he has converted a pair to ice. I know I have read somewhere of an ice conversion.
  19. Vet88
    I still have my old CA9's and put them side by side with the MAX. I admit it is hard to measure the internal heel area without actual design drawings but from the an outside perspective, the heel area of the CA9 is much narrower than the MAX. Measuring the back of the heel with calipers 1 1/2" up from the sole of the boot, CA9's measure 63mm, MAX's measure 72mm across the heel. Even just putting the 2 boots side by side, looking at the back and from the bottom of the skates, the MAX is visibly thicker through the heel area, especially the area between the ankle bone and the sole. Whilst the sole may have remained the same, the MAX flares outward a lot more from the sole than the CA9 and this creates the extra space in the heel area. I'm considering baking the skates again, put the skates on and lie on the floor and have someone stand on the heel area on the inside of the boot to compress the area under the ankle bone against my foot. I don't know if this will work and if it does move inwards, how long the boot would stay in this position? If you have any other suggestions I'd be keen to give it a go.
  20. Vet88
    I found quite a difference between the CA9 and the Max and Max+ skates for heel size. I have narrow heels and In CA9's the lock was ok, in the Max and Max+ the heel pocket is now noticeably wider.
  21. Vet88
    You will get around 1mm of space as the heel settles back into the pocket.
  22. Vet88
    If your toes are touching the toe cap when new, after 4 or 5 skates your heel will settle back into the pocket and your toes should move back by about 1mm. I don't know if that will give you enough clearance, I doubt it based on the Bauer size you skate in. In my experience Alkali run smaller than other skates and you generally need to buy a 1/2 size up, Bauer 8 equals Alkali 8.5.
  23. Vet88
    My feet are 25.5cm long and I fit Alakali 6.5 perfectly,. Ergo 26cm long feet will fit Alkali 7.5 for length but you may get into a 7 depending on how you like your fit and how you have measured your foot for length..
  24. Vet88
    At 27cm I'd say you were a perfect fit for 8.5 but you may not like your toes just short of feathering the toe cap. If you like a little more room then you would look at a 9. If you were to try an 8.5 in a lhs I'd say your toes would press lightly against the toe cap, after a bake and you have skated in them 4 or 5 times the heel padding will settle and your toes will move off the toe cap by about 1mm.
  25. Vet88
    It depends on how you like your length fit and how you measure your foot length. This is why for a length test, you do it with laces undone and tongue out so any restrictions from the width do not interfere with working out your ideal length. You can get a snug fit feeling with laces done up even though the boot might be slightly longer than what might be considered a perfect length. I'm not saying this is the case for WickedAussie but I have come across this many times before. At 26.5cm you would be a borderline 8. Length fit is a personal choice and my fit is for one that is as close to toes brushing the toe cap as possible with the laces done up. To me, this is the perfect fit for length. As to measuring your foot, piece of paper on the floor placed against a wall, heel against the wall on the paper, mark the end of longest toe (straight down) then measure from papers edge to the mark. Releap doesn't give a foot length which would help.
×
×
  • Create New...