Vet88

I've recently changed pc's and lost access to some of the pics I had about this stuff. There is also some news clips / interviews where he talks about lacing 5 up for games, if I remember right when he started dropping eyelets he taped over the ankle and then later on stopped taping. I will try and hunt them down again. Here's a pic of him in an Alumini game without laces.

In his early days he did but later on his career he played with just the bottom 5 laced (rules are that you must have laces and must have them tied). He played in AllStar games with no laces, the tongue flop was ridiculous.

Where it seems to become a hinderance? What do you base this on other than your own personal experience of lacing up tight in a stiff boot? How about Darryl Evans who played games in the NHL with only the bottom 5 eyelets laced up. Or European ice hockey teams training with laces untied. You seem to forget that since humans started skating on ice - bar the introduction of composites - skates had next to 0 ankle support. Skaters did just fine with very little ankle support doing everything you seem to think they couldn't.

You are never going to get a definite answer on that. It will range from my position (you can learn to skate just as well with full ankle motion ie laces untied) to you must lace fully up with the boot as tight as you possibly can go and no ankle flexion. At the end of the day it's all about what you are used to. If you have skated with a lot of ankle support then when you get to a boot with less support you feel it and it impacts on your skating. However if you stuck to those boots for a couple of years and got used to it then you would wonder what all the fuss was about. And for those that say you can't skate properly or fast without that above ankle support and fully laced up, go have a look at low cut speed skating boots.

You can ship them but the boot needs to be marked and photos sent. To mark the boot I ask for this - get some lipstick and put it on your bump, foot in boot and then press the heel hard into the pocket. The lipstick will transfer to the liner and now the shop knows where to punch. Ideally though you find someone local so you can go back and forwards as needed to get it right.

This says that you are relying on the boot to hold your ankle straight instead of you controlling the angle of the blade thru correct muscle control and correct bio mechanics. If the angle is changing then it indicates you are pronating, even with a good fitting boot you will still pronate in the boot, the boot just hides it. But if you don't have the time to train to fix it then the best fitting boot you can get is your next best solution. Have you tried using a heat gun to heat the upper rear quarter and then wrap the top in tape? I say tape as it is generally stronger than a sarin wrap and you can crank it really hard around your leg to pull the boot inwards. However a degree of caution here, if you pronate and you pull the top edge of the boot close to your leg it may start to dig in, I've seen this a number of times, even the comfort edge doesn't stop it.

I'm not going to comment on the durability of liners, hopefully someone who works in a shop and sees lots of skates on a daily basis can make a more informed comment @PBH What I would ask is if you pronate or supinate? That wearing of the inside of shoes generally comes from the heel rolling and twisting in the shoe. If you do this in street shoes then it's almost guaranteed you will do the same in skates. You can fix your bio mechanics in skates but it takes a lot of time (you want to be skating at least 3 times a week) and doing specific training (ask if you want to know more). And that bump on the back of your heels is called a Haglunds bump, it and pronation generally go hand in hand. I urge you to get your boot punched for it, over time as your foot rolls in the boot the bump keeps banging against the hard shell, this causes irritation and the body responds by growing more bone so the bump gets bigger. Then your achillies gets irritated and your bursa get inflamed, then you can't skate, even just looking at skates makes the bump ache. So do yourself a giant favour for your long term skating health, make sure every pair of boots you buy you get punched for those bumps (and try and get a vertical channel punched, not just a round punch. Then if you get any heel lift at all the bump rides up and down in the channel.)

The prongs go on the inside of the boot, they are there to drive into the sole so they stop the shaft from spinning as you tighten the bolt. However if you are putting them into a boot with a carbon fibre sole then I suggest you file them down so there is just a small nub left (or break them off bar one), I have seen instances where they have cracked the sole.

A reduced ploughing force decreases the friction coefficient so yes a lighter steel runner should glide faster but the trade off is in acceleration and turns where an increase in ploughing force is important. Lol I'm more concerned about the 30lbs of excess beer baggage I'm carrying around my middle than 30 grams in a skate blade!

I prefer the explanation that it isn't a liquid layer but highly mobile ice molecules on the surface that have very weak bonds holding them together, think of a layer of ball bearings (individual ice molecules) sitting on the surface of the ice that are just hanging onto each other. Temperature, contact pressure and speed determine how these molecules act. There have been a number of research papers produced over the last few years that confirm this at a molecular level, here is a recent one.https://journals.aps.org/prx/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevX.11.011025. To quote from the conclusion "However, in the given temperature domain, we measure a continuous decrease of the friction, independent of the presence or thickness of a liquidlike water layer. Therefore, we interpret the measured Arrhenius behavior of the friction coefficient as a result of ice-surface diffusion." Now if you want to debate that a single unbound ice molecule is really a water molecule - this is where I exit stage left....🥶

A c clamp with a steel measuring spoon for one side, on the other side I have scavenged a range of D shaped stones that (depending on the shape of the punch I am after) I tape on. The measuring spoon has a steel ring welded to the bottom of it, this ring slips onto the c clamp and holds the spoon in place. I have a number of spoons of different shapes and sizes. A long arm door hinge with a threaded bolt with pipe on it so I can wind a nut from the inside to expand the hinge (this is really good to get deep into the toe cap). I also use 4 blocks of wood to make a frame around the boot and then use 2 c clamps to do stretches. I'll be using everything next week to punch, stretch and reshape my hyperlites, it takes me around 2 weeks to do both boots by the time I have reshaped the toe, stretched the forefoot and punched / reshaped the heel.

Bugger, I'm a 254 size holder and would have got a pair as the cash back and the 10% discount makes it attractive but they have none in stock and no time frame atm....

I'm confused about the sizing and fit. On one page they show a range of blades? that has a 254mm size yet the sizing guide on another page is blank for a 6.5D (which I am). Does this mean I'd have to go up a holder size (to a 263) to use them? Anyone know if the holes line up with Bauer or CCM holes?

Given your past skill level, my bet is the holders. They will be mounted slightly differently from the center line than your 4ks, the feeling of no edge is when you are balanced more over the top of skate blade (skate blade is more vertical to the ice hence less grip), the 4ks may have the holder mounted slightly to the outside of the center line and this gives you a feeling of more bite as you tend to pronate slightly into the edge when they are mounted like this. Add a different profile into the mix, or at least a new 10' in the 100k's, and there is now a lot of changes between the skates. This holder mounting difference is really common, we did a test where I skated unlaced with a bunch of Jetspeeds and 1S skates and I could when tell the holder was mounted on a different center line, every skate was different but laced up I could hardly tell the difference). 1mm makes a hell of a lot of difference yet this is within accepted tolerances by the manufacturers. So without ripping off the holders to get them remounted, I'd say it's more a case of you getting used to the slightly different position of the blade center under your feet and a new(ish) profile. A different suggestion from me is for you to go for a casual skate with your laces untied, this will really quickly attune your foot to the center line of the blade under your foot.

It's not the skate that causes the break down, it's how you align over the skate blade. I've seen a skater who weighed 190 and he destroyed 4 pairs of custom Trues each year, I played with a guy your weight in our national inline team and he had bottom of the line Mission skates that were 7 years old and in perfect condition. If you lean inwards or outwards on your skates, regardless of the stiffness of the skate it will break down. If you have had other skates open up on you and break down quickly then it is likely these will to.

The logic is 2 fold: 1: they would have to run a complete new line of retail replacement blades across every single size so it effectively doubles your blade stock and costs just for those few who buy Sonics. 2: The majority of Bauer wearing skaters out there are on a stock 10' profile and will still want a stock profile when Bauer's marketing upsells them to a Pulse Ti. If you want to stick with a quad then you can get a new blade profiled but this way Bauer support the masses who are on 10'.

Every team is now running automated sharpeners, they are a no brainer for an EQM as they make the daily job of maintaining edges and profiles just so much easier. Each player will have 3 or 4 sets of blades, these are rotated regularly so the height is relatively consistent across the sets. If a breakage / edge failure occurs then it's a quick swap out between shifts and business as usual. Checking profiles is up to the EQM, there are some who do it weekly whilst others might only do it monthly or longer. However technology is continually changing this, automatic sharpeners provided the first real tool for EQMs to change the traditional way they were doing things, Multi profilers like the Elite profiler that will do 4 blades at a time is another tool to make the job easier. But the real game changer atm has been the Elite sharpener (2 years ago it was just the Canadians, now 10 NHL teams have them and I'm told most of the league is catching up). This tracks the profile across each sharpen, besides the fact that the profile shouldn't / doesn't change, the machine will tell you when it has changed beyond a defined tolerance. Now the profile is continually checked and consistent across sharpens and you can do 2 blades at a time. Profile once and then just sharpen for the life of the blade, the EQMs job has just got significantly easier. My source is a family connection who isn't an EQM but does have some involvement in this area with an NHL team. I was discussing this with him a few years ago and just recently in July.

Mine was bilateral BHR resurface with a posterior approach, I'd have preferred an anterior approach but no surgeon in my country does this (or if they did they were not skilled enough). I chose the BHR due to its track record and if and when it falls apart I then start again with a replacement. It was 3 months before I got back on the ice (the surgeon pleaded with me not to fall over as ideally it would take another 6 weeks before the hip socket had completely knitted around the implant), it was around 2 months after that before everything worked as it should so 5 months all up. Posterior approach comes with it's issues, the biggest is if the surgeon doesn't take enough care when putting the cut muscles back together, it can end up turning your toes inwards as he shortens the adductors that control this motion. But it allows for better access to the joints and therefore is easier to get the alignment of the inserts correct. I've had mine 10+ years, if you get to this point you will most likely have the joints for life. Once recovered, I never thought about them, skated as hard as I ever had. I'm still on the ice every day, hours at a time. Gluteal and hamstring tendinopathy is the biggest issue now (had it for the past 18 months), can't go as hard as I used to without pain killers. I suspect there may be some MoM issues but I had a full diagnostic review (MRI, dye injections and tracings) last year and the joints are fine so I've just got to live with it, my surgeon told me to stop thinking I was 20 years old instead of approaching 60, lol. Good luck with your recovery and getting back on the ice.

As it is on the side I would take a guess the boot is too narrow across your arch. I'd put lipstick on your foot where it is sore and then put your foot into the boot and stand up. The lipstick will transfer to the boot at the spot where it is pushing into your foot. Now go back to PHL and tell them you want it punched / flattened / pushed out where the lipstick mark is. Unless the boot remolded where it is pushing into your foot when it was last baked with the superfeet in it then you will still have the problem.

In theory wax laces should not slip once you have tied them up. If you are tying them loose across the middle then they should say that way instead of slipping and increasing the pressure through the middle (and therefore increasing the boot pressure around the arch area). imho wax laces are just a crock, if you need them to skate then you have other issues going on. There is a saying about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Why do you think a week of rest is going to fix the problem? Pain is from either rubbing and or a pressure point, whoever from PHL said superfeet should fix it is sadly misinformed. How does putting an enhanced arch footbed into a boot where the arch is already pushing into your foot going to fix the problem? If you want to fix this problem you need to first find out what is causing it. And very often it isn't just one thing, it can be a number of things that need adjustment until the boot works. Again, where is the pain / blister, the side of the arch or underneath the foot? This is why I suggested you try to lift your foot in relation to the arch in the boot, if this helps then it specifically points to the shape / height of the arch and now you can start to do something to fix it, either with PHL and or True. By all means call True or go back to PHL but how do you expect anyone to fix it when they don't know what the cause is? You need to figure it out, then you can get it fixed. As to full customs, welcome to the club where the boot isn't perfect, **it happens.

Where on the arch? Under the foot or on the side? If it's on the side you can punch it. If it's under the arch then it's either pressure and or you foot is moving in the boot and sliding ove a pressure point. What you could try is getting an old footbed and cut the arch out of it, now fit that to the skate and see if it makes a difference. If it does it proves the arch is pushing into your foot and needs to be reshaped. If you don't have an old footbed you could use gel pads cut to shape or even layers of hard cardboard, all you are trying to do is elevate your foot in relation to the arch in the boot. The next thing I would get you to try is to cut 2' off an old lace and then use this to lace the bottom 4 eyelets only. Do them up like this (your forefoot is locked in place so the boot should not fall off) and then go for some slow easy laps around the rink. If your feet don't hurt it proves the boot is reshaping your foot as you lace fully up..

I would say it's not the skate or size (youth and small junior excluded due to blade length) that determines the profile, it's you. Any blade can have any profile on it, how well you skate on that profile is up to the skater. But if you wanted to try a different profile from a stock 10' then a Quad 0 is as good as any place to start. It will be different, you may take to it quickly, you might hate it or love it. I recently went the other way, a combo to a 10', it messed with me enough that it took 2 weeks before I could accelerate hard out of turns without feeling I was sitting hard on my heels.

For Pulse Ti senior sizes that are fitted on boots, yes.

If neither have been sharpened then the top is a quad 0 (6 9 11 13) and the bottom should be a standard 10' profile. The top came with boots, the bottom would come as blades on their own. But... I don't have a retail Pulse Ti replacement on hand to compare yet the toe of that bottom blade looks odd. It appears to have more out of it than the quad and it looks very different to a number of 10' profile blades I have on hand (Bauer, Tydan, Step). It looks like someone has ground the toe down to give it a 6' or 8' front radius. Maybe Bauer are feathering the toe deliberately to match the quad toe so it doesn't feel so different when you replace the blades and you don't get them profiled. As to working out a profile, you can have a guess at the toe and heel but the differences are so small over the short distance thru the middle that even when comparing them to a template it is very very hard to see, especially after a sharpen or 2. Or at least that is what I have experienced, ymmv depending on eye and experience.

The distance the stick is measured over for the flex rating doesn't change for an extended stick. Stock height or extended, they all go on the flex machine with the same distance between the arms.