noupf

Sorry for the novel, but I like to give details as much as possible. The time has come to move on from my 9 year old Graf Ultra G75's. I'm just a beer leaguer now, but I am still a decent skater, 6'4 and 230 lbs and want to try out some of these top tier skates before I'm too old to play anymore. I've currently got 5 pairs of skates in my possession and I'm really trying hard not too over think this, but I feel like I'm in between widths / fits with various issues with toe caps, heels and side snugness....... All skates have been baked twice. Super Tacks AS-V Pro 9.5 Tapered - Very snug in the toe cap ( right big toe has a callus on the outside that rubs inside toe cap area ), left foot toe cap feels snug, but ok. Forefoot feels snug on both left and right foot, but not too bad. These are very stiff boots, but might work if they break in and open up ever so slightly, however, I have a hard time seeing much room gained with how stiff the construction is on these skates. This boot is definitely 1/2 size too big in length, but with my foot sitting so snug in the boot and the narrow toe cap, I cant really shove my foot anymore forward. Once laced, i feel like I get good heel lock with the narrower heel cup of the tapered fit. For this skate i'm worried about the snug toe caps and the callus on my right big toe. The 1/2 size too big seems to help as the tow cap is a little farther forward and gives me just a whiskers width of relief on the callus. Super Tacks AS-V Pro 9.0 Regular - Good room in the toe cap on both feet and the fore foot is almost perfect, but has the sensation of just a tiny bit of extra room. Heel feels the same way, almost right, but just a tiny bit of extra room. Will another bake and shrink wrapping and compressing the forefoot of the boot help snug it all up or am I expecting too much from a shrink wrapping on these stiff skates? Also Wondering if I bake them with no foot inside and pinch the sides of the boot by the heel with a clamp to narrow the heel cup.......or again, am i asking too much from a bake job? Super Tacks AS-V Pro 9.0 Tapered - Very very snug in the toe cap, even more so than the 9.5 AS-V tapered from above. Heel lock is very good bc its the tapered fit and is nice and snug along the sides of the forefoot. Thinking the snug toe cap and callus on my right big toe just wont work here as the smaller skate moves my right tow farther into the toe cap is it narrows down toward the front. Most likely sending back to store 100K Pro 9.5 Wide - Good room in toe cap. Fore foot feels good, again tiniest bit of extra room. Heel lock feels very good even though this is the wide fit. Thinking this might be a great fit if i can wrap the fore foot and close up that tiny bit of extra room. Maybe the thicker ccm tongue would help. 100k Pro 9.5 Regular: a little too snug in the toe cap as well as the sides of the forefoot. Noticed it was a little shy on volume too. Sending these back to store. If you made it this far and read all of it...........thoughts Thanks 🙂

Thanks and that is what I was curious about as well, premature failures or skates that are simply ending their life cycle due to serious years of heavy use.

Mind disclosing the brands and models? Just curious.

Did this on my Grafs years ago. I skate with the top eyelet un-used, so that helped allow me to do this. I just baked the skate again, used a pair of pliers with some paper towels folded up on the teeth of the pliers and gently bent the top of the skate cuff outward by a few millimeters while it was nice and warm and held it there for a few minutes while it cooled. I think i did it gently two or three times to get it how i wanted, never had an issue since.

so ccm and retailers will be getting some back in stock soon? Not sure how to read this comment. I believe you mentioned early 2023 in a previous post for some restocking?

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I have the ellipse 1 on my 288 runners and am very happy with them. Some have said that the ellipse profiles are an easier profile to get used to than the quads. For me, a constantly changing, seamless arc of an ellipse made more sense than trying to blend together 4 radius' like the quads do. Again, this was just my rationale in my own head. I almost went down the rabbit hole of trying a bunch of different profiles and pitches to find the "perfect" one, but in the end, after a couple of weeks of skating on my ellipse profile, i felt it was a noticeable improvement for me in terms of feeling more balanced, stable and agile like it was marketed as. A year and a half later, I am happy with what i have. Mind you, I also spoke with the shop owner Anthony @kkskate who did my profiles to try and get them dialed in. I told him what skate I had ( Graf Ultra G75's that have a built in forward pitch / lean ), the runner size ( 288 ) and my skating style ( bit more upright D man ) and we altered the pitch that the profile comes with so that I wouldn't be leaning more forward than what I was used to. As I said, they came to me and I felt good from day 1. A month later, I felt even better. I also think pro-sharp could do a better job marketing the ellipse profiles if they would disclose the radius of each area. Even if it was just an approximate number from toe to heel, they should how 5-6 radius in each area, again, even if its just a close approximation. With all the other profiles, you know what that the radius is in each zone............ the ellipse, its a mystery.

This is my understanding as well. There are no options to buy the skate without steel on any of the sites i frequent. Basic step steel is included for $0.00, but you have to select it to add the skate to the cart on a couple sites. Others do it slightly different, but at the end of the day, one of the 3 styles of steel is coming with the skate. Local hockey shops may cut you a deal and knock off a few bucks if you want to buy the skates without steel, but I guess that doesn't apply to this post / topic lol

Perhaps a small battery operated fan to be used to help cool it down when you need to do the change over. Doesn't take much to dissipate heat if you have something like that blowing on it for a minute or two. Also, maybe try a high heat lubricant on the wheels inside, WD 40 makes one as well as others ( simple google search ) may help it slide on and off just a little easier in this instance.

There was one issue one here, where a person had a skate that took a clapper off the heel and cracked, but it was really more of a back and forth about warranty claim or the 90 satisfaction return policy. I believe in the end it was sorted out. I know two people who did it and it was painless. not sure where they purchased from though.

ROH is really more dependent on the weight of the skater if I am not mistaken. Heavier you are, the less deep the hollow needs to be, bc your weight helps dig the edges into the ice more. The less heavy, the deeper the hollow needs to be, bc you don't have as much weight digging the edges into the ice. I am 230 lbs and I am on 3/4. I like it, but I bet I could easily go one step lower ( 7/8 ) and still feel confident on my edges. When I first got my new step steel blades profiled, i also installed brand new replacement holder on my skates. So i asked the pro shop guy who I mailed them to, what ROH should I use. His comment back was, "you are now getting brand new steel thats 3-4 mm higher than what you were used to. You now have brand new holders on your skates and you now have profiled blades as well. Those are 3 new things to get used to, keep your ROH the same for now ( 5/8 ) and get used to the new set up, after that, start bumping down one step at a time as you get comfortable." I feel like you are in the same boat as me with the new skates, shorter steel and now possibly profiled blades. Don't go changing too many things at once. Maybe just stay with the 5/8 on the new profiled blades, get used for a month or two so and then change the ROH, go down to the 11/16, then maybe down to 3/4.

1) Being on the same steel for 7 years i was comfortable in my head with what I had, but by no means did i feel as good as I do now. I'm just a 44 year old, good ( not great ) skating men's league player and I am noticeably more agile and stable on my skates in almost every situation. 2) I play D about 75% of the time now, but I am an active D man who like to make the quick move in the corner to shake a forechecker and take that next stride or two to break out or make the outlet play. I'm 6'4 230 lbs, so I am by no means a quick little agile D man. 3) Mostly a north south skater when I play D or O, but I've been incorporating some more east west over the last year or two. I've always used my size, length, reach and stride to create my opportunities or make a play, but again, i just feel more mobile and stable in most situations regardless of what I am doing now.

Yes, i had the same steel on my skates for the last 8 years, so whatever single radius "banana" profile that was on there from all the manual sharpening's I've had done over that time frame. For me, I simply went with the profile that was recommended for my steel size, based on the prosharp chart they publish. To me, the ellipse made more sense as it was a single continuous radius vs. the quad that the 4 zones blended together. Plus i came to find out that the ellipse was a little longer in the back and less of a quick change to the shorter radius in the front, hence why some say its a little easier to transition to for average or below average skaters.

I am not an expert by any means, but some will chime in who are much more knowledgeable. For Me, i started playing hockey at the age of 20 or so and have been nothing more than a men's league hockey player. I put the ellipse 1 on my skates ( 288 mm steel ) about a year and a half ago and I swear its the best equipment upgrade I've ever done. I'm 44 year old right now ( still in good shape and still skate hard ) and wish i knew about this stuff years ago. I'm more stable, faster and more agile when i need to be. I believe some would say that the ellipse profiles are a great starting point for more of the amateur or less skilled skaters, where you would then move to a quad profile, depending on your feel / or perceived need for something a little more aggressive ( mainly in the front half of your steel ). I almost feel that I could use something like a quad to get me a little more agility and acceleration, but besides that, i am very happy with the ellipse 1. I may pick up a second set of steel an put a quad profile on there for my size runner and see if I like the difference but again, starting with the ellipse 1, I am very happy. Also, as for ROH, ( again, not knowing much about how sharp/deep you really need them over the years ), I used to be on 1/2 then i had the profiled blades sharpened at 5/8 just for a starting point, I found them too sharp almost instantly, so i am now on 3/4 and love it. I am also 6'4 230 lbs, so I could probably go even one step lower ROH and be fine.

i don't think that's ice shavings on the side of the boot. It looks like the clear gelcoat cracking / chipping away and deterioration of the carbon fiber underneath

Yea i saw the creasing between eyelet #4 and #5 and thought the same thing, volume / sizing issue perhaps.

Thought this was interesting. College level player says his AS3 Pro Skates are creasing and coming apart after a year of use. Seeing comments about CCM's skate quality being poor from others in the thread too. I also noticed some comments saying that say top spec skates are not made for durability, but only for performance and that they will break down faster.....personally I've never heard that line of thinking before. Anybody else on here have top level skates coming apart after a year or so of moderate use?

weird lol

To my understanding, ( I used to work for a sporting goods company that sold entry level and the lower end models of hockey equipment ), the percentage of left vs right is now like 60/40 with left being the more dominant stick usage now. Curious what PBH sees though.

truer words have never been spoken lol

mmmmmmmm, sounds tantalizing. Might just have to wait for them. Hope they have a better graphics package on the outside of the skate though. The loud, red CCM is just such a turn off.

You sir are a god send ! I honestly don't know if I prefer stiff skates or not. I know my 8+ year old Graf UltraG75's are well worn and not as stiff as they used to be. Couple that with the fact that i'm 6'4 and 230 lbs. I consider myself good, middle of the road men's league skater at 44 years old now. I can still pound my skates if I really want to, but as i get older, I'm clearly not skating as hard as i used to anymore. As for my skating, for 20 plus years i have been skate with the top eyelet un-used, so I'm not sure how or if that factors in to skates and stiffness at all with these super stif skate, but being a bigger guy, i am leaning towards trying the new AS-V's out bc I want a skate to last many years and not break down with my large frame skating in them 2-3 times a week. You wouldn't have any insight to next years Jetspeeds would ya ( wink wink ) ?????

So..........does anybody have any miles on their AS-V skates yet? I'm bored at work and I am dying for some feedback or more info......

I'd like to know the dimensions or at least the cubic inches available. For some body like me who uses 16" shin guards and XL sized everything, i find that bags today don't have quite enough room. I just want a big big enough, where i can toss everything in and zip it closed. Aint nobody got time ( or energy ) to carefully arrange my gear after a game to be able to easily zip it shut.

Guess i am waiting till 2023. Thanks for the info @PBH