althoma1

That's good to hear. Have you been cleaning and soaking the parts? If so, how often? How often do you usually skate with your Sprungs? I know the A7 and A8 were always more durable than the old A6. The new A6 I have has held up fairly well, but I have had a couple knuckles crack after about a year and a half of heavy use (although that's at least 50% less than I likely would've had with the old A6 arms based on previous experiences). I am not a light weight though and have been skating on them A LOT between refereeing and playing. For the summer roller season reffing 12 games and playing in 1 or 2 in a week wasn't uncommon - when there were tournaments I skated in 20 plus games in a week. The new A6 arms are more durable than the old ones, but for someone who's on his skates as much as I am, I wouldn't feel comfortable without a couple spare arms in my bag.

They've had the Sprung A6 (aka A6X) complete chassis available for a while and there are still 82 in stock according to the website, but the A6 rocker arms are showing as out of stock when you go to the parts page - it's been that way for quite some time. So as of now the only way to get the newer A6 (aka A6X) arms is to buy the complete chassis unless they're willing to cannibalize some of the arms off the 82 in stock to sell separate rocker arms (one would have to email someone at Sprung to ask about that). This is just conjecture, but I think it's a funding issue. In order to get a parts order from China for a good rate they likely have to place an order that's several thousand dollars. If they don't have that money they're likely hoping to sell more of their current stock of A6, A7 and A8 chassis and attempt to get licencing or OEM deals (which aren't easy to come by) in order to raise the funds. The problem is, if you don't have spare parts in stock people like Archangel are understandably less likely to buy the existing chassis stock for A6 or A7 chassis. In an ideal world they'd have the funding to order plenty of spare parts now which would help them sell their exiting stock. My solution to the spare rocker arm issue was to buy a couple new A6 chassis when another member had them for sale here for a good price even though I already owned an A6 chassis. Now I should have enough extra parts to last several years.

Moving your fingers down to the radio controls isn't that difficult and is what I did for the first 15 years or so of driving, but once you get a car with the wheel controls it's hard to go back. You can change songs or stations with your thumb without taking your hand off the wheel or looking down. It's not only more convenient, but it's safer. It's definitely an option I'll be looking for in all cars going forward.

Even my old '05 Mazda 6 can do that - if you're going to have steering wheel controls being able to change tracks or stations is a pretty basic function. The designers that missed that on a modern car certainly dropped the ball.

Posts looking for "Any Bauer skates" in two different sizes (within a half size) also make me shake my head. Any Bauer skate even though there are three lines with different fit profiles? You'd also think that they'd want to get the right size rather than merely close enough. Some of the kids on there don't care if something fits as long as it looks cool and has a certain brand name.

Each foot is different, but most people seem to go up half a size. So if you fit well into an 8 inhaler (supreme last) you would need an 8.5 Alkali.

It happens; the good news is that it's a very easy fix!

Gene, if you requested 100/75, then you requested one of the commonly available FBV options with significant bite (compared to a 3/8" standard hollow on some charts). For someone your size 90/50 (compared to 1") or 90/75 (compared to 5/8") would likely be more appropriate. Perhaps you meant to ask for 90/75? I also agree that Dave should try a shallower hollow as well. A more responsive skate with zero negative space allows you to feel your edges quite well and can make them feel sharper vs a softer skate or one that doesn't fit as well.

I've read about and have seen pictures of durability issues with the originally Mako and kept that in mind when buying mine earlier this year, but they were being cleared out locally at $240; so if I can get a year and a half to two years out of them I will be happy. By that time the Mako 2 will be selling for clearance prices. I certainly would be less satisfied if I'd paid full MSRP and they only lasted a year and a half (depending on how often I was on the ice of course...if I'm on the ice 5 hours a day then a year and a half is pretty good, but if it's only a few hours per week; I'd expect them to last longer). I have not seen any pictures showing the Mako 2 or M8 having the same breakage issues as the original Mako. They've been out for over a year now; so I think if there were major issues we would've seen/read about them by now. It seems like Easton has addressed the durability issues with the newer models.

Decided to dye some of the rocker arms orange a few weeks ago to match the accents on the skates.

I wonder if the toe cap is now plastic or if it's still carbon fibre and is just covered in plastic for protection like the Mako.

Great prices on the equipment. Jerseys...not so much. You could by 5 pairs pairs of skates for the price of one jersey

The Valken V-Pro pants were great slim fitting pants. It's now hard to find them in a lot of sizes, but Hockey Tron has a clone called the Tron V-Pro. They aren't cheap at $79.99, but tron has one day sales with good discounts and they have been featured several times in the past. If you wait for a daily deal (you can subscribe to their deals newsletter) you can likely get them for between 30 and 50 percent off. I'm 6'2" and usually wear a 36 or 38 pants depending on the fit and wear XL in the V-Pro pants so you'd probably need a Large.

AIREAYE - did you also try on the QR1 gloves? I tried on both the QR1 and QR Pro gloves at Winterfest and found the QR1 gloves to be noticeably more comfortable. I only had them on my hands for about 30 seconds, but it was obvious after putting the QR1 on one hand and the QR Pro on the other. I'd say the most comfortable gloves I tried on at Winterfest were the STX Surgeon 500 and the Warrior QR1 gloves.

Chadd, if the bumper is cracked then you'll have to replace it, but if it's just a dent in a plastic bumper it's really easy to pop that out. You just carefully heat up the area with a heat gun and use a rubber mallet or even the back of a screw driver to pop out the dent, then sand, prime and paint. It won't be perfect, but it'll look miles better than the big dent and it's quite cheap. You don't have to worry about rusting because it's plastic. I did this a few years ago when someone hit our car in a parking lot and left a big basketball size dent in the rear bumper. After popping it out with a heat gun and touching it up you couldn't really tell there was ever a dent unless you really looked closely.

KORs with Sprungs taken when they were first mounted almost 2 years ago: They're still stiff, but show wear now and I get some pinching near the baby toe when refereeing several games in them (they don't really bother me when playing less than 2 hours). They've now been relegated to my backup pair and for refereeing on smooth cement (so I don't have to constantly swap wheels on my main pair) Easton Mako's with Sprungs mounted a few weeks ago. I've played and refereed several games in them and they're extremely comfortable with no pain points (love the ergonomic toe cap). After buying some Makos on clearance to use for ice and finding them so comfortable, I decided to try to find another pair for a good price to convert for roller. I managed to hunt down another pair on Kijiji that someone had worn a few times before deciding they weren't for him (he provided the receipt and he'd only bought them about 3 weeks before selling them to me - they were baked and sharpened once before I got them) and grabbed them at a price I couldn't pass up. They were in Montreal and I'm in Toronto, but the seller happened to live around the corner from my sister and brother in-law and my brother in-law was kind enough to pick them up. I then saw them over the Easter weekend when he was in town for a tournament in Toronto.

Sell both the Hummer and the Redstar chassis and invest the money from the sale into either a Sprung or Marsblade chassis. Those two will give you a more ice like feeling than any flat chassis. I haven't used the Marsblade chassis, but those that have seem to like it a lot vs. the hi lo or hummer. I have used the Sprungs for several years and it definitely allows for an ice like toe kick, tighter turns and it's easier to stop vs. a flat chassis.

Supreme and Vapor protective releases usually alternate - since there's a new Supreme line of protective this spring I'd expect a new Vapor line next spring (approx. mid-April). You should start seeing clearance deals on existing Vapor products line the APX 2 gloves late this year or early next year.

The new Fitlite titanium mask is interesting. It gives people another option for very light, rust resistant cages beyond the Re-akt. The large Re-akt I have fits my Warrior Krown helmet very well, but is a bit narrow for my large Cascade M11 and (ironically) Bauer IMS 7.0 helmets - right now I have an old itech titanium that works well on the M11, but if that were somehow damaged it's nice to know there's now a second titanium cage option. I find it a bit odd that puck feel isn't something that's promoted for the top of the line Tacks stick in the catalogue - excellent puck feel is what I noticed the most when I demoed that stick.

I was at a local Sport Chek (Laird/Wicksteed in Toronto) getting my skates sharpened and noticed a clearance table of skates. I was shocked at how low some of the high end skates were going for: · RBK 20K (top of the line about 2-3 years ago) for $239.88 · Bauer Nexus 1000 skates (top of the line 2 years ago) for $239.88 · Bauer One.9 White LE skates (second from the top 2 years ago) for $209.88 · Easton Mako skates (top of the line in 2013) for $239.88 · RBK Goalie skates (don’t recall the price, but likely around the $240 mark based on the rest of the pricing). Those prices are great as is, but you can get an even better deal by using a team assist coupon for an additional 20% off (those coupons expire Feb 28th so it was perfect timing). I used one of them and bought myself a pair of Easton Makos after trying on a bunch of the clearance models and the coupon dropped the price down to $191 before tax ($215 after tax). You can also collect Scene points if you have a Scene card (Cineplex Movie Loyalty program in Canada) and if you have a Canadian Tire Options Mastercard and use that you’ll get approx. 4% back in Canadian Tire money on the card (Canadian Tire owns Sport Chek and offers 10X CT Money or 4% at Marks, Sport Chek and of course CT). I've been tempted to pick up some Makos on clearance for the $299 price at Hockeysupremacy for a while now, but with new old stock KOR Shift 2's in the closet and my current KORs in good shape I could justify it - when I was able to get them locally for under $200 before taxes and get them baked and sharpened I couldn't resist. I've only used them to ref a few games to date, but so far I'm very happy with the purchase. I like them so much I'm almost tempted to pick up another pair for a roller conversion, but know that would void the warranty and have read about the durability issues some people have had so I think I'll stick with my Shift 2 conversions for roller until the Mako II's go on clearance (there was only one pair in my size at Leaside anyway and I don't know of any other Sport Chek's that carry the Mako skates in the Toronto area.) and use the Mako's for ice only so they're still under warranty. So far I've had no issues though - I've reffed a half a dozen games in them and haven't experienced the Mako bumps that many people did (I've been wearing the cut resistant Warrior Dynasty socks; so perhaps that's helped). They also had some sticks on clearance including the Warrior DT2 for $89, a stack of clearance ski and snowboard and winter coats on racks (didn’t look at the ski boots or coats too closely). I took a few pictures of the skate table that shows some sizes available and the prices. I did not capture all the skates/sizes in the pictures. Other Sport Chek locations will have some clearance deals, but I stopped by three other locations (Eglinton/Warden, Fairview Mall and Promenade) and those locations did not have any high end models available – the best deals out of the four stores I visited were at the Leaside location. I bought my skates late last week, but stopped by yesterday after refereeing a game in the area and most of the skates/sizes were still available. The only skates that had sold out were the TotalOne NXG's I'd seen for around $450 (nothing wrong with TotalOnes, but the other skates on the table certainly offer more value to me as long as you can find one that fits you well. They did have TO's in my size last week and I tried them on, but the Makos felt better on my feet even before baking them; so I would've went with the Makos even if the TO's were the same price).

If I were to guess I'd say sometime between mid-April and mid-June. I don't have any concrete dates, but that's when most new equipment is released.

I was definitely impressed by both the Surgeon 500 elbow pads and gloves at Winterfest. The shins were nice, but I'm not sure I love the 360 strap...I think I prefer the type of top strap Bauer Supreme and Warrior Dynasty and Projekt pads use - I'd certainly give them another look if I were in the market though. I didn't really pay a lot of attention to the shoulder pads as I primarily play roller now and have been fine with my Farrells for the times I play ice, however; after seeing them in the catalogue I'll likely give them another look if I see them in a store in a few months.

Wow, I just read the story on the Leafs/Chicago game on TSN and they mentioned the passing of Clint Reif. I didn't realize he was only 34. It's sad when anyone passes away, but I assumed that he was a much older equipment manager before I read that story. He was younger than some of the players. That's a real shame. RIP.

Yes, they fit true to size - all my other gloves are 14" and I demoed a 14" pair of Surgeons. They felt as mobile as my fully broken in pair of 2012 Warrior Projekts - those Projekts feel great now, but at first they felt a little restrictive in the cuff area. This was not the case with the Surgeons - I did not feel any restriction in the cuff area at all. They probably aren't as tight as the 2012 Projekts overall, but are still an anatomical glove. If you're buying ASAP then the Surgeons are a fine choice. If you're possibly waiting for the spring the new Warrior Gloves that will replace the current DT1s felt very nice (I didn't use them on the ice, but tried them on and they were noticeably more comfortable than the previous model) and you may want to consider those as well. I won't say much more about those gloves right now as I don't see a catalogue posted for them just yet, but the new Warriors and the Surgeons are the two that stood out for me at Winterfest. The Rekker gloves were also tight fitting through the back roll and had a more open cuff, but felt quite stiff when new - they may break in very nicely, but the STX Surgeons and Warriors felt comfortable without any break in period. There's also a new Supreme model that I tried on briefly - it also felt nice, but I didn't demo it and it didn't wow me as much as the Warriors based on just trying them on. The STX's impressed me quite a bit in use based on the fact that I didn't really notice them while playing. I'd have to say that the STX is also a bit tighter than the Warrior through the back roll, but opens up at the cuff. It's also very flexible as you can see from JR's pictures.

I used the Surgeon gloves at Winterfest and they were very comfortable right off the bat with no break in time. I used them for the warm up and the entire skate and had complete range of motion, but they stayed snug on my hands and fingers. By the end of the skate they still felt comfortable and pretty dry (although the dry part may be more indicative of my lazy skating that day). When I'm in the market for new gloves they'll certainly garner some consideration. The gloves seem to be available now on Great Skate, but I don't see them on other sites just yet. http://www.greatskate.com/12089/STX-Surgeon-500-Hockey-Glove---14-inch/detail.html