louierev07

I know the difference between the M8 and the mako 2 have been discussed (mostly just materials), but how does the M8 compare to the first mako? Ive been looking around trying to get my hands on a used pair of the original Makos to convert to roller blades, but haven't had much luck. Starting to consider possibly getting the M8's instead of the Mako 1, since the originals are becoming hard to find. Ive still got a few months of summer left, and im currently using vapors that absolutely crush my pinkie toe (tight toe box).

I can almost confirm that the clicking is the blade and not the holders. A few pages back, someone mentioned the clicking might be the rivets or composite or something. I mounted a cxn on a pair of vapors, and the holder is TIGHT, but I still get clicking. I dont notice it when im on the ice though, and I dont think its going to break, so I dont really worry about it.

Love using the t-nut and bolt system. I know I can swap out holders and switch from roller to ice in about 20 mins if I really have to. I use mako's for ice, but recently had to send them back for warranty because I get the mako bump/cut so badly. All I have to do is grab one of my roller blades and pop on a cxn holder and I can use those for now. As for the marsblades, I like them a lot. Right now I actually am trying out three different roller chassis to see how they compare with each other. I was able to get vapors for cheap, so all are mounted on the same boot more or less. Im testing out marsblade, sprung, and hilo. Gonna write a post once I have a little more experience with marsblade, but so far I can tell you that they all have their strengths, and there is no "best" of the three. Still forming a opinion, but this is what I think so far: - Marsblade: Feels the most like ice skating, and activates the muscles you need for ice more than others (especially when loosening up the bolt). I think its better put together than sprungs, but the magnesuim hilo frame is obviously the best here. Turning is probably on par with hilo. 72mm wheels might be the reason these feel slower than others (brand new bearings always feel slow to me until I clean them the first time - this could be the reason too). Still need to test these more - Ive only used them a handful of times compared to a ton with the other two. - Sprungs: Feel very similar to hilo, but you can tell that there is some rocker action going on. Feels a little like ice skating, but not as much as marsblade. Turning is crazy good with these because you end up with two wheels on the ground sometimes. I feel maybe slightly faster in these than hilo's. Build quality isnt that great - Parts are replaceable, but Ive had my problems with them. They also dont feel as together or as tight as the other two. There is a lot of rattling when skating. Had to add a shim to get them to feel like ice skates. Great grip with these, not sure how marsblade compares. - hilo: Fast and tight - no worrying about any rockering mechanism. Most durable. I think all three are very good, and serve different purposes. If you had to choose just one, I would choose marsblade if you are primarily an ice player, who does off ice training, and occasional roller hockey. If you just played roller, it would be a hard choice between sprungs and hilo. I think either would be fine, but i guess the decision would come down to personal preference. (Again I have to mention I dont have as much experience with marsblade, so it might end up being the all around best, but for now I can pretty confidently say its the best at simulating ice skating) Will update in a few weeks. Lemme know if anyone has any questions.

@pinkape yes I did, and then quickly realized how bad of a fit the supreme is on my foot. They are mounted on vapors now. @tattoosbyjay still using it sorry.

selling two boots if anyone is interested. One had a marsblade on prior - I put the tuuk back on for now, but if you are a 7.5D, fit supremes, and want a good pair of boots to convert they are for sale. Also have a pair of 8.0D Mission Axiom T9's that I removed the hilo from. If you are interested in either boot let me know. Here is the for sale listing: http://modsquadhockey.com/forums/index.php/topic/66575-supreme-one8-size-75d-mission-axiom-t9-80d-just-boot-warrior-project-girdle-shells/ Heres the supreme (when they had the marsblades on): Here are the missions:

If anybody is interested - im selling the original boot I tried to use with my marsblades (bought them and could not deal with the boot - too shallow). Its already got all the holes drilled out, so if you are weary about setting it up or anything like that, all the work is basically done on these. Here is the listing: http://modsquadhockey.com/forums/index.php/topic/66575-supreme-one8-size-75d-mission-axiom-t9-80d-just-boot-warrior-project-girdle-shells/?p=1008019 Here is a pic of them with the marsblades on: and what they look like now: I also have a pair of size 8D axiom T9's that are just the boot, so if you want to use those for your conversion let me know.

I got a medium, and put it on a 7.5D pair of vapors. The fit is perfect, and it almost lines up with exactly where the tuuk was. If I had tried a large, I am not completely sure if part of the frame would be sticking out in the front and back. I'd definitely go with a medium for a size 6.5 skate.

Ive only used marsblades with Bauer skates so far. I use Makos for ice, so I tried getting the same pitch from setting them up with Bauers. With other chassis, I have used a 7-8mm shim to try and get the pitch to be the same (sprungs and hilo). Marsblades actually felt more like the aggressive mako pitch right off the bat (even more so with the 68mm wheel in front). They probably could use a small shim to get it a little closer to the real pitch though. If I were you, I would try it without the shim first to see how it feels. Shims are really easy to add, especially after you have all the holes drilled already. For the shim, I just ordered a big piece of HDPE plastic that is 1/32" thick. I can use plastic epoxy to glue sheets together if I have to make the shim thicker.

@sjs0433 Did you use a shim on your 5.0 conversions? It almost looks clear if there is one there... Ive used HDPE in the past (from a cutting board), but I kinda wish I could have something clear or black - since it might look a little better.

I contacted Easton, and they did say they would start selling the mako II extendon guard retail. I guess its not out of the question that they would start selling the footbed since they are selling the extendon guard. If I had to guess though I'd say no. Maybe you can somehow get it directly from them if you are interested.

haha alright I see. So since the sheet I ordered comes in 1/32" thickness, Im gonna try bonding together three sheets and testing to see how it feels. Marsblade is supposed to have the same pitch as tuuk, so this should get me to the same pitch as my ice skates. Question about the mako 2 for those who have used them: How is the footbed compared to the mako 1? I ended up swapping mine out with some Bauer footbeds because I didnt like how the mako footbed felt. It was definitely grippy, but I guess I just like the smoother texture of the bauer footbed better. In pictures it definitely looks different than the mako 1.

Whoops nevermind, I see it now. I was googling sprungs store and sprungs hockey and it wasnt coming up before (or at least I couldn't find it during my rage). Since they are still in business, and I can stock up on some extra parts, I probably will go ahead and get some (as long as I can get ahold of them). I just dont understand why the quality of the metal is so bad. I honestly think the stripped axle wasnt the problem, but that it was just metled into the nut (or close). I was twisting as hard as I could and the nut wasnt spinning and it would not budge. I did them extra loose the night before. I am also considering shaving down the outside of the plastic on a few spots incase I ever need to hold the nut with a pair of pliers while trying to get the bolt out. I dont wanna have to destroy another axle to get it out. Dont know how I can avoid having what happened to me tonight happen again though. And the typical skate wrench does work, but if you notice, it actually jiggles a little while in there. I guess its fine in a pinch, but over time thats gonna wear the axle out. If you have a 4mm wrench handy, try it out it works much better. And btw speaking of things being slightly off, I tried finding a nut to use inplace of the ones that come with it, and nothing fits that bolt. Dont know if its metric or what, but home depot didnt have anything in store that would work. Not that its a perfect substituion either way, since the sprungs nut has the little part that ensures you dont overtighten, or damage the plastic. One last question. On the Sprungs store, If I wanted to buy a rockerarm, do they sell them by two or one a piece? It says 1, but 2 are pictured. Same with the pivot pin assembly, and the wheel axis assembly. Has anyone ever had any problems with the actual frame? The replacement parts are cheap enough that as long as the frame is OK, I wont worry as much about breaking the small peices.

ok I'm lost again. Heres why Im not getting it. If pitch is measured in degrees, and the CXN holder is 3 degrees more aggressive than tuuk, then when adding a shim, you would definitely have to take skate size into account (unless its so negligible that I'm greatly overestimating it) Take this for example: Now lets say that angle C on a Bauer skate is 5 degrees, then the angle on Mako skates should be 8 degrees, correct? If you change the length of side a, then side c has to increase more to achieve the same pitch angle. If I knew where to measure from, I could just solve the problem like this, but the way holders work, I don't know if I should be measuring from the end of the toe cap, or somewhere like this: Can someone explain where im going wrong? I went ahead and ordered a 1/32" peice of HDPE, so I can epoxy pieces together to get the right amount once Ive figured out what it is for sure.

I was able to drill out the bolt using a 1/4" bit. The bit was just small enough to not damage the frame, so I think im OK for now. http://imgur.com/a/RRMK2 I actually had one extra axle from when I originally ordered. I wanted to have a few extra parts on hard incase anything happened - good thing I did. Even though im ok right now, I have zero faith in them holding up. If some crap like this happened before a game, I would be totally screwed, and I would have to play with outdoor wheels. I dont understand why the metal is such shit quality. And even disregarding that, the plastic keeping the nut locked in is just a terrible idea. I actually went to home depot to check to see if they had anything that I could use in place of what I have now and there is pretty much nothing. On the positive side, I just went out and skated on the marsblades for a while, and im happy to report that they are very comparable to sprungs. At the moment, I still feel better skating on sprungs, but I still need time to adjust to marsblade. I think for quick turning, sprungs will have the advantage because of only having 2 wheels on the ground at times, but everything else is even. Marsblade when tightened feels almost identical to sprungs. Plus, when you loosen it up it makes it harder to skate, but its very apparent that you have to use certain muscles more, and I think it will definitely benefit my ice skating. My plan was to use marsblade for "off-ice training", and sprungs for pickup games and indoor roller hockey, but if they crap out on me again, I might have to abandon them and only use marsblade, or possibly go back to hilo for roller. Gonna try emailing keith again to see if I can get a bunch of spare parts. If not I might be scrapping them :(

@AfftonDad - A little confused because Ive never seen the equipment before. Anyway, would you have any idea of how big a shim I would need to add to a size 8 skate to add 3 degrees to the pitch? I know its possible to calculate using trig, but Im not sure if I should be measuring the smallest angle from the very front of the boot, or if I should measure from the back of the front part of the holder. Im trying to get the pitch of my skates with marsblades to match my makos, and gotta figure out how thick a piece of HDPE im gonna need. @Chad - I think I understand now. Any idea how big a shim would be needed for a size 8 to add 3 degrees of pitch?

Just got done with my second half hour screaming session from dealing with these fucking things. Dont get me wrong, when they are all set up and on they work great, but changing wheels and cleaning them is fucking ridiculous. Heres what happened: Yesterday I went to go switch a wheel, and noticed one of the axles was stripped. No big deal I figured today when I got some time I could deal with it. My first method to get it out was to use a slightly bigger torx bit to bang in, and hopefully it would catch enough to be able to turn. Nope, after getting it nice and snug, the metal around it bent like it was made of cheap aluminum. So the next method I tried was using a dremel to cut a channel through the axle, so I could just use a regular flat head screwdriver. I thought there was no way this wouldn't work, and has been my "last resort backup plan" should I ever encounter something like this. Well even after doing that, the metal still just bent around the screwdriver like butter. Fuck. I was amazed that the cheap plastic holding the nut on the other side was keeping the bolt from spinning, considering I had a problem 2 days prior with that exact thing happening. Eventually I twisted and yelled so hard that it eventually did start spinning on the other side... So as far as I can tell, outside of drilling the bolt out and possibly damaging the frame any further, im SOL. Here are the design problems with this frame: 1. The axle on the side with the nut is held in place by nothing else but plastic. Should the nut start spinning, your pretty much screwed since you cannot use a wrench or anything to hold it tight unless you cut through the plastic of the frame. When this happened to me I was able to bang in a small flat head screwdriver against one of the sides, and luckily it was enough for me to get the axle out. I had to hammer it in though - which may or may not have damaged the plastic. This is also the same with the other pin on the skate - only held in place by plastic. 2. For some dumb fucking reason, they dont use the same size allen wrench as every other roller blade ever made EVER. Noticed this a few weeks after owning them. If you use a normal wrench, itll still work, but there is some play there that will eventually wear on the axles. It doesnt help that they axles are made out of cheap shit metal, but using a wrench that is slightly too small just makes it worse. (FYI I found a 4 or 5mm wrench to be the best fit) 3. The quality of the metal is crap. Maybe thats why the things keep getting stuck? I do not overtighten at all, and this shit still happens. I can only guess that the metal is bending while wearing, which is what makes it so hard to get off. Also fucking ridiculous that even after making a channel for a flathead screw driver, I STILL couldn't get it to turn, and the metal started bending so badly. If I were in charge of fixing these, I would: 1. Use axles that stick out a bit on each side, so worst case scenario, you can just use a socket wrench to get it out. 2. Use a normal size allen key... 3. Use better quality metal for the metal parts. And just to add to this - fuck this plastic bullshit. Make a high quality magnesium or at least aluminum frame. This thing costs 200 goddam dollars, and it looks like I bought it from toys r us. I cannot express how much my heart, hand, and wallet hurt right now. The frame actually works awesome when your all set up. Once I got used to it, I dont think I could ever go back to a straight frame. I just bought a marsblade, but have yet to really test it out yet. The difference in quality and polish is very apparent though, and I have much more confidence in marsblade being around, and not breaking than I do with sprungs. CAN you even buy sprungs anymore? I went to their website, and the link to the store is gone. I also emailed keith a few months ago for spare parts and I never got a response. Just pretty upset and disappointed. I just started a roller league too, and was finally adjusting to using the sprungs on that surface. Now I need to either fix these, or get indoor wheels for the marsblades asap. Heres a pic of what it looks like now: heres a few more: http://i.imgur.com/KxvmbeZ.jpg http://i.imgur.com/9vHAIEh.jpg http://i.imgur.com/3bQGd3b.jpg

Wouldnt skate size factor into it? Im guessing 1/32" on a size 7 skate is very different than on a size 12. But going by that logic, if someone was using tuuk, and wanted to get the same pitch as mako, a 3mm shim would be needed? I just installed marsbaldes on my rollerblades for off ice training. I emailed Per, and he said that they used tuuk as a reference point for choosing the pitch of the marsblade. If im trying to get as close to my ice skates as possible for off ice training, should I try out a 3mm shim to see if it feels more like my ice skates?

Here's a quick pic of my most recent conversion might be relevant to some recent posts. One.8 with marsblades. http://i.imgur.com/083GpoP.jpg Will post more details and stuff when I get home!

The aggressive pitch maybe took about 2-3 sessions to adjust to. Once I got used to them, I felt like my acceleration was a lot better. I could go from being still to accelerating much faster because the pitch made my body ready to accelerate. I tried going back to tuuk a few times, but I felt way back on my heels. If Mako ever went away I would 100% stick with a forward pitch. Ive gone as far as to waste hours on trying to get my rollerblades to match the pitch that my ice skates have (harder than youd think). The biggest difference in fit for me was the forefoot area is wider. I actually like the fit of the vapors a lot, but I have to do a lot of work to that area so make it fit right (used to get numb toes). The heel maybe is a tad wider than the vapor, but you can squeeze the boot to get better heel lock if its a problem your having. Its hard to say which boot is deeper - the mako completely grips your foot, while the vapor you have to pull in the sides (if that makes any sense) so I would say they are about the same. The Mako is a very different fit and feel than any other skate Ive tried on - so they are really hard to compare. The vapor is definitely stiffer, and I'm still trying to figure out how tight I can tie the Mako without getting pain, but while maintaining stiffness. Going from a 7.5D Vapor x5.0 to a 7.5D Mako, I would say the Mako is a very tiny bit smaller (length wise).

I had the same thoughts going into it for me. Now im totally sold on the holder, and in a bind of what boot I like better (vapor or mako). If you dont like the pitch, all the holes line up, and its an easy swap if you wanna switch to tuuk. I actually just swapped out the tuuk on a pair of APX2 and im trying them out with the cxn holder. http://imgur.com/a/ifi5y PM me with any questions. I also have the old tuuk holder and steel from the apx2 if you are interested in buying. I also have the tuuk from my vapor x5.0 that I converted to roller blades.

Cant see any of your images. Just upload all of them to imgur and link the gallery

Im wondering how much the holder and runner has to do with the speed. I had my first skate today with APX2 with a cxn holder attached, and I gotta tell you, it felt pretty much the same as Mako's (except the fit obviously). I felt just as fast, and I might actually prefer the stiffer skate over the softer mako. The only other difference I see that could be seen as an advantage is the extendon guard offered on the makos and not the BAuers. The extra room to extend might come in handy with the aggressive stance (which is why i think its there on the makos). Im going to be going back and forth all summer to compare, but IMO the cxn holder is great. Its a lot cheaper than tuuk too, so if you are thinking of trying out the makos, but are unsure about the forward stance, I would say give them a shot.

Well, whoever buys easton might keep everything the same, nothing is guaranteed. Mission is owned by Bauer and they're still around. Isn't CCM owned by Reebok or something? Either way someone will offer something similar. If makos went away, VH customs are pretty close from what I hear.

yea sorry, didn't mean to imply that. Sucks for easton considering that getting pros to sign and wear in the NHL would sell more skates than investing money in the technology and actually improving the skate. Basketball figured this out a long time ago, hockey needs to catch up. I wouldn't be against naming skates after players.

I don't think the look of the mako is off putting, especially for kids. Mako is a brand that is very popular with kids who play baseball too. It comes down to what the pros are wearing. Which is why 90% of kids around here wear vapors. I can guarantee if Kane, stamkos, and ovi started to wear the orange mako skates, they would really start to gain some market share. Even if Bauer released a similar designed skate, kids would jump all over it. Bauer is in with kids. It's almost like those dumb fucking dre beats headphones, you want "the best" just like your friends.