OrrSmith

They are flat footed but currently don't wear any special insoles.

I had a retail sales guy tell me that the Pro Carbon insole would be too stiff for my 13 and 10 year old sons and advised to stay with the yellow insoles for them. Does anyone have any thoughts or experience with fitting Pro Carbon insoles on younger players?

I inquired about their PeakSpeed Skates Friday afternoon at Graf headquarters and got a reply to expect them in a couple of weeks. Where does that product get sold now?

Where are your heel lifts built in?

Rather than a built in heel lift, why not go with the CXN holder with Step v-steel? Not a criticism just a question.

For sure pick the right fit. My son had Supreme's for four seasons prior to the past two with Mako's and we had 1/8" shims under his Supreme skates but I found that they loosened a bit and it was like he pushed off and there was two movements in his stride. I was thinking of CXN holders on Supreme skates as an option because the shim's didn't seem to work great for him in the past or VH skates with CXN holders. Thanks for the info. My son is finding that his Mako's aren't responsive enough on his first three strides so it is nice to hear that the VH skates are better in that area. Also nice to know that the CXN holders feel similar on the VH skates.

One of my sons wants to move out of the Mako skate and is considering going back to Bauer Supreme which is a good fit for him other than the lack of pitch. Would the VH skate be a better option especially if we threw on a CXN holder to keep the pitch similar?

VH is making a junior skate with a price point comparable to the top CCM and Bauer junior skates?

The New Re-Akt 100's aren't out yet where we are at and I was wondering if waiting for them was worth while or not.

HI JR, I am trying to find a helmet that fits similar to the 9900. Both my two younger sons need helmets and fit 9900 helmets perfectly but I haven't been able to find another helmet that replaces it. I did read somewhere on this topic that the new Re-Akt 100 fits similar to the 9900. Is this accurate?

I did a little in home research on the pitch issue with the Makos. I have 3 sons in hockey who have used many different brands of skates and individually have a similar fit but a different pitch that they perform better in. In measuring the difference in holder height between the heel and toe, I found the Mako CXN holder had a difference of 3/4". The Reebok and Graf skates had a difference of 5/8" and the Bauer LS2 and the holder on the S17 skates had a difference of 1/2". My oldest son who is having issues with his Mako skates, has always performed better in 1/2"(with a 8.5/9.5 profile) to a 5/8" difference in the holders of his past skates. My middle son who also has Makos, so far doesn't seem to have any issues with the Mako pitch but he can't skate on a 1/2" difference holder like a LS2 or a S17 holder so he has either had a heel lift to get him to the 5/8" difference or just worn skates that had a 5/8" difference in the holders. The problem with the Easton Mako CXN holders going to 3/4" difference is that they are pushing the pitch too far past where most skaters are used to being. If they had another holder at 1/2" to 5/8" difference as well then they could cover off skaters like my oldest son as well. The stability of the skater to win battles in the corners etc. is just as important as their skating ability and I think that that is where the CXN holder will strike out unless they can offer that 1/2" to 5/8" difference in a holder.

What profile would you put on them?

What profile are you putting on the steel to remove some pitch? Do you know what the intended pitch angle is supposed to be for a stock Mako? Bauer is around 3 and Graf is around 5 I think. My Son plays defence so needs to use his toe a little more than a forward.

If Easton are going to put an aggressive pitch on the holder, then they should leave the steel at a neutral position. There are two problems with the profile idea. 1. There isn't a lot of steel to start with because they already come profiled. 2.It would become a trial and error situation because I don't know what the ideal pitch angle would be for my son with these skates or what profile to ask for to get there. He skated well in S17's two years ago and in 11k's last year. We put a 9/10 profile on the S17's and didn't profile the Reebok 11K's. I think skate manufacturers should label the pitch angle on their skates like lie and flex on sticks. Easton should come out with another less aggressive holder that we can custom order to eliminate the extra hassle after the purchase.

My older son(13) has been in Makos for about 6 weeks now and I am having some concerns. At the start it looked like the greatest invention since sliced bread but now I think there needs to be less pitch in the holder. I have noticed that when ever he pivots quickly it looks like he has to catch himself from falling and when he has to transition from backwards to forward the same thing. Also, it seems like he has to work hard to get some speed up the ice. Playing defence, he never loses races to a loose puck but is now. He also doesn't seem to have enough stability when taking or giving hits. He likes the boot but I have heard that some guys are scrapping the holder for a Lightspeed 2 for most of the reasons above. Thoughts anyone? Should I really have to spend more money to make $800 skates work properly.