z1ggy

Just wanted to give a quick update on my True's since I've now been skating in them for 3 months. -Durability: Rock solid. I've eaten a couple shots off the ankles and feet and things look fine. No glue or stitching issues. -Feel: I'm used to the boot now. Coming from FT2 it did feel quite a bit stiffer and with more forward lean. I've grown to like this. On long skates like pick ups where I might be on my feet for 60+ minutes, this can get a little tiring on my calves. -Looks: Still love the looks with my Step Black in there. Have gotten a few compliments -Performance: Really can feel my edges more than before. I've been able to go from 5/8 to 11/16 and I feel a little faster. I'm winning races for pucks and on breakaways defenseman aren't able to catch me as easily. I do not find the heavier weight to be noticeable or an issue. What I have noticed for sure, is the padding/foams inside sort of... condense? I think I mentioned it before but now that they are really broken in, I'm feeling some extra volume overall and they definitely need a rebake and rewrap on my foot. Over the past 4 or 5 skates I've found myself having to relace my skates multiple times per game to try to keep things as tightened up as possible. No foot pain whatsoever, unlike my FT2 which would leave my foot throbbing.

I can't zoom in enough, it looked like a 3 at my work PC but now that I'm home and on a better monitor, it seems like it's a 2 lol. If it's a 2, then it's even more possible that it's dressed up and not a real FT2. Like the fella above says, can't be sure unless we see the MSN on the butt end of stick.

Can we be sure it's a real FT3 and not dressed up? I assume it's legit because FT3 isn't yet on retail, right?

I had Mako's for 5 years and have not had any issues with going to True's as far as the tendon guard goes. Pretty sure Mako's was as flexible as they come and I have felt no drawbacks to the more traditional tendon guard on these.

Flex doesn't really change though.... Just your ability to create leverage.

Haha o woops I had a brain fart. My wife works for a company named Kessler. Of course I mean Kessel... and yeah days of 1/2 body weight I think are long gone. With the 65 flex, how do you feel the diameter is in your hands? I don't have overly large hands but I always worried the int sticks might feel too skinny/narrow.

100% this, too. I think I even heard Kakko and also Phil Kessler aka Mr Hotdogz use intermediate sticks, some or even all of the time. Ever since I switched to 75 flex from 85, my I notice in warm up or practices that I'm actually shooting pucks past my goalie on a much more frequent basis. I still think I'm going to end up caving in and buying a 1X lite or ADV just to see what a legit low kick does for me though. We'll see if it can kick out the FT2.

Yeah that's probably a huge reason, especially for forwards who take one timers. Moving up in flex might make the stick feel too harsh when they aren't loading it so just having the kick point moved up a little bit by stiffing up the lower portion of the stick might help keep the blade from opening up too much if they take a clapper.

Oh, okay I missed that link about the response time of the sticks, thanks for filling me in, solid data there. I always had a hunch that it was more feel based than anything else because that's what the data says about the golf industry which I'm much more technically savvy in. So I wonder if the probably "non adult" respondents seemed to prefer lower kicking sticks simply because they feel easier to load given they are possibly less strong than adults who responded. Man... now I really want to get a Nexus and also a 1x to try for myself... Apparently my QRL would have the stiffest blade and mid area and then I've got an FT2 which covers the variable kick (which I can't feel btw... feels like low mid kick to my hands.

Yeah that's true. Attention span and all... My one question that I really have after seeing this thread is simply, do low kick sticks really bend that much lower than mid kick sticks... and do they really get shots off quicker? Is anybody in the scientific community looking at this kind of thing? It's funny because with golf there are SO many 'nerd' types out there who all they do is analyze data and golf equipment and a lot of "myths" that OEMs claim like X shaft will do this and Y shaft will do that are starting to mostly get explained away. Like I said, companies say this shaft is a "mid bend" one and this other one is a "high bend point" one yet... all shafts bend in pretty much the same spot when you swing them. I know it's not apples to apples but I still wonder if it's similar for hockey sticks.

What I find interesting is if you filter by flex and look at just junior sticks (anything under 70 flex) it's an overwhelming majority low kick... about 4:1 low kick to mid kick and 9:1 low to variable. But when you look at 70 flex and up... the ratio changes quite a bit; about 1:1 low kick to mid kick and just 4:1 low to variable. So I'd be willing to say that younger kids in general are more into the low kick stuff. Now is that just a trend or because there's real "science" to it? Who knows. Would be cool if you could also add in to the poll asking why they chose the stick they did.

I'm guessing it's just a type-o on the scale they didn't catch. I'm not a mat sci engineer myself, but knowing what I do know about golf shaft manufacturing, it's pretty similar. I'm sure there's some people at Taylormade or other golf companies who would know... My old RBZ stick actually has 'Taylormade' written on it I think... in small letters, down by the blade. Probably some kind of joint project on the creation of the stick possibly, maybe CCM borrowed some intellectual property on manufacturing.

Could be. Would be cool to see what new players use vs what the middle aged vs the older guys. I honestly don't even feel a huge difference between my FT2 and my QRL, which according to that link I posted before has a profile more like a Supreme. I notice blade stiffness and curve more than anything... Oh and something just popped into my head that's somewhat anecdotal about this topic. I was listening to a podcast about golf pretty recently (one of my main hobbies) and and I believe it was the CEO/owner of Accra golf shafts who was saying how a golf shaft (talking graphite ones here) all flex within about 1 inch around a given focal point, regardless of if it's considered "low" "mid" or "high" flex point, i.e. they basically all flex in the same area, regardless of flex profile. This would lead me to think that it's maybe pretty similar with hockey sticks and that it's really more about feel rather than these huge differences in flex zone like in the CCM chart I posted before.

Well a broken piece would explain the sharpness feeling. Good to see True replacing at no cost

The home made hockey punch video should work... that is basically exactly what I did. So you're saying you are correctly punching out the boot, but then it keeps caving back in again? Or it's not able to be punched out enough? I always find these stories interesting. My pro has done over 500 pairs and said he's barely had any issues. I feel like the common link here is maybe not True doing bad jobs but bad retailers. I can definitely see that spot you're referring to and I also don't get how it feels like nails. It should be like a hard/firm pressure, not something pointy and sharp.

Just putting a golf ball in the skate and taping it there or whatever isn't going to do anything most likely... You need a "negative" space for that golf ball, or whatever object it is, to push material into. For example, when I mentioned above I messed with my Mako's for a while, punching out little problem spots. I have a bone in my foot that sticks out, it was killing me because the boot wasn't moving much from baking. So I made a custom tool which was basically C clamps, with a spoon glued to one clamp, and like a 2'' long piece of round wood (basically a stick I had found and cut from outside) glued to the other clamp half. If I had just used the wooden piece and heated my boot and stuck the clamp on the boot, it would have done pretty much nothing. I needed the spoon on the other end to provide space for the boot to move into whilst the stick was pressing outward. It sounds like you are possibly not doing the correct way of spot heat molding a skate.

Right, well I know with CCM in particular, you can get some interesting combo's going on. You can get a low kick point version of a Super Tacks, you can get the Spear Variable shaft in a Jetspeed, and so on. But none of the MPN codes designate blade construction (at least I don't think?), pretty much as you said.

Makes sense. So do you think players like McDavid/Kane that are using Tacks/Supreme profiles have a different blade in there? CCM says the blade on Super Tacks is pretty stiff.

Interesting. Thought maybe he'd be using one of the LK versions that I see floating around. Has anybody ever heard from players on why they'd use the more traditional profile as a forward and not the low kick? Is it purely because they want something for one timers or is it a blade construction thing and they don't feel kick point makes a difference to their snap shots? Edit: Not sure if I can post this link or not but this may provide some insight on why players use a certain profile/stick. For example, according to this, even though Nexus is kind of labeled a "mid kick" stick, it plays pretty similarly to the 1x are far as how the profile looks. It's really interesting how quickly "mid kick" point or "clap bomb" shafts change profile but sticks meant more for quick release shots are somewhat uniform comparitively. I wonder if players just prefer a super stiff blade to help keep the face from opening up? Take a look. http://twu.tennis-warehouse.com/learning_center/hockeyflexprofiles.php Would seem like my QRL that I thought was a low kick this whole time plays more like a Super Tacks and less like a 1X... interesting.

According to CCM, the FT2 is more like two "weakened" areas with a "stronger" area between them, which creates the variable loading points. I honestly can't feel it, but I also don't rip 90mph clap bombs like they do in the pro's. Also, does McDavid really use a Tacks or is he using a dressed up one and plays something else?

Your pro shop/retailer should be the one contacting True, not you. When I got my scan done and subsequent order, I spent all of 0.0 seconds communicating with True. Granted, I've had no problems, but if I did, I would contact my pro shop to resolve it. I'm surprised you say the area keeps "caving back in" so to speak. I know you said you've tried everything, but that area of the boot is pretty moldable... After you spot heated it, did you toss them into the fridge/freezer to try to quickly lock the shape in? When I've done custom punching on my old skates, I spot heated then held it in a special punching tool I made for 2 days. Just making a guess here, but maybe you aren't "holding" the new shape that you need long enough??

I think it's more about feel, I doubt there's any real world performance differences. For example... if a mid kick stick can bend and then release a shot in .25s vs a low kick in .2 seconds... does that .05s really make a difference on a 80mph snapper from 20ft away?? Probably not. Not sure if that's a realistic comparison but if low kick point sticks were statistically shown to get shots of faster such that they got more pucks in the net, every forward would have one. I've never liked how high kick point sticks feel but now after having an FT2 I can definitely see how having my kick point up a touch higher (yes I know it's "variable" but it's still overall higher than low kick) can add some power behind the shot. I feel 0 difference in release time and I just feel like my shots are coming off with a little more umpf. I'm actually somewhat considering a 2n or maaaaybe a Tacks but I did previously use an RBZ and hated it. Also, is it just me or do the low kick sticks tend to lose their pop/ feel whippy a little faster? I just used my DT4 the other day for fun and man it felt like garbage. It felt loose and whippy, I took 2 shots with it and put it back on the bench and grabbed my FT2 again. The FT2 is even 10 flex less... feels tighter, more responsive. Edit: Is gear geek when it comes to sticks the actual stick players use or is it just looking at what the paint job is? The data is interesting. Most popular Bauer stick is the 2N pro and its the FT2 for CCM. What's the most odd is that defensemen use the Flylite as much as the 2N. Makes me think many of these sticks are dressed up and this isn't too accurate.

Have you been professionally fit for your skates? Have you been skating for a long time? I'm not a doctor but I can't imagine having both of those things and still having foot pain. If I did, then I would head to a foot doctor for a look at things because that shouldn't be happening.

Because I can... because that's what I want... so on and so on. It's not like it's cost prohibitive like with a car either... the X version of a car might be $20k more than the regular one. In this case it's maybe $80 vs $100. Since I've already got 45X's which I use for all my skates... Why not just hold out and wait to find what I exactly want? I had the regular 70's in hand, tried them on and felt like they weren't that much different than the 45's anyway.

Why do people buy "performance models" of a car that goes 0-60 in 3 seconds when the base model that does it in 5 seconds would serve them just fine?