mc88

Also, unless I'm using the wrong code, doesn't look like there's a "20% off accessories".

Looks like a coupon code at checkout: SUMMER100 https://m.facebook.com/sparxhockey/photos/a.782614348490638.1073741828.678362545582486/1723060991112631/?type=3&source=48&ref=page_internal&__tn__=EH-R

To expand: The average consumer won't know what to buy when it comes to skates. Their only reference will be their shoe size. When picking out skates, they'll usually pick based upon appearance first and upon their shoe size second. Factor in that not everyone has a local shop within a reasonable driving distance or the stock the shop has on hand is limited, or the shop doesn't offer a custom fit center... they'll still have the option to return retail skates (if bought online, ordered thru a shop, or if its a CCM skate). For pro stock skates, not an option. On top of that, the average consumer won't be informed about Bauer's/CCM codes. They also won't factor in stiffness, depth of skates, foot arch, nor the fore-foot width to heel width. They'll buy on impulse/appearance instead of researching beforehand (like Leif's friend). So I'll restate, the average consumer -- like Leif, shouldn't buy pro stock skates.

1.) Depends on your skill level. You'll want ankle strength and skate mileage before diving into a super stiff pair of skates. Since you're used to using softer skates, you may find the stiffness not to your liking and/or overwhelming. As such, I'd recommend a pair of mid-level skates. Not too stiff, not too soft, like a s180 or perhaps s190 if you want something a little stiffer. Going from a s160 to a 2S is a large jump in stiffness and I personally wouldn't recommend it. A good indicator that you'll want to move up to a higher tier of boot is if the boot prematurely breaks down (within 1-6 months). Take this fictional scenario into account: "I'm used to using an intermediate 67 flex, but several people said my shot will improve if I move up to a stiffer flex. I'm thinking about using a 112 flex, do you guys think that's a good idea?" 2.) If you find that the Supreme line of skates fit your needs: Fit, comfort, and durability, then I see no reason to go custom. For me, the custom skate has always been more about stepping on the ice and not remembering I'm in a pair of skates (fit and comfort), but rather I'm in the moment, playing the game. That's been my indicator for gear. If it's working and it's working well, I'll never even notice it. If it's not working, then it becomes center stage and the gameplay takes a seat in the audience. Unfortunately, for me, the latter was what I felt and experienced when I went with retail skates. Here's the reason why I went custom. If your dogs are barkin' every time you step on or off the ice, then you can try boot stretching/punching, and if that doesn't work, then you can try a different brand/model AND if that doesn't work, go custom. Also, never buy off-the-shelf or pro-return custom skates. That includes Bauer and CCM. The boots were made for that particular player's feet. And unless you're lucky enough to have the exact same left and right foot dimensions as them, stick with retail or get your own custom set.

268mm or about a size 8 (~270mm).

For the weight-watcher junkies (268mm or about a size 8 skate): VH Gen 1 - w/o shot blockers - black felt tongue - w/o shims - standard foot-beds - Elite Wide Unwaxed 96" - Step BlackSteel (874g || 1lb 9.2oz) VH Gen 2 - w/shot blockers - black felt tongue - 1/16th shim - standard footbeds - Howies Waxed 96" - LS3 DLC steel (921g || 2lb 0.5oz) True Gen 1 - w/shot blockers - white felt tongue - 1/8th shim - standard foot-beds - Howies Waxed 96" - Tydan DLC + Mirror (986g || 2lb 2.8oz)

From what I've been told (and what I had to do) you must supply them with the holders. Otherwise, they'll just mount True holders OR just send back a boot without pre-drilled holes.

Sweaty b*stard. According to VH, the liner would maintain better grip over clarino if you tend to sweat a lot.

TUUK LS Edge 263mm holders with Tydan DLC w/Mirror finish runners Built-in 1/8" shims Black wick liner Integrated shot blockers Single felt tongue with an enhanced metatarsal guard Howies waxed 96" laces Out of the box: - Right foot was golden, perfect fit length-wise, width-wise and depth - Left foot required some tweaks with depth (removed red insole and trimmed tongues), otherwise fit length-wise and width-wise was golden

I took a pair of pliers and twisted off most of the teeth, leaving only a tiny bit. Then, I took a hammer and punch and tapped the nut into the bottom of the boot. This way, the nut wouldn't spin/dig a channel around the bottom of the boot when screwing the bolt in. The washers were used between the holder and bolt -- to spread the pressure across the holder created by the bolt. There's a lot more to these nuts, bolts, and washers than just buying them from a local hardware store. You have to do research on steel grades and understand how using different grades affects the properties of the steel (and how there is still oil on them after the machining process that prevents sprays from sticking). As such, I wouldn't recommend this method as a first option. Try having one of the shop guys above replacing your rivets first before going down the nut and bolt route.

I'm baffled as to why some people make it their mission to persuade/dissuade others on how they should spend their money based upon something they've never used... but I won't go down that avenue. Instead, I'll give a first-hand, unbiased, point-of-view about my experience with VH Footwear skates over the past 4 years. To abide by the forum rules, I won't turn this into a review, but instead an overview. To preface this post, I've never been paid, sponsored, endorsed(bribed), nor influenced in any way to use VH/True products; nor am I "fan-boy". The only reason I even heard about VH Footwear in the first place was from this very thread! To be brief, back in 2014, I became a coach/instructor/rink-rat at a local rink. As I spent more time at this place, I realized that having proper fitting skates was absolutely necessary when spending 6+ hours on the ice per day (getting all those blisters, sores, cuts, bruises, bunions... the whole gamut). Back in the early 2000's, Ice hockey in my city was somewhat of an up-and-coming sport. Vastly different from what it is today. So finding a local hockey shop that still had their doors open became a novelty (had 1 shop at the time that closed their doors shortly after I bought my first set of gear). Fast forward to 2014, and at that time, there are only two hockey shops in my city. A rather dumpy, tiny shop inside the local rink and a Hockey Giant down the street. During this time, I went on a spending spree trying to find a brand, model and size that fit my feet, starting from: CCM 1152 Tacks, 10.5D (had to double sock for these babies), Supreme TO 8.5D, Reebok 9K 8D (two pairs after I broke the first pair within a week), Reebok 20K 8D, Graf ??? 7R, Supreme NXG 7.5C (these gave me tailor bunions and were fitted by the small shop inside the rink--big mistake), and Supreme MX3 8D. Thousands of dollars wasted trying to find a fit that didn't leave me curdled up in the fetal position holding my feet after skating for a few hours. Fed up, I went to my local Hockey Giant and asked, "I'm looking to get some custom Bauer skates". An HG employee states, "Uhhhhhh... we'll have to call a rep for that and it can take anywhere from 3-6 months or longer before he'll be in town to fit you. And, uhhh, no guarantee he'll even show up". In a last ditch effort, I began researching online forums. This is where I stumbled upon an ever growing post about Dustin Byfuglien using some custom hockey skates by a guy named Scott Van Horne. I wasn't completely sold, and waited a few months before I saw other members skates/heard their experiences. I took the plunge, traced my feet, and bought a pair. When they came in the mail, I was initially a bit disappointed in the craftmanship and followed that up with my subsequent negative response (pics are broken, but it was a reference to a bad weld versus a good weld) among others. After some clean up with some scotch tape, they came out pretty sexy. After a year or so of usage, I developed a few issues with the skates: Rusty eyelets and instep peeling on the left boot. I wasn't too concerned about the instep, as there was still material underneath where it tore, but the eyelets and rivets needed some TLC. I took them to HG, where they attempted to install new eyelets, but within a few days they came loose; and by this time, the Velcro on the tongues were shot and I needed to glue them together (red dots illustrate where I had glued the two pieces together). The stiffness in the boot became too flimsy for my skating style and, to pile even more to the list of problems, the rivets that were replaced by the rink shop, popped out like popcorn as soon as I took a puck to the holder (I did, however, use some nuts and bolts, which remedied the problem; full breakdown posted after the fact). Unfortunately, after a year after purchasing, I realized it was just time for another pair of skates. By this time, VH had made some updates to their custom skates. They also made some updates to their pricing. They started to charge customers USD and CAD, despite only operating out of Canada. This left a bad taste in my mouth because they didn't operate nor have much of a presence within the US, nor pay US taxes (their reasoning was that some of their materials came from the US, therefore, it was their right to charge international customers USD). I said, "No." And stated I would no longer support/recommend this company nor its product (even had someone claim he was the VP of VH Footwear contact me, but who knows if that was real). As such, I vainly tried to buy their closest rival, the Easton Mako. Unfortunately, the Mako skates left my feet cold after about 30 minutes of skating (I'm told that's a sign of poor circulation -- not enough width). I also felt a fair bit of rubbing down the outside of the ankle that I just couldn't fix. I just had to sell them and move on to something else. So, I tried some Apx2 skates in a 6.5EE, but it felt too cramped in the toe area, and around this time the original 1X came out, so I tried a 7EE, but that felt too loose lengthwise. Seeing that I was heading down a path of buying one retail skate after another, like I did above (at this time, still only 2 hockey locations, the local rink that didn't carry EE and the local HG that had a very limited selection of EE -- so it was a fair bit of guessing), I reluctantly decided to give VH another try. As mentioned previously, along with the price updates, VH made some updates to their skates. Along came a thermo-modable plastic toecap, rust-resistant coated COPPER (not steel) eyelets, integrated shot blockers (for me, rigidity was what I was most excited about) and an enhanced metatarsal tongue. Pretty much all the issues I had faced earlier, were addressed with this new update. I ordered a pair with the new updates. First thing I immediately noticed was that the craftsmanship was vastly improved. I didn't have to take scotch tape to the outside of the boot to clean up the skates. They pretty much came looking sex-waxed and ready for war. However, no boot is perfect. I did have to tweak the sidewalls for more depth, trim the tongue near the toebox so that it'll lay flat across my foot, and lastly mocked up a tongue tab idea, sent it to VH and purchased new tongues with tabs because over my overpronation was causing the tongues to slide toward the outstep which was causing some discomfort. 3 years later and to this very day, I still use these skates and skate in them at least 3 times a week at about 2-3 hours per session. They've been rock solid skate after skate after skate. And here's what they look like today, flaws and all. But like all good things do, they eventually come to an end. The skates have lost some of their rigidity, the tongues are absolutely shot, from time to time, the lack of depth of the forefoot area numbs my toes (usually the result of over-cranking the laces), the rivets are super rusty and look like they're holding on for dear life (we have 3 hockey shops in the city -- local rink, Pure Hockey, and a small mom/pop shop -- and I guarantee that they will mess up the rivet replacements, so I may poke one of you shop guys with VH rivet replacement knowledge and have you replace when the time comes), and the Velcros are starting to lose their tackiness. Seeing that VH has been bought by True, I took the plunge and ordered a custom pair of True skates. I was fitted at Pure Hockey by one of the best managers I've ever dealt with (super attentive, answered all my Q's, and went above and beyond what I asked -- great customer service... just wow). My main reason for ordering new skates was that if these ever failed, I'd be up a liquid chocolate infused creek without a paddle -- at least now I would have something to fall back on. If it's the same folks that are behind my current VHs that are making the True skates, I expect nothing but good things. But, but... I'll hold judgement 'till I get some mileage with them...

If you don't have a fit center nearby, then use this method I wrote up awhile back for tracings: Also, don't hesitate to go down a holder size. I went from a 272mm to a 263mm holder and I absolutely love it. The trade-offs of going with a shorter holder is that you'll be more agile and you'll be able to utilize more of the extreme toe. The downsides are that you'll have less stability from the shorter runner and for a short period of time you'll find that your stopping weight will be to be adjusted. Other than that, I'm glad I went down a size... everything began to just feel right.

The perks of being anal about measurements (the insoles are stock/unmodified--if I wore socks, it'd basically disappear--no fitment issues length-wise nor width-wise!):

This. After you've done your first ten pairs, the initial wow factor diminishes quite quickly. Depending on the jig, it can become a cat and mouse game (adjust one side and then the other side becomes unleveled--back and forth, back and forth!) This past season, a local EQM had problems with his stationary machine where it would work for 30mins then randomly power off. One of my co-workers had to hot wire the damn thing so it would bypass some plug or something. The EQM was super stressed out because he had a playoff game he needed to prepare for and the machine wasn't playing nice.

Sharpening skates is overrated and can be quite tedious... but, aside from that, just keep in mind that you'll need to have a good ventilation system and some sort of vacuum set up. Else you'll get all those lovely shavings in your lungs and around the surrounding area. My buddy has an X01 setup and runs a vacuum that sits on the outside (for noise control), and has the hose running thru an open door and up to the end of the base plate... and takes up a good chunk of his garage space! You'll also be looking at $22/grinding ring, $58-$88/spinner and $125 for a bronze clamp (doesn't look like they include it in their X series sharpeners). You can also take a look a fellow member's X02 setup: