caseyjones

Thanks, yeah I did that and it worked pretty well. No issues for the most part in those areas. I’m now wrapping them and clamping the heel to try to get these as perfect as possible.

I have ft690’s limited edition skates that are only offered in regular or wide. Crazy to me that these would’ve been considered to have a wide forefoot

Damn, those are expensive. I skated tonight and had zero pain in the areas I worked on. I didn’t notice any more damage to the boots in the areas I punched either. So hotspots on my inside ankle bone are completely gone, the pinching of the forefoot and my pinky and big toe are completely gone. Now I’m fixated on the heel lock. I don’t really notice it when skating, but I notice it when walking in the boots. Aren’t jetspeeds supposed to have one of the more narrow heels out there? My skates are a regular. They didn’t come in fit 1, 2 or 3. Just regular and wide

lol right, that was kind of my thoughts as well. I guess I was kind of thinking that baking the skates would make them just mold around every facet of my foot. These currently feel pretty good though. Finished up trying the cotton ball trick tonight (I used rolled up paper towel and taped it where it hurts) so I’m gonna give ‘em a spin tomorrow night. Thanks for the feedback

No but I’ve seen a lot of guys do it and I can do it in other pairs of skates. I’m just confused about heel lock in general with the new skates. If I stand up in these skates unlaced and lift my leg up, my heel comes right up. That doesn’t happen in my 703’s or 707’s which ironically are supposed to be at the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of heel widths. But when I lace up the net speeds, my heel doesn’t really move. So, idk if it’s in my head or if it’s something that shouldn’t be happening if the skates were a perfect fit

Appreciate that. And yes, my arch collapses on my left foot and that skate is much worse. I went with the tightest fitting skate in the store bc I like my skates to be super tight. I assumed with all the heat molding talk with the new skates that this wouldn’t have been an issue at all. I never tried on trues. I tried ft6, Mach’s, m5’s and hyperlites in multiple sizes and fits. Still concerned about the heel on these. They are fine when laced all the way up, but my heel lifts with the top 2 eyelets undone. Just not sure how much if at all you can break in hard plastic.

Thanks. I’ll see how things progress. If it looks like it starts to get worse and appears that the boot is being compromised in any way I’ll try a thin layer of clear epoxy first. Im personally just not a fan of the shot blocker look. I know I know. But that could wind up being a necessity so appreciate that advice These were $500. So not the end of the world in terms of them being very expensive skates. I’ve used the clamp multiple times trying to find the exact spot but it’s hard to pinpoint. I def have some relief but it’s not completely gone. The inner foams are very compressed where I punched it out. I’m going to try the cotton ball trick as my last option and then just see if it goes away from using them over time. I’ve only skated in them 3x so far. It’s annoying and I got blisters but nothing to the point where I couldn’t skate anymore. This is just a very new experience for me with modern skates. I’ve never had pain in that area before.

Appreciate the feedback guys and Thank you sniper for the childish replies and then suggesting i could’ve just pushed the area out with my thumb. Thats ridiculous and yes I’ve been using a heat gun and nothing has melted. Happy Thanksgiving! I’m really not concerned much about the integrity of the boot as the pictures make it look much worse. I’ve punched out the forefoot of each skate with great success. I’ve been having difficulty with two small hot spots that I figured would’ve been the easy part. I’m not sure what secret scientific approach there is besides adding heat to the area. Obviously, I should’ve used heat from the beginning and maybe went a little easier on the clamp at first. You live and you learn. It’s a tricky spot to locate. I just tried the lipstick trick last night. I’m pretty close to having these feel pretty dialed in. im skating on Saturday so we’ll see how they feel. If they fall apart or melt off my feet while I’m playing I’ll be sure to post pictures

The first picture makes it look worse than real life. It looks like a big crack but in real life it’s just a few tiny lines. I was wondering if I should spread a little bit of clear epoxy over it to reinforce it a bit? im going to punch the other one today with heat and see how that goes. The other boot already got those small fracture marks from a puck hitting it.

I heated it the first time around and still wound up getting those stress fracture looking marks. 2nd time around I didn’t use heat and I guess we see the result. I still have to do the other skate in the same area so I’ll make sure to heat that up good and see how it compares. Is a blowdryer sufficient or should I use a heat gun? Was nervous to use a heat gun thinking it may melt the skate

So I just punched out a hotspot on my new jetspeeds and it looks like it made the plastic material start to crack. It looks like it’s eventually going to chip away. I used the rip jaws tool that I just purchased to do the punch. I didn’t heat the area before I did this

Just to update for anyone who cares lol, I would up going with a size 6.5 and the smaller holder. I figured I’d test it out before swapping holders. To my surprise, I really didn’t notice much of a difference at all. My balance felt fine. I’m going to stick the the 255 holders. I am wondering about the “memory foam” in the ccm’s though. Will this eventually break in to give me a better ankle wrap and heel lock? I did have the skates baked and still have tightness in the forefoot, but I’m not sure how I feel about the big pillow like padding around the ankles. I don’t get the “locked in” feel that everyone talks about with the new skates. My foot felt much more locked in in my 707’s

Appreciate the suggestions, I should have clarified though I’m looking at the ft690s which are $500. I just hate the idea of buying new skates just to dismantle them and I wouldn’t trust purehockey to do the mount so I’d likely be shipping them out to get it done. Do the one piece boots hold up well with holder swaps? I’ve done many myself on older boots with screws and t-nuts but would not attempt that on the newer skates. I guess at the end of the day I don’t have much of a choice here. It’s crazy with all the “options” nowadays, that there’s no retail option to make this type of change

I’m in a similar situation. Skating is Graf 707’s. Looking to make the switch to newer technology skates but can never make the jump. I put custom plus on my Grafs. So I can fit into a 7 or sometimes a 6.5 on older model skates, always with a 263 holder and 9’ profile. That’s my comfort zone. I’m easily a 6.5 in today’s skates, but the problem is they all come with a 254 holder. I only skated on a 254 once in my life and it was awful. And that was on a cobra holder which have a longer stock profile than my custom plus. Longer profile didn’t seem to help or offset anything. so I’m stuck in the position of having to buy new skates, then buy a separate set of holders and steel, rip apart the brand new skates and re-drill for new holders. Idk what to do. Currently looking at ccm ft6 in size 6.5

That doesn’t sound encouraging. Appreciate the feedback

Has anyone done a Graf custom more recently? I see that I can contact them through Instagram but they haven’t posted since 2021. Would love a custom pair of 707’s

That’s awesome. I’m not even a good skater, I just enjoy nostalgic equipment. I skated the wrong way my entire life. Tying my skates like casts. Went shins under tongues one day for a rec skate and could never go back. I need the ankle ROM on ice. Learning about skate fit, blade profiling, pitch and all that has only complicated things for me, but still interested in dialing in on that ideal fit and feel. Current ice set up is 703 with tuuk plus holders. Way better feel For me than my 707s and G7s with cobra. Makos feel like a running shoe that is just an extension of your leg. Just not crazy about the ankle wrap.

I like it at the top. I love how the mako wraps your foot below the ankle. I love how my 703s and 707s feel around the ankle (despite those being different skates with very different ankles. If I could combine the mako wrap, with a 703 fit and a 707 hinged ankle I would have the ultimate skate lol. I have all 3, so kind of attempting to combine the best of all worlds. My current tongues are reminiscent of an early 2000’s 703 tongue

It’s not so much cosmetic as I’ve become accustomed to the thick Graf tongues. I really like the feel of them and you don’t get that nice cushiony feel around the ankle with the mako tongue

Has anyone ever swapped the tongue in mako’s? I like shins under tongue with a flop. I have extra Graf tongues or I was thinking about some snipers. Just not sure if they would be too bulky in the mako boot

Wow, thats a great point. So even less than i thought. Yea, initially i thought having a wheel that didnt stick out past a toe cap would be a huge detriment in terms of skating, but the more i research the more i become comfortable with the set up. I believe, even if you look at a size 11.5 skate with an 80/76 set up....that front wheel is underneath the toe....so it's not like you can't skate on a set up like that. It might even be beneficial for an ice player.

In terms of the overall wheelbase (how far the wheels will spread across the bottom of the skate). So if you go to a 76/72 you will shorten the wheelbase by 8mm. That’s the difference between the New and old front and back wheels. So you shorten by 4mm from the back wheel and 4mm from the front wheel. You wouldn’t gain 16mm (the overall difference in wheelsize). Basically it won’t be the same as a 76/72 setup that has a bolt pattern designed for that since the wheels on a frame designed for that would be close together. When you do your swap the difference of the middle two wheels will now be filled with empty space. Hope that makes sense. It’s long winded

Yea you could. I contemplated it. But you really only gain the difference on the front and back wheel. Going to a 72/68 setup on a medium frame might be more to my liking In terms of overall wheelbase length. I just thought it would be really awkward with huge spaces between each wheel. Right now the front wheel is basically flush with the toe cap. I’m getting more comfortable with thinking this is going to work out good. I’ll post pics once done. Already trimmed the plastic off one skate and it’s fitting much better already. Appreciate all the feedback!

Idk if it was this thread or another but someone posted an article about how the wheels should be aligned under a roller boot. It was referencing ice players who were skating in roller blades. It said the front wheel should actually sit under the toe whereas the toe cap would stick out further than the wheel. My last set up was pretty close, but not that extreme. It almost seems crazy to skate with a front wheel under the boot. Then I came across this picture of Matthews and his front wheel is clearly recessed under the toe. Maybe it’ll take a slight adjustment but hopefully be better in the long run.

That’s what I was thinking as well with it being centered. Considering the rocker of the marsblade, id imagine it would throw you off if it’s not. It’s funny, those pics of the pavel barber mounts are what made me think I can rock the smalls. Figured If he can skate on them, then who the hell am I? Lol. I just knew the 80/76 wouldn’t work for me bc I’ve hated it in the past. The small frame might sacrifice a little bit of speed and perhaps performance, but I like it bc it mimics my ice blade more and transitions are pretty seamless for me this way. Ideally, in a size 7 boot I’d prob prefer a 76/72 set up. It’s kind of dumb that roller skates are made more in terms of a one size fits all type of approach, but I guess it’s not cost conscience for them to make so many sizes.