krisdrum

Believe there is another thread that has the "fit" chart for CCMs from the last generation (80k) and has the Ribcor EE as the widest skate in their line-up. The rep who posted the information described that width as fitting a lot of folks who don't traditionally fit into a EE skate. Not sure how that might change now that CCM has moved to the Bauer "3 fit" system of Narrow/Medium/Wide.

Make them yourself. Some leather, some grommets, flat head bolt and nut. I picked up a cheap belt from a discount store, real leather for like $10. Cut it up into sections. Popped in the grommets, mounted to the boot and done.

Graf is doing custom again. Not sure how far away from retail they'll go, but might be worth investigating. They still offer "leather" (I think synthetic) in their Classic line, so you should be able to get a softer boot.

Here is another that might be interesting:

Nothing inappropriate about the spot you originally picked. Besides the recent thread I linked above there are several others in the same general vein from the last 6 months in this sub-forum.

Seems I have to pull the trigger then. LOL. During the season he is on the ice at least 5 days a week, most weeks more depending on game schedule. AAA player. Really the only place I am hesitating is the cost due to where he is at in his growth and like you said, the likelihood he will not make it through the season without outgrowing the skates. But based on the last month with the stock steel, I think it is a clear choice, I have to spend the money.

I have access to a ProSharp home machine at a family member's place just down the street. We have our own wheel, so the cost of sharpening is not really a factor. I'm more concerned with needing to stay on top of sharpening, especially as his schedule gets busy as we move into the season and we are juggling all our other commitments. I was able to easily go 2 weeks between sharpenings previously. Based on what I am seeing I will need to make sure I make a trip to their house weekly to keep both sets of steel in good condition.

Thanks. He is on a pretty shallow hollow (5/8), so your 30+ hours definitely does not mirror my experience so far.

Bumping this back to the top. Now a month in with the standard CCM stainless and it has been a very different experience compared to the LS2 steel he was on. 3 times I've gotten the dreaded "my blades are shot" comment. And he is only skating 2 maybe 3 times a week, instead of the usual 5-6 or more during the season. I'm roughly getting 6 hours of ice time out of a sharpening before some sort of "failure". I was easily getting 10-15 hours out of the Bauers. Each time I've inspected and seen nicks and rolled edges and other damage I rarely saw with the LS2. When I sharpen them, they clean up nicely, but at this rate I'll have to sharpen at least twice as often as I was previously. Is that typical for CCM compared to other stock steel?

Vapors are a tapered fit. Tighter in the forearm, looser as they go up to bicep. I would look at the Nexus pads to get better forearm wrap. I found the CCM Tacks to be a relatively tight fit compared to the Bauer offerings.

I took a look. Save about $25 a pair if I decide to grab them.

Ok, good input, I appreciate the different perspectives. @stick9 that was my initial thought as well, can the difference be that significant? So maybe a bit more context. He's been on LS2 steel for the last several years. With him on the ice 4-6 hours a week on average, I was sharpening his steel every 2 weeks or so (about every 10 hours of skating), assuming he didn't step on anything in the rink or his hard blade covers (thanks COVID) didn't come off when he was walking to or from the car. That frequency usually kept the "my steel is shot can you sharpen for me" comments to a minimum. I sharpen his blades on a ProSharp Home my brother-in-law has and hone/stone them myself. When I say he is sensitive to other changes, he can tell when I don't hone enough (maybe everyone can, I'm not experienced enough as a home sharpener skating on my own work to assess, to me that seems pretty sensitive). If that is a normal reaction by most experienced skaters, then I just need to refine my honing game. How will the standard CCM steel match up to what I have been doing for him over the last several seasons? Will I have to sharpen at the same frequency? Less? More? Again, I know I am in for at least $70 for the second set of steel. I have no problem dropping the extra coin, if the performance improvement is there... He works hard on his skating so if there is an advantage to upgrading the steel, I feel like I have to consider it. If there isn't good ROI on the upgrade, I'm happy to stick with the standard steel.

Wow @JV23 that is a pretty resounding opinion. I wasn't planning to go coated blade, as I'd be spending more on steel than I did on the skates themselves. I'm looking to compare stainless to stainless here. And I don't think just 1 pair of Step or Bladetech is a feasible option due to the height difference. I either need to go all in and commit or not. He is sensitive enough to other changes that I'm sure blade height will definitely be a factor. Curious what others think.

Just picked up some new wheels for my rising Peewee Minor. Two skates in and he is loving the Ribcor 78K - size 3.5 after being in Vapors the last 2-3 seasons and Supremes most of his career before that. Being new to the CCM skate family, the Step steel option has me curious if it is worth it. The added height, ease of sharpening and longer lasting edge are all appealing with the Step. They seem to be the gold standard in steel everyone is trying to catch. My son's agility and edgework are a huge part of his game, so if there is a legitimate advantage here, I want to consider it. The last few years he has been outgrowing his skates in about a year and jumping up a full size when he does. That would put him in the next bigger runner size and the steel we buy now would not be compatible. So, we'll be lucky to get 12 months out of whatever steel he has, with them being sharpened every week or two. We always carry a second set of steel in case he damages one set or in case we don't have a chance to sharpen prior to traveling, so switching to Step (or anything besides the standard CCM Speedblade XS stainless that came with his boots) would mean 2 new pairs of steel. Are the Step (or anything else) really that much better than the standard steel to warrant the added investment beyond the $70 I'll need to drop to get him a second set of standard stainless?

Why do those have Tuuks on them? Definitely not spec from the factory unless they are custom and even then, not sure Graf would do the mounting.

Yeah, their custom is amazing. My brother-in-law shattered his ankle in a game years ago, really bad injury. After he recovered nothing retail would fit him. He has a pair of custom 709s that he has been using ever since and they still look almost new and he tries to skate at least a few times a week.

Got it, so not like 0 is the same width heel across all models. Oh, that really is a pain. Not sure custom is in my future, unless I really start skating a lot more. We'll see. I do really like my experience with Graf so far, so I would definitely consider it if it came to that.

@Miller55 incredibly helpful. And certainly way more detail than I provided. Makes me wonder if a 705 or 709 might be a nice fit for me, in addition to the 535 I already have. I need the narrow heel, so if a 0 is a narrower heel than a 3, it might be worth trying on.

One of the reasons Graf struggled(s). The model differences are not as clear cut as they are for CCM and Bauer. Taking a look at their current website, it looks like they've significantly narrowed their retail selection from what it was pre-bankruptcy. I'm no expert, but pretty knowledgeable. Hopefully if I am way off on my assessment, someone will chime in to correct me. Peakspeed: a pretty standard medium fit. Probably most similar to a Supreme. Their answer to the modern skate. Difference in models are mostly about features and spec. I don't think there are differences in fit. Not sure how moldable they are compared to the current leaders in that area (True, CCM), but back in the day Graf was known for good reaction to the molding process to get a nice "custom" fit as long as you were in a boot shape that was pretty close to what your foot needed. Classic: G755,703,709 - softer classic boots. 703 I believe is the narrowest (similar to Vapor), 755 in the middle, and 709 the widest (closest to a Nexus). I'm in a pair of 535 wide, which are a step down but closest to the 755 and its predecessor the 735. In my experience these have a narrower heel and wider forefoot compared to a "medium all over" fit. Prior to the 535 I was in a Vapor EE, which had similar narrow heel, but I needed the EE width to get my forefoot comfortable and still needed to do some punch outs. G9000: medium-ish fit, similar to the old G75 and G75 lite, which were Grafs first carbon fiber quarter package skates. Stiff (for a Graf) and beefer. I have a pair of the G75 lite as well, and the forefoot is pretty similar to my 535, with more depth/volume around the heel and across the ankle joint. Heel pocket is wider and the ankle padding is denser. The 535 really grabs my foot around the heel, the G75 lite really grabs my foot around the achilles tendon and lower calf. G7: not too sure on fit, but it does look like this model has the upper eyelets of the boot "hinged" to allow better forward flexion. Construction of the boot looks to be more inline with the classic series.

I just picked up a pair of O1s mounted to a size 3 Vapor boot for my son. He is in size 2.5 Vapors on ice. The toe of the mounting plate is a few mm past the toe of the boot and the back of the heel is flush with the mounting plate. I avoided picking him up Marsblades earlier due to the mismatch in size between boot and chassis in smaller sizes. He's been in HiLos previously. I would imagine on a size 2 boot you'd be getting closer to a full cm difference between chassis length and boot length. If you center the chassis (which I believe are the proper mounting instructions), you'll probably have 5mm of overlap front and back. That isn't huge, but likely will reduce the sensation of rocker because of the extended wheelbase and length of the chassis. I can't confirm or deny that claim, as I never mounted O1s on a smaller boot. Maybe Pers or someone else from the team (they frequent this site) can give a more concrete answer.

See his thumb exposed on his lower hand while he is gripping the stick? OUCH!!!! Looks like it is exposed on his top hand as well.

Ended Sunday.

Not sure we want to adopt the head protection of a sport who is in the midst of a MAJOR participation crisis due to head and neck injuries. 😉 People are fleeing contact football in droves thanks to CTE and other related injuries. I don't think we should be holding their helmet design and technology in too high a regard. In fact I've heard plenty of arguments that the design of football helmets has encouraged more aggressive play and is a direct cause of the injuries being seen. They have actually started to look at contact sports with minimal padding (rugby) for inspiration and education towards a better approach to tackling and body contact.