krisdrum

Right? And he's 10. Listen, I KNOW I suck. Little man has been playing full gear since he was barely 4, skating since he was 2. My nephew is basically the same story, except he is 17 and very likely playing in high level juniors this season. I simply can't compete, never will be able to. My sole goal every time I get on the ice with them is to not suck as much as I did the time before. Baby steps.

Damn Howies, I want my royalties... using a picture of me without my consent. I'll call my lawyer.

Maybe my black shell is too slimming? I don't know. Maybe I'll gear up tomorrow and snap a picture. I don't think I look as "tight" as Nylander does. Maybe the boys are just trying to get in my head and get me off my game. LOL.

Who thought I'd be turning to the hockey community for "fashion" advice, but here I am. Did stick and puck with my nephew (17) and son (10) on Saturday. While getting undressed, I mention my Supreme girdle and shell used to be my nephew's (he's obviously bigger than me now) and he chimes in, yeah, those look a bit tight, maybe you should open up the leg zips. My son piles on with a "yeah dad". As a beginner with mostly hand-me-down/second hand gear, I obviously don't have a good "Sty" game according to my family. Frankly I could care less, unless having a bit more room to move would help me. The girdle is a medium and I think it fits pretty well (I'm 5-6, 175lbs, 33in waist). If I get a larger shell for the girdle, will I look like I am wearing a skirt? Or is the subtle leg zipper trick enough?

Can you expand on this a bit more? Not trying to be dense, but I'm struggling with a definition of "beginner", "intermediate", and "advanced" skates. Is it a stiffness profile? Is it weight? Durability of the materials? Expense of the materials used? How many times/hours the user will be on the ice a week? A beginner skater can go out and buy $1000 top of the line skates just like anyone else. Now, I'll give you top end skates seem to prioritize stiffness and reduced weight. Durability? Maybe. I have a hard time looking at a 1 piece fiberglass shell with great heat reactivity and calling it "beginner" or even "intermediate". A 1 piece boot is usually reserved for the very top end skate, if the manufacturer even offers it. Regardless of the material the boot is made from. To my eye, the TF7 provides a lot of bang for the buck, especially when you compare it to what the competition puts out at the same price range. They may prove me wrong, only time will tell that story.

Sure, there are differences, but I'm wondering how much of an impact they have on the overall skate. So the TF7 is a little bit: heavier and not quite as stiff. Is Clarino a significant upgrade from the nylon wicking? Maybe. Is the low profile tongue "better"? Steel is somewhat of a consumable, so not sure coated vs. regular makes a huge difference either. Maybe I am way off base, but I have a feeling the TF7 will be the popular choice for the value to performance ratio it provides.

Yeah, one of our former billets had 2 pair of the customs and said he had nothing but problems. 1 pair was constantly "in the shop" getting repaired. If memory serves he sent one pair back to them in September or October and didn't get it back until January or February.

I'm so tempted, especially with the fact I fit in a junior skate. Based on this video, I think the TF7 will be very popular with folks with smaller feet. The 20gr weight penalty seems more than acceptable for the price, especially in light of what seems like no real penalty on the performance or comfort/fit side of the equation. For their sake, I am really hoping they are well made and gain market share from the dominant players.

Ok, so how do I check alignment? This is a pretty standard issue for me, as I've had to shim (internal or external) all my skates to one degree or another. I've just never been able to shim externally myself, since all past skates had rivets. New skates have t bolts, so I can do the work myself.

Aligned as in re-drill holes in the boot to move the holder? I'd rather not try drilling my boot and I'm not sure there is a shop anywhere near me I'd trust to do the work properly. My other pair of skates have the heel post shimmed and it has helped. Plan was to do the same with this new pair.

This is what I am talking about. My feet naturally pronate. So my default stance has me on my inside edge, not neutral over the blade. What I lack is the "control" over that rotation, as @Vet88 mentions. What I am trying to get to is a neutral stance over the blade as a default, so I can then tell my body, inside or outside edge or flat, instead of having it "decided" for me and having to overcompensate to change that orientation. . Gatorade bottle, milk jug, plastic binder cover... wish I had waited before handing Jeff Bezos my money for a sheet of LDPE...

I went with thinner LDPE that I can layer. Basically 1.5mm (1/16 in.). I looked at my other skates that have shims and I think they are about 3-4mm thick. Once I dial these in (easy with the T nuts), I can pop them out and glue together. Probably also be good to get some longer Torx head bolts once I get them dialed, so disassembly is inevitable once I am satisfied with the results.

Ok, thanks, makes sense.

Right... am I supposed to buy LDPE in every thickness I could need? I would think having a thinner sheet I could layer 1,2,3 on top of each other to provide say 1.5mm increments would be better.

perfect, thanks. Any particular thickness you find best? Assume I may need to experiment by layering.

Dragging this thread back up... related question... best shim material? I picked up a new to me pair of Graf G75 lite. I put one heel shim inside each boot, skated yesterday and not enough. Can try to add more, but don't want to mess with how the boot fits that much if I can avoid it. My other Grafs have external shims, thin layers of leather. Is leather the preferred material? Or would plastic or metal be better? The G75 don't have rivets, use T-nuts, so was thinking I could do the shims myself.

My brother-in-law has the ProSharp Home for a few years now, and has 3 skaters in the house, plus the occasional sharpening for me or my son. The grind wheels last quite awhile. I definitely think you get better value from the ProSharp than you do from the Sparx. If I was going to open my wallet, the ProSharp is where I'd be putting my money.

He also runs short tongues and no socks. Got to see the team practice a few years back in NJ. Looked like the tongues are short enough to not really need to be tucked under.

I never found length to be an issue. I was comfortable in size 5 Makos coming from Vapor EE and Graf W in a 5. I tried both D and EE, Was able to get a decent fit with both. So they are very reactive to heat. Couldn't get my foot in the D without heating it. D was a bit tight in a few spots. EEs were maybe a bit wide, but did create a nice wrap. My issue unfortunately with the Makos, is the heel. Too wide for me and not really moldable where I needed it due to the carbon lower portion of the boot. If I had been able to solve that problem, I'd probably be using them now.

Yeah, I'm curious to try Fit 3. I found Vapor EE to work best for me, narrow heel, wide forefoot. The forefoot needed a bit of punching, but nothing too major. The standard Supreme heel was too wide for me. With ALL the data they have at their fingertips, hopefully those truly on the fringes can be accommodated.

Correct. Two skate lines (Vapor and Supreme) and 3 fits (1,2,3) available in both lines. So fit no longer differentiates the lines from each other. The difference is now in features (eyelet type, default profile, etc.). They are marketing the Vapor as the "agility" skate and the Supreme as the "power" skate.

No first hand experience, but I'd imagine 1 of 2 things... 1) Fit 3 has a narrower heel than Nexus that can be widened through the baking process or 2) Bauer has made a business decision to not service individuals with wide/high volume feet and narrow heels in a retail context. However, they claim between the 3 fits they fit 100% of foot types (I find that hard to swallow and is likely marketing hype). My son and I went and got scanned 2-3 weeks back when retail re-opened in NJ. I came out a Fit 3. I have a wide forefoot, deep instep, but narrow heel. I was focused on getting my son sized, having him try on a few skates and getting out of the store, so didn't even bother to ask if they had anything in stock in my size/fit.

Nice, a bit of bike tech in the hockey world. Might also look into the G8 Performance adjustable insoles. They are the best "non-custom" insoles in cycling right now. Pretty thin footbed, 5 arch height pieces that are adjustable fore/aft and laterally on each insole. They also have heel wedges as add-ons that fit into the heel plate of the insole and are about to release metatarsal buttons as an add-on as well. I have them in my cycling shoes and so far they are great. Want to try them in skates. Obviously I pronate as well. I've tried wedges inside the boot (on a pair of Vapors) and external shims (on my current pair of Grafs). In a stiff boot, the wedges worked for me. In the softer Grafs, I might try them again in addition to the external shims, which have definitely helped. Before I had the shims installed my skate guy said I had deformed/twisted the boots of my Grafs due to the pronation. My issue is I don't skate enough, so the muscles forget/aren't strong enough and any gains I make when I skate more are lost when I can't skate as much. It is really frustrating. One of the reasons I am thinking of going back to a Vapor or similar. I feel like they were much more "point and shoot" due to the stiffness than the Grafs are.

Thanks all. Maybe I lost my mind for a bit. Hockey doomsday prepping. LOL! I tend to overthink stuff, just ask my wife. For now I have some roller hockey skates on the way in the right size (we had to stretch his ice boots at the end of the season to get the last month or so out of them). I tried some adjustable size recreational rollerblades that he was not digging, I think the extended wheelbase made them feel like skis compared to what he is used to. If he is really uncomfortable in the new roller hockey skates... I'll explore the Marsblades and some Vapor boots. If all else fails... I'll look at Can-Ice.

What do you suggest Greg? I know development is a passion of yours from other posts. He has skated year-round since he was 3. That isn't to say he doesn't get breaks or we don't change up the intensity or nature of the skating to work on different muscles and techniques. Like your son, he WANTS to skate. He loves it. It is the #1 thing he is missing about the current situation. And I'm trying to think long term here, as this coming season may have significantly less ice time than we've seen, assuming the season even happens for him. Unlike probably most of you, our family is in a difficult spot due to existing chronic health issues, because of that, we may need to make a difficult decision and skip hockey as we know it this year. I'd like to ensure my son isn't left behind if that ends up being the case. He's earned his way into a spot on a successful AAA team. He has big dreams. I know the percentages are against him, but if I can provide him with a tool to help him make strides towards those dreams, I'm going to explore it. I'm all ears if folks have other suggestions, I'd love to keep my basement as a multi-use space. I'd be happy to not drop a few k on synthetic.