krisdrum

Sure. Found this one the most complete and helpful. But there are a few others that were useful or had some unique tips. Basically replacing rivets with t-nuts and bolts.

Yep, size is right. Toes feather. Same length as my old Vapor EEs. Boots are a touch longer than my Graf, which have a slightly tighter fit in the toes. I am almost positive my lack of heel lock is more a function of where my heel is narrow not matching up with where the Makos can be molded. Hence seeing if maybe the D width could provide better heel dimensions. Outside of using an ankle booty, I think I have explored and tried all options. I'd rather not use one if I don't have to. And I don't have to in the Grafs. Of course the Grafs expose my ankle weakness and pronation issues. So neither right now is a silver bullet to make me skate like McDavid. ;)

Thanks. I was looking at bunga pads or the ezeefits. But decided to switch back to my Grafs (much narrower heel, great heel lock). The Grafs fit great, but they have exposed significant weaknesses in my technique and mechanics that stiffer boots minimize. I'm trying to work through that, but progress is slow and frustrating. Maybe that is just what it needs to be. Not sure how I feel about adding a pad to help me get a better fit. Maybe that is silly and short-sighted. But that is why I am asking the question as a last ditch effort. Either I get the heel to lock in these, or they are going on the block. Food for thought I guess. Need to make a decision.

Thanks. No dice. Done that. Still too wide. Ultimately the carbon area is too wide.

Mako peeps. Last ditch effort. Anyone have a well informed answer to the difference in heel width between the D and EE skates? I bought EE as I need the space up front, problem is I have a super narrow heel. The boot fits great everywhere, but the heel is too wide. With how flexible the boots are during the baking process, I'm wondering if it makes sense to try a D to get a narrower heel and hope/assume the boot will accommodate my wider forefoot once baked. Thoughts?

I'm in the same boat, have no intent of playing competitive roller hockey at this point. Just need more stick/puck/skating time. I'm in the midst of a conversion currently. Been doing it on and off for the last week or so. The process has been really easy and straight forward. I watched a few YouTube videos to get a sense of the process. Bought a used pair of inlines off ebay that had the right sized chassis and wheels, boots didn't fit, so separated them and discarded. Chassis is an older HiLo with some decent indoor wheels. Removed the holders from an old pair of beat up skates I had acquired that I knew fit pretty well. Bought all the screws and nuts to re-assemble. Marked up the boot sole, drilled the holes and I'm in the process of assembly. I've invested maybe $70 and my time to get to this point. Should have them done this week.

Check out the last video on page 7 of this thread. Same dude. WAY different!

Hopefully by now you've realized that video is 2 years old and Mr. Mets has progressed significantly in that time.

It is a 2 piece system. Just like his inline chassis. Top part affixes to skate like a traditional holder. Bottom part hold blade (or inline wheels) and has a degree of arch motion to it. Ice holder appears to have a leaf spring, inline chassis uses a rubber bumper to control the motion of the 2 pieces. Idea is that the blade/wheels stay in contact with the surface longer, while boot rotates slightly above. Very similar in theory to a speed skating clap holder and blade.

I watched a few of the videos. It looks great. I was really hoping Pers was going to figure out a modular approach where the inline skates could be converted back to ice, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It looks like a dedicated ice holder and appears different enough to not work with the inline chassis. As a novice I was looking for a way to do both ice and dry land skating without needing 2 pairs of skates. This system had the most promise for that capability.

Thanks, don't want to get too off topic, but I will give the "Crosby" a try and maybe not go so tight on the top eyelet of the Grafs. I will say most of the boot fits like a glove, so I know the potential is there for top performance.

Cool. The Makos in EE were super comfy and fit me pretty well everywhere but the heel. My Graf 535 wide fit my foot really well, but I've struggled to adapt to the lower cuff height and much softer boot. As a new skater, coming from Vapor x4.0 EEs, a much stiffer boot allowed me to compensate for my weak ankles and pronation issues. There is nowhere to hide in the Grafs. The Vapors had less than ideal heel lock and had to get them punched in a few spots in the forefoot, but kept my ankles from flopping around. I should have kept them, but stupidly sold them before really running the Grafs through their paces. Although maybe a blessing as the Grafs expose just how weak I am, so I am starting to do some strengthening exercises. My LHS fitter started to talk to me about the Ribcors as another option last time I was in there that I might want to try at some point. With the new model coming out, I am tempted to pick up some of the last version on clearance, but this new version sounds like there are some improvements I could really use/appreciate.

Awesome. For comparison, what do you skate in now?

Echoing the sentiments already shared. Congrats and fight like hell (not with each other). Turning something as scary and uncertain as cancer into something as wonderful and loving as marriage speaks volumes about you both and your relationship. It sounds like she is on the path to recovery, remission, and giving cancer the ol' 1 finger salute. That is positive news. The birth of our son awoke some dormant health issues in my wife, so I can fully understand the emotions and distraction that hits your life when these types of things happen. It changes things in a way that often erases "the way things used to be" and becomes your new normal. You learn to live and thrive and celebrate the joys of life just a little bit more.

Thanks, I've continued this saga in another thread so I don't pull us too far off topic. But, yes, superfeet are primarily designed to stabilize the heel (I worked for many years in outdoor retail selling hiking boots and such, and of course, superfeet along with them). But they do also provide some arch support, even if it is not their primary purpose. Looking at my post above, I did mis-speak in that regard. In summary of my experience since my last post here... I have been working with my LHS to shim my skates to compensate for over-pronation issues. So far, after a few trips back and forth between the shop and rink, I think my right foot is in good shape and my left just needs a bit more cant to get me well balanced and feeling centered over my blades without skewing me towards one edge or the other. Hopefully be able to stop into the shop tomorrow for what should be a last adjustment. I also plan to explore podiatric advise and involvement to hopefully reduce/eliminate the need for shimming in the future.

Mako sizing should be equal to Bauer sizing. I'm in a 5 in both brands. If memory serves, CCM is 1/2 size bigger than Bauer in most skates of equal length. Agree with IP, I'd go down 1/2 a size.

That is a toe in the picture.

Ask UPS store if they have "ski boxes". Depending on how many sticks you are shipping, it might be a good option. More than likely going to get nailed with an "oversize" upcharge, so might not make a difference if you can find a smaller box.

Thanks Chippa and Vet. Learning this sport as an adult has been highly frustrating when it comes to my feet. Skated last night in my Makos. Right foot is rock solid, except I don't get the best heel lock (was looking at ezeefit sleeves to help take up a bit of negative space). One foot glide and balance drills are no issue. Straight as an arrow, no wobble, feels like I could just go forever. Left foot is a different story. I tried a few different lace tensions, looser was better for overall comfort, but noticed the outside edge on my foot (pinky toe side) burns and aches pretty regularly during and immediately after regardless of lace tension. Could that be a sign of pronation or needing to compensate for my left leg balance over the blade? I tried similar 1 foot glide and balance drills with the left foot, and it is much more difficult to keep the blade flat and running straight. I'm also having heel lock issues on this foot that feel more exaggerated than on my right. Which has me thinking I may be served best by going back to my Grafs, where I have firmly planted heels. My issue with the Grafs has been feeling limited ankle support. They are a b!tch to tie up top and get anything close to what I feel is good wrap around the upper ankle. This makes me feel like a new born giraffe alot of the time. I also now KNOW the hollow on the Grafs is too deep. LHS had me on a 7/16. After some research and discussion here, had the Makos done at a 9/16 and could probably go 5/8, so I know I can go shallower on the Grafs as well. Anyway, back to my feet. I know I pronate slightly in street shoes. I always wear out the outer portion of my heel and inner portion under my big toe on my shoes before the other surfaces. Didn't even occur to me to mention to my skate fitter. What is the best way to determine if this is effecting my skating? And if it is, what are the remedies? Insoles? Shims? I have used Superfeet in the past, as I felt I needed the arch support. In hindsight, I simply could have been tying too tightly and causing discomfort and deflection of my arch. My arch does seem to collapse in rigid soled footwear (cycling shoes, skates, ski boots). However, I have been happy with arch comfort in the Makos with the standard insole and arch that is pre-molded into the boot. So another factor I am considering is using the Grafs with the standard insoles, which I don't think I've ever done. Anything else I should be considering? Sorry for the long post and derailment of the thread, happy to take this conversation to a new thread if that makes more sense. Update: Stopped in to my LHS last night to get my Grafs cut to 5/8 and was chatting briefly about pronation. He does blade re-alignment, custom insoles, etc. so I will go in to do an assessment and see what comes of it. Been playing around a bit over the last day or so and doing some research, and I think I've unknowingly been struggling with pronation related issues for a while. Hopefully I can get this rectified and can get my skating back on track. I've also been playing around with some different lacing patterns on the Grafs to get a better wrap up around my ankle.

Ok, I guess I can see that. So how do I diagnose? You mention a lot of potential factors, some body, some equipment, some user adjustments. Hard to fix if I can't analyze all the factors and narrow it down.

Tell me more. I've just assumed it was my muscles working overtime to adjust for this odd new stress I am putting on my body and there is an acclimation period before the muscles are firing more efficiently to not ache.

I skated last night at open skate for about 45 minutes. I tried to really focus on the basics. Inside edge, outside edge, balance, body position, knee bend. I have the strength to stand on one leg. I have the strength to hold my body in a position where I am using my outside edge to turn, while on one foot. However, I don't have the endurance and technique to get my body to do those things consistently over multiple reps. I might get 1 or 2 good ones out of every 5. So, based on the discussion, I am thinking that is more of an endurance issue than a strength issue. I can do a single rep (that in my mind would be strength). I can't always do multiple reps. Now I am sure there is a factor in there that has to do with strength in some way, but it would seem to me it is a smaller factor compared to endurance and establishing the right "blue print" for body position, balance, weight distribution, joint activation, muscle firing sequence, etc. so I can execute 5 out of 5 1 leg outside edge turns. As I've been skating more recently (since beginning of the year), I notice my feet ache a bit during and after each session. Sometimes more than others. I'm sure that is all those little muscles in my feet and lower leg working to help stabilize my body while trying to balance it on skinny little metal blades attached to my feet. Thinking back a few years when I started with lessons and was skating 2-3 days a week, I recall a similar period at the beginning, of that aching. But that as I skated more, the aching lessened until it was no longer a factor during or after my sessions. I struggle more with this as I'm on the fence around this being an endurance issue, a strength issue, or both. Thoughts?

Thanks all for weighing in. I do recall seeing this debate previously. And each time it is a good reminder of the complexity of our bodies and circumstances. For me, I can say with a lot of certainty it is about neural pathways. The brain/body connection just isn't there for me when it comes to the physical demands of skating. So a lot of it for me is building that coordination. This foot goes here, is angled like this, weight and balance are distributed like this, and I get this result. Repeat, or don't depending on the outcome. I'm sure to some extent there is muscle strength and maybe mass being built, but it is probably pretty minor compared to the coordination piece. So, tonight I am signing back up for some adult skating lessons (I started on these about 3 years ago and went once a week for about a year) and looking into ways to increase my skate time overall. Vet88 will be happy to know I am looking hard at some cheap inlines.

Man that was hard. Took the plunge in the big boy pool this morning. Did a regular adult skills clinic this morning at one of the local rinks. OUCH! I was woefully unprepared. First time with a stick on ice without my son involved. It was an eye-opener. Wasn't too bad on some of the passing drills, but the skating still needs ALOT of work. I made the rookie mistake of being all excited and tightened my skates WAY too much. Foot pain from 15 minutes in, until I had to throw in the towel and take myself off about halfway through the hour long session. Felt like I literally shot myself in the foot. Lessons learned: 1) Don't overtighten your skates, dumb@ss 2) Getting a few hours in at the public skate over the last few months is NOT good preparation for real hockey 3) BEND your knees 4) My backwards skating is lacking 5) My transitions are lacking I can go forward ok, turn ok, crossover reasonably. The rest is a mess. To Vet88s suggestion, I need to up my skating time a week like 5 fold, push myself out of my comfort zone and really focus on balance, edge work and the other fundamentals of the game. But, I did live to fight another day, which I guess is a victory.

I was under the impression a few teams were using the Sparx in addition to some of their other machines. Could be wrong on that though.