tcolar

I heard that Ellon Musk went into a retail store and purchased two Chevy volt because he couldn't stand his model S. :)

Yeah I had skates with all copper in the past, and never lost one. I have heard all copper might not be good because it's maybe not stiff enough ? But it worked great for me. The stainless steel hardware(Ace) I had put on my Grafs worked great as well, never rusted or got lost. FYI: I had asked VH about all copper rivets and they where OK with doing it, but I figured it was probably not needed.

Update after a month (~6 games and 10 coaching sessions) Positives: Performance : Best I ever had, fantastic energy transfer, I have a better acceleration in those, better edges as well.Protection : I have taken a few hard shot to the ankle and toe cap, and I was impressed on how well it dissipated the impact, especially on the ankle.Fit : I had to bake them a second time but they fit both my (odd) feet perfectly.Boot quality : Other than a small cut on the toecap, no wear at all so far.Liner : The clarino liner is great and dries very fast, much better than the Graf foam & felt stuff I had.Negatives: Rivets : Already lost one ! Those black "rivets" don't look sturdy much. Guess I'll replace them over time with stainless steel T-nuts and hex screw as I had done on my Grafs.Tongue protection : Took a slapshot to the instep Sunday and my foot is still swollen, the much thicker Graf tongue was better here. Maybe I should have went for the re-inforced tongue ....Comfort : They are good but I'm not to sure I would say that they feel like a sock, they fit like a sock, but as far as comfort I think my Grafs where more comfy, but I'll take the much better performance over a bit more comfort.Overall I do love them other than the rivet thing.

Actually used the skates another 2 1/2 hours today (coaching), I simply pulled the tongue up a bit ~1/2" before hand and now the toes are happy. Afterward my feet felt quite good but I think the arch support is a little less than in my Grafs (I have tall arches), no a show stopper, but I might play a bit with the footbed / insoles and see if I can improve that a little. But for new skates hardly any break-in really.

Added my first impressions after playing in them http://wiki.colar.net/vh_footwear_hockey_skates Short version, at first i thought they where horrible until I realized the holder blade screw had not be tightened what so ever (not even a turn) ! After changing that I think they are great. Very form fitting and great energy transfer, good "ice feel" too.

That kind of lacing is much more aerodynamic resulting in .... kidding. Reason is that I baked them with only the first eyelet laced, then put my foot in it with the shoehorn, then I realized I could not get the lace into that eyelet with my foot in, and I didn't want to remove/reinsert my foot again, so I just skipped that eyelet. It's not an area where it makes much difference (toe cap) so I figured it would not matter for molding. I knew someone would ask me though ;)

I received my skates today and baked them, here are a bunch of pictures : http://wiki.colar.net/vh_footwear_hockey_skates I'll post my thoughts once I skate in them tomorrow.

Quick question: For those of you in the US, did the skates all ship via USPS or was it Fedex/UPS (just wondering because USPS at my works sucks, they leave the packages in a "common" area). Also did you get a notification email when it shipped ? Thanks

I placed my order a couple days ago: All black, clarino liner, standard tongue. Pretty much all standard but with Cobra 5000 holders, 5/8 sharpening. Reason for cobra holders is that I'm used to that picth and also like the longer radius steel (11") so just as well stay with that rather than have to add heel lifts and profile right away. I have a foot about 1 cm longer than the other and also an accessory navicular bone on one foot (pretty big, looks like an extra ankle bone), so I'm thinking the customs shaping will be sweet.

Thanks all for the feedback, about to place my order, I'm just going to go for the standard tongue. For the record here is what VH said about my question about flopping the tongue: >> we can do a thinner tongue that is lined with thermoplastic that many of the pros use for flopping. Unfortunately, there is not much protection in those tongues. I also asked them about the eyelets, apparently it was juts a bad batch 18months ago and it's long been fixed since. @bruins_fan_74 I don't know how heavy you are or what ice you skate on, but for the longest time I use to skate on 3/8 cause it was sort of the "standard" around here, but I use to hate the first skate after sharpening, it would be super tiring and yet slow and shatter during hard stops. I like 1/2 or 5/8 so much better and I think I'm actually going to try going to 3/4 because so far shallower has been more speed and less energy for me and at least up to 5/8 it's still been enough edge so far. Most of the places I skate have fairly soft ice, eccept in the winter.

For what it's worth I have never manually/forcefully flopped the tongue. I just put my skates after my shinguard and soon enough they get flopped. I don't do it for the "look" Anyway I'm guess I ll try tucking with my current skates, see if it bothers me. The grafs 735 tongue is really huge(thick and wide) I mm not even sure I could tuck it but I ll give it a shot.

Thanks, I might head up there but not sure I'll find the time between my games, my 2 kids games and practices and coaching O_0 I usuallly go once or twice each year to by most of our gear but might be tricky at this time.

TBH I've never tried tucking my tongue, probably it would not bother me unless it affects my forwad flex. I definitely don't like the taping to the tandon guard thing though.

Yeah sorry I meant to say 3/4.

@syinx I've been to that dim-sum place it's great, haven't tried Tojo's but will check it out next time I head up north, sadly Seattle's sushi is either lame or super pricey, dunno why but it is. Couple questions: - Tendon guard: Is the new one more or less flex ? I don't tape mine so it might not matter too much othr than backward skating support. - Tongue : Does the metatarsal guard affect flexibility. I flop my tongue and foward flex a lot, I like good padding but not at the cost of flex. - Holders : Rob said I can get them with Cobra holders, I might juts do that because I do like the longer radius and I'm oretty sure the grafs come profiled at 11'' IIRC, plus I would not need lifts to keep the pitch so that might be easier. Changing the steel on the Graf is not bad, juts one screw. That screw might be the only thing i find a bit annoying on the Graf holder, it tends to get lose sometimes, added a bit of silicon. - Toe cap : you mentioned a new toe cap, what's changed there ? Thanks

Hi, about to place an order to replace my beat-up Graf supra 735. I think those would be a good replacement, in particualr to deal with my big foot/ankle bump (accessory navicular). A few questions: (I'm 6'1 / 190, play center 2 or 3 times a week and skating speed is my primary "skill") - What "options" should I consider, I don't think I need shot blockers and the like, definitely would like coated eyelets if that's not the deafult, and coper rivets if the strandard ones are still an issue (Had installed stainless steel hardware on my grafs). - Is there a pitch builtin the boot ? My current graf skates with Cobra holder have an "agressive" forward pitch, I don't necessarely need that much, but I definitely like some picth compared to for example the neutral pitch I had on Bauer supremes in the past. - What's the holder/steel that comes with the skates ? any picth on that and what's the "standard" radius, unless I can specify it. I prefer 11 or 10 to 9. - I read somewhere that you need less hollow on those skates, is that really true, I mean can you really feel it ? I'm currently using 1/2 but I was already thinking of going shallower anyway (toward 3/8) as ice is often soft here and I like straightaway speed. - My Grafs have a huge thick felt tongue, how is tne tongue on the VH's ? Now I'm a tobnue flopper and bend my knees a lot, my graf's tongues are flopped all the way over, are the VH tongues too stiff for that to happen ? I like my forward flex! On the other hand I have a tall arch and instep that tends to stick out (ie: tends to fail pencil test at the instep), so good protection there is definitely a big plus, cause a shot on the instep bone hurts like #$%!! Did most of you buy directly from VH ? I see they have a dealer in the Vancouver, BC area, it's a 3hr drive from here(~Seattle) but it's not clear to me whether there would be much an advantage to head up there or not, other than delicious sushi and dim-sum of course. Thanks