218hockey

Almost bought a Sparx yesterday. No starter ring pack, no edge checker, no blade holder available for purchase. No customer service phone number to call. I emailed and they did get back to me today but said it could be "several weeks" before they had these products. Huh? Why don't they just let you pick some rings of your choice and give a discount with machine purchase?

Can't. They're out of stock.

Yes the three rings you can buy at a discount with a new machine. I don’t that listed anywhere on the sight. When u buy the machine you should be able to choose three rings of your choice for $100. Or something like that. Also, does anyone remember if Sparx does the $100 off again around New Years? Or was that just Black Friday?

So, no more Starter Kits with new machine purchases? 👎

Blanket statement.

And I'll try the pencil test too. Haven't done that w either.

Ya, I was just thinking of the footbed/insole. Superfeet Carbon in 1s and some cheap, Bauer insoles in the 2s. They're pretty thin, probably came in the S25 or something. So not the best footbed but one that's giving maximum room. I'm comparing the tongue's side by side and wow is there a big difference. The 2s is so thick with all of that molded plastic on it. Wish there was something to change out there. Another issue is that he likes to his skates to fit closely. Kind of a pain because he's growing, I had been buying half sizes when he needed skates. Obviously another half size up from where we are now would give more volume too.

So my son has a "tall" foot. I don't know what you call this, high instep? It's not a high arch, just tall. Does that make sense? He just grew out of his 4.5EE 1s skates so I bought him a 5.5EE 2s PRO. They're nice skates, maybe not quite 1s level but good. But what I really notice is the boot doesn't have the volume the 1s has. They're shorter/not as tall. I'm not sure why they changed this aspect of the skate so much but it's disappointing. Even if these are not ideal I think they will be okay (he's only skated in them once). My concerns are for the future. Is this something that can be addressed with a custom skate? Will the Nexus line be continued? Maybe I can find a pair of like new 1N's? Also, I have to deal with the fact that my kid is a total Bauer fanboy. I swear if there were a pile of dog sh** on the sidewalk and it had a Bauer sticker on it he'd want to take it home. 😲 !!! Suggestions and comments please.

So which unwaxed are narrowest?

It kind of is the machine. Can't it sense the combination of horizontal and vertical movement to account for this? I don't want a huge point or multiple bumps and valleys on the ends of my expensive steel. Now if it's my sharpener and I'm the only one using it for a single pair of skates then no problem. I think this would be an issue in a commercial setting for sure. No smart person would ever get their skates sharpened at our arena. It's a city building with random city employees different nights of the week that certainly aren't hockey people and certainly don't know how to sharpen skates, yet we still give these employees the crash course on the Wissota sharpener. So I hear people talk about getting an automated machine and all of our problems will be solved. You can teach someone how to sharpen skates perfectly in five minutes, right? I think this issue with the wheel height would be real. It would probably take longer to set that up than to actually sharpen, if anyone would care to even check the height and steel. Probably not at all, they'd just put them in and push the button.

Doesn't look too high to me, it's on the steel. I guess that is an issue with the machine that I've found.

If you're in the states, this is your link. It's more than $80. http://blademaster.com/web/usa/en/blademaster/249-br100.html

Right, I said that. Thanks.

If you don't want to ever be misinformed I suggest you stay away from the internet.

Read that multiple times over the years in this thread. Does it matter? I read it here I take it as gospel! Maybe it was the Fire vs FBV chart? Idk.

I dont know where you got that from. I said where I got that from. ???

Good information, but it's been said here many times that other things being equal, the Sparx wheels are just a bit shallower than advertised. So just trying to add that bit of info to my thought process anyway.

I don't care how tall they are. How do they tie their skates???

I went to the stock insoles, which I'd never used in these skates and noticed an immediate change for the better. Not only did the superfeet pitch me forward, which wasn't right for me, it also deadened the feel for my edges. Using superfeet for me was like putting mittens on and trying to type." Is that a thing? People don't like Superfeet because they lose feel?

Yes, the IMS 7 was wide/round, like the original REAKT for sure. I would assume the the new REAKT 150 would be even better.

Ha! Actually that's surprising and says something about the old design. But certainly a few grams won't make any difference. Either you're a good skater or you ain't.

Sure, I don't actually have a SPARX now and I haven't even looked at the way it's designed. But I do know that preload will not change a springs rate, only a stiffer spring will. I wish there was a way to do the toe evenly on a new, tall, blade. Some of these runners have quite an angle at the ends. Not a deal breaker though, and after using one for a couple of months I will probably purchase soon. Just waiting for the next $75 or $100 code! 💰

I've used the machine, I know how it works. If it's a single rate spring it doesn't matter where the spring is in it's travel, the rate (and pressure) will be constant. What you're experiencing at the beginning of the cycle is higher pressure caused by the angle of the wheel. If you start too high you can drive the wheel directly into the toe and that's when you get the chatter and even possibly a brief stop to the wheels rotation. Do you agree?

I didn't know you could adjust pressure. I thought there was only a height adjustment and that wouldn't change the actual pressure.

I have really good luck with Massive.