Leif

There’s a skate shop in Gosport, England called Everglides that does custom insoles. https://everglides.co.uk/services/custom-insoles/ Maybe you can find the same product at a shop near you. I stocked up with a new pair of Speedplates when I heard they were discontinued, I use them in my ice and roller skates. I can’t imagine skating without them. There are still a few pair lying around, albeit with shipping fees and tax from overseas.

I don’t see the point of using a flatter hollow wheel to flatten off the blade before doing a full resharpen with the desired wheel. That flatter hollow wheel will be the same price as the final wheel, and it will cut at the same rate. Okay, I have some spare wheels I don’t use, which I could use as steel munchers, so to speak, if the blades had a lot of damage that needed be stripped off. But not everyone has wheels they don’t normally use lying around. My understanding is that a cross grind is done with a coarser wheel, so it takes more material off in each pass. Yup, the Sparx flat ring is indeed coarser than a standard ring.

I had problems with Bauer rubbing the sides of my big toes, it could be painful, even with customs. Those hard toecaps are horrid. My True TF9 opened up noticeably after baking. but were still tight round the forefoot. Each time I skated, they felt just a bit looser and today they are like cosy slippers. A year later I bought TF9 inlines, and the weird thing is right away they felt just like the older TF9. So either they were a tad wider, or my feet gradually adapted i.e. changed shape. Unlike Bauer, the side pressure from the TF9 was spread out over a sizeable area. Anyway, yes the TF9 forefoot expands a little bit when heat moulding. It has a thin plastic skin over a carbon fibre shell, except at the very front where it is thick plastic. I think Cats are pretty much the same. On this page you’ll find a photo showing the construction of the Cat Pro: https://www.truetempersports.com/en-us/hockey/hockey/hockey-more-information/custom-skates/catalyst-pro-player-skates.html You won’t get more volume, but it should squash down a bit.

What are heel pocket issues? I had a bit of unwanted space by my ankle on one TF9 skate, so I rebaked, wrapped the heel in plastic film, then wrapped the heel in a towel, and used a length of wood each side, with two clamps, to compress the heel while it cooled. It’s now tip top. The custom boots are of course just as mouldable. I used Irwin clamps which can be attacked with one hand, very useful for those of us with less than three hands.

I have both TF9 ice and roller skates, the boots look and feel identical.

My experience is that they are very mouldable. I spot heated the top area of the facing, and it could be folded like paper. When I rebaked my TF9 at home, I wrapped the heels with plastic film, then I wrapped a towel round, placed a slat of wood each side, and used two clamps to pull the wood pieces together, and compress the heel. I have very narrow lower leg bones. The toe area was a bit tight, but it expanded a bit on baking. They can be rebaked multiple times, so try the film wrap first. Obviously only partially tighten the laces, I think they say about 2/3 normal tension at most, but check the instructions. It’d be interesting to hear how they work out for you. I now have True ice and roller skates.

That’s not true, so to speak, the Ice Barn in Basingstoke are the main UK True dealer, they have TF9 stock. However they only have size 5.5R, not W. Worth a visit if you’re nearish. They do compress and expand quite a bit, but that might be insufficient if you’re Bauer 6 EE. I’m Bauer 7E, True TF9 6.5R. They are most formable in the middle and heel. I used clamps over a towel to compress the heel, and shims at the top on the outside so I could get them on easily.

I picked up a pair of TF9 rollers a couple of days ago, and tried them out today for half an hour on a local outdoor basketball court. The surface is small stones in bitumen packed flat. I put some old wheels and bearings on, to keep the originals for indoor hockey. They felt very similar to my Bauer Vapor X2.9 skates, but with a far better and more comfortable fit. They are almost like slippers. I shimmed the outside facings when heat moulding. I still have a very sore ankle from skating in the Bauers a week ago. When doing crossovers in the Bauers, it felt like something was flexing. The Trues don’t have that sensation. These can still be picked up for the price of mid range roller hockey skates, a bargain IMO. I still far prefer ice, as falling on tarmac, even with body armour, can hurt. Does anyone have ideas on how to protect them from abrasions when skating on hard surfaces? My Bauers got some bad road rash.

I wear these: https://www.stonesports.com/products/xion-shorts-freeride-d3o-men-l Yes they are ideal for roller and ice skating. Before I bought these, I fell on my coccyx several times during public skating at the local rink. I was close to seriously injured, the second time and when I woke up the next day I was unable to walk, I could only crawl on my front. Fortunately I could walk by the evening, but like a cripple. It took me a week to recover. Since I bought the shorts, I have fallen countless times on my coccyx, it hurts, but the pain disappears in seconds, and I can skate again. It is a very good product. A friend who does stunts in fims, he was in Lord of the Rings, says they are best pads for stunt artists. You can also buy a D3O pad and sew it into an undergarment that you wear over your underpants, and under your trousers.

There is a review on YouTube: It is somewhat negative, but it’s only one person’s viewpoint. Pricing it above a tried and tested machine with a stellar reputation is courageous.

I was chatting to one of the owners of our local hockey shop, he said he hated Speedplates, and loved Superfeet. I loathe Superfeet, I find them very uncomfortable. Speedplates on the other hand are amazing as they dramatically improve comfort and ice feel. Basically they’re best to leave it to the customer to decide.

I heard from a local shop that Speedplates are being replaced with something more custom, but they didn’t know details then. They were due to fly to Sweden I think, for a Bauer presentation. I bought some discounted Speedplates while they were still available (not from that shop, they weren’t trying to get me to buy). They also seemed quite impressed by the new Bauer sharpener, but didn’t know the price.

My Supreme 2S Pro skates have a CarbonCurv shell, having baked them three times, if they are thermoformable it is very subtle. My guess is the ankle foams benefit far more from baking. I believe they are thermoformable with enough heat and pressure.

Blimey, and that machine costs serious money too. ☹️

A local shop had a Skate Pal Pro 3, as well as a hand sharpener. It sat unused under a table, customers always asked for a hand sharpen and they had some issues with it. Eventually they sold it. I had a ProSharp BAT gauge that was out by a few thou, and a ProSharp depth gauge that was a cheap and nasty POS. Another local shop has a higher end ProSharp machine which seems to be excellent. What issues do you have with your SP3? I’m very impressed with the quality of my Sparx. One sample tells us nothing, but online feedback is incredibly positive. They once had an issue with some wheels not being recognised by early machines, that was fixed with a firmware update. I’m not aware of other issues, though I wonder how long they last. Hand machines last decades.