Leif

Several people at my local rink, which is very humid, use the Gy hybrid visor. I spoke with them and they said they’ve had no issues with fogging. I have the latest Bauer gold fish bowl, and water streams down the inside surface after ten minutes in the rink. I only used it once. I prefer to wear glasses instead of contacts, and I assume condensation on glasses would be even worse with a hybrid visor rather than a cage which I normally wear.

Your grinding wheel is probably carborundum which is softer than diamond. You use a diamond tool to dress (shape) it. Sparx rings are I believe made from diamond particles embedded in a matrix and hence they wear much more slowly than your wheel. In fact Blackstone are now selling spinners to dress the wheel which are like little Sparx wheels but with a hollow, and they claim they are better than the traditional method, which to my way of thinking validates the Sparx wheel: https://blackstonesport.com/technology/history-of-skate-sharpening My 7/16” wheel produced level edges when nearly used up, and the blade surface still felt good. I have no way to know if the curve changed noticeably, but subjectively it felt the same and very different to a 1/2” hollow. Maybe Sparx can comment.

This thread has gone a bit wonky. Changing the subject slightly, I tried switching between 1/2” and 5/8” hollows, and vice versa, using a sharpie to mark the blade hollow before the grind. It looks like one pass is enough to change the hollow on the basis that all of the sharpie ink was removed. Any relevant comments? Any reason I might be mistaken? I now use the honing stone on my black LS5 blades, so much easier to remove burrs, and the black finish has no use for me.

I must have read most if not all of this thread prior to buying a Sparx machine, and I don’t recall any such comments. My sharpens feel must like ones from my local hockey shop. Maybe if you quote the posts you refer to.

I don’t know if you can get that done without committing to a purchase, maybe the shop that did your skates has a Bauer scanner?

A Bauer scan would tell him for sure how his feet compared to others. It measures arch height, ankle width etc and gives the results in a clear way. Bauer did not allow me to choose width or length, I guess I could have asked for a bit extra length, but they are perfect in that respect.

Bizarre.

I’m only 5’10” and 11 stone 6 (160 pounds), and not an expert skater, but going from mid range to top end (Bauer 2s pro), the biggest differences were comfort (no lace bite) and more control. I can skate for three hours no problem.They certainly don’t restrict my ankles, quite the opposite. Maybe they are beyond my abilities, others may know better. It is possible the construction of top end boots has become more sophisticated since Laura Stamm made her comments. Your comments relating to older players border on the offensive.

If there is an exposed heating element at the top of the oven, you might want to place a layer of foil on a rack just below the element, but above the skate. That will prevent the oven toasting the skate. Or skip the foil and shove a slice of cheese on.

Vet88: How long per session do you skate without laces, and how many sessions before you get benefit? I can imagine my skates wobbling about, I can’t see how you place the foot down on an edge when the skate is wobbly. Is this useful for all skaters?

I’m an older player, 56, and I skate roughly 7 hours a week, 3-4 hours of hockey scrimmage/training. Are you saying I don’t have time for skating without laces? IMO someone will learn quicker with lessons, most of us learn and then reinforce bad habits through practice.

You can become a good skater. Once you’ve got the basics down, you should find that one on one lessons will help a lot. The coach will correct poor technique, allowing you to be more stable and skate faster for less effort. I’ve been learning for three years, I started at 53, and I’m making good progress. Sure some youngsters learn faster, but many don’t. One thing that is often ignored is the importance of off ice exercises, such as yoga, gym or a martial art. You can do exercises at home, using inexpensive aids such as large elastic bands, a roller, a gym ball and a hockey stick. Without wanting to be rude, at your age you should be doing exercises each day, not only do you become more flexible, but they will cure any longstanding issues, such as back ache and sore knees. These sorts of exercises are also known to slow or reverse the effects of aging, and reduce the risk of dementia in later years. I do 15-20 minutes a day, I started out aiming to do 10 minutes, but they are quite enjoyable and leave my body feeling much better afterwards.

I have the Bauer one, and it drips with condensation on my local rink, which is very humid, it’s not usable. I’ve seen people wearing hybrid visors, so I assume they get more airflow.

Thanks Steve, that clears it up. I also heard from Lisa, your colleague, equally helpful.

The 7/16” box says 40. The 1/2” box, as well as the Spaxx and Monkey Sports web site say 60. Apparently they used to do 40 pairs at four passes per skate per sharpen if you loook back to oage 7 of this thread. So either I have old stock, or new sock in an old box. It is possible all that has changed is the RFID chip ie they decided they could cut more pairs. Alternatively the cutting surfece of the ring might have been improved. I have contacted Sparx.

I bought two grinding rings from Monkey Sports in Europe. The sales page say each will sharpen 60 pairs of skates on average. The 1/2" packet says it will sharpen 60 pairs of skates. The 7/16" says it will sharpen 40 pairs of skates. Have they changed the wheels recently? Do I have an old inferior wheel? Or have they changed how many passes equate to one complete sharpen?

Me too. Not suffering foot pain is worth the money.

I’m 155 lb and 5’11” so fairly light. I changed up from mid range skates to Bauer Custom 2s Pro and love them. I can skate for three hours with no pain. I’ve never had lace bite. And I feel the ice better. I’ve been learning to skate for three years, and skate 6+ hours a week including 3-4 hours hockey. I guess I should try not using the top eyelets and see what happens. My LHS told me that they make less profit on high end skates, and they don’t keep them in stock because they will lose money when the next model is introduced. I thnk that is why they like customs.

Yes, I agree, they should be compared to Bauer/CCM customs. I know four people with Bauer customs, including myself, all are perfect. But I won’t draw conclusions from a small sample. Incidentally I don’t have a dog in the race. I would have bought Trues if the shop wasn’t 250 miles away, compared to 25 miles away for the Bauer dealer who now stocks Trues!

Here in the UK True skates are only slightly cheaper than Bauer customs, £733 compared to £780, so it’s a wash. What’s more, True charge for each customisation, eg £25 for letters/numbers on the tongue. To be honest this thread puts me off True skates. A friend has a pair, they do have globs of glue on them, they are wearing much faster than my Bauer customs, and he says his feet are numb after an hour skating. My Bauers were flawless, and they get more comfortable with skating, I’ve done 3 hours on the go and no problems. You’ve said True are no worse or better than Bauer, maybe, but this thread is one bad advert.

Those look a lot neater than usual, no obvious glue blobs.

I was talking to a rink owner yesterday about his Sparx, which was one of the first in the UK. He travels with it, and on one occasion he dropped the bare machine (not in a case) from waist height down a flight of stairs. It bounced down 7 steps. It has also taken direct hits from a puck, including to the glass, and has some cosmetic damage as evidence. It still works perfectly, which shows how solid the internal mechanism must be. The fact that it is not out of alignment is surprising. Mine copes with the stresses of sitting on a carpeted floor. 🙂

Excellent advice from Vet88 except that I’ve known gel pads to work for several people including myself.

There’s huge amounts of useful information about lace bite on this forum and elsewhere. I used to get it with Bauer S160 skates. I had the Bauer scan and it put me in Vapors which have even less depth, so they should be even worse. Mmmmm. Anyway, I now have Bauer S2 Pro skates, I skate more often now, and I’ve never had lace bite with the new skates. Higher end skates tend to be more comfortable. When I used the S160 skates, and lace bite appeared, I’d wear a bandage with a gel pad made by Silipos, similar to Bunga pads, u til the lace bite went away. Don’t just skate through lace bite as it will get worse. As said above, wide non waxed laces are good, I liked Howies, I have had issues with QC on the last two pairs of A&R laces, one pair being unfit for purpose ie impossible to put on a skate. Anyway, let’s hope this was a one off for you.

Unfortunately Massive is not sold in the UK. 🙁 Thanks Nicholas, any idea how many passes the Sparx would need on new runners? I know one local shop charges £10 for the first sharpen compared to £6 usually, but it’s free if the runners are bought from them.