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Leif

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Posts posted by Leif

  1. Posted · Report reply

    4 hours ago, SparxHockey said:

    Hey guys - Steve Jones here from Sparx. Thought I would make an "official" Sparx Hockey account to answer any questions that have (or will) come up! We recently changed some of our marketing language around pairs of skates per Grinding Ring. We initially based the 40 pairs of skates on everyone doing four cycles, but based on the actual useage of our entire customer base - specifically the home user -  they are doing far less passes per sharpening (which makes sense, because if you are sharpening more often, you can easily do fewer passes as a quick touch up.) We have seen rings last 80-90 pairs of skates and on the other hand, we've seen some last 40 pairs based on four cycles as originally estimated, but the actual average is closer to 60 for the home user. Again, it all depends on how many cycles you are doing per sharpening. 

    Hope that helps clarify any confusion - it was a running change on packaging, so there are definitely some boxes with the old language still out there!

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

  2. Posted · Report reply

    1 hour ago, Nicholas G said:

    Does it say this on the website or the box itself? 

    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. 

  3. Posted · Edited by Leif · Report reply

    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? 

  6. Posted · Report reply

    18 hours ago, Nicholas G said:

    This is actually a problem that CCM and Bauer are specifically trying to fix. Players getting skates that are too stiff for them and their skating ability because they either have the money to spend or think that buying a more expensive skate will either last longer or provide better performance. The most expensive skate is never going to be the best option for most people. Modern skates are way too stiff for a lot of players and unless you are a very big guy or you skate 7+ hours a week its likely that choosing the most expensive skate is actually hampering your abilities. 

    CCM is now publishing the flex rating of their skates and has a ton of education for retailers attempting to educate them to not always push the top tier skate. Bauer is also doing the same this with Bauer University. 

    I don't lump TRUE into this specifically because their skates aren't designed in the same manner as Bauer and CCM. I have never had a player tell me their TRUE skates don't allow them enough forward flexion and such. The only complaint I heard more than a few times was the skates are heavier than the players current skate. My reply to them has been "don't skip leg day" because there are plenty of players in high level hockey that have no problem with the weight of the TRUE skates. While they may be heavier than retail skates, take any Bauer or CCM with a pro specification and you will see the weight difference is negligible at best. 

    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. 

  7. Posted · Report reply

    37 minutes ago, flip12 said:

    The nature of True’s zero negative space fit could lend itself to these struggles too. Comparing them to what you see from Bauer and CCM at retail isn’t really apples to apples. 

    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! 

    • Like 2

  8. Posted · Report reply

    4 hours ago, Nicholas G said:

    My opinion.

    I think any issues with QC for most players are quickly ignored, unless they are a structural deficiency, because the skates are going to get beaten up playing hockey. If its anything that is only aesthetic most people don't really care all that much. I mean, I play with guys that have their hockey pants falling apart, gloves with holes covered in tape, shin pads held together with gorilla glue, and helmets that the liner wont even stay in. Most people aren't going to care about a little glue or whatever if the skate performs well and the cost for a full custom skates is significantly less than other brands. 

    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.

  9. Posted · Report reply

    3 hours ago, Nicholas G said:

    Ok, with TRUE they collect the payment directly. The shop does not. We aren't doing Bauer customer skates at the moment, so I am trying to understand their process a bit better. Maybe I will go to a local store that is offering it to see the program first hand. 

    That is weird, I guess True have a good reason for that. I’ll ask a friend about his UK True skate purchase. 

  12. Posted · Report reply

    4 minutes ago, CigarScott said:

     

    According to a video Bauer did with Ice Warehouse, 50% of people fit in Supreme, 35% in Vapor, and 15% in Nexus which is interesting when looking at your sales numbers. Seems a lot of people should be wearing different lines than they currently do.

    I know someone who went from Nexus to custom Vapor. Whatever the reason, someone fitted him wrong originally cos the Vapors are comfy. My first decent skates were fitted casually, no attempt to see which line was best. They were a size too big. 

  13. Posted · Report reply

    1 hour ago, Left Wing King said:

    I use a fishbowl, and smear washing up liquid on the inside of it before use. Never had a fogging issue.

    I have a Bauer fish bowl, I used it once and moisture was streaming down the inside, it was completely unusable. On our rink even my washing up treated glasses fog up. It is a very humid rink. Some of the Olympic women's teams wore fish bowls, so they do work sometimes.

    4 hours ago, Vet88 said:

    It does exist, someone posted a picture in another thread of Putin wearing one but I couldn't find anything similar to what he had. Possibly the bottom wire cage he had that clipped onto the visor was custom made. However Boulder are about to release something similar, the "Zero Plus Senior", it comes out mid Sept. https://hockeyfaceshields.com/

    Looks good. I like the fact that the visor is quite separate from the cage, giving plenty of ventilation. I hope these will be available in Europe/UK. 

  15. Posted · Edited by Leif · Report reply

    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. 🙂

  17. Posted · Report reply

    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. 

  19. Posted · Report reply

    Does anyone sharpen Step black steel on a Sparx with a normal ring eg 7/16”? Do you have any issues? I’ve used mine on Bauer LS5 and standard Step steel, and they sharpen nicely. However, I prefer the Step blade profile, so I’d like to move over to Step black. 

    Does it work okay on other brands of black steel? 

    And a side question, how consistently flat are Bauer LS5 and Step black? My ordinary Step steel blades were not plane parallel, and gave different BAT readings on each face. 

  23. Posted · Report reply

    I’ve just got me a full size goal, and this evening I was taking shots with biscuits, using my shooting pad. To be honest snap shots made a hell of a racket when the stick hit the pad, and I’m concerned I’m annoying the neighbours. 

    Anyway, the pad is made from six of these:

    https://www.skatestation.co.uk/stilmat-inline-hockey-tile/p3041

    Are these known to be noisy, or would a one piece plastic board be just as bad? 

  24. Posted · Report reply

    Interesting comments, summed up I think as “adjustable and fits me well”. But on my ipad the image is tiny, filling about 1/8 of the screen. Do you think this helmet (in S, M and L) can fit almost everyone? As you know, it can be hard to find a lid that fits properly, unless the LHS has a good range. 

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