Leif

I had pain on the outside of my big toes, and calluses formed. Two additional heat mouldings of my 2s Pro skates helped reduce the pain, and I wore silicone big toe sleeves for a few months. My feet aren’t wide, but the widest part is at the toe end ie flippers. It seems to rub where the toe cap joins the quarter package.

Then they have changed as I have custom 2s Pro with injected facings. I like injected facings a lot, but past feedback here generally is against it. The Bauer site allows you to select the eyelets, and it only gives standard. So I stand corrected.

I’ve only had them two and a half years including a year with 6+ months of closed rinks, and I only play rec, 3-4 hours a week, but they’re excellent, they should last many more years.

Bauer claim that the Supreme and Vapor custom skates suit different skating styles. The Supreme skate is stiffer, for power and stability, the Vapor is less stiff for agility and speed. If you look at the non custom, there are differences. Vapor has the injected facing, standard tendon guard and asymmetric toe cap, Supreme has standard facing, flex tendon guard and symmetric toe cap. Custom allows either to have the injected facing. I have the 2s Pro, I’ve not tried the Vapor 2x, so I can’t say if there is any real difference for a good but non high level skater. They are incredible skates simply because they are so comfortable, and the injected facing works well. I have no idea if they are too stiff for me. Someone recently asked if my laces were undone, they weren’t, as he said my ankles were flexing so much, so I think that’s a good sign that they allow good ankle motion. Note that CCM and True use one piece boots, I have no idea if that makes a noticeable difference. By all accounts True are the most thermoformable, Bauer the least, and CCM somewhere in between. It took a few months for my 2s Pros to break in, due to the toe area rubbing, but now they fit like gloves.

I have no idea, sorry. If it’s only a few bits, it’s probably insignificant but I really don’t have a clue.

I have the same stick, albeit an intermediate. A small 5mm grey ‘stone’ fell out of the end. If you imagine cutting a short of length from an extrusion with a triangular cross section, that’s what it looks like. I assume the blade is packed with ‘stuff’ to get the right response.

Anyone with any sense is picky about sharpening as there are so many poor sharpeners out there. That’s why I splurged out on a Sparx, worth every penny. I have top end skates, helmet and pads, but only because they provide more comfort and protection, and at my age that’s worth paying for. I have mid range inline skates, and after an hour my feet are hurting and I have to take a break. I’ve worn my top end ice skates for four hours with no discomfort.

Does anyone actually use that hollow? It’s one step up from the death grind. I was given two unused 5/16” Sparx wheels, I’m not tempted to try them.

The biggest problem with these machines is the cost of wheels, which eats into a shops profit. The first grind on new blades is horrendous, it eats up the diamond coated wheel. I know several shops that dropped automated machines in favour of a traditional Blackstone sharpener. I even got a bag of Sparx wheels from a shop that had sold their Sparx machine. The automated machines are useful if the shop does occasional sharpenings as there’s no need to train any of the staff to use a traditional unit. After all you might have a saturday staff member in once a week.And while the machine is working the staff can serve someone else. One local rink stopped their grinding service as their were too many complaints, and I heard there was legal action too, but that’s just a rumour. I have the original Sparx ES100, changing wheels is easy. It’s no harder than dressing the grinding wheel on a traditional machine. I bet the Fireball is expensive.

They have an informative video on YouTube:

For UK sales you have to include the cost shipping skates by air from Quebec, Canada or elsewhere in North America. Then you have the relative cost of labour, North America is a high wage area compared to China, or wherever stock skates are made. They will save some money by not having to store stock in warehouses, and not having to sell off excess stock at a potential loss when the new model is introduced. And they will not have to guess what quantity of each model and fit to make. They have almost implemented just in time (JIT) manufacturing. As far as I know there is only one shop in the UK that sells CCM custom skates, and I don’t know if there is any good reason for a non hot shot rec player to opt for CCM over Bauer and True when the journey to buy them is 250 miles each way.

Here in the UK there are two big retailers that I am aware of, one is huge and I think they carry stock for all Bauer skates. However, they are 250 miles away. The other, which is nearby, cannot afford to have each size and fit in the high end skates. I went custom, as I wasn’t prepared to buy skates without trying them on. I am told that they make more profit on lower end skates which just adds insult to injury as come the end of the season, they struggle to sell off excess high end stock before the new models come in. They love Bauer custom, and True custom, as they make profit without risk, and the customer is happy which is good for their reputation.

Thanks, I will give it a go once our rinks open.

Thanks. I was told that I pronate in running shoes, so what you say makes sense. I keep meaning to skate on ice with laces undone, which you have recommended. Would I be able to do that with pronation?

I don't pronate (as far as I know) in my Bauer Custom 2s Pro ice skates, nor in my Powerslide Zoom Pro 100 (3 x 100mm wheels) inlines. I pronated massively in Bauer x500r inlnes, which is why I sold them, they gave no support. I pronate slightly in my Bauer x2.9 vapor inline skates. Anyone know why I might pronate in the latter given that it's a stiff boot? Or is this normal for hockey inlines? I wear Bauer Speedplates in all skates.

England. I saw one skate with a step along the length of the blade hollow. The skate wasn't high enough in the holder when sharpened, so the wheel created a step. It's not uncommon to see a BAT gauge tilt significantly one way at the front of the blade, and the other way at the back of the blade. A few nicks in a blade are insignificant in comparison. I used to only go to sharpeners I could trust, before getting a Sparx of course.

As above. Small nicks don’t do much harm, but an inch or so of damaged edge probably isn’t good. Mind you, I’ve seen worse damage done by some sharpeners.

Last year there was a serious shortage of inline skates in the US and Europe as so many people were getting into skating due to lockdown, and rink closures. Some were returning to a hobby of their youth, others were newcomers. Maybe that is why prices are high. Wheels are still hard to get in the UK, and skates are available in limited sizes. Incidentally in the UK the old Missions were recently available with a huge discount, they sold pretty quickly.

I bought a Flypuck, the black one that is 8oz and said to be the least likely to bounce. It’s well reviewed on YouTube by some respected people. It’s complete rubbish, utterly unusable on every single surface I’ve tried as it bounces around uncontrollably, even on a smooth outdoor tennis court. To be honest that is what I expected as it is a solid lump of plastic. Has anyone else tried it? Am I allowed to question the integrity of YouTubers here?

Maybe that’s where they belong given the looks. Fortunately I fit into Vapor inlines. I fit Supreme ice skates, but not Mission inlines, they feel uncomfortable. Odd.

Duplicate post deleted.

I took up inlines last March thanks to lockdown. After many months without ice skating, I returned to ice hockey and skating lessons. My skating coach commented on how well my backwards crossovers had progressed. That was thanks to countless hours on inlines. I’m sure roller hockey can improve improve icecskills including stick handling, game awareness/observation and skating. I just wish I could stop properly. A power stop just isn’t the same. Now I love inlines, but I don’t have the control I have on ice. I love ice, but playing roller hockey on an outdoor park, surrounded by trees, on a sunny day, and then the sun setting as we finished, that’s magical. You play until you are knackered rather than till the end of the paid slot.

The web site says Copyright 202, so rest assured this is a long established company. You don’t last 1819 years without providing quality products. There are countless off ice practice puck patents, yet this looks identical to Green Biscuit, so I guess the patent expired. I pay about $20 per Green Biscuit in the UK.

Yes. You said the skates come with runners that have a ProSharp profile applied. That means when you buy new runners, you will have to pay extra to get them profiled as per the ones on the skates, assuming you like the profile, and assuming I understood.

So does that mean that when you buy new steel, you have to pay almost the same again to get it profiled?