Westside

I can't tell from the pic, but what size is the Itech cage? My understanding is Bauer discontinued the cage after they purchased Itech and then came out with the Reakt cage instead. But I think the Itech is supposed to fit longer than the Reakt cage? So more like the CCM cages?

This thread was extremely helpful in getting a pair of TF9 that fit properly. Thank you all. I went from a Bauer 8.5D to a True 8R. Once baked they fit both my feet perfectly! Wondering if anyone has tried the felt t-guard tongue with these? The stock tongue seems fine, but from a looks perspective, I prefer traditional felt. Mounted the R1's to the Trues and removed most of the colorful graphics as they were too loud for me. Very happy I made the jump to these. Now I just hope they hold up durability-wise.

Having just picked up a pair of TF9’s, I went 8R when I normally wear an 8.5D in Bauer. I don’t have abnormally shaped feet although my left foot is slightly longer than my right. My ideal size in Bauers is 8.25D, but when I buy retail I normally go with 8.5 because an 8 cramps the toes on my left foot too much. With the Trues, I was worried 8 might be too big and I’d have to step down to 7.5, then once I tried them on the 8’s felt too snug in the toes. However after baking them they fit damn near perfect and gave both my feet the space needed in the toe box.

No, which is obviously concerning for a skate I’ve never worn before, but based on what they’re going for on the secondhand market I would be able to get my money back without much trouble. I appreciate the insight about forefoot width. Gives me something to think about. Would it even be worth trying on a pair at a store? Seems as though the consensus is that you *have* to bake them before you know if they fit, but if thermoformability is mostly around the ankle, would I be able to properly judge forefoot width straight outta the box?

I’m definitely on the border with shallowness of vapors and honestly should be in a supreme boot, but I’ve worn multiple vapor models for over a decade so I’m used to them at this point. Yeah, my current skates are from the 2017 vapor range so pre-2x, but it sounds like that would be a good thing? Damn, I just had my feet on a brannock scale today but don’t recall the width measurement

Any Vapor guys gotten into a TF9? I was offered a pair at too good a price to pass up and have been wanting to give them a try anyway. I’ll likely convert them into inline skates, but wanted to see if anyone that previously used Vapors had tried the Trues.

Saw these gloves and for the price I was going to pick up two pair, but they don’t ship to the States which is a bummer... Any Canadians buying a pair and willing to broker?

I was in the same boat as you but sold my 10 year old hi-lo skates and my O1 skates so now I only have the R1’s

Finally got around to stripping and anodizing my R1’s. Damn these look sick! Plan on painting the axles just to complete the murdered out look

Thanks for the confirmation guys. I’m going to try and return them and hopefully find a proper D/A skate

Super helpful. Thanks for the clarification!

Bumping a 6 year old topic... First digits are the order number, easy enough. Skates are 8 1/4 which is clear. Last digits of T8 are the toe cap size. All that makes sense. It’s the numbers in between the skate size and toe cap size that I’m curious about. CHAA? CAAA? CHHH??

I've been wearing the last gen Bauer X900 (retail) skates for the last few years in a size 8.5D. Skate has always been comfortable and never given me any pain/pressure/lace bite. Earlier this year I went to my LHS to try on a pair of 2X Pros both in 8.5D and 8D. My left foot is slightly larger than my right so the 8 was a bit too snug, but the 8.5's felt good. Thought if I could find a pair or pro stock in size 8.25D, that would be my sweet spot. I also prefer traditional eyelets over the injected ones. A pair recently popped up in my specs so I grabbed them. They have a traditional tongue which I didn't think I'd mind. Length and width wise, the skates fit my feet very snug, but well enough. After baking and breaking in I think they'd be the right fit. But I'm getting unbelievable pressure on the top of my foot where the first few eyelets are. The only thing I could think of that would make such an impact in fit with these skates vs my current skates and what I've tried on is the tongue. After doing research, I believe the tongues are from the APX2 which would be 52oz. My current tongues are a mix of 48oz on the top and 40oz on the sides. The standard 2X Pro tongue is 48oz. I don't know anything about tongues so I'm not sure what 4oz or 12oz would equate to in terms of fit. Would anyone be able to shed some insight? Is there something else I might be missing? I don't believe I can return the skates, but they're also unskatable at this point. I thought I could look into someplace around Los Angeles and see if I could have the tongues of both my skates swapped, or find a stock pair of 2X Pro tongues and put them in. Also contemplated cutting portions of the tongue up to create more room, but that didn't seem like a wise move. Here are both tongues for reference and here is where the pressure is *EDIT* After swapping out footbeds from the stock Bauer ones to the Super Feet I normally use I noted the markings on the inside of the skate. From using the search, are these a C/AAA skate and not a D/A? If that's the case, that would probably cause more of a problem than the tongue, right? Any help/guidance is greatly appreciated!

New boots. The holes are not the same between the O1 and the R1

I cry a little every time I see laces wrapped around the tendon guard

Going off a pic when I first put them together, mine are also very close together. I remember noticing the center two wheels as there was no way to fit the tool in there (like you can with the O1), but didn’t even realize how close the other wheels were. That said, I haven’t experienced any issues. Medium chassis mounted on an 8.5 boot. 76-76-80-80 MPC Freestyle wheels

Nice writeup! I'm not one for flashy skates, but I gotta say, that rainbow of colors you have going on looks sweet! Like you, I would like a bit 'more' rocker than the H5-T8 insert offers. Didn't realize you could loosen the center bolt on the R1 like you could with the O1? At least you weren't supposed to. The wear isn't surprising given that the O1 plastic on plastic wears similar so it was only a matter of time before the anodized finish wore off the R1. I haven't taken my R1's apart, but seeing as I've been skating on asphalt near the beach, I gotta imagine mine look similar to yours. It would be nice to see any of the sponsored people's R1's after a significant amount of use. IIRC, Marsblade sells (or sold) O1 replacement parts so if something were to break with the R1, I'd imagine you'd be able to buy a replacement without much issue. Still can't believe there hasn't really been a single vlogger to put out a decent video like the countless videos of the O1

Yep, the model is ‘proper fitting shin pads’...

Builds up forearm muscles. My through process was if I could increase my stickhandling speed with a heavier stick, that would translate to even faster performance with a composite. Same idea of skating with weights on your skates

For a while I was using a wood stick outdoors. The weight made going back to a composite stick on ice feel like I was holding nothing. I was just using it for stickhandling, not shooting though

So I did a super scientific test this weekend and skated the R1/O1 back-to-back then decided to try both at the same time. I was using the H5 insert on the R1 and keep the O1's center bolt pretty loose. I definitely feel (and see) a lot more rocker with the O1 which forces my muscles to work more when stationary, but when I was skating with one chassis on each foot, the difference didn't feel as drastic. I could do C-cuts on inside and outside edges about the same and didn't feel much of a difference with transitions or the turning radius. Granted, this was skating in a parking lot and not a game situation, but from my initial skate on the R1's I thought there would have been a more noticeable difference. The MPC Freestyle wheels provided me MUCH more grip than they did on the smooth concrete surface I skated on last week so I am definitely going to keep these wheels on for the time being. Biggest difference had nothing to do with the chassis itself, but rather the boot I mounted the R1's to since they're brand new and I'm still breaking them in. Looking forward to others who have both chassis giving their impressions

The O1's were the same way. My go-to roller stick is cut higher than my ice sticks to compensate

I was only recently introduced to him so I’m not sure where he went, but he’s in DTLA now

Where in the West Coast? I’ve had two Marsblade conversions done by Jake in LA within 3 days

I’m in Santa Monica and have been to the Mar Vista rink once. I was invited to pickup a few times pre-covid and believe they have leagues as well. I wasn’t sure if anyone was playing since as last I heard the rink was locked up. Looks like SM beach pickup is going to start up again soon so I’ll likely head there for pickup and hopefully when leagues start again at MV I can join a team. I recently found out about the Rose Bowl group which sounds sweet, but it’s a bit of a drive from the Westside. I do plan to check it out at least once or twice. Same with Covina.