Kendoc

I baked them and tried the cling wrap technique. Maybe my cling wrap was too thin but I couldn't get a tight fit...may try the old fashioned way of cranking down on the laces and pushing in on the shell with my hands. I bought a size 7 regular, which is what I wear in the vapors, in accordance with the "new" catalyst sizing which is supposed to be the same as Bauer/ccm. Good advice on trying multiple sizes...I can see if they have 6.5 and 6 regular. I know I am not a wide. A little embarrassing I am going down into the intermediate skates. Feel like a child. Anyway, I wear a 9 for my dress shoes and 9.5-10 for my athletic/running shoes as a reference. I do like a tight fit for my heel and mid foot for my skates. I do think the hot spot thing is solvable....my guess is that if I can get a tight fit in the foot I would get less rubbing and pressure in the ankle as I think me cranking the laces (in an attempt to get better fit in the foot) pinches in the top of the skate too much. Need waxed laces too so I can keep the top a little looser and crank down on the foot.

PBH I was hoping you would respond to this post…saw a lot of your comments about profiling and lifts on another thread. I may try the cat 9 a half size smaller, but am concerned about the struggle of getting the fit correct. I am currently skating Bauer vapor 2x and the boot is quite comfortable (after baking 4 times over the course of 5 months when I first got the skate) but getting beat up and the runner has a rattle. I was hoping Bauer would make a similar lean because I am confident I can get the fit to work. Also interested in the ribcor because of the theoretical more flexible boot. I don’t think my local shop makes a custom true skates. thanks

I tried some True Catalyst skates yesterday and loved the forward lean of the boot. The skate was too big for me and had some hot spots so I will not be buying those skates, but I am looking for a similar forward lean in Bauer or CCM. I want to differentiate the ankle flex/lean that I liked (because it encouraged knee flex and for me to get lower when skating) from pitch forward that can be modified with profiling the blade. I don't want an upright boot with a pitched forward blade as I think it would push me off balance. Ski boots are a good example of what I am looking for...Advanced racing boots have a forward flex of the ankle, beginner boots are much more upright ankle. I have seen a lot of posts about profiling but little about the forward lean of the boot. Thanks