Larry54

Here's an update to my post from a couple of months ago where I was considering ordering a new pair, and felt like my 3-year-old pair was a bit longer than desired. After badgering Rob with a bunch of questions and making it really clear that I wanted minimal space between my toes and the toe cap, he came through and fulfilled my wishes with an awesome pair of skates. This is actually my first experience with having skates where my toes feather the toe cap. One small note: I did notice however that the toe cap is lined with a thin layer of red foam similar to the red insole liner. So I guess it would be possible to gain a mm or so of space by removing it if really needed. I was inspired to choose grey trim by a photo that Syinx posted. I wanted something personalized without being too flashy. Grey is not one of the choices offered in the online order form, but Rob told me to just select any color other than black, and indicate in the order notes that I want grey instead of the selected color. The photo below is what resulted. I've had them for over a month now. It took me around 5 games/practices to get used to them, mostly because of the new blade profile. It's 254mm Step steel whereas the old one was 263mm LS2. Having less rocker at the heel was the biggest issue at first since it would sometimes catch on the ice during forward to backward transitions and other maneuvers. Sharp turns felt a bit strange at first. The 10' profile might have had a bit to do with that, but I felt more like it was due to the flatter heel. I wanted to give the stock Step profile a chance before messing with profiling and I've totally adapted. I'm not missing the extra 9mm of the 263mm blade at all, though the Step steel seems to extend slightly further past the ends of the holder than a LS2 blade so the difference may effectively be less than 9mm. BTW, I went with the LS2 holder over the Edge because for my needs the single advantage of the Edge did not outweigh its known problems. The boot feels a hair "bulkier" than my old pair. I think the foam behind the Clarino lining is slightly thicker overall making it more comfortable and probably improves impact protection. That and the new toecap seem to add a bit of weight, even if I exclude the weight of the extra metal in the taller Step steel, but if it improves overall durability, it's a good trade-off. I noticed an interesting refinement on the "outsole" which seems to have some added structural component compared to the original model as you can see in the photo below. The original VH had a basic anatomic shape of a foot sole. The new VH has some kind of "beam" integrated into the outsole connecting to the platform onto which the rear tower rests. I'm using the stock footbeds as they feel better than I expected on my flat feet. The only thing I might be missing is support under the transverse arch just behind the ball of the foot. The Sidas molded footbeds in my old skates filled that small void. For now anyway the stock footbeds with the red foam liner are feeling pretty good. One tip I have for people ordering without the help of an authorized fitter is to put weight on your foot while you're tracing it and while measuring circumferences. Otherwise your tracing will be too narrow and you'll end up with the problem I had on my original pair. And I had a hell of a time stretching the skate width near the toe cap. For my new pair I put some weight on my foot and my tracings were a whole 3mm wider than the old ones! In the VH video Scott even mentions something like "semi-weight-bearing" when tracing the feet. Rob also told me to trace and measure my bare feet whether I wear socks or not with my skates because VH adds a "fudge factor for socks" in the design.

Maybe they did but some notable Graf goalies like Carey Price have switched to VH. The number of NHL goalies in VH skates has surpassed 50% this past season, so I don't know what that means for Graf goalie skates.

If you want it to be easier to remove the footbeds, you can do like I did on these Graf footbeds which are also hard to remove. Put a strip of tape across the heel, let it stick out past the edge and fold it over into a tab like in this picture. Then you just pull on the tab to remove the footbed from your skate.

Thanks a bundle, mc88. I've read your guide already and it has some great tips. I have it in my bookmarks. It's odd that we don't have a dealer/fitter here in a hockey city like Montreal. And thanks for the encouraging words about going down a holder size. I think I tend to bend forward too much sometimes and am already making an effort to correct that to take a bit of strain off of my back. The shorter runners will further force me to make that correction. And I imagine toe starts will become a bit easier.

Thanks for the response. I don't know if Rob did the fitting 3 years ago since all my correspondence was with Scott. If I compare my photo to MC88's photo, mine has at least 5mm more toe space than his. But if they do add a bit more length to fit a longer holder, that would explain a lot because my holders use up all the boot's real estate so they would not fit a smaller boot. Anyway, I'm not trying to get these skates fixed or anything like that. I just want my next ones to have a closer fit. If I have to request a shorter holder to get it, I've been thinking of going to a shorter holder anyway.

oldtrainerguy28, with all the VH fittings you've done, I'd really appreciate your input on the 8 posts above. Thanks.

Those look much better than mine. I was also quite anal about my tracings and measurements. But that's not all that they use. They also consider your current skate model and size and its holder size. I've always worn skates that were a bit too long in order to accommodate my wide forefeet and especially my weird big toe which doesn't fit well in the toecaps of normal skates. If VH included my then current Bauer Flexlites info to design my VH pair, or if they adjusted the length to accommodate the holder size of those overly long Flexlites, that might have given the resulting skate length. Coincidentally, the Graf SIDAS molded footbeds that were made for my Flexlites fit perfectly in my VH skates. mc88, how did your previous skates (the ones that you stated in your VH order form) fit lengthwise? Do you have the same holder length on your VH skates as on your previous skates? I can't order my next pair until I have this sorted out.

First, my toebox is a carbon fibre toebox that was custom shaped to accommodate the bumps on the outsides of my big toes. Secondly, 1/2 size is 4-5mm. The insole on the right which is the smaller of the two extends 8mm beyond the toe. So when people talk about the ideal length having the toes feathering the inside of the toebox, that's far from my case. Obviously, they have to leave some margin of error for remote fitting. I'm just hoping other VH users will chime in for comparisons.

Here's a question to my fellow VH wearers. How's the length of your custom skates? Like, do the toes feather the toecaps? How do they fare in the pencil-behind-the-heel test? With my foot on a footbed, this is what it looks like (VH insole left, Graf SIDAS right). Is it similar for you? Seems like a lot of space in the toecap. After 3 years in my current pair, I'm planning on buying a new pair and was wondering whether this is typical of VH skates or if there is something a bit peculiar with my current pair that I should address to make sure my new pair is more normal.

Elvis Stojko now in VH skates!

If my Graf Sidas molded footbeds ever need replacing, I'll have to look into these, seeing that Graf Canada is no longer.

No, but when I first baked them, I might have laced them too tight or flexed forward a bit before they cooled down. That caused a bit of a crease in the thermo-formable tongue. So then I took the tongue out and re-heated it by itself with a heat gun to smooth out the kink. It has been good ever since. That was for the original tongue. Which tongue do you have? BTW, you don't have to crank down on the laces on these skates to have good support, just in case you're doing that.

I saw them in your Facebook posts. They look pretty impressive. I like that they have a shorter wheelbase than the Sprungs.

When I ordered the SuperNatural, it only came in polar fibre. I found that it didn't give me enough grip. I prefer the grip powder matte. I also prefer it over the gloss grip. I have a Nasty with grip powder matte since January 2015, playing 2-3 times a week and the only wear is on the corners where the stick gets slashed and from stick lifting. Other than that the finish seems very durable.

Once your muscle memory gets re-calibrated to the new skates, I think you should be back on track. Keep it up!

I went through the online ordering process just to check it out, and there's a BC04 7.5 LIE available only if you select right-handed. No other details are shown though.

I notice that the blades on my SuperNatural and Nasty sticks have the checkerboard appearance like your Xtra Stiff blade whereas my Savoy Specials look like the other blades. I'd like to know what blade stiffness my sticks have. Thanks.

Maybe he just likes to be color-coordinated. He should have blue holders on there.

Keith Emerson http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/keith-emerson-emerson-lake-and-palmer-keyboardist-dead-at-71-20160311

But have you or your son tried wearing your old skates again? Sometimes that's what it takes to notice and appreciate the improvement of the MLX - Mako - VH skates.

Mike Condon, too.

Instead of transferring your weight forward from your right leg to your left leg, your body is moving downward as you swing. Notice how your right knee is bending as you swing. In a way it should be doing the opposite, straightening as you push off of it to transfer your weight forward from the right leg to the left.

I'm still loving my VH skates after over 2 years, but to be quite honest, I'd be disappointed with the eyelet thing. If the eyelet configuration doesn't feel like you expected, definitely tell them you're not happy about it. It's not what you asked for. Maybe Scott should have refused the request for such a radical departure from his standard VH model. Since he didn't, he must be ready and willing to deal with the consequences. Having said that, I'd be wary of asking for anything that differs that much from the standard VH design that NHL players are wearing, and that Scott has refined over several years. I get plenty of forward flex on my ordinary custom VH pair laced normally to the top eyelet. I also wonder how you'll get your foot in and out of the boot once the heat-molding has wrapped the top eyelets together, completely closing the gap with rock-hard thermo-plastic around the ankle.

...with LS2 blades being an exception since they use nylon insert locknuts.

If the top eyelets are more forward, and the back of the skate remains at the same angle, won't you just get more wrap at the top eyelets, maybe even too much unless you like to keep the laces really loose at the top or have humongous shins? With my VH skates laced up, the wrap is pretty even from bottom to top. If the eyelets were leaning at the top, the two sides would get really close to each other at the top.