lohnman

my son has had heal shims in his bauer vapors for several years. He's now on his second pair of VH skates. They build the shim right into the boot, no shim needed. He's been happy with the pitch, just like his bauers with shims.

I continue to believe these are the best skates out there. After 4 months of junior hockey, skating 6 days a week my sons pair are still in great shape. He continues to believe they are the most comfortable skates he's ever used. We have yet to have an issue with a single rivet, it was always a problem with his custom Bauers X60, APX and APX2s. I would recommend getting the protective coating over the toe cap, and the double stitching when you order. His skating has improved significantly with these has well. Most people have gone to less bite with their edges he has asked me to give him more bite which is interesting.

Scott put two on each side in front and back. He suggested doing this when I told him how much trouble we have had keeping rivets in my son's skates. https://db.tt/vWhZOcgI

I had Scott install 8 copper rivets in my sons skates, 4 in the front and 4 in the back. On every pair of skates he has owned he has trouble keeping rivets in them. Not sure why they loosen up on his skates, but he hasn't yet had a problem with his VH skates. If they do start coming loose I'm just going to install Graf skews.

The screw is still there its just under the thick coat of epoxy.

nope, I'm just a typical hockey dad, we're nuts:)

I received the set I ordered for my son, very impressed with this skate, they are a great looking boot. My son has skated in Vapors for many years. When the Makos came out I got a set for him as I think their design would help improve most aspects of his skating. He hated the Makos couldn't skate on them and was not interested in spending the time in them to get use to them so I sold them. We have been ordering custom vapors his last few pairs as he has a narrow foot and even the vapor in D is too wide. He continues to blow out the Vapors at the junction of the toe cap and quarter package. His last pair has been repaired twice and needed to be fixed again, so I decided to look at other options. I was a little hesitant to order the VH after the experience with the Makos, but after speaking with Scott I decided to pull the trigger. My son says these are the most comfortable skates he's ever owned. The fit is perfect, I was amazed at how soft they got when they came out of the oven. I was at first concerned that they might be too stiff as the lower quarters are rock hard. He loves the amount of forward flex he get much more than his APX2s, with more support were it needs to be. I noticed a deeper knee bend in just a few lapse around the rink. I requested a little higher boot, double stitching at the toe quarter package junction, protective coating on the toe, extra copper rivets, offset holders for his pronation, 1/8th inch heal shims, Bauer Edge holders, and felt tongues. They came just as requested, and I'm impressed with the quality of construction. We didn't put them on a scale but both agree they are lighter than the APX2s. The only question left moving forward is durability, if they hold up I don't see him wearing anything else anytime soon.

I agree with the last few generations of skates being too stiff, that is the main reason I became interested in the makos. Players like my son are in adult sizes, he's wearing a 9.5, but are not at an adults strength level yet. Though he does well with the APX and they fit him well I think the level of stiffness in the boot is far too much for a young man that has yet to develop and is hindering his ability to skate to the best of his ability. I'm hoping that after a few months in the makos he will develop a new level of agility as well as become a more efficient skater. I just hope the level of durability is there to get at least a year of skating out of them. He is pretty hard on skates, he has been able to get 2 years of skating out of his APX, we got them right when they came out, but they look like the have been through war.

I recently purchased a pair of these for my son. He skated on them for the first time last night and came home complaining that he experienced some serious lace bite. He fits well into these skates very good, there is no depth issue at all. I think he might have just tied them too tight, he is coming from APXs and I think he might have thought because of the more flexible boot he needed to tie them tighter. If this is not the case what else would cause this, the tongue needing to break in? Also I have read that some have "fixed" this problem with a different insole. He has always used superfeet but with these skates we just went with the stock insole could this make a difference?

Wrangler I was curious if these were the wide or the normal width. My son has a narrow foot, his last pair was a set of custom APX with C width. These appeared to fit him, I was at a store where there wasnt anyone that has much experience fitting skates. If we decide to buy them I will drive a couple hours south to get them from a store with more experienced help. From what I can tell from reading here getting a skate on the narrow side would allow the skate to open up when baked and ultimaltely fit his foot better. I was asking the question to get an idea if the skates he tried on are a D width and as narrow as they get or a EE width and there is a more narrow width available. I'm waiting a few months to see if there are questions about durability before we make a purchase.

My son tried on a pair today, he loved them. Now that I have had a chance to see these in person, I have concerns about durabiltiy. My son is a grinder type player his skates look like they have been through war. How good is Easton at standing behind their product? How long would they expect these to hold up under normal wear. I can't see that webbing on the side panels holding up all that well, but I could be wrong. Also the pair he tried was a 9.5 D and they looked to be a D, but I pulled the insole out to look at the inside and the sticker on the bottom said 9.5 EE. Could these have been put in the wrong box from the factory? They only had one pair of 9.5s so I couldnt campare them to another pair.

I use the orange wheel. Some have had problems chipping the nitinol while sharpening, I have never had this issue with the orange stone. Its been just over a year now since 'i sharpened my first set the orange works fine. The key I think is to dress you wheel more frequently. You can tell by the spark trail when its time to give the spinner a turn. I have a friend down south who maintains a set for his son he has no "mechanical" background what so ever and he is trucking along with no issues as well. Patience is the key. It might take longer to sharpen but the edge last forever so you sharpen less. The blades currently on my sons skates have were put on last Nov and they still look brand new as far as their height. These could easily last 3 to 4 years before they will need to be replaced. I don't skate on them myself but my son has no interest in going back to steel they perform that well.

I would go with nitinol, I maintain a couple of sets with an X02 with no trouble. They take a few more passes but they are worth the effort.

I had a bat gage for awhile as well as the HDI, the gage works well most of the time, but not nearly as good as the HDI. The HDI is twice as much, but in my opinion worth every penny.

I have most of my players skating on 95/75, its a close equivalent to the 100/50. Most feel 100/75 it too much bite and 90/75 is not enough. The 95/75 has been a the answer for me.

I think it is the best way to be sure that you ground out the round hollow, which will be .003 deep. When you see the needle deflect to .003 you know that the deepest part of the round is still present. It is more durable than you think, I've dropped mine a few times and its still works fine, and its quicker to set up than you think once you get the hang of it. Because it measures the depth of hallow you can check a skate when you get it and know which radius they are currently skating on, which is handy from time to time as well.

HDI is th emost accurate I have used. It does one thing the others cant, it measures depth of hollow. This comes in handy when converting a blade to FBV, you might think you have a good flat cut into the steel, but most of the time a few more passes are need to get the old radius hollow out.

I wouldn't get the white in carbon, I had a custom set made that is navy with white carbon and brass stripes. The white carbon is not a "true" white. When it is right next to the brass it has a gold or pearl appearance instead of pure white. Next time I will go with the white in the classic. i can send you photos when I get home?

Darkstar50 Any chance you have any of these left for purchase, they would be perfect for my son's team?

I sharpen my sons skates with the 90/75, which he prefers. I just got a new set of blades profiled from Noicing and had them put the 100/50 on them just to give it a try before I bought that particular spinner. I didn't tell him it was a different cut, I just wanted to see his response. You don't usually get much if anything from a 12 year old, I expected that he wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. I asked him what he thought of his new blades and he said they were very sharp. So I have to assume that the 100/50 is noticeably sharper than the 90/75.

I coach a team of peewees and I also maintain the bantam and squirt teams skates, their ages range from 10-15. I have both a Pro Sharp 2001 and now a Blackstone X02 sharpener. We send our blades to Bob for profiling and then I take it from there. With his help we have been able to improve the skating abilty of many of the kids in this community, the FBV is taking this to a new level.

I have the majority of my players skating on some sort of comb radius from Bob and not one, not one is on a 8-13. I also have most of them on the FBV, and interestingly enough they are all on the same FBV even though they have tried all of the shapes that are available what does that mean to you ol great one?

My son first tried the 100/75 and I noticed some chattering when he stopped. Previous to FBV he was skating on 9/16th, so I assumed there was just too much bite. I am now putting the 90/75 on his blades and I have yet to see the chatter issue. Also I have not notice an increase of nicks or burs to his edges since going to the FBV. He has been skating quite a bit lately outside on our rink, or the pond, which tend to be a little harder on steel. The FBV seems to hold up well under these conditions. I now have enough confidence in my sharpening ability to give others the oppurtinuty to try the FBV. I gathered up the other coaches skates and went to work. Last night all the coaches were giving it a try. It was like a bunch of kids with a new toy they were all grinning from ear to ear, and commenting not only on the amount of glide you get but also the byte you get when turning. It was hilarious to see a bunch of grown men out doing power skating drills in the corners just to see how the FBV would perform, with the biggest smiles on their faces. All of them were coming from 1/2 and I put them on 90/75. It really is a unique expereince the first time you skate on it. The sharpener takes some time to get familier with, but with a few conversations on the phone with the fine folks at Blackstone, I have no problem getting a good consistant sharpening with each set of skates I do.

I have the X02 as well, and I'm new to hand sharpening. After sharpening a skate you find that the top edge is higher than the bottom edge. Which way to you adjust the holder to get the edges even, up or down?

can you post a phone number so I can order some stuff from you? My son is really into warror stuff. I'm looking for Junior large. Also do you have the gloves or the bags yet?