flip12

Warrior's customizer has been broken for about 10 years.

I actually really like the Vapor 8 and 10 steel, the black perforated steel with the series of triangular cut outs. They went with fewer cutouts but larger cutouts on the XX. I think by the time of the XXX that was pretty much dead. I'm not as experienced with the XX perforated steel, but from what I've heard it was more prone to breakage. The black finish on the Vapors 8 and 10 perforated steel was more than just cosmetic going from posts I've read on here from more knowledgable members (I tried searching for the references but Google's not helping). I currently have three pairs of that original black perf steel. I have some Fly-Ti steel I can compare it to once our rink's compressors get fixed. The problem for me has been the Custom+ holders. They're so old they can only sustain a couple of hours of skating before they crack or shatter.

Yes, exactly because of the changes in toe length. The height of the toe box has never been a problem.

Same size from Bauer to True, even with the difference in toe cap shape? Bauer's most recent toe caps have all been more anatomical than True's. True's are more symmetrical. That's what kills it for me. If True's toe caps had the same floor plan as Bauer's, I could do a 9 in True no problem. That would probably be better even, considering the roomy, disconnected feel I got from my Catalysts no matter what I threw at the problem. With each step towards a more anatomically shaped toe cap, I've dropped a half size in Bauer: 10D in Vapors in the 90's toe cap (Vapors 8 - XXX), 9.5D in the XXXX generation toe caps that were more anatomical, and 9-F1 in the 2X Pro that were even more anatomical. Hockey Tutorial says they've made further adjustments to the toe cap on the FlyLite, but I haven't handled them in person yet to see if it makes any difference for me. In my 9.5R Catalyst 7s my toes were as pressed against the toe cap as they could be without restricting motion or causing discomfort.

Were the 9D and 10D Trues baked? Personally, I felt like the 9-F1 Hyp2rlite felt like I'm used to from 9.5D Vapors: snug all around the foot, just feeling the toe cap but not jammed. Catalyst 7 I have 9.5D and I'm confident I couldn't do a 9D. I think ideally I would have 9.5C, because the Trues just feel too big in all areas but the length. Tying them tighter doesn't help because then I have no forward flex...so 9.5C and a different pattern cut probably. Before they were baked I was worried I had ordered the Catalysts too small. I couldn't get my foot in. Post bake they were comfy but not really the fit or flex profile for me. I'm guessing 10D will be way too big once they're baked on you. 9.5D is a decent bet if you're happy with 9-F2.

I don't know how, but my Catalyst 7s were absolutely killing my back last night. I strained something in my upper back sleeping on it funny or something and it felt like a robot was trying to pull my upper back apart like pulled chicken when I was skating in my Cats. I switched to X:60s midway and not just the pain but the tension in my back went away completely. I've tried everything I can think of to make Catalysts work for me. I had a good skate or two in there, but in the end, they're just like trying to shoot with Chara's stick and my lesser frame and incomparably inferior strength. Boots that have more flex in their ankle like Vapors, especially tech-mesh builds, are just so much better for my performance and general wear and tear it seems. I'm almost certain that was the last time I'll try those skates.

Strangely, my VF is incredible at slap shots. I found out by accident because I never take them because it's not allowed for the old players league (over 35), but I took one in warm up yesterday and it was much stronger than any slap shot I've gotten out of any of my other sticks--I have enough for a team full of lefties. To see if it wasn't a fluke, I took a few more, including a last one with about half power put into it. It zipped top shelf bar and in. Overall the stick plays alright, but the slap shot kick really stands out. Not that it's much use to me, but it's kind of fun as a novelty. I'm just curious though, has anyone else experienced this with their VFs? It's possible I'm not engaging the kick right on other shots. It took me a while to learn how to adjust from low to mid kick. I had assumed VF would work with either of those approaches. This feels like it actually has a lot more kick than I've previously gotten out of it.

S19 Darbys! I'm jealous. I have one ST dressed as the Stealth tease. That thing has held up like a tank. I keep coming back to it, even though I'm mostly rotating P28s these days. I keep wondering about the origins of the Darby. I know there's a story about it being named after an Easton exec, but from what I remember about that story, he wasn't even a hockey guy. My guess is it's Ray Bourque's curve. That's good to hear about the 1616. I think I'll get one next time I order from Pro. It looks almost exactly like what I want in a curve.

That's a good point. Inside-out or under-over instead of over-under is definitely easy to adjust. The counterpoint is, it slips more easily. So while it's easier to adjust, it's also more prone to slips that require adjustment.

Easy Jimi the 6 into a 9 now that P86 is the hot new sliced bread. I wish P89 were the hype. My favorite retail curve of all time, just ahead of E4 and P28.

Pretty much. It's the facing creep that I'm looking at. The first Vapor with injected facing, APX2 stayed true to the classic Vapor L cut. HyperLite pushed it a bit more toward Cupreme C cut. FlyLite is definitely C cut. I get that they have the flex zones engineered into the facing part, but it's a different animal now, in my mind. Plenty of Supremes across the years have been more Vapor than this: 7000 and one90 come to mind. I get that times change, but to me, quintessential Vapor is 1. L-cut, 2. TechMesh, 3. Low kick tongue. I have and deeply appreciate all sorts of variations on classic Vapors, even Vapor wannabes like EQ5. Each deviation from the three Vapor hallmarks is a downgrade in my experience.

P86 == Darby? In which brand's catalog?

I haven't seen it in person, but I'm impressed with the direction their design is going. Both for the holder and the boot. The Shift holders looked way too busy.

Ah. That makes a lot more sense. I imagine since they have all of this 3-D modeled, doing that would be relatively easy. The complexity would be, how much exactly do you want to shrink the Fit 1? It could open up a lot of room for trial and error. But I think that might be a decent starting point for them and they'd just take it into consideration for the classic forefoot/heel width classification. The customs seem to still run on that paradigm anyway.

As deep as Geppetty's hatred for P88 goes, his loathing for E4/PM9 is even deeper. He refuses to acknowledge its existence, even when it's necessary for explaining both Kovalchuk's and Malkin's curves. Both players have had tons of variations of their curves, but their main set plays on variations of E4/PM9 with a toe curve.