flip12
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Posts posted by flip12
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4 hours ago, Leif said:I spent three years trying and failing to master several edge drills (powerpulls, backwards crossrolls, backwards scissor skate, forward inside edge three turns). After less than a month with skates that fit, I’ve almost mastered them. Talent is mostly a myth anyway. It’s hard work and good training with huge amounts of luck.
What makes you say talent is "mostly a myth?" I consider it one of the "huge amounts of luck" factors.
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13 hours ago, MyBoxersSayJoe said:Loved the video. And I loved my 703's. Held on to them for 13 years, unfortunately at the time they gave out, composite boots were on the market and I made the switch. Maybe someday I'll find myself back in them.
They really ought to find a way to channel the success of the 703 into modern tech. They don't need to radically alter any of the major function points, just upgrade the construction. That's proven tricky over the last few decades, however.
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On 2/20/2024 at 12:56 AM, acura9927 said:Very comfortable fit even without baking. However they are not a nimble skate and it takes more confidence to go fast in them and especially forward to backwards moves. They wrapped around your ankle so high and snug along with the tall blade holder which for me take a LONG time to get adjusted to. A very unique skate. It's like a ski boot. Totally opposite of my Graf PK4700.
The thing with Trues is, you don't have to bake them snug around the ankle. You can flare the top out if that's what you're after. The customizability of the boots can make them tricky to dial in.
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5 hours ago, Leif said:They do a lot of infomercials. They might even have been paid to take a camera crew over to Switzerland. Do these old skates still hold water? Or have they been overtaken by modern designs? Imknow a bery good skater and player who swears by his Graf hockey skates.
There are quite a few who do. My personal standard is Graf. They nailed so many details it’s insane. Those have slowly been adopted by other brands, though, eliminating their comfort advantage, which was their calling card during their North American expansion in the 90’s and 00’s. Before the one90 dropped Graf had 25% of NHL All-Stars in their skates. They were a niche brand but that was huge for their visibility.
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Watched it. It was a weird video. Was it an infomercial? Chris and his crew were nowhere visible in it at all. Also a bit random with the Special Mr. Graf 82 Edition skates. Why 82? 80 makes more sense to celebrate.
Impressive they made the Cobra in a year. I know it has a lot in common with Tuuk Custom+, but it also has some nice improvements in comparison. Maybe that's not that surprising since they knew figure skating so well at the time. -
14 hours ago, Leif said:One foot slalom. Apparently powerpull is the correct term.
I don’t doubt it, just never heard it.
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20 hours ago, Leif said:Yes, TF9. Will edit post.
I asked because even first generation Catalysts are selling for around 50% off and they’re newer than the TF line.
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1 hour ago, Leif said:Thank you for the various replies. I went in today, tried a 7R, and it was a nice fit, but too big allowing for baking. They don’t have stock for size 6 unfortunately, so that is not an option. I tried the 6.5W and 6.5R again, and based on comments here, opted for the 6.5R which had a better heel lock, and felt shorter albeit rather tight either side of my forefoot. He did a 2 minute bake, and that made a big difference, so I went for a full bake, and yes the width does accommodate. After baking they feel snug, lengthwise my right foot is nearly touching the toe cap. Getting them on is not easy, I had to turn my foot outwards as recommended here, and then gently work it in.
He said to lace the top two eyelets after putting the skates on. Honestly I cannot do that, even though he slightly flared the tops. I will leave the top eyelet laced, the second not laced (as per my other skates), as I can get them on like that. Apparently I shouldn’t use them for at least 24 hours, preferably 48.
They came with a 1/2” grind, so I changed down to a 3/4”.
These are selling quite well, I know at least 3 people who bought a pair from this shop. It seems odd to sell top end non custom skates at about half price. Presumably they were not selling well, or they want to get True known in the marketplace to increase brand awareness.
Are you talking about the TF series?
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13 hours ago, Sniper9 said:Question regarding the facing where the eyelet tore through. How much composite is actually there holding the eyelet? I'd assume if the facing was made out of the same thermoplastic material as the boot, it would take a lot of effort to deform that material. Id imagine even if you drilled a hole in the material and laced through it with no eyelet it'll be able to hold up? Or is the facing a different/more flexible type of material?
From what I’ve seen, most boots run the quarter material all the way to the end of the facing. It makes sense because that area experiences a lot of force, so it’s usually reinforced with some pleather and the grommets to ensure some longevity. How thick the shell materials are through the facing, I’m not sure. If they stopped the quarter material and stiched pleather to that borderline all along the edge to make a kind of facing extension it would probably be a weak connection and prone to failure.
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1 hour ago, VegasHockey said:I like the 2024 Catalyst skate design. Best looking retail skate they have ever made.
https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:968e037d-fb71-4110-ba3d-4778ab89e1d1
I like the look of the pants. The new Catalyst tendon guard looks like a step in the right direction. The Catalyst tongue and cosmetics remind me of CCM, especially the silver heel spur from the 70K-80K vintage.
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3 hours ago, Sniper9 said:The construction of the entire true boot is carbon fiber. This means the entire toe and forefoot area as well. In one piece. The toe cap simple slides over top. You can also see for yourself that the toecap is a flexible plastic on the sides and is only thicker on the front and top for obvious reasons. It's up to you what you want to do but I think we're beating a dead horse by telling you that making a decision without actually baking isn't a completely informed one. You might be happy with 6.5w but you'll never know for sure whether the 6w fits even better if it was fully baked and broken in.
I get at the retail level you have to compromise some fit issues to accommodate others.. but your fit issues, I personally believe you can achieve the "perfect" fit of toes brushes and not have width issues. My feet are like yours were the toes are the widest part which is why I have a hell of a hard time finding retail skates that fit properly. Either the toe cap area is crammed or boot is too big overall.
The shell doesn’t cover the entire toe cap area like it used to in the VH days. It does form the complete bowl around the bottom of the boot all the way around the front, just not the upper half of the toe cap.
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5 hours ago, krisdrum said:Interesting. I guess I can see that from a shape perspective. I guess I usually think about the curve of the blade and open/closed-ness first. Then the blade shape and lie. But I am definitely no expert. I definitely find the Mac to have a much straighter heel and mid than the retail P88, which is pretty consistently curved heel to toe to create that mid-pocket. So to your point, the Mac is "toe heavy". I'll have to compare the shapes later, that could explain why I have taken to the Mac pretty easily.
I get why you’d do it that way. I think I developed my blade face comparison after looking at the Warrior Smyth, CCM P46, Malkin Pro (the one most commonly associated with his name—dude’s had more patterns than the rest of the active NHL players combined). All of those are variations on the E4/PM9 (so is Kessel Pro, but I’ve never seen one in person). The Smyth tricked me for the longest time, but once I held it up to the E4 it was as though everything snapped into focus.
Once you see the blade shape you can guess which predecessor a pattern might come from and then it’s easy to see how you’d take the older pattern and make the new one from it. That’s how most of these blades (like most if not all art) come about: take a pattern that you like the most but still see a way to tweak it to better suit your own taste. The common theme these days is add toe curve, shave the toe. Those two operations account for all sorts of pro curve variants like…
E6 —> E28
E13 —> Kovalev, Barkov, Draisaitl, Hossa -> Jurco
(E13 aka Darby I suspect might be Ray Bourque’s pattern)P92 —> Stamkos, Benn, Zegras
Demitra Pro is just as you describe, P88 shape but with the curve wiped out, the a twisted toe that comes out of nowhere. But that’s easily done with the wood he was working with until the last moments of his tragically shortened career.
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Original Malkin is a modified PM9, I’m 97.1% certain. It’s very close to PSHS’ Kovalchuk-Thrashers without the toe shave. It’s not really P88 in any way other than that PM9 and P88 are two of the lowest curves on the retail market and they’re both relatively consistent in blade height from heel to toe.
MacKinnon Pro (Warrior Gionta inspired by Demitra Pro) is closest to a toe-heavy P88. Toe shape is a bit sleeker, but the lie profile and overall shape lines up with P88.
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9 hours ago, start_today said:Anyone get any weird/dumb/awesome curves from them lately?
Picked up a Malkin-2 and a Backstrom just after US Thanksgiving. I really like the Malkin. It’s like a taller p88 with a bit of a toe curve. The toe is nice for stickhandling, but I can still shoot out of the mid-pocket with my wonky old man mechanics. All these modern super open toe curves kill me.
Backstrom looks and plays like a pm9 with a shaved pointy toe. It was billed as a “more lofty p88,” which…I dunno….it doesn’t feel like that to me.
Some guys I play with ordered Backstroms. They look more like p19 curves with a thinner blade face than anything P88 or PM9.
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15 hours ago, VegasHockey said:P14 and P88 are the same lie and overall blade profile. Very flat.
But I thought P14 had the radiused toe for increased ice contact on toe-initiated shots. P88 might have the flattest toe rocker of any retail blade ever.
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Anyone got a non-FB source?
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32 minutes ago, eugene8080 said:Subject: Paper under the footbed of the True Customs
The material under the foot bed is some sort of paper or cardboard in the True Customs, unlike my CCM Ribcors which are carbon fibor I think.
Some of this paper is peeling off. Is that a concern? Under the peeling paper is plastic and the black carbon fiber. Should i peel the rest of the paper off or will that damage the skate? The paper is smelly after years of soaking up sweat. I'm assuming it's there because it was part of the "foot last" that was created as a part of the custom process?
I think it’s tape. Customs are built like papier-mâché and there’s tape holding the build up to the footlast.
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5 hours ago, start_today said:And just kind of talking as part of an ADVERTISEMENT…..
It’s not a video reporting piece about how players adopted their curves, it’s Easton marketing material.
Speaking of, that reminded me of this gem:
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3 hours ago, krisdrum said:Just like folks who loved their heel and mid-curves back in the day not understanding the love of the P92, things continue to evolve. The 28 has been readily available and a popular option for what? 10? 15? 20 years now? That whole generation of players have grown up with it as a stock retail option. They've logged thousands of hours with it. They know it inside and out, like the back of their hand - they've adapted to it. And due to the popularity of "combo" blades like the P90TM, many more are moving in the same direction.
2012 I think Easton released the E28, with the others following up with it more or less reluctantly due to demand. So yeah, going on 10 years of widespread availability.
What’s a combo blade?
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12 hours ago, 218hockey said:I thought that too. How can it be a better passing curve than a 88 or 92?
The curve doesn’t pass the puck, the player using it does, so whether a curve is good or bad for passing or any other particular facet of stick skills is entirely dependent on how well it correlates with what the preferences of the one who’s wielding it.
I personally like P28 for passing because of the toe-heavy pocket as well as the heel curve and loft combo which makes heel-to-mid-blade saucers very easy. P28’s definitely not for everyone though. While it’s not my favorite passing pattern of all time it’s easily my favorite of what’s readily available these days.
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Bauer P14 is very rockered at the toe. Closer to P28 than P88 in that area.
P89 might be interesting for you if you can find it. It’s a bit more open than P88. Easton’s version was even a bit more open than that. It’s a beautiful curve but it’s subtle, so it’s never taken off at retail.
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14 hours ago, Westside said:FT6 Pro: 10 3/16" so my 0.25" guesstimate was just about spot on
Catalyst Pro: 10" on the dot from the floor to the top edge of the cuff
The spot heating/wrapping idea was what I had planned to do next. Like I said, I did this method previously although I baked the entire skate. Might ask the help of a friend to try and coax the cuff in a bit more.
I think your last comment is probably most accurate and what I was expecting. Just figured there are so many players here that use multiple skates, including True, that I figured someone would have experience with it.
They’re very close though, so even if the CCMs are taller, the difference is a lot less than I thought from my first post.
Have you compared how high they come up on your leg out of curiosity? That would be a little more accurate for showing how close they are. Measuring from the outside is a decent indicator, but there can still be a few mm of height difference due to the stack from the bottom of the foot to the outsole. Looking at how high they come up on you exposes their effective height rather than their apparent height.
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1 hour ago, Westside said:The Cat Pros are actually slightly taller than the FT6 Pros (approximately 1/4"). Both have the exact same holders and steel so this height difference in boot is as apples to apples as you can get. The FT6 rear heel/achilles area drops down substantially more compared to the Catalyst boot, but that shouldn't have any relevance to the conversation here.
Huh, interesting. Do the top eyelets on the Trues come up higher on your leg? It's hard to see an exact comparison from your picture due to the perspective angle, and it looks like some of it could be the subtraction CCM's made to the back of their retail boots in recent iterations. I didn't realize CCM dropped their boot height that much. I thought they used to be taller internally.
Graf video with Mr. Graf
in Ice Hockey Equipment
Posted · Edited by flip12 · Report reply
Don’t assume. You’d do us all a huge favor if you tried them again and did a review. You know current offerings better than anyone as well as what Grafs were like compared to the competition in Graf’s glory days.
That’s more or less what Graf tried, and when that wasn’t working they started to make their skate patterns more along the lines of other manufacturers. That hasn’t helped either.
Graf wasn’t really on anything equivalent to the 3 Fit system. Sure they had different fits, but those fits were paired with different models, each with their own features. If you liked the 703 construction but had a deep foot, you were out of luck.
Grafs are still the best skates I’ve ever skated in. Cobras (in their classic 11’ rocker config.) are still by far the holder and steel spec. combo that suit me best. I really wish they would make a comeback. I just don’t see the signs of it.