flip12

Steel for True's new holder looks like it has cut outs at the top reminiscent of Tuuk Light Speed perforated steel. It doesn't cut out as far down, but you can see space between the holder and the steel across the bridge if you zoom in a bit. I like the look of the holder. A lot less busy compared to everything going on on the surface of Shift and Shift Max.

I actually like them. You can see where some flourishes could be added to make the more window ready, but they have a decent silhouette. Looks like a pretty average cut pattern—in between L and C. I like the static pattern on the quaters better than a bunch of lines that don’t mean anything. I’m surprised they’re going with unreinforced facing on the fore and midfoot. Every time a skate company does that they go away from it after a generation or two.

I saw some TF roller boots with vented toe caps at one point. I guess they must have gone away from that.

There's definitely something that doesn't quite work out from his diagrams and calculations to the actual feel on the ice. Cobra feels way more pitched than Custom+, but his work shows them as the same. LS2 and Edge are supposed to be more pitched than Cobra but to me they feel less pitched. CXN and True Shift are supposed to be the same, but Shift feels closer to LS2 to me and CXN feels very close to Cobra. I've recently gone from 13' neutral to 13' +1 pitch on LS2s and they feel much better than before, closer to that Cobra/CXN feel. What profiles have you tried?

I only skated on Makos once and the pitch reminded me a lot of being on Cobras. It just feels so much better for me to have that pitch. Even though Bauer’s holders from LS2 on are supposed to be as pitched as Cobra and stock Graf steel it still feels off to me, too far back.

Again, there are others who definitely know that can correct my guesses, but if my recollection is right, Bauer's stock replacement steel has been 10' for a while, and Step is usually 10' as well. If the steel at the toe was getting in the way, going to 11' from 10' would only make that worse, even if just a bit. But if you went from Custom+ to PowerFly or Edge, I think you're also experiencing a difference in forward pitch again. Maybe not as drastic as Cobras with their stock 11' forward pitched steel. The more I think about it, the more it seems you want to be back in a more neutral pitch. The most comprehensive pitch resource I've found is this https://icehockey360.ru/baza-znanij/geometricheskie-parametry-stakanov/ It's in Russian, but it makes sense from the measurements and diagrams. If you liked Custom+ with 9', skating on a newer Bauer holder with 11' is back in the direction you were at originally in 707s on stock Cobras. That's a big difference. I know it from the other side because that stock Graf setup is my favorite of all that I've tried and as soon as I have that pitch back it's so much better for me. Pitch is the big difference maker for me from my recent profilings. That could make my advice here biased, but as I said, hopefully those who know better will correct anything that doesn't quite add up. I'm still very much a novice when it comes to profiling. I'm a believer now, just one with very little knowledge in the area.

What profile were you on when you went from tripping over your toes to 11'? Over here there was discussion about Bauer putting Quad profiles on top of the line boots: If that was still the case with Mach, you may have been skating on a +1 pitch before profiling them to 11'. A Quad would have a shorter radius at the front than 11', so it would make sense you'd only catch your toes more, if that's what you were coming from. It sounds like you need to get the blade profiled back to neutral. I've just started experimenting with profiling and the difference from LS2 stock neutral (still more pitched than Custom+ if I'm not mistaken) to +1 from shifting the balance point back 20mm was night and day for me. Just my two cents. I'm far from expert in profiling by MSH standards.

Totally agree with @start_today. Try whatever you can on to avoid buying more boots that you can't use. Personally, I felt great in a Hyp2rLite 9 Fit 1 in the store--toes feeling the cap but not smashed at all. Bauer's scanner recommended Fit 1 at just over size 10. 10.5 True sounds like you'd be swimming. I wear 9.5R Catalyst 7s and I don't think I could comfortably drop down to a 9 because of the toe box shape.

Can you elaborate a bit on the Vapor outsole and pitch?

Are there any pros today with slimmed down pants? I've come across someone saying Hull took a lot of padding out of his pants. I think Kovalev did the same, or just played in slimmer model Kohos until switching over to Easton, then Warrior. Kovalchuk played many of his early years in Nike retail pants.

Bauer’s later 4-Rolls’ 4th roll from the top isn’t a rectangle, but a wide and short pentagon. The pinky side is sliced to better match the angles of the palm. Some of Easton’s later 4-Rolls’ 3rd and 4th rolls were convex and concave, respectively. I’ve never worn a pair of Easton’s but I imagine this was worked out to better fit the fisty formation of the hand when holding a stick. Both examples feature mostly straight rectangular rolls on the backhand, so they’re still 4-Rolls in my mind.

I’m a bit of a snob, but when I hear 4-Roll (or 5), I see (mostly*) straight backhand rolls. If they’re another TPS HG2 clone like these from CCM, they’re slants, not rolls—the hybrid of hockey gloves. *There’s room for a deviant roll or two as seen in Easton’s and Bauer’s 4-Rolls.

If it’s Supreme Comp 5000 (or similar new old stock top of the line) the boot should last quite a while. There’s just something iffy about the holder plastic at 30 years old. The worst that can happen is suddenly failure of the holder. I think it depends on how they were stored, but I’ve tried various boots that age or older the last couple of years and have had three or four Tuuk Custom or Custom Plus crack or shatter while I’ve been skating on them. It’s not really dangerous if you’ve got all your gear on. You might fall suddenly like you’ve lost an edge in the case of total sudden holder failure. You can just put a new holder on if that happens.

I think it's just to make way for their new stock production. Clear out the last batch of stock sticks, then launch the new stock line/up. Custom's made to order so they're not sitting on stock. Certainly not if it takes 2.5 - 3 months for delivery.

Bring back the HG1 and HGT too.

I really liked the Hyperlite toe cap compared to previous Vapors. I felt grelt going half a size down compared to what I wear in older Vapors. Haven’t tried on newer Supremes, just wanted to add my two cents of love for the Hyperlite toe cap.

Key differences not the only differences.

It’s like a Dodo Phoenix out of the ashes and straight into the blade of a wind turbine. Sorry for your bad experience. It’s sad because I really like the BC01 blade I have, and my old Dolomite still performs up to anything I’ve tried since. Their concept isn’t entirely wrong, but the execution sure is.

That’s where I thought you were going and then suddenly it got all Inception.

I’m confused. More closed = less open. How can P28 be more open than Kuch and Kuch more open than Pasta and P28 the least open of the three?

Absolutely, and free express shipping to boot.

Sorry to hear you got a bummer stick at the end of your wait. If I were you, I would complain. It's not reasonable to wait as long as you did. That on its own. On top of that to have a product that doesn't match the spec or live up to reasonable expectations (if they weren't going to paint it the way it looks like it does on their relaunched website, they should have given a heads up) is just the sandy sprinkles on a shit cake. You're doing them a favor saying something. As you said, they won't stay in business long if they alienate their previously loyal customers that want to give them the benefit of the doubt. You shouldn't be out a decent amount of cash, or any amount for that matter, for a product that's honestly way below what it should be.

It's more like Supreme and Supreme extra stiff. Catalyst is supposed to be an agility skate, but it doesn't have the traditional agility flex profile, it's just a little less stiff than their stiffer offerings.

Round 2.

You’ve got good taste. The Wild Berry Viper scheme is awesome, some of my favorite hockey unis ever. Your Innovative stash is incredible. 1100 is one of the sharpest looking sticks ever. Black with white and gold always wins when it comes to sticks.