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flip12

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Everything posted by flip12

  1. flip12
    Yes, times 10. In a little lower lie, on par with Easton E4. What they call a 5 on the E28 is closer to a 5.5: significantly higher than my Easton Malkin pros which are noticeably higher than the E4...I suspect they're similar to BASE's BC71: 5.25.
  2. flip12
    I was curious what Grant Cruikshank would wear this year. He's still got his Mako II's. Warning, huge photo. Good thing though, you get a clear shot of his skipping the top eyelet and lace locks on the third eyelets from the top.
  3. flip12
    Cool. That's significant enough of a mass to do some counterbalancing, definitely. I've tested on myself, and I seem to feel a counterbalance over 20g.
  4. flip12
    How heavy, would you say? Out of curiosity, could you measure the plug before and after, next time you make them?
  5. flip12
    I didn't read "has not been produced for a long time" as 'it's been out of production for a long time' or again in other words 'it has been a long time since it was last produced' but rather as 'it didn't have a long production run, (less than 5-years)'. Another consideration @marka, the CXN drilling pattern fits almost perfectly with other current holders, so a holder swap wouldn't be a difficult or necessarily pricey alternative. Just remember the pitch would change so you'd maybe want to add heel lifts to match the CXN if you did switch.
  6. flip12
    Not completely dead. I wouldn't count them out. They have some great know-how there. If only they can better swim with the current, they could remain a viable company. For years, they were a niche company with a great product. The North American based attempt to license their tech and expand production floundered, but that doesn't corrupt the kernel of what Graf is and what they offer. They still have a bit of market in Europe, certainly not what it was even in its pre-NA days, but perhaps enough to mount a solid comeback. I imagine Graf-CH has performed due diligence and figures it to be within reason to keep going. A joke isn't off limits to analysis. In any decent joke, there's a least a shred of truth, or a warped perspective of the truth. It makes sense to discuss it, especially in a venue where tone of voice is harder to grasp.
  7. flip12
    I picture Graf incorporating a less complete composite cup into their skates first, if they're to go in the speed skate direction. The general idea of how that is done is not exclusive to one or any other company. Their footlasts are already solid and a lot of their boots already so aggressively cut that they wouldn't be out of place with that addition to their already proven formula. Just my $0.02.
  8. flip12
    I'd love to see Graf come out with an integrated outsole and quarter panel. Maybe more like Viking speed skates than the full composite shells of VH and others. That would be an insane ride. They have the fit and flex down to perfection... Just, their efforts at modernizing with the Joneses have been subpar, to say the least.
  9. flip12
    They still had some significant pro exposure before the one90 hit. After that they lost all of the All-Stars that were wearing their skates, leaving grinders and fighters. VH has further cut into what little they still had.
  10. flip12
    Sorry I didn't see your post, as it wasn't up yet.
  11. flip12
    Can you be more specific? What didn't you like?
  12. flip12
    Is there a threshold for blade orders that could to met instead of the 24 OPS to trigger the release of one of these patterns?
  13. flip12
    That would be awesome @malcb33 I'd be happy with the Kreps, if only it were a little lower. If taking the E4/PM9 as the 5-lie standard, the Kreps isn't quite as low, even in its heel low lie area. I've noticed True and STX are labeling their Kreps as 5.5's. That seems more spot on. When I compared them in a shop to E4's and E6's, they were much closer to E6's, almost the same shape overall except for a pointier toe. I've seen some Kovalchuk pros on prostockhockey that look a lot like the old Warrior Smyth, which was rumored to be his 1/2" legal curve from early in his NHL days. No doubt he's also been using Krepsified versions of his pattern, but has he actually been using standard Kreps too?
  14. flip12
    I took that image and overlaid its Kovalchuk pro (green) with the Gionta and took another Kovalchuk pro (blue) and overlaid it with the original Kovalchuk pro. It does seem to match @malcb33's description. The blue Kovalchuk seems closer to the variant being floated as the possible BASE pattern. It looks to me like it's essentially the same blade face with just a different toe shape and toe height. It's a bit pixelated due to resizing to match the two different images, especially sensitive to longer, flatter curves, but it still gets the point across. This is exactly why I'd love the Kovalchuk side by side with a PM9. The difference is slight, but it may just be enough that it turns me off from the pattern. The closed toe is a bonus for me. E28 is a good alternative to my ideal curve, maybe not quite as good an alternative as the Kovy. It might just do the trick.
  15. flip12
    No, "Successor to the legendary 703 + 704..." so slim and shallow. Source: http://www.grafskates.ch/skates/grafskates-hockey/ultra/ultra-f-60/
  16. flip12
    There's been some discussion of the Kovalchuk pro in this thread but little is known about its specs beyond a few broad suggestions: big toe curve, rockered toe for heel-up snap shots, and a low lie. I'm all for supporting this pattern into production if its lie is in fact lower than most of the other stuff out there. Does anyone have some Kovalchuk pros by chance? If you do and wouldn't mind supplying some more info for the community interested in its retail availability, please help those of us out who are hoping it'll check the right boxes. I want to vote for Kovalchuk, but I want to know exactly how it stands first.
  17. flip12
    Quote doesn't seem to be working, but the part about trying larger hollows: even some of an area's better local shops simply don't get it and treat you like a moron for asking for shallower hollows. FBV is a little more accessible maybe.
  18. flip12
    Some have.
  19. flip12
    @PFraser do you have room in your toe box, especially above the toes? It sounds like maybe POWERFOOT inserts might help. Toe pain is something they're designed to alleviate. On the one hand, Makos have much less height in the toe box than other boots, on the other, the range of motion inherent to the Mako line might be activating your feet in ways they're not used to and a little more support to snug in nicely might help. I'm not an expert on Makos, so it's just a bricolage of bits I've observed scattered across MSH. Hope someone or something can help definitively.
  20. flip12
    I haven't used the BC10. I was intrigued by it until seeing the video comparing it to the Easton E4. For me, the E4 is just about perfect. Any higher and I lose a lot of feel for the puck and I can't really operate without looking at it. I do have an E4 here I can upload comparison shots with between the Kovalevs, Leinos and Gionta I have as well. But that'll have to wait until at least next week as I'm hella busy at the moment. I originally got excited about Kovalev's pattern from reading about it and hearing it described as roughly a 5, since E4's were pretty much the only retail blade I could find that worked growing up, and that especially if I added a little toe curve to them. But, when I finally got my hands on a few, I realized they play more like 6's for me. I didn't think the rocker would matter as I like to handle the puck on the heel of the E4, with the toe pointed up, but the feeling of the Kovalev pro is quite a bit different: with a much shorter blade height at the heel, I feel like there isn't as much feedback from the puck when it's on the blade at that point. Although the pattern didn't work out for me as I had hoped, there are those who have found it and love it, so maybe you will too.
  21. flip12
    The Kovalevs I have play more like 5.25 to 5.5--slightly higher than the Warrior Gionta. The heel starts low, but it swoops up quick. A quarter to a third of the way from the heel to the toe, it's already above 5-5.25. The Leinos I have play lower, like 4.5. That pattern's also more open. What ever happened to the Kovalchuk pro curve? There was a video with Ronning talking about that one a couple of years back. I'd be into that if it got developed.
  22. flip12
    They also do a lot of figure skate sales at Westside, right? It could be that overlap leads them to buy into the Graf philosophy.
  23. flip12
    Or maybe on account of CETA, as Switzerland is part of the EU's single market, trade with Canada will soon be much more seamless than with the rest of North America--though I imagine that means mostly the US and not the other countries to the south.
  24. flip12
    Off-topic, but man, outside edge landing leg at the end of that video. Nice shot of good form. Edit: Forgot I had a point on topic as well...added below. Another time that part of the blade gets used is in toe-pick-and-carve situations (demonstrated by Cruikshank and Fedorov). I found the local shop didn't round off the toe, so when I'd go to do that, the pointed toe would dig in like a rudder and steer me away from where I was intending to go.
  25. flip12
    Great! Now please bring on a lower lie BC28! (Assuming it's a straight clone of the E28).
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