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flip12
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Everything posted by flip12
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I know what you mean about the Grafs in terms of comfort and range of motion, even when lacing tight. Especially with the 707's, you're getting as much range of motion as any skate's going to give. The springiness in Graf's facing or eyelet rows is one of the things I love about their skates. I haven't used Makos, but I did find it tricky to get a similar locked-in but free to move feeling from the MLX boot as I'm used to in my 703's. Eventually I think I got it sorted out. Edit: duh, forgot the radius thing. If I'm not mistaken, Cobras and Ultras have the same stock steel and are an 11' profile. If you're comfortable turning on that and you go down to a 9', it might be tough to do without the increased glide you'd have on the 11' radius, which could be why it feels like you can't skate as well in Makos as in 707's. I'd put some of the blame for that on the difficulties you're having with the boot itself as well. When I'm in a skate that's higher cut than Graf, I also have to unlace an eyelet. Still, I don't like the compromise this forces from the boot. It just feels incredibly sloppy compared to having a boot that can support all the way up and still allow forward flex and ankle rotation inside and outside.
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Grafs feel quite different than other retail boots. My MLX were the first boots that came close to feeling like, and allowing for the range of motion of Grafs. Grafs are quite shoe like compared to other hockey skates (with the exception of some of the beefier models, i.e. the 709s). That, and some of the other deviant things about Graf's setup make for an experience that not everyone who said they loved Graf's comfort would end up wanting to stick with. Not only that, but the quality control definitely drove a lot of otherwise would be Graf-converts away. That said, SpideyDiG, if you're feeling more capable in your 707's, it makes me wonder whether or not you're skating on a different steel setup in your Makos. If you were in stock 707's, were they on Cobra holders? If so, and if you're also using stock CXN's on the Makos, you may be comfortable with the pitch but not quite with the radius. You'd be going from 11' on the Cobras to 9' on the CXNs. I'm not positive the pitch is quite as aggressive in the 707's, but the pitch difference would be significant either way.
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The first Makos had Texalium and resin shells. I thought the carbon fiber replaced the Texalium as part of the fix for the shells ripping at the heel.
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I don't know if it's that bad. It's possibly a part of evolutionary fitness to care about looking cool at that age, or at least not looking dorky. Form, fit, and function are more difficult concepts to wrap around a young brain, or any brain really, but a young one especially. People get there, but usually as they get older and are finally freed from the suffocating confines of that large institution where they see the same faces and power structure every day.
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I've read claims that Fedorov had that done by Graf when he was sponsored by Nike. I've never been able to find visual evidence of it though.
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But in Wickenheiser's case, were there licensing fees to display logos where she played? I know the Olympics is strict about that with regards to gloves, helmets and sticks, but I didn't think they required logos to be obscured on skates.
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But what kind of a bag are we talking about? Wouldn't it just be several additional kg's of plastic material VH would have to source annually just to give another minor sense of reveal on arrival? If the bag serves no practical purpose other than presentation, to me it sounds like just the kind of trimmings that we as a global society could much better do without in order to improve on our sustainability.
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I personally really like the VH look. I find a lot of the other boots on the market to be pretty garish.
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I thought that was just because they hadn't gotten the new plastic toe cap set up for boots larger than size 10 yet, and Greyskull's are larger than that.
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I just did this to my MLX. Following Scott Van Horne's recommendation from his video on baking VH boots, I clamped the heel with a quick-grip clamp. I also used a shoe-horn to get my foot in as he recommends earlier in the video. Because I only bought one clamp, I just baked the skates one at a time. The feeling when skating when from sloppy as Joes to pretty much ideal. I had been on the fence about this kind of boot over the Graf fit and form I've known and loved for almost 15-years. Now I'm dead set on VH as my next pair when I can afford them. Edit: ha, craypas71 earlybirded me to it!
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That looks really sharp. Gold or silver, if they could do that tendon guard detail, I think it would come out great. Just curious, did your thinking change regarding the softening of the top few eyelets? I thought that had dissuaded you from going back to VH.
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This is the segment I was thinking of: https://youtu.be/PBUfeofOa90?t=140
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There's that video where SVH talks about modifying Blake Wheeler's boot in that spot to accommodate his tight turning radius. Maybe the new toe cap design improves on that problem area? It seems to be right where the arrow portion of it extends over to the side of the boot.
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Is it the forefoot that's touching when you bottom out?
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Any idea what it was you didn't like about the CXN?
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Ah, I missed that part about the shims moving on his old Supremes. I'm pretty sure heel lifts don't need to move like that. Maybe a different place could install them. But, yeah, in that case, I can see why you want to find a holder with the pitch built in. Cobras are another option, but they're not as popular.
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Right! OrrSmith, don't chose the boot for pitch. Think of the pitch on the boot as it comes off the shelf as though it were a "suggested serving" like you see on a cereal box or something. You can eat it with those things if you like, but if you want to go a different direction, that's entirely possible. Essentially: pick the boot for what fits your son's feet best. From what I think I remember you posting in other threads, he was ok with the Mako, but now the boots are too shallow for his feet. If he wants to go back to Supremes because he prefers the more traditional feeling of that kind of boot compared to the Mako, then go with those. If he actually prefers the feeling (and by "feeling" I mean the ride/skating-experience) of the Mako and just wishes they were deeper, then VH might be a more satisfactory solution. Since they're tailored rather than ready-to-wear, it's possible to have a similar feeling boot with the right volume. It's really no problem to swap holders or install heel lifts, change the pitch of the steel, and so on.
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I'm curious because I really liked the past-vert vamping on my Mission roller boots from 20-years ago and from looking at Cruikshank's prototype skate in the making of the Mako video, it appears the boot has roughly the same forward angle as 55-flex, and it looks a lot more aggressive than the standard VH-cut. Edit: on looking at it with 55-flex in mind, it's more that the whole boot is tilted forward, the achilles area as well as the vamping, so it's not a perfect analogue.
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Nothing wrong with your reading, I take the blame on that one, I wrote it very sloppily and ambiguously. I saw how I made it out to be when I reread it I've been focused on art detail work all day, so my language brain has been all over the place.
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55-Flex: From, http://www.55flex.com/ to their webshop, http://55flex.catalystbiz.com/index.php?route=product/product&filter_name=flex&product_id=53 it says it's unavailable at the moment.
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I've been considering 55-flex on my MLX (which apparently aren't available on the company site at the moment). If I can afford to, I'll probably order some VH in the next few months. I'm just trying to figure out ahead of time what kinds of modifications I may be interested in.
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Afinogenov sticking with VH, and going full-retro-vapor in the boots' custom dress: Also, I'm curious, has anyone inquired about extra vamping at the top two eyelets, a la 55-flex?
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Maybe what's needed is a shoehorn for the top of the foot. It could possibly be made of termoplastic: just some shell over the instep of the foot to spread out the pressure / take the brunt of the force applied by the moulded facing that's bruising people's feet. Pop it on the foot for getting in the boot, once the foot's in, slide it out.
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All kidding aside... neither of the photos here are of myself, and I overlooked the potential confusion. The avatar's Monika Jagaciak and the helm'd Olympian is Hilary Knight. Knight's grill indeed looks a bit big, but maybe she chose that size for the sight-lines or something?
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You might need it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mnQPJdaJeA
