stick9

My thought from day 1 was Bauer should have licensed the runner. I get why they didn't. Had the LS4 not been such a disaster it might have paid off.

No

Hard to say, depends on the steel. I know both LS3 and Step come with a 10 foot radius but the overall contour (shape of the blade) is much different. The LS3 has a lot more meat at the toe than Step. When I was using LS3 I had to have the toes shaved then profiled. The Step was fine right out of the box, just sharpen and go.

No, those instructions are for skate ovens which are different than household ovens. But whatever....

Your experience sounds more like it's the profile and less like it's the actual steel itself. The stock Step profile and contour is very playable. I've skated on LS2, LS3, DLC coated LS3, LS4, LS5, Fusion Edge, Tydan & Step. The Fusion and LS2 were pretty terrible. The real standout has been the LS5. I'd rank it above the Step, Tydan and the coated LS3. The glide on the LS5 is far and away better than the rest. I thought maybe it was just me until a teammate said the exact same thing after switching. Value wise, LS3 is where it's at. I picked up a Blacksteel honing kit on eBay for the LS5. Came with a special Stone and a thick leather towel. https://www.ebay.ca/itm/274050767317

Just follow the instructions by Icewarehouse. That's probably your safest bet. You can bake multiple times without issue. Baking won't fix everything.

Or maybe they are two entirely different concepts. I recall the O-stick being touted as reduced drag, improving swing speed. The ADV has nothing to do with drag or swing speed.

Thing I remember when I tried on the Jetspeeds was how narrow the heel was. Much more so than my 1X. Volume wise the Jetspeeds and Ribcors are close. Maybe a touch less in the Jetspeed?? Hard to say for sure, my foot never made it all the way into those Jetspeeds. Shame, I was looking forward to trying them. Compared to Bauers. Both ccms seem to have a bit more volume than a modern era vapor. I'd put them somewhere between the vapor and supreme. Definitely try going back up that half size. Maybe that puts your instep in a more favorable spot...

Keep in mind that a EE Supreme is going to be wider all around. You could very well be transferring your problem to a different area. Like for example, heel lock.

I-Dub has a decent video and step by step. There are literally tons of videos https://www.icewarehouse.com/lc/skates/how-to-bake-a-hockey-skate-at-home.html

It's important to understand, some skates require you to bake them. You will never mold the composite shell without baking. Generally speaking, baking a skate should reduce break in time, but that's not the real advantage. The real advantage of baking is the optimization of the fit.

Depends on the sock. If you're skiing in thin Merino wool socks, then yeah, they'd probably work fairly well for skating. I find dedicated skate socks to be over priced. The Swiftwicks I use are much better than any skate sock I've tried and about half the price.

There really needs to be like a 73 flex senior stick. Or lower the point where the flex is measured so someone 5' 9" can cut a 77 and have it stay a 77.

Think Easton did it too. That reflex coil tech on the Stealth was essentially that.

I live in MA and struggle to find quality and consistent sharpenings. When I was still having a shop do my skates. I would drive about an hour north, bypassing a half dozen or so places that sharpen. It was a PIA. If that guy was having an off day or they were closed (which actually happened) I was screwed. There was this one time I was forced to go to PH. I asked for something that was not their standard cut. She took em and put them in the window. No marking the cut. I asked and she said "yeah, they know". Its a dying art.

Didn't that Rover skate concept have cuts in the boot in that area?

What a colossel waste of time... Anyway. On the economics or if. That 7, 8 year range is about what I figured. Money wise, I doubt I make my money back. I sharpen for me and maybe a few friends. I never charge. The convince of it though, oh hell yeah. Not having to rely on anyone else is nice and I love having fresh edges. I never put a dollar value to that but it has to be worth something. For me it's always been about the convince and consistency. It's the same edge every time. If they're hosed, its on me.

Like I've always said, the weakest part of the Sparx machine is the bag of bones pressing the buttons. So I checked all my rings, they all say 40 per ring. Can someone hook me up with some of those sweet 60 per rings? 🙄

You got it backwards. Originally it was listed at 40. So those less popular rings are still labeled 40. Which was explained in great detail by the VP of marketing at Sparx.

Dude, it was just explained to you....twice actually.

No, they were very transparent about it. Older rings were labeled 40 per, newer rings are labeled 60 per and that reflects what's listed on the Sparx site. Nothing nefarious about it. They were conservative with the original numbers, which were then upgraded based on average customer usage. Repackaging every ring would have been costly and not really necessary.

You could try the W28 from warrior. It's a little less open and not as deep as Bauer's P28. I find it a bit more manageable. Bauer's P14 was the dream curve. Too bad it's gone and I've already stock piled 28's.

I wouldn't get too caught up in length per player position. Especially since there are only a couple different lies available.

Blade lie can be compensated by tweaking the overall length of the stick. For example, most Bauer P92's are a lie 6. When I used P92's I would cut them a little shorter than normal. That helped me get more blade on the ice.

Yep, I bought some Alpha QX's from monkey for $118 a piece. Which is less then I had been paying for pro-stocks.