mojo122

Nice skates!

Why would anyone remove the tendon guard when heat molding the skate unless you have a goalie conversion?

We will have to agree to disagree here. Having had TotalOne's and NXG's, I noticed greater stride extension with the improved flexibility of the NXG's tendon guard. Glad that what you have works for you.

What I don't like about the VH is the fixed tendon guard. While the Mako isn't the first skate to have a flexible tendon guard, they did take the flexibility to a new level.

Same here, but others have certainly noticed them!

I was getting wear in that area with my TotalOnes, which also had good flexion/extension capabilities. I'll have to keep an eye on my Makos, but at the 5-month marker these skates are not showing any excessive wear issues or concerns so far.

Out of curiosity are you skating tongues out or in? I skate with my shins over the tongues and with 5 months of skating 4 times a week my tongues are not showing any wear issues.

Yes, lifts at the front of the holder can be done.

What's important is going with a setup that works best for you. As for the steel, I preferred the LS3 steel over both the LS2 and Fusion. As for the Edge holder, I think it's a big improvement with the being able to swap out runners without a socket wrench.

Sometimes it just comes down to luck as no skate is going to be bulletproof. Case in point, broke my foot on a hard pass wearing TotalOne's, which just might be the most protective skate out there.

Nice wheels. I have to give the E28 a shot, although a heel curve guy for what seems an eternity now.

Looking at the bright side, glad it was your glasses that snapped and not your arm.

Somewhere in this 42 page topic I seem to remember someone had heated the arch area with a heat gun to resolve a arch-fit issue.

Agree. Unless you're having a fit issue there's no need to re-bake.

Did you try Loctite on the runner hardware? If the holder and runner aren't working for you and you have exhausted options like profiling, then by all means swap out holders.

Good advice. I always remove my footbeds after skating and put the skates on a boot dryer. I have noticed some moisture beneath the insoles. More than what I used to get from my NXG's.

Jimmy did the install and can best answer this, but it looks (to me) like they lined up perfectly.

The boot works just fine on LS2 holders. I didn't want to mess with what was working for me (LS2, 3mm heel lift, and titanium runners) and am glad I swapped out holders before ever skating in the Mako. This skate has a lot going for it in terms of comfort and performance.

Check the 2 innersoles to make sure that they are both the same size. There's no being able to slide mine even a millimeter. In fact, I have to unlace my skate down many eyelets and pull the tongue forward to take mine out and put them back in. Is it possible they put different sized footbeds in? Maybe, as my skates came with one 96 inch lace and one 120 inch lace.

If you scroll up in this topic you can see some pretty good pictures of the Kovalchuk, Hossa, and Savard cuffs. To me the Hossa is the shortest, but not my own personal favorite.

Had my second skate today, now totaling 6-hours of ice time with them. Even though only on the ice twice, these skates felt like they were completely broken in. The liner didn't appear to be any wetter after the skate than my NXG's would get. Extremely comfortable. I had some concerns with the innersoles as I have one flat and one high arch, but absolutely no pain whatsoever to date. Waiting to see how these are once I get them totally dialed in.

The forward pitch might affect your balance or stability until you get used to it, but shouldn't change how the skate fits. After all, we are talking about what, 3mm? Also, if fitted right your foot shouldn't being moving forward. It really shouldn't being moving at all. If after a few skates you are still having trouble adjusting to the pitch then you can contemplate having the blades profiled. I hope you can work out what ever issues you are having with the breaking in/adjustment period. Unless you have a low volume fit you might be best to stay with the Mako footbeds.

Had my first opportunity to skate in the Mako yesterday. Was on the ice for just over 3-hours. I didn't really have to adjust to these since I had Jimmy install LS holders with heel lifts on mine. The skate itself is very comfortable, experiencing no pain for a first skate. My sense is that these skates will break in fairly quickly. I did think that the liner and footbeds were pretty wet with sweat after taking them off. Wetter than the APX liner in my NXG's and my Superfeet footbeds. The skate dried very quickly on a boot dryer as did the footbeds. Once I'm dialed in on these I'll be able to make some performance comparisons to previous skates I have worn.

MLX skate baking instructions took into account that most users baking in a home oven would not be using a convection oven. If the shop baking the skate is using a preheated skate oven, then the 10-minute mark would probably be enough time. Having said that, I've seen some shops start the oven, place the skates in,and set the timer for what's on the box.

When trying on these skates, I couldn't get my foot into a 6.5, all my toes were tight up against the toe cap in the 7, and my big toe was feathering the toe cap in a 7.5. I went with the 7 because I knew my heel and foot would pull back with the baking. After baking my big toe is feathering the toe cap. The footbed from the Mako to me seems more like a footbed from a running sneaker than a skate. I am currently using custom Superfeet in my Bauer's, but intend to try the Mako footbed when I start using these skates in a couple of weeks.