Done like dinner

Warning: I'm long-winded. I'm a 6" 170lb forward with a left ankle held together with metal plates and screws and playing with Multiple Sclerosis (prone to numbness and pain in my feet and shins esp. with poor fitting skates). I play (and been playing 3 mos.) drop-in avg. 4.5 times/week after having not played for 15 years. I was using my circa. 1990 graf supra 701's (with gold titanium blades haha) but a blade holder broke and I thought about maybe a whole scale replacement. After reading positive reviews here about Kors I sprung for a pair of Shift 1's, size 10D. I'll get into this more later but here's the synopsis: Kor sent me a new pair when, after only 4 ice sessions, there was some serious deconstruction issues with the outer protective shell on the inside toe-wear area on each skate. My Mission pitch 3 holders also broke at this time from being over tightened (not by me, must have been orig. assemblers). But, stay tuned b/c there's a very happy ending to the story. My feet are pretty slim, highish arch, and my skating is getting back to where it was at midget minor travel team level when I last played. Prev. injured ankle has screws kind of bulging out and skates rubbing against them is pretty painful even in my "well broken-in" ;/ grafs. Fit: After 1st bake (took to LHS and handed them Kor instruction sheet) they felt pretty good. Forward flex was not as great as I wanted after skating once so I got them rebaked and did a little more leaning forward while they were hot. This did the trick so be sure to stand up and do some flexing in your Kors (other thermomoldable skates tell you to stay seated). Having been out of the game and unfamiliar with new tech. I was pretty shocked that with my tender tootsies new skates could feel so good. Heel lock is positive and always there. The skates did loosen up and "get longer" when baked so my toes no longer brushed the end and I like that so they felt a little long but it didn't cause slippage. Still, half a size too big and that's a bummer (but read on b/c Kor customer service is ridiculously good and this problem "went away"). These are low cut skates and I believe that this, combined with the rigid one piece near perfectly fit boot, allows be to perform tighter turns more quickly. Less effort is required to make slight adjustments while skating, much like a sports car reacts quickly and positively to driver input. Pretty impressive. They aren't so twitchy that I can't skate in 'em however. I am excited about becoming a better skater with these and taking advantage of their potential. Only negative about fit is the chafing I feel from tendon guard when wearing "vapour" thin (long) socks. Underarmour soccer socks fix the prob but I like the super thin socks so I'm putting up with the chafe until it gets bad and then I switch. Lining is pretty quick drying (considering my last skates had actual leather) but feel wetter than the leather when really wet. Whatever; don't care but it's weird. Might be my new socks. "Toe sock", a proprietary feature of Kor's, I believe, is actually pretty nice. It's a neoprene sock-end atached inside the toebox that snugs around your toes. I like to wear tight hiking boots, skates, running shoes; I like to feel my toes up against the boot as it gives me confidence in my grip. Of course the compromise is getting calloused hammer-toes. The Kor toe sock gives me some feel (esp. since I received a new, smaller pair from Kor - more on that soon) without my toes being rammed into a plastic toe-box. A decent compromise esp. considering my numbness/pain issues. I feel less numbness than with my wonderfully broke-in grafs, and my bolted-together ankle feels comfy when skates tied right and well-protected (more on this later). Blade/Holder: Mission pitches. These are cool. As mentioned my original ones broke. they were obviously over-tightened by someone as the plastic was bulging out around the bolts. A shame. Anyway, I have the new ones adjusted to the forward lean position and they feel pretty neutral compared to my old grafs but those skates had lifts. I'm adjusted to this and I find that my calf muscles feel a lot better in this less forward position. The holders are holding up to slappers, the blade doesn't wobble but I am concerned about the possibility of stripping the blade bolts so I'm careful not to over tighten. The steel is holding an edge really, really well. This is nice steel. 'Course, my last steal was gold coloured.... and 1990 tuuks were bombproof (until 2007 anyway) Weight/Protection: Hey, my last skates were leather, so these are light. I know that the less weight I carry around all game the more energy I'll have in the last 5mins. and that gives me an edge. I'll take what I can get eh. Protection however is paramount. I wear 17 inch shin pads over my skate tongue with a sock stuffed in between to keep my ankle(s) protected. I can't imagine the mess a break on that repaired ankle would present. Anyway, I've taken a couple of real good shots on the sides of these skates and wow. It's like having microns on or something. I hope the composite weave can take the punishment and so far so good. I don't play pro hockey and don;t want to buy skates every year so I'm hoping that while light these babies will hold up. I'll tell you about my durability issues next... suffice to say that protection is impressive in my opinion, esp. considering weight. DurabilitySo, as mentioned after 4 sessions my skates started coming apart. The inside of each toe, where the outer layer is attached with a black adhesive to the composite boot, separated pretty badly. It just let go. I was disappointed, esp. when I realized that my holders were broken also from over tightening to the boot. But, MSH posts talked about great Kor service so I emailed them. A senior engineer who has posted on this site responded within 1.5 hours late in the afternoon. By 8pm that night we had emailed back and forth a few times and the next day I sent pics. Wham bam the senior engineer for Kor informed me that I should keep skating on my skates so I didn't miss any hockey and that they were going to fedex me a hand assembled, well-inspected new pair. I didn't have to send them a receipt, whine, beg, anything. I was straight up with him and he was straight up with me. I even mentioned that my skates turned out to be a half a size to big and it was no prob, they'll send me a 9.5. I'm still shocked to be honest with you. Here's a quote from one email: "No problem, we just look forward to keeping you in the ice, and furthermore happy while on it." and another: "If we can't figure out a proper fix we will gladly replaced them, as well please let us know your size if case this is necessary. I'll get back to you via phone call after we come to conclusions on Monday, again we appreciate you taking the time to contact us, and we'll do everything possible to improve your skating experience." Well I received my new pair, shipping and duties paid, less than a week later. I'm still waiting for them to give me the address for sending the old pair back but they said they'd pay for that too. I seriously wish that the company didn't need to go to the trouble because their product is fantastic and I am the last guy to want to cut into their profit margin. I get the feeling that Kor is really up aginast it with the big delay for the Shift 2's and lawsuits with Torspo. I'm a real Kor booster after my experience so I hope they can become a player. I belive that they have the original and best thermoformable composite boot. That said, paying for top end skates is a big deal for me and I still beleive that companies should back up their products with a code of honour instead of a calculation based on how many skates have "gone bad" already and other unrelated company profit/loss scenarios. Intangibles: These babies are fugly. Good thing I pull my socks and extra long shin pads over them. Honestly, I thought Porsche 928's were ugly too until I drove one. Now I drool when one goes by... Conclusion: I have had the best customer service experience of my life and have skates that do the job better than custom made 1990 graf supra 701's (when graf were really something actually). Considering the problems I have with my feet and ankle this really is saying something. Hang in there Kor. My replacement Shift 1's are doing great. They are holding up much better and I've begun to feel confident that I will get good wear from these skates.

Skates: Kor Shift 1 Stick: TPH/LOUI redlite whipflex with easton lidstrom pattern Helmet: CCM 452, no visor Shoulders: itechsp50 (brand new) Elbows: CCM V10.0 Shins: RBK 6k 17's Pants: Tackla 901 advantage, Made in CAN Gloves: Eagle x72, Made in CAN - Love those cheap, thin CCM practice jerseys in XL (I'm probably a medium esp. with my rec. shoulder pads). that light material, flapping in the breeze makes me go faster and keeps me cooler! RBK jerseys make me so hot I feel sick. Nike jerseys.... :o good grief. - CCM socks that have been washed a few times get so fuzzy that if you go down hard in the corner the friction stops you before hitting the boards and preventing serious injury. - RBK performance undergarments last longest for me and keep me cool.