Sniper9

Yup. I'm gonna be looking at their retail or demo model for sure. Either way I'm gonna get scanned for new trues this summer. Just waiting to see if it'll be the catalyst or the tf. I could probably fit into retail catalysts fine but it's kind of annoying to remove the stock holders and swap them out with xs holders. My LHS says true will send custom skates predrilled for any holder. They're one of the few LHS that has a good relationship with true which will do that since I hear true refuses to do this anymore.

Ontario should have tonnes of hockey shops. Doesn't have to be a big one. Phl is pretty much sport chek but sells only hockey. Maybe slightly more educated.... They are owned by FGL as well so.. go to an actual hockey shop.

Yup do it at home. Especially with trues it's hit or miss. Usually miss regarding the staff heat moulding them properly. The stretch wrap can also we found at some dollar stores for much cheaper than home Depot etc. But even then it's not that expensive. I got this exact same one bc my local dollar store didn't carry it anymore. But I'm pretty sure this roll is at least three times more than the one I got at the dollar store.

I bought them but ended up returning them. They felt pretty decent overall for a retail skate. Heel lock was there. And overall just a bit of rubbing in the left pinky that I think would've gone away over time or a second bake. I thought of this or at least get this on discount when the machs come out but I got these at 25% off. I really don't think the technology of the machs will be any diff than the ultrasonics except the tongue from the pictures Ive seen. I actually ended up returning these because the right skate felt really off in terms of the edge. At first I thought the right boots edge was sharpened bad bc my inside edge seemed super dull but outside bit so hard. Left skate was fine. I swapped the steel from left and right skate and still had the same issue. Not sure if it's a holder mount./ Alignment issue on the right skate but I wasn't going to spend time trying to figure the issue out. So ya. Back to my tried and trusted trues. I think I'll see how the catalyst skates are and maybe get scanned for those.

Wanted to try retail Bauers. Nothing will be more comfortable than my custom Trues but wanted to see how retail skates wee these days. All I can say is CCM just doesn't work for me. Previous to my Trues I wore one100s for 7 years... Have I come full circle???

Good thing you caught it in time. I'm glad the store also accommodated you as well. I could see some places saying "it will be fine". I think true also has to accept the scan as well. I wonder if they would look at the scan and see that there was obviously no forward flexion at the ankle that they would accept it. I bet they would, seeing how many bad scanned are turned into production.

Saran wrap absolutely locks the boot in place as it cools. Regular baking method relaxes the boot to conform around your foot but not necessarily negates all the negative space. You can reduce the space by tightening the laces a bit more but that generally works better for traditional boots by Bauer etc where the eyelet facings are more flexible and further apart. With trues, once they are cooled down and cured the boot and facings are pretty rock hard. I rebaked my custom trues for the first time in three years and didn't have saran wrap os just laced them and massaged them. Worked fine but I def can tell they arent as locked in. I tighten the laces a bit more and that solves it but prior I would barely even need to put any tension don't the laces. Personally, for trues, id always use the saran wrap method. Even for other skates I'd use it as well especially for the top three eyelets because skates like Bauer don't really get that soft, and in order to get a really good wrap you have to put some stress on the eyelets during baking and I'd rather not. Imo, using a wrap around the ankle and top eyelets would give you way more wrap without any tension on the eyelets. That's just me though. I just got some 3s pros and I did the first bake. I'm going to skate on them this weekend and if I feel I need another bake, I'm def going to use saran wrap. Alternatively, you can massage the boot around your foot so the eyelet facings contour and fold over then lace it up so you're not relying just on the laces to get the eyelet facings to wrap

On the flip side of your knees are too far forward it'll also affect the skate fit. Or heel pocket may be too deep and ankle cup position may be slightly off. It's best to have your knees just above the toes imo. Having your leg completely straight is unacceptable though. The staff members really need to get proper training. I'm glad where I am, theres a LHS that has been selling vh/true since vh first came out, and it's the same/only guy at the store that does the true custom process.

Try them on. They fit very differently since you're JETSPEEds.

If what you saw was a small white sticker then it was in fact a 7. Which is a medium. If volume is your issue then just get the alternative lightweight tongues. The 7 would've been the right size for you since it's a 7-8. The next size up would be massive for you if you didn't like the 7. One size smaller it will still be just as thick but longer and maybe wider. I personally like the felt tongue. I like the feeling of the padding. Mind you I haven't tried the other tongues but if it won't broke...

The true tongues do come in sizes so you'll need to get the right size. This site has the size guide but you're in between sizes. Do you know what size your LHS gave u? There should be a sticker on it with a number somewhere. When I got mine it did. I'm 263 holder and asked for a medium and it came with a number 7 sticker on it. If you can find out what size your LHS one is I'd get one size down. You can order from the site I linked. They also have an ebay account. Or order from true. You can also email true and ask them what size tongue goes with your skate. https://www.hockeyvancouver.ca/collections/true-vh-hockey-skate-repair-parts/products/true-standard-felt-replacement-skate-tongues

This. And the fact there's way more selection of ice boots to choose from. You'll eventually find something that's fits best vs roller which has limited options and you'll be settling. For me id get the true tf inlines since I have the true custom so the fit will be very similar.

You prob will still have to use at least 10+ screws with this hardware as they are not as beefy as the graf hardware.

Model wise ft3 pro is the top of the line for that year. I have it. Love it. My all time favorite so far is still the trigger 4 pro. But the ft3 pro is a great stick too. Can't say much for Bauer sticks since I haven't used them since the 2n pro which I didn't like at all. Mind you I'm more of a low kick guy. Ft3 pro has a good feel of a mix between low and mid kick. If you're truly a low kick guy and coming off a 1x, the 3x pro might be better for you in terms of less adjustment. Oh ya ccm sticks , from my experience has pretty good durability. I actually haven't broken on yet since the release of the trigger 4 pro. I do however only play once a week.

Bc those screws are way more secure than rivets. That's why you only need 8.

Tf7 fit more like other brands because of the traditional tongue? I did notice with my trues when I push the tongue further down into the toe box it caused my feet and toes to flatten more and elongate (which I like the feel of). Youre going to get the catalyst on custom? Did I even need to ask? Lol. Can't wait to see up close pics from you. Those are probably going to be my next pair of skates since I like what they did with a shorter and more low profile toe cap. Not a huge fan of the overall look but it being a more flexible boot and change in toecap got my interest.

I know. What I'm saying is that if trues 6.5 fits like a traditional 7. The size of their boot would be roughly the same length as a traditional 7 which means their 6.5 should support a 263 holder, not 254. 254 would look like it's falling short. If you look at the pic, there's quite a bit of room in the heel and the two. Probably could have a holder one size larger and it wouldn't even look oversized. I guess this is only an issue for those who are downsizing with true and fall into a smaller holder, as someone going from 7.5 to 7 wouldn't affect holder size.

It's also good to use trigger point therapy aka foam rolling etc on your calves, soles, and tibialis anterior (shin) muscles.

I've never had issues with mine coming loose. I used to check the tightness every month and even drew dots on them so I could visually see if they unthreaded at all but they didn't. So now I just check the tightness when I feel like it... Like twice a year. Never had issues. I do however have a bunch of spares as I was initially worried about losing them. You can't beat the good old bolt runner system though. Not efficient at the pro level but for me, I'm going to stick with it as long as I can. I prefer the ls2 holder over the sb 4.0 but the only reason I stopped using that holder is I wasnt keen on drilling a hole in the sole of my new trues for the ls2 holders to swap steel... That and steel for those holders are becoming obsolete, especially black steel.

Even with the graphics package you know (and can see) these are nothing close to the retail as-v spec wise. Then again most pros prob have skates that are no where near retail spec and just a graphics package. Like Tavares. Uses a super soft boot. Most pros also like the leather/pleather eyelet facing vs the rubber on retails.

So anyone planning on getting the catalyst skates retail or custom? I think my next skates will be the custom catalyst customs. I wonder if true will change their skate sizing so it's more in line with ccm Bauer and not run bigger. I still don't know why they use a holder that's a size smaller too. You can tell there's lots of room still from of the boot for a larger holder. Fr example. Their size 6.5 fits more like a size 7. Which means the boot technically is the size 7 when compares to ccm Bauer. Which means the 6.5 holder should be 263 and not 254.

The minimal time I've had tuuk edge holders a couple years ago, the steel that actually fit best were Bauer steel. Step had issues. Tydan had issues. Mainly with movement. They all locked in fine but some harder than others to get in. The easiest was the Bauer LS3 steel I had. Clicked in nice and no blade movement. At the time I just figured Bauer Bauer steel was made by Bauer for the edge holder it was just a better fit and more within spec. Also the step notch that locks into the trigger is shaped a bit different than Bauer steel. This doesnt mean much to you because your steel is Bauer. Personally, the only tuuks I'd choose to use are the ls2 holders. And with ccm I'd give the xs a shot but currently using the ab 4.0 on my trues. I'm old school and prefer a bolt locking my steel in place. I know my next skates I'll probably try the xs though as I'm a big fan of ccm. Any next skates will likely be the true catalyst though but will slap some xs holders on em.

Edited

So I spot heated the area and opened up the cuff ever so slightly and it seemed to help a lot. I went and tried on retail skates and it actually felt worse bc of tht lack of wrap. With what I did I feel it's there but no pain. I think I feel something there mainly bc there's a bruise on that area now bc of all the skates I tried and I kept mimicking the ankle inversion. Looking back probably isn't a good idea as the last thing I want is for it to be a chronic scar tissue thing. I imagine if I didn't have a bruise the tweak in the cuff would've resolved the issue completely.

This was me. I just came back from trying on skates in store. Basically vapor in fit 1 was ok. Decent heel lock forefoot seemed a bit wide but I think overall it would've been ok with a bake. That said, it wasn't good enough for me to be like ok I'll buy them. Especially vs the fit of my trues. So Bauers fit system isn't going to work for me. As for ccm. I was happy to say their regular fit was pretty spot on. I tried the 90k ribcor and it was snug everywhere and good heel lock. Might've been a touch tight on the forefoot but baking would've most likely relaxed that area. Also the good thing about ccm is their 90 satisfaction guarantee. I tried an ft4 in tapered fit and that wasn't going to happen. Way too narrow. Which is funny when comparing Bauer's lowest volume fit to ccms. Not even comparable. I wonder if ccm can get away with overall snugger fit systems bc their boots are much more thermoformable than Bauer's, and after a bake, ccms can fit a wider range or ppl. Just like how trues prebake will feel super tight and you can't even get your foot in. End of the day I'm liking where ccm is going with their skates. The Bauer hyperlite is a nice skate but they need to step up their game when it comes to how formable their boots can be when baked.