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How are you liking the Hustler elbows? I'm still searching for my perfect elbow pad and those looked pretty nice.

Good ol' eBay. What's the lie on that? Probably about a 5 I would say. Seems just a little lower than the retail Sakic I have. Pretty close though.

I'm sure it's old hat for you guys around here by now, but I just got my new baby in the mail:

After getting the urge I think I've finished the revamping of my equipment. Helmet: Bauer 5000 w/ Itech straight-cut visor Shoulders: CCM Tacks Reebok 8k Elbows: CCM V08 Pants: Warrior Hustler Tackla Air 9000z Shins: Bauer One95 Gloves: Eagle PPF Skates: CCM U+ 09 Bauer X:50 / Mission Assassin Sticks: Bauer One95 - P92, Alfredsson Pro Stock, Samsonov Pro Stock / Easton SE16 - Sakic / Warrior Dolomite Spyne - Kovalchuk The U+ Skates felt so great in the store, but I just never could get the right feel out on the ice. The X:50 feel amazing. I'm happy I made the switch. I wanted to upgrade my dingy old shoulder pads. Loved the fit and feel of the new Reebok line and went with the 8k. Protection is way beefed up at the cost of just a little bit of weight, almost unnoticeable though. Mobility feels much better with the new ones. I have a friend who knows a friend who works for Warrior so I was able to get a pair of the Hustler pants at a discount. They're a nice pair of pants and I can see why many like them, but much like the U+ skates, they just weren't for me. I think switching to the Tackla pants will work out much better for me.

I tried on the 6k, 8k, and 10k at the LHS today. All of them felt great. Very lightweight, comfortable, protective, and mobile. 10k were a bit bulkier but naturally offered the best protection. 6k didn't feel quite as mobile and were slightly less comfortable compared to the other two. My personal favorite was the 8k. Perfect balance of all the features. Amazing comfort, quality protection, but still light and mobile. All the segmented pads make for a very mobile set of pads. Agreed. As impressed I came away regarding the shoulder pads, I felt quite the opposite about the elbows. Decent fit, but they felt too restrictive and the straps made for an uncomfortable fit in my experience.

No, I got my hands on a few... :D Saw the auction up on eBay and grabbed two. The rest of the lot sold out quickly. With them going so fast I had wondered if I should've bought a couple more. Fate would tempt me as it seemed, as another lot of Samsonov pro stocks showed up the next day. Nabbed two more before I realized I pulled my credit card out. Pretty spelled out by the pictures, but: Warrior Dolomite Spyne (Kovalchuk), Easton SE16 (Sakic), NikeBauer One95 (Naslund), One95 Pro Stock (Alfredsson), One95 Pro Stock (Samsonov x4). Love the curve, but what I'm curious about, for those in the know, is this: Why do the pro stocks seem to have such narrow toes on the blade? On both the Alfredsson and Samsonov pro stocks the blade gets rather narrow at the toe (not like Spezza, but...) In comparison to the retail sticks (Sakic, Naslund) the toe seems so wide, and almost downright fat in comparison. Any particulr reason for that?

The current Flexlites? (2.0/3.0/4.0) or last years models? When I tried on the Flexlite 4.0 it felt pretty standard on the sizing (my usual 9D) opposed to the 8.5 I ended up with on the X:50. You best bet is to order from Inline Wearhouse (if you're in the US anyway. If Canada or overseas it might not work as well). They have a great return policy, so if you buy the wrong size it's easy to make an exchange. My experience was that the new Vapors (at least the X:50) run about a half size bigger than the average.

Wow those are really nice. Are there any differences in the way roller boots are made compared to ice boots, that make them less than ideal to use on ice? I'm just assuming here, but are the roller boots made with less stiffness/protection because of the lighter weight of a roller hockey ball/puck? Regardless, they look sweet. Im pretty sure those are both inline boots, he just got one boot mounted with pitch-3's for ice and the after market mg alloy black frame on the other inline boots... I think he was asking more along the lines of why he chose to turn an inline boot into an ice skate. The skates look really slick btw. The black holder looks great with the white boot.

That would be correct.

I had a first skate this morning on a pair of X:50's. The fit and feel of the skate was fantastic, but that liner was very rough on the first run. Especially on my heels, and a bit on the ankles as well. Doesn't seem to have the initial comfort of the XXXX or U+ style liner. I'm considering wearing some ultra-thin socks or getting a pair of the EZeeFit ankle booties, at least until the skates are broken in a little more. Other than the heel/ankle discomfort I found them very comfortable.

Very comfortable skate softer than Vapor 40s, good stiffness, they fit wider and deeper than i expected for a Junior skate, especially the toe box. In the Vapor XXXX i was a size 6. On the X50 i found there was too much volume(size6) so i went to a 5.5R skate. For me volume wise the X:50 is a better fit than my ONR95 5.5R. ONE95s not bashing them still love those just i find the lower cut boot better for my skating style. When i tried mine on at majer hockey. they had a used pair of xxx's so i tried them on to compare them to the x:60. They had a similar fit but not exact the same. I found a better locking heel and more room in the toe box in the X:60 slightly more volume. I think they run big also; about a 1/4 size. I always felt the bauer 7 was a little big for me, but the 6.5 was too small. The 6.5 in the vapor 60 is just right for me. Yeah I found they run bigger as well. I'm a size 9 in most skates. I tried on a pair of XXXX in 8.5 and they were too small. However today I tried on the X:50 and the 9's were definitely too big, but the 8.5 fit me perfect.

Yeah I picked up a couple of the Gilbert XXXX's and it's the same thing. Definitely a Mission repainted (and stickered, heh.)

Thanks guys. Hopefully the paint will hold up for a little while. Not yet, but I think I have some down in the basement. I might give it a spray or two with that tonight.

Very cool paint job. After viewing a few pictures of sticks that had been painted I decided to do a little touch up on my Easton ST. The paint had a loooot of chips and scratches so I figured a fresh coat of paint could be cool. The result: I'm pretty happy with it. :)

Helmet: Bauer 5000 w/ Itech straight-cut visor Shoulders: CCM Tacks (452 maybe? Nice flexible low end model) Elbows: RBK 4k CCM V08 Pants: Warrior Hustler Shins: Bauer One95 Gloves: Eagle PPF Skates: CCM U+ 09 / Mission Assassin Sticks: Bauer One95 - P92 / Easton SE16 Sakic / NikeBauer Vapor XXXX pro-stock Gilbert / Easton ST - Sakic / Warrior Dolomite Spyne - Kovalchuk / Easton Stealth S11 - Sakic Might get the Bauer XXXX elbow pads soon. Contemplating...