I'm having trouble buying new inline skates.
I consider myself an above average skater, w/ plenty of speed and balance, etc. I use to put on any pair of skates, tie them and find a way to use them. Didn't matter if they were top of the line or a borrowed pair.
A little background - I played forward most of my life but switched to defense and played nothing but defense for a solid 3-4 years. I've been playing both positions switching back and forth when needed for the last 3 or so years, mostly on offense. During that run of playing only defense, I started tying my skates tighter and even wrapping the laces around my ankle. I don't know why, but I did... When I needed new skates it was difficult to find ones that fit right. Too much room at the ankle / too much flex forward. I eventually picked up the high end Bauer XRPro's and they didn't feel comfortable at first, but good enough and I adjusted to them, but still tied them tight.
I now need, or want, brand new skates again and I find myself in a similar situation. I bought the Mission's AC1's a few years ago on clearance and never used them. I got a really good price online so I could only get 1 size down instead of 1 1/2 - which I blamed not using them on, but it seemed to be kinda' the same problem with the top ankle. So I continued to use my Bauer skates. Since then I've tried on Tour Code 1, Mission DS2, and one of the higher Bauer models. I looked at the Mission NLS 1, but the price range is a bit steep right now.
So what is my problem? Do I need to adjust with the ankle room after years of tying the skates too tight? Baking the skate didn't seem to help. Are these skates just too big? I feel like I've tried smaller sizes, about as small as I could go but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I use standard D size skates and I can try to double bake the skate, but that would be another purchase that might not work out since you can't bake and try, before you buy.
The skates I currently own (Bauer), are still in good enough condition to continuing using, but in my mind if I went a little looser, I may gain an extra step and more than anything it's bothering me that I can't wear new skates.
Any advice?