Search the Community

Hey there can any one tell me measurements on the Marsblade r1 chassis I’m looking for width of mounting points front and rear have ccm ft460 ice skates I want to convert but under the blade runners there are breather cut outs with have limited me to what I can do if any one can help out muchly appreciated thanks

I've been skating with the R1 for five games and after an initial adjustment period, I'm very happy. I think there could be improvements and I'm a tiny bit concerned about long-term wear, but at this point I'd recommend the R1. FZ-0, 6.5ee. I was properly fitted (and the mounted the frame) at Coast to Coast Hockey Shop in Vancouver and was shocked to learn: A- I was previously in boots 1.5 sizes too big; B- I have a wide forefoot but a narrow heel; and C- my left foot is a full size bigger than my right. So apart from getting used to a new frame, I'm extremely very extra super happy with the boots themselves. I've been skating for over twenty years and these are the best skates have ever felt. They're almost like an extension of my body rather than silly wheeled doodads I'm strapping on my feet for an hour or two. The skating experience took a little bit of time to figure out. For context, my sprungs were severely worn down, the arms for the front two wheels especially so. Normally the tops are squared off and fit into the base snuggly but mine had worn into wedge shapes so the effect was much less "springy" and much more tick-tocky. I could lean forward and the front two wheels stayed on the ground while the back two wheels lifted off. Which felt great sometimes but also felt extremely fragile. I was a very self-aware skater on my old skates, conscious of the feeling that the sprungs could explode at any time. Which isn't great. Anyway, I was accustomed to an extreme amount of movement and even though I was on the h5-t8, " the most movement" insert, I wanted more, especially from the toe. The heel movement felt ok, definitely better than flat frames, but I couldn't really dig in with my toes the way I could on sprungs. After three games, I loosened the bushing bolt by a half turn and there was much more play in the frame. At this point the movement took a bit of getting used to and I almost lost it in the warm up but during the game, I was digging in with my toes much better and I felt much sharper in the turns. Forward to backward transitions were quick and I was particularly impressed with my backwards acceleration. Stopping, for whatever reason, didn't feel as sharp. In my sprungs I could reliably get the wheels to make the "BEEERRRRRBBBB" noise when stopping but it's not as strong with the marsblades. I have this vague idea that in the sprungs I was better able to roll my weight, so to speak, from toe to heel so when I stopped, I could better modulate weight placement over the wheels. Maybe this is nonsense, maybe I'll get used to the marsblades and figure it out there too. Overall, I felt a bit quicker than with sprungs and apart from the stopping, didn't lose anything. Also, there's something to be said for the increased confidence that my skates weren't going to blow up... these are well made pieces of kit. As a caveat, I'm not a big guy at 66kg and in terms of how body weight affects the movement and stability, I have no idea. Bigger guys may get more movement than I do. The looser bushing bolt didn't feel weak or unstable but I'm small. I've mentioned sprungs wearing out a few times so let's look at wear for the marsblades. Look at that dust! We've been playing on a covered outdoor rink with smooth concrete, maybe one grade below polished. As you can see, there's significant wear on the anodization. There's some deep scratches and wear going on but nothing too worrying. This isn't unexpected in any way, moving parts with dust and dirt will grind down (my sprungs certainly did) I've been diligent about taking apart and cleaning everything... If you're not familiar this is the base of the frame and the rocker insert goes on top of this, with the metal frame following. This is the typical amount and type of dust that I get after a game, before I clean it. If you look closely at the bolt thing, there's some rust starting to develop at the base. I've started to use an old toothbrush to scrub around it rather than letting water clear everything away but I don't like the rust. There's a bit of wear on the sides (matching where the metal part is worn but again, nothing unexpected or too concerning. The plastic insert, likewise, seems ok. This is the metal frame facing side and it's a bit rougher, as if the movement between the insert and the frame are embedding grains of dust into the insert. Wear wise, I'm a bit concerned about the bolt rusting and time will tell about the metal frame... could it wear down so much that there's noticeable side-to-side play between the metal frame and the base? I'd feel better if I could replace individual parts of the frame setup easily or if my local shop could service them in some way. I went through three sprung set ups and they each lasted me about two years skating outdoors on dusty/gritty and sometimes muddy surfaces. If I can get that out of marsblades, I'd be satisfied. I'd be happier if it was longer but we will see how that goes.

I dug my 1997 Bauer "Breakout 50s" out from the back of a closet a few weeks ago. They're actually not bad, although I have nothing to compare them to. The wheel setup (that I don't remember doing) is 76-76-76-72, which felt OK, but kind of like skis compared ice runners...and they feel like they weigh about 10 lbs, each. Got some wheels in various sizes and changed to 72-76-76-72, which feels better and allows tighter turns. All the wheels I bought are 78A, because that seems like a good match on the rough-but-sealed concrete deck where I skate. Slightly softer could work well too, but I definitely wouldn't want anything harder with any less grip. (I'm 185 lbs.) I don't plan on playing roller hockey...just want to continue skating until the rinks open up again and keeping my mechanics as close to skating on ice as possible. The deck I skate on is roughly the dimensions of half an ice-rink neutral zone (split in half lengthwise...so blue line to blue line and boards to center face-off dot). I can do some drills, but I already run out of space quickly, so not looking for faster wheels...thinking that 68-72-72-68 might be optimal for my situation. Both boots are quickly developing cracks after sitting in a closet for 20+ years, so I ordered a couple of pairs of skates in case I decide to put the Marsblades I ordered on one of them instead of on one of my old Lange boots. One of them is Bauer RS and the other is Alkali 2, (only because every place I looked was already out of lower-end models and the seller upgraded me to the A2s after notifying me that the Tour Code 3.ones I actually ordered first were sold out). The Bauers come with (harder 82A) 72-72-68-68 and the Alkali come with 80-80-76-76 Konixx Tachyon (+0) "Indoor" wheels...both have Hi-Lo frames. I can't find any reference to what KT +0 corresponds to on the traditional durometer scale, but I'm assuming they're something like 76A or 74A. Questions: 1. Can I rocker Hi-Lo frames with 68-72-72-68 or 72-76-76-72? Any reason for me to stick with the Hi-Lo setup, instead? 2. The stock 80-80-76-76 will be faster and less maneuverable than the stock 72-72-68-68, right? 3. 76-80-80-76 will be a little slower but less stable than both of those rockered setups, right? 4. Probably 68-72-72-68 would be best for my needs, based on the info above, right? 5. How do the Marsblade FMT Ones compare with the Alkali R2s in case I decide to skate on the Bauers and have the MB put on the AR2s? 6. For you other dinosaurs, do you think Lange boots will support roller frames? Because it seems like roller frames put a lot more stress on the soles than ice holders (because the ice-steel load on the boot is distributed much wider and with less torque than the load from roller frames even though the ice steel itself is much thinner) and the Lange soles seem to be much thinner and much less reinforced than even the soles on my 1997 Bauer inlines. @pettererlandsson I know you said we can ask you anything about MB, but you've probably never seen Langes, right? Any other advice and/or suggestions (other than "just try them all out and see") would be welcome. Thanks in advance.

I have worn out many of the axles on my Marsblades and it costs too much for shipping a set of 8 axes from Marsblade to where I live. Does anyone know if anything else uses the same axles/screws? Like are they something standard or something bespoke made by Marsblade?