'Other' Skate Companies

[PJLime 0]

Last year I bought a pair of Nexed Fluids and this weekend my pal bought a pair of Syvan Full Factories. The reason we did this is because these skates were just plain cheaper and seem like quality skates. Plus we generally play on outdoor asphalt rinks and the thought of ripping up expensive skates is...well, not pleasant.

I know there are a lot of people that stick to just Mission or just Tour or whatever. I know that these companies (and others) do a lot of research and try to push the envelope of what is possible, etc. etc. When I bought the Nexed, however, I had never heard of the compnay before and have not heard of them since. I had never heard of Syvan before this weekend and am having trouble finding anything about them on-line. Plus I have never seen anyone here writting about either.

Does anyone know anything about these other skate companies? What are your opinions of these companies?

(By the way the Nexed are really working out well for me. The Syvans have only been skated on once, so it is too early to tell.)

[kovalchuk71 212]

Nexed was bought out by hockeygiant I believe or just plain went out of buisness.....Syven is a major producer of roller pants though ive never found a website from them either (I love the pants)

[Justin 1933 134]

These companies were not a cheaper alternative, until they went on closeout...Then they became a cheaper alternative...

Nexed has since left the hockey world and just does paintball...I think Syven is still around, but I would not consider them a "Major" producer of pants....

[Jim A 4]

same guy for both products, Todd Trickle...and Justin is right..skates like the Fluid's used to be fairly price..and Syven for the most part is mostly found in the AZ and sometimes TX areas...but I find them to be heavy..and I'm not one to put a premium on weight by any means..

[PJLime 0]

So what contributed to these companies not making more of a splash in the marketplace? Is brand loyalty so much that the average player wouldn't switch or consider doing so? It seems some people are unwilling to consider anything other than their favorite brand. What do people here think about switching from brand to brand to brand? To me, price is the primary consideration.

[zingbergeur 0]

I gave V-form Fluids a try about 5 years ago. They felt great in the store, but I hated how they felt on the rink. Do your Nexed skates have some sort of angled chassis? I thought that the concept was cool, but I didn't see much difference performance wise. Now that I'm not so naive, I stick to what fits my foot best.

EDIT: Sometimes you might have to pay more for a skate that fits you better. There's no way I'd buy a pair of skates just because they were cheap if they didn't fit. That is almost like buying a left handed stick because it was cheap but being right handed.

[PJLime 0]

Yes, the Nexed are angled, I forget that the degree is. I didn't notice any difference, though. I can't say I play with enough skill to notice suble differences, though.

As I am new to the sport (around two years) I don't have that many of my own experiences as to what works and doesn't, so I was willing to try out the Nexed. I had Tour 551's before that, so we're not talking high end stuff here.

I suppose I am trying to get an idea of how people on this board decide what works for them and what doesn't. In my opinion the Nexed are great for me. But I can only compare them to the Tour 551's which were also great for me. (Only owned two pairs of skates so far).

LOL - I've been tempted to try to learn to play left handed when I see amazing clearance sales on left-handed sticks/blades.

[zingbergeur 0]

LOL - I've been tempted to try to learn to play left handed when I see amazing clearance sales on left-handed sticks/blades.

Yeah! Doesn't it seem like those left handed guys always have better deals than us? (I'm sure they feel the opposite is true).

I think Nexed skates are angeld less than the v-forms and so that makes them less radical.

I've never used tour or mission. I played ice hockey first, and I think that is partially why I started out in bauers. I knew that bauer worked for me on ice and correctly assumed the same would be true for roller. I currently use CCM Externos but am definately looking forward to trying on Mission's new line next year.

[mik3 1]

I had a pair of chandlers back in the day. Overpriced and low quality.

[thunderbirds_are_go 0]

I'm pretty sure that Chandler was Gear's inline skate brand, while Gear used to be the protective gear (like Mission and Biltrite back in the day).

As for Syven, we ordered some gear from them. It seemed pretty good for the money, but when we went to order in more stock last July we kept getting told that it wouldn't be until October, then November, then January, and by then we gave up.

[mik3 1]

Yep, chandler had gear frames. I'm pretty sure there was only one or two chandler product lines before they just made the gears.

[Shorthanded67 0]

Another low-cost possibility is finding an older model ice hockey skate on clearance and attaching it to a chassis on clearance as well. Several months ago I put together a nice skate with 03' CCM 652s ($119.99) and Red Star E-Frames ($49.99). These have done much better for me than my previous setup of CCM 1152s with a Tour Redline chassis at less than half the price. Of course you'll have to invest in bearings and wheels....but hey, maybe you can also find those on clearance, Clarence. :D