custom OPS

[tyco 0]

well i finally did it!

9-10 years ago my favourite stick was the Titan ASD 7000 in the Forsberg curve. It was the ultimate pattern for me: slight mid-curve with with a slight loft (5 percent) and a lie of 5.5/6.0. The stick broke and since then i've been on a tailspin of buying tons of hockey sticks and never quite being satisfied...

realizing that i'm spending thousands of dollars and never being satisfied with either the pattern, or the weight, or the lie etc.... i finally decided to make my own composite mold with MIA. I gave them an old titan stick with the forsberg curve (i left the stick in the rain so it was too heavy to play with anymore) and 4 weeks from now they'll have an OPS for me!

I'm excited and at the prospect of finally finding my dream stick....MIA let me choose my custom flex (80 ish), grip, colour, and of course all based on my titan forsberg curve. They also gave me the option of OPS, or tapered shaft with short hosel. The stick is going to be 435 grams, which is perfect for me because i'm used to playing with a zbubble grip + zcarbon shanny blade (280g+155g = 435g). Based on my handling of their Inferno sticks, they are well balanced (not blade heavy) and not blade light like Vapor xxx lite (i bought one with the Jokinen pattern and it was too insane light when stick handling)....

As mentioned before, i'm still waiting for the mold to be done, but from my initial dealing with the company, iam very happy with them as they are very nice people and very accomodating to the personal needs of the client.....

i'm keeping my fingers crossed on the product...

[steve66 45]

Keep us updated along the way, some pics when you get them and in time a review would be good. Hope it goes well for you.

[jbyun04 7]

Keep us updated along the way, some pics when you get them and in time a review would be good. Hope it goes well for you.

i second that

and how much did it cost you?

[hyprlte 0]

how many of them did you order?

[jon93 0]

i need to see some pictures

how much was it

[DEATHTRON 19]

I remember reading it was something like $250 plus and then you had to order 12? or 6? It wasnt cheap, whatever the cost was...thats quite for sure.

Zach

[opus22 0]

im in if you can sell one, that was my curve for 3 or 4 years, and ive never been comfortable with anything since. im dying to hear how this turns out. a tapered blade would be perfect for me though.

[tyco 0]

To answer some of the questions asked:

The standard pricing scheme is $350CDN for the tooling of the mold, and you need to order 4 sticks minimum at their retail price of $229 each. However, it is my understanding that this company deals a lot more with the pro's and that they're trying to break thru in the retail market....that being the case, i can say that if you talk with the people of MIA, they can prolly give you better deals (at least that's what happened with me).

The Inferno OPS is actually a two-piece stick fused together (not a true one-piece like Inno or Vapor XXX) so the actual mold is of the blade ONLY. so i got to choose between making a standard hosel mold, or a short hosel mold. I took the short hosel mold with a rounded, 80 flex, grip, tapered shaft with custom colouring. i also asked for a OPS to see the difference (personally i like two-piece, but it's worth exploring both options).

The mold is good for about 300 sticks (or just blades if i choose to go two-piece). I don't think i'll ever need to make 300 sticks, but i am more than happy to buy some for other Titan Forsberg lover....trust me, after years of frusteration trying to find a similar curve, i completely sympathize with anybody else feeling the same way and wanting a Forsberg in a light composite.

3 weeks is the ETA now....stay tuned.

[mrusse01 0]

That Titan Forsberg pattern was sweet, awesome move on the custom OPS, let us know how it turns out for sure.

[tyco 0]

And so [hopefully] this is where the journey ends....!

My custom Titan Forsberg composite came in today and you guys can see the pictures below....luckily for me MIA is based in Montreal so it was a really good experience going into their headquarters and talking one on one with some of the guys...sometimes it's so much easier explaining your personal needs in person and showing them exactly what you want.

In my case, as explained above, i had been searching for the elusive Titan Forsberg replacement for years! As you can see, it's a mild mid-curve with what they call a 5 percent loft. The picture angle makes it look like a deep curve, but trust me, it's nothing like the Sakic/Naslund (for those why may think they look similar) it's a very mild mid curve. the blade is LONG, and that's something that was very hard for me to find in the retail patterns....the blade is almost as long as a Shanahan/Gagné. The loft is just right for me, enough to give me a little lift on the puck....i know a lot of guys who like playing with wedges and big lofts, but i like things toned down....the CCM recchi almost did it for me but the blade wasn't long enough, and it was a closed face.

I haven't played with the stick yet (aside from stick handling in the house) but it feels well balanced and light. definitely not blade heavy which i can't stand. overall weight is tad heavier than vapor xxx lite (435g versus 420g) but better balanced (i find vapor xxx lite too blade-light). the shaft is thin, and i'm sure that has something to do with the whippy flex i asked for (they wrote Soft Flex on the top where it also says TYCO pro pattern! =)) Unfortunately, they forgot to give me grip coating on the shaft, so that's something they'll need to correct for my next batch. The blade is very very thin.....which is something i like but i'm not sure if all their blades are like that or it's because it's based on a mold of my titan wood/abs stick which is naturally thin.

i also got the same thing but in two-pieces; tapered shaft and short hosel blade. i reckon it's should feel and play the same.

I guess all that remains is game play....i have to be honest, i'm not expecting this stick to be the best of the best in terms of puck feel, durability, or shot power...i mean i don't know much about MIA but i'm sure a small company that specializes in gloves can't be better at composite technology than the big names like EAston/Bauer/TPS/Inno etc....however, i'm sure the stick will do fine and i'm willing to forsake a little bit of power or puck feel or whatever for FINALLY playing with a pattern i'm comfortable stick handling and passing and shooting with!

Also, i can always buy a Synergy II or Dolomite or XN10 to match with my short hosel blade if i feel i need to mix and match to get the right feel/power etc...

[akhockey 0]

man...thats a great looking curve

[pody37 3]

Dude, that thing is awesome looking

[sniper14 0]

thats sweet man how much you pay for that stick, i saw them on mia site but no prices or anything and cant find them at any hockey stores.

[2-Keys 1]

congrats on the awesome stick man!

[Kovy_Ribs_Fedo 3]

Let me know how is the feel and durability(in terms of chip and cracks).

[kovey10 0]

That curve is beautiful. Let us know it is.

[Kovy_Ribs_Fedo 3]

BTW guys, does anyone know what is the constrution of the blade, I mean, is there foam or something else in it.

[donkey87 0]

thats sweet man how much you pay for that stick, i saw them on mia site but no prices or anything and cant find them at any hockey stores.

The standard pricing scheme is $350CDN for the tooling of the mold, and you need to order 4 sticks minimum at their retail price of $229 each. However, it is my understanding that this company deals a lot more with the pro's and that they're trying to break thru in the retail market....that being the case, i can say that if you talk with the people of MIA, they can prolly give you better deals (at least that's what happened with me).

[mrusse01 0]

sweet curve, I think I would like it a tad shorter, but looks awesome.

[tyco 0]

BTW guys, does anyone know what is the constrution of the blade, I mean, is there foam or something else in it.

from my discussions with the people from MIA, the blade has some sort of rigid support inside for more structural integrity....I-beam or H-beam or something of the sort (a little bit like how Mission uses honeycomb hex structural support in their blades).

i'm not sure about foam or what insert they use for puck feel.

[tyco 0]

sweet curve, I think I would like it a tad shorter, but looks awesome.

yeah one of the things i really wanted was a big blade which there weren't too many in the retail market...i used shanny's for a while but that was toe curve, and lately i've been using a Bauer Jokinen which is long but it's a heel curve with too much loft for me...

shorter version of my blade would prolly be something like Iginla/Messier or Recchi....

[Kovy_Ribs_Fedo 3]

tyco, Are you from Montréal, Québec?

[pantherfan 0]

BTW guys, does anyone know what is the constrution of the blade, I mean, is there foam or something else in it.

from my discussions with the people from MIA, the blade has some sort of rigid support inside for more structural integrity....I-beam or H-beam or something of the sort (a little bit like how Mission uses honeycomb hex structural support in their blades).

i'm not sure about foam or what insert they use for puck feel.

Ya, I-beam

[Nov101775 0]

hey do any of you guys have the website for MIA?

[pantherfan 0]

www.miasports.com