SuppleFit or Pitch issue

[KBO25 0]

At the begining of my season I bought brand new s400's, coming from Bauer Vapors.

I really liked the supple-fit and pitch holder, and have been playing in these skates all year, with much satisfaction.

However, the past few weeks, I have been playing pond hockey/skating almost daily. I have been using my old Vapors on the pond.

Now, when I play games indoors wearing the Mission skates, I feel wierd.

I can't really explain it, but, things seem a little "off".

I'm completely willing to accept that I may be imagining it, but, I was wondering if others have noticed anything similar.

My theory is that there is such a big difference between the 2 skates, and I have suddenly been using the Vapors more than the Missions, that I'm getting used to the old skates. Makes sense doesn't it?

[johnnyi 0]

I was a Bauer guy from day one, but for some reason decided to try a pair of Mission S500s (likely because I found a pair for under $200). They were great at first, but deteriorated quickly. First the notch in the housing thats used to hold the pitch setting stripped on one of the holders making a +1 setting impossible to use (had to move it down to Neutral). Next, the rivets holding the boot to the housing loosened at the toe to the point where the holder shifts side to size slightly (but enough to notice). In all, I have not been very fond of the Pitch 3 chassis as both feet eventually faulted at least once. The boot eventually became comfortable, but not until about the same time that the chassis started giving me issues, but I survived on them until recently when the tongue started to cave in on my tibia making skating on them completely unbearable. So, I just got myself a new pair of Bauer Supreme 6000s the other day, baked them in my oven and skated on them last Thursday night for the first time - and felt the same thing you did - strangeness. I can't quite peg it either. I measured the height of the skate at the toe and heel and between the two, and they had the same vertical height at the heel, but the bauers were about 1/8" lower at the toe (equates to a slighty higher heel pitch) - but that couldn't have been it... then I found it... the housing (and runners) on the Missions stuck out noticeably more forward off the toe box than the Bauers did. This explains why I seemed to be thrown into tight turns a bit quicker in my Bauers - which took some getting used to. I just need to get over the difference in arches and get used to the shorter housing and it should pan out alright.

Just for ha-ha's, check the number on your housings to see if they're the same length... My Missions were 288 and my Bauer's were 280 which explains the difference off the toe box for me. I'd love to swap out my 280s to 288s, but the holes won't align and I don't want to compromise my boot. Oh well.

[Chadd 916]

I was a Bauer guy from day one, but for some reason decided to try a pair of Mission S500s (likely because I found a pair for under $200). They were great at first, but deteriorated quickly. First the notch in the housing thats used to hold the pitch setting stripped on one of the holders making a +1 setting impossible to use (had to move it down to Neutral).

That's rare but not unheard of, why not have Mission replace them?

My theory is that there is such a big difference between the 2 skates, and I have suddenly been using the Vapors more than the Missions, that I'm getting used to the old skates. Makes sense doesn't it?

That's the most likely reason

[johnnyi 0]

That's rare but not unheard of, why not have Mission replace them?

I wrote Mission, but no luck - no reply. From what I read it was a common problem with the Pitch 3 chassis (granted not every pair is flawed) and was addressed with a squared counter-sunk screw to prevent the holder from stripping. With the rounded screw that I had, and the notch stripped, setting to a +1 would just rotate the screw down to a neutral-ish setting. I could only use it in Neutral since the notch for that setting is on the opposite side. It's really the multitude of problems that steered me away from Mission. It's a shame - I really loved the S500 boot once it broke in though.