Easton Stealth S15 question/problem.

[homerocks 0]

Hello,

I'm new to posting on the forum, but I have done much reading here. I have recently purchased a pair of the new Stealth S15s. Previously, I've wore Vapor XXXs, 7000s, 5000s, and 4000s. I absolutely love the S15s in all aspects when comparing them to my past skates except for one thing. I've only wore them a few times, and they have been chafing the outsides of my ankle very badly. The chafing is where the top of the boot meets my upper ankle. I don't wear socks when I skate, and I am sure that the skates are the proper sizing. They rub bad enough that my skin gets ripped off after about 15 minutes of hard skating.

Has anyone else with S15s had this problem? If so, what did you do you alleviate this? I'm hoping this will go away after I've worn them more. I have a friend that had this same problem with his Synergy 1500's, but the problem never went away for him. He began wearing a modified sock with his 1500s to keep the pain away.

Anyone have similar experiences with S15s or Easton skates? I know JR is wearing these skates right now. JR, did you experience this problem?

Thank You,

Tony

[usahockey22 0]

I would think that this problem will start to go away after they are broken in. Heat molding could help if you haven't already had it done. Otherwise, start wearing socks for the time being. I'm waiting to get a pair of these myself...how is the fit, other than the ankle problem you have?

[Mike P 0]

Have you tried skating in them wearing a pair of socks? I'm assuming its the new grip liner that is causing the problems. I'd say try wearing some thin socks like hiking socks and see if that solves the problem.

I'm looking at getting these skates as soon as my lhs gets them in, hope I dont run into this problem.

[Slapshot9123 0]

I had the problem in vector pros, started wearing thoes thin under armor socks and havnt had the problem in any of my skates since then.

[Moto 1]

Worst case you can wrap a piece of tape around your ankle to alleviate the friction point and resulting sore on your ankle.

[kredmore 2]

I had this happen with my 1500c skates and have come to learn that this is a common problem with Easton skates, especially the 1500c. From my understand at a LHS, it depends on your skating and foot shape if it will happen. I actually received the full details on why, but typing it would be long and probably debated. I changed to RBK and no more issue. I suggest you stick with it, re-mold, try pads, etc. and see if you can get it to calm down.

[A2rhino 63]

It's because of the liner and you wearing the skate barefoot. BTW, how do you like them and what is your foot type?

[philcaz 0]

like Moto said, you could wrap tape...but what Ive done and I have the same problem with my 800c's is that I wrap this medical type of tape which only sticks to itself, and even then just barely. Its a red soft tape and then after that I wrap a strap of hockey tape over the soft tape. Works like a charm

[JR Boucicaut 3805]

I don't have these skates. Have no idea if/when I will.

[chippa13 1844]

I'm thinking the heat gun fix of the original Synergy skate will work here.

I don't have these skates. Have no idea if/when I will.

How do I get in on this gravy train?

[homerocks 0]

Thank you for all of the quick responses.

I have already baked the skates. I will most likely use some prewrap tape and some hockey tape around my ankles. I'm hoping that this will eventually go away, otherwise I'll just have to keep wrapping or maybe start wearing socks.

As for the fit, I have an average heel, fairly wide forefoot, very high arches. I'm 5'11", 195, and I'm wearing a size 8.5, regular width. The fit is extremely snug in all aspects of my foot except for the arch. I may add some supports in the arches. I have some pretty nasty calcium build ups on the back of my heels and on my big toes from past skates, and they are a complete non-issue with these skates. No discomfort. The regular width feels wider in the forefoot and toebox than that of a Vapor D and even a One90 D.

The weight of the skate, or lack of weight, is pretty incredible. At sub 700 grams, the difference in weight from my Vapor XXX's is quite noticeable. The S15s feel like a sneaker, not a skate. The vapors felt like boots compare to these. It's difficult for me to gauge stiffness because they seem pretty stiff in regards to lateral movement, but they allow for a lot of forward flex so I don't have to tie the upper parts of my laces nearly as loose as I had to in my Vapors. I can lace up fairly tight and still get good flex.

I'm not sure where these skate lie in the world of pitch, but I'm skating on the stock profile (9' radius, I believe), and the pitch feels very neutral. I always had to have my Bauers reprofiled in order to be more on the balls of my feet, but I don't feel like I need to with these. I figured I would have trouble adjusting to the Razor Bladz holders and steel, but after one skate I was comfortable with the skates. I absolutely feel that the skates are more responsive than my Vapors in regards to starts, stops, turning, and I feel like I spend less energy per stride with more deceptive speed. This may not be a fair comparison to my Vapor's because the steel on my Bauers was very worn and had very little blade on the ice(Lord knows how small my radius was on the vapors!) so the added response and speed of the S15s is most likely due to the larger radius in the profile than the skate itself.

They were very pricy ($539.00 US), but in my opinion, worth every penny, even with the ankle chafing.

My only concern is that the steel will be breaking frequently. A teammate of mine with Synergy 1300s wore them during his last season in the EJ, and he started keeping extra steel in his hockey bag because he had broken numerous blades from taking shots and passes in the skates.

If you've liked the fit of your Synergy 1300s or 1500s, I'd highly recommend this skate. I would recommend it to others as well. If you like the fit, they are a great skate.

Tony

[Shark#81 0]

When I break in or test out new liners for my skates I sometimes get a small irritation on the front of my lower shin. For such a small "ouchie"(less than a size of the thumb tack) get sweat on it and it stings like hell, takes a while to heal too.

I hate socks, or socks don't work in the Game7's. So what I do for this is cut the bottoms off regular socks and just use the upper tube portion for a game or two. The liner does its dynamic molding, or I might trim a bit off the seam, and its fine after that.

Tape might work, but if it causes friction, rolls or bleeds out the adhesive, you might have more of a problem.

[homerocks 0]

Yeah, shark, I'm condering using a modified sock, but I hate wearing socks!

[Fire0nIce228 1]

just cut the bottom of the sock off and i bet you hardly notice :)

[#96 0]

Chafing where the boot meets the top of the ankle? Isn't that where previous year Eastons were causing problems? I thought they fixed that.

[rtwng20 0]

tony, i just got my stealth s15's. haven't even had a chance to skate in them yet. i have been skating in the 1300's though and possibly have a few ideas for you. with my 1300's i used a heat gun on the top of the boot and kind of rolled the boot to the outside for lack of a better way of explaining it. also you don't mention what kind of footbeds you are using, when i did try mine on at home, i felt like i might have to remove the heal lift that is attached to the bottom of the footbed in the s15's to give me a little more depth, that might be why you are getting over the top of the boot when turning and such. in my 1300's i had that problem with the stock footbeds and had to use the flatter shock dr's. the stock ones had a 3 or 4 mm heal lift and lifted me out of the boot too much. like i said i've only had the chance to walk arround the house in my but so far i was extremely pleased with the comfort factor. good luck.

[Chadd 916]

Chafing where the boot meets the top of the ankle? Isn't that where previous year Eastons were causing problems? I thought they fixed that.

It's a recurring theme with Easton's composite boots. It's hard to make a tall, stiff boot that doesn't have that problem.

[marsboy 0]

I never had that problem with my Eastons, but I did have the same chafing issue with my Mission Flyweights.

Mine was a result of the stiff boot with the padding not being fully formed to my ankles. This left some gaps at the top, even when relatively snug. When the top of the boot finally began to wrap better and my ankles sank into the pads, the improved fit and support completely eliminated the rubbing.

I used to put a strip of tape above my ankle because the boots were rubbing the socks into my skin.

[nicksmission14 0]

After trying the S15's on today, I don't see how you could skate in them barefoot. I had some under armor socks on that are slightly higher then 3/4 length and man did the liner chew my ankles. No doubt you have to wear a long sock.

[Archangel#16 1]

I wanted to know why they changed the liner. it looks a lot less comfortable than the liner in the synergy's

[rinkrat94 1]

In my opinion the s15's are more comfortable than the 1500's. The 1500's were comfy, I have never had any problems with easton skates but the s15's are the most comfortable skate I have ever worn.

Chafing where the boot meets the top of the ankle? Isn't that where previous year Eastons were causing problems? I thought they fixed that.

It's a recurring theme with Easton's composite boots. It's hard to make a tall, stiff boot that doesn't have that problem.

Chadd, wouldn't that be more of a fit issue?

[homerocks 0]

I am using the footbed that came with it. It's not a shockdoctor. It's an Easton footbed with a heel lift glued to the bottom of it. I haven't tried skating without the lifts yet.

Does anyone have anymore information on how they rolled the sides of the skates after heating. Did you just heat them up and bend them with your hands?

[wonderenzo 0]

tony, i just got my stealth s15's. haven't even had a chance to skate in them yet. i have been skating in the 1300's though and possibly have a few ideas for you. with my 1300's i used a heat gun on the top of the boot and kind of rolled the boot to the outside for lack of a better way of explaining it. also you don't mention what kind of footbeds you are using, when i did try mine on at home, i felt like i might have to remove the heal lift that is attached to the bottom of the footbed in the s15's to give me a little more depth, that might be why you are getting over the top of the boot when turning and such. in my 1300's i had that problem with the stock footbeds and had to use the flatter shock dr's. the stock ones had a 3 or 4 mm heal lift and lifted me out of the boot too much. like i said i've only had the chance to walk arround the house in my but so far i was extremely pleased with the comfort factor. good luck.

have you just ever thought it might be your foot? Blade alignment or just going to a superfeet foot bed might change your problem.

[4444 0]

Not to hijack the thread, but I figured it was better to ask this here than starting a whole new one:

I too just got a set in today (no LHS within 4.5 hours of me so I had to order it online), however even the wide feels pretty narrow. Anyone have any ideas regarding a skate that fits almost identically to the S15, but is wider in the forefoot? I've tried CCM/RBK skates and they do not fit me at all, and I haven't sharpened the S15's so they're still returnable.

As I mentioned, there isn't anyone that stocks any wide skates within a reasonable distance so unfortunately just trying a bunch on is a little tricky.

[jimmy 194]

I'm not sure where these skate lie in the world of pitch, but I'm skating on the stock profile (9' radius, I believe), and the pitch feels very neutral. I always had to have my Bauers reprofiled in order to be more on the balls of my feet, but I don't feel like I need to with these. I figured I would have trouble adjusting to the Razor Bladz holders and steel, but after one skate I was comfortable with the skates. I absolutely feel that the skates are more responsive than my Vapors in regards to starts, stops, turning, and I feel like I spend less energy per stride with more deceptive speed. This may not be a fair comparison to my Vapor's because the steel on my Bauers was very worn and had very little blade on the ice(Lord knows how small my radius was on the vapors!) so the added response and speed of the S15s is most likely due to the larger radius in the profile than the skate itself.

My only concern is that the steel will be breaking frequently. A teammate of mine with Synergy 1300s wore them during his last season in the EJ, and he started keeping extra steel in his hockey bag because he had broken numerous blades from taking shots and passes in the skates.

Tony,

The S15's have heel lifts under the footbed, that's why the pitch feels good.

I wouldn't worry about the steel, Easton steel rarely breaks. It's quite possible your friend had his steel overheated by his sharpener, and that weakened it. I recommend the solid easton runners if you are going to get a second set. They don't torque as much in the razor holder.