The Pencil Test

[Patrick67 1]

Do vapors have more depth than CCM Vectors?

Just tired a pair of Vector Pro's (2 years since I skated in Pro's myself) and realised they are too shallow for me.

[Chef23 0]

Do vapors have more depth than CCM Vectors?

Just tired a pair of Vector Pro's (2 years since I skated in Pro's myself) and realised they are too shallow for me.

I would say no. The VPs should be deeper than the Vapors.

[Leafsrok 0]

Easton Skates are not deep fitting at all. I have a pair of 1500c and they are a bit too shallow for me.

how did you ever wear the Flexlite 12s then?

i wore flexlite 12s for a year(until i outgrew them <_<) and they were a perfect volume for me.

i just did the pencil test on my Vapor Shifts(XXV SMU) and from the third eyelet, the pencil grazes my ankle.

[oggy_3 0]

IMO it looks like you have a high arch, at work we had to try other employees in skates adn my assitant manager had an high arch like that, he could fit in a size 7.5 but wore a 8.5 because the 7.5 killed his foot.

[kovalchuk71 212]

Easton Skates are not deep fitting at all. I have a pair of 1500c and they are a bit too shallow for me.

how did you ever wear the Flexlite 12s then?

i wore flexlite 12s for a year(until i outgrew them <_<) and they were a perfect volume for me.

i just did the pencil test on my Vapor Shifts(XXV SMU) and from the third eyelet, the pencil grazes my ankle.

Because the depth was correct for me. Peoples feet are different as stated above. They fit great and I didn't ask questions

[Hockeydog 8]

I have a wide forefoot, narrow heel and high arch/high instep.

Currently trying to make a pair of Ultra G35's work. I can barely get the laces in the last two eyelets when lacing up the skates ( lacing from inside to out- the eyelets are way back towards my ankles). Not sure if that is a good thing.

[Law Goalie 147]

IMO it looks like you have a high arch, at work we had to try other employees in skates adn my assitant manager had an high arch like that, he could fit in a size 7.5 but wore a 8.5 because the 7.5 killed his foot.

Heh, that's exactly my situation. I fit a 7.5D Daoust 301 perfectly, except for the fact that my foot explodes out the top. I need to go up to an 8.5R in Graf 709s to get anything like an OK fit, and I'll probably still need to go custom. I'm praying the 8D Flexlite 10 I have on order is going to do the trick after we bake it and attack it with webbing straps and dremels...

[Hockeydog 8]

Finding a good fit is frustrating, isn't it!!

[Law Goalie 147]

Oh yeah, I'm having a ball with ankle degeneration, plantar fasciitis, bone spurs, and general crippling pain. When will the fun stop?

[tsanga 0]

LG,

Your fit issues are bordering on legendary. Did you ever post pictures of you funky feet? I need to put them in a skate-fitting textbook.

[Law Goalie 147]

That's the thing -- they don't *look* all that odd. I don't have a mile-high arch, or a really fat foot, or a really wide foot, or unbelievably wide toes: but every single feature of my feet seems to contribute to an impossible fit.

I promise I'll shut up about it soon. :) I'm going in for customs in the next month or so. Can't decide between Grafs or NBH S9's (if I can talk the shop into harassing their rep). I need to meet with my chiropodist first and figure out what kind of ankle support I need. That's the real question, since it'll be a custom last either way. I need to find something that will let me foot behave.

I'll throw up a few pics at some point, if anyone cares. The bone spur was really fun - came out of bloody nowhere. I got out of bed in the morning, and my wife asked if I'd been bitten by something. That's me off the ice for the next month... good thing I don't have another goalie camp to run until mid-January.

[Hockeydog 8]

So does it matter if the instep is too high farther down the boot? I get a lace bite across the top of my foot before the laces turn vertical on many skates.

[malcb33 97]

Easton Skates are not deep fitting at all. I have a pair of 1500c and they are a bit too shallow for me.

2nd that...Easton's too shallow for high arches

The older Easton skates (before the carbon deals) had a bit depth to them but I found that the 1500 have less depth in them if you use the stock shock doctor insoles. Try a flatter insole it should increases the depth, in my experiance anyway.

[TheBert 0]

Have a question about the pencil test. My Vapors just barely pass it unless I tense up my foot so that the tendons on the front of my ankle push up on the pencil. (This same tendon sticks out when a skater would flex their foot forward. Does this still pass the pencil test?

[Law Goalie 147]

So does it matter if the instep is too high farther down the boot? I get a lace bite across the top of my foot before the laces turn vertical on many skates.

It matters every bit as much.

Have a question about the pencil test. My Vapors just barely pass it unless I tense up my foot so that the tendons on the front of my ankle push up on the pencil. (This same tendon sticks out when a skater would flex their foot forward. Does this still pass the pencil test?

I'd say no, because I've noticed the same thing. Then again, your tendon is going to be pushing up into a felt tongue (are Vapors felt? Can't recall..), so it shouldn't be too bad. Call it a borderline fail with a few marks added for good behaviour.

[TBLfan 25]

I'm in the same boat with my vapors, in store I thought it was fine BUT I'm finding that I just have to work too hard to get a deeper knee bend... Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to go skate shopping! :P

I do have to be careful in lacing because the tendon seems to swell up over the course of the game and stay firm, sometimes it causes pain.

[TheBert 0]

Great. I just thought I had a freak tendon that pops up over an inch when I flex forward. Is there anything that fits like a Vapor heel but is a bit deeper?

[TBLfan 25]

Have you skated in them yet?

I've had mine since last April(3-4 months into buying them I got a replacement pair) and I'm still comfortable. It really never dawned on me until I was trying to show one of the guys I coach about the benefits of bending their knees and I couldn't do as low as I used to with my tacks. At that point I realized how upright I was skating... I'm going to start skipping eyelets and/or loosening the lacing and hopefully the issue will be resolved. I might even ship them out to EWH and see if they will deepen the skate(I'm sure then can).

[TheBert 0]

I have. I've put about 15 games on them. I learned to skate on a pair of Tacks, which were definitely conducive to good knee bends.

[B-Nads 0]

Holy shit! I just did the pencil test on my RBK Pumps and failed it miserably...to get the pencil flush across the third eyelet I have the pencil pushing almost to bone. I have the same deal with that tendon popping way out, but I don't have any significant pain in that area of my foot - I don't tighten my skate sup much above the lace locks.

[Fletch 219]

I tried on the Vapor XXXX's today, kicked my heel back 5 or 6 times to get it as far back as possible, and the pencil was ever-so-slightly touching my foot while extending across the third eyelet - like it was almost completely even the whole way across. If I flex it, the pencil rises up with my foot and is off the boot.

Does anyone know if baking can change the volume signifigantly enough to get the gap between pencil and foot down to the desired 1/4" mark?

[Law Goalie 147]

IIRC, a good bake can let your heel settle back a bit (to a degree dependent on the skate), but nothing too dramatic. If you're failing on the pencil in the last few eyelets (where they've started to turn into the vertical), it can make an appreciable difference, but it's not going to magically correct a big volume issue.

When I was fruitlessly being fitted for G70s, the shop put me up an extra half size and baked the hell out of them just to see whether they could get make up the difference by really getting the heel back. It only made a slight improvement; still couldn't lace them up without feeling like I was being garroted.

[bmclifford 0]

I have a pair of Kor Shift 1's and just tried the pencil test. I pass it with considerable room between my ankle and the pencil. Is this a problem? Should my ankle be close the pencil, or does it not really matter as long as it is not touching your ankle?

[ddbowdoin 0]

I just failed this test miserably with my one90's!

my feet hurt a little but they arent that bad

[Fletch 219]

I have a pair of Kor Shift 1's and just tried the pencil test. I pass it with considerable room between my ankle and the pencil. Is this a problem? Should my ankle be close the pencil, or does it not really matter as long as it is not touching your ankle?

I have the same issue with my Shift 1's - there's about a one inch gap between pencil and foot.

I think it may be this way with the Kors because they are supposed to "wrap" more (SRI, Chadd, JR - feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).