Mission Syndicate Soldiers

[Larouche10 0]

Hello to all. This is my first post but I have lurked for quite some time. I have gotten lots of valuable information from you guys which is appreciated.

Anyway, I finally bought a new pair of skates after skating on Bauer H9s (yup H9s) for like the last 10 years. I had a Labeda Sensor chasis with a 76 76 68 72 setup on them. They served me well, but I was well over due for a new pair.

I got my Mission Soldiers in the mail last week. Put them on and luckily they fit perfect. Baked then twice at the local ice rink and have been trying to wear them around the house as much as possible. Man are they stiff and are they killing my ankles. Otherwise I cant believe how much faster and superior these skates are in comparison to my antiquated Bauers. I wore them tonight during warmups but couldnt deal with the ankle pain.

So my simple question is how long do you guys think it will take to break these skates in once I start playing in them? Also do you guys have any other tricks to help with the break in? I know about wearing wet socks and using a hair dryer, but was curious if any other tricks exist. Im open to anything because I cant wait to play with these skates. Honestly after I wore them in warmups and put back on my Bauers for the game, It felt like I went from a Rolls Royce to a 79 Volkswagen.

[Cove 39]

Shouldnt be more then a couple uses

[604bullet 0]

i agree

i'm pretty sure it'll take some time for your foot to "mold" and get used the the boot

after that i'm sure u'll love your skates

[Justin 1933 134]

It will take a little time, but not to long..>You have been wearing some really old skates for some time, so it will take your foot a bit longer to break in than others.

Justin

[oldtimer72 0]

the soldier is not even top of the line so probably not the stiffest skate in their line up...sounds like the wicked line all over again.

[Justin 1933 134]

Not even close...Mission had over 1000 people put on these skates at NARCh, and have over 200 pairs of test samples out...Definitely not the Wicked Line....

[oldtimer72 0]

hard to be optimistic when getting burned by paying over $500 for wicked 1's that end out to be used for parts only. I do hope you are right that they are more comfortable then the wicked line up cause I do like the looks of the boss skate but this time I will wait till there are more favorable reviews on them. From my point the first post on the skates that a consumer purchased didnt seem like the ankle issues have been corrected.

[umafuaba 0]

My trusty Mission Proto SVs finally kicked the bucket after six or seven years. A rivet ripped right out of the boot and then the sole of the boot started ripping off. I took them to a shoe repair shop to get the rivet replaced, and this only lasted me one more game.

http://bp0.blogger.com/_WI9E_pMc604/RzHrUe...-h/IMG_0048.jpg

http://bp2.blogger.com/_WI9E_pMc604/RzHrU-...-h/IMG_0049.jpg

http://bp3.blogger.com/_WI9E_pMc604/RzHrVO...-h/IMG_0052.jpg

http://bp0.blogger.com/_WI9E_pMc604/RzHrVe...-h/IMG_0054.jpg

I then reluctantly started researching new skates only to realize that you need a freaking PhD in Hockey Equipment to figure out what skates to buy. I poured over the threads here and came to conclusion that the new line of Missions Syndicate boots would be a good choice. I bought the Soldiers, wore them around the house for a few days, and the ankle pain was absolutely unbelievable. It was like they purposely designed the skates to clamp around my ankle like I was on a chain gang. I am not a big guy (5'8" 145 lbs.) so I decided that I really didn't need that much stiffness. I ended up returning the Soldiers in exchange for a pair of Vector 6.0s. The boot of the Vector is not as stiff by any means, but for my purposes I think it will serve me better. I am also more of an intermediate player who is only going to be skating ~2 hours a week, so I guess I don't need the ULTRA-AWESOME performance of the Soldiers. Hopefully I'll be able to adjust from a HiLo to the TriDi chassis.

One frustrating thing I've noticed when looking for inline skates is that companies will put less than spectacular wheels/bearings on their lower stiffness (lower end) skates. I don't see how lack of stiffness should also correlate with not having a need for good wheels and bearings. Why does lower stiffness=lower end?

Another thing that I've noticed from reading all these threads is that the best fitting/performing boots tend to be ice boots. Why don't companies just sell their boots separately? Then I'd buy a well reviewed pair of ice boots and put them on a HiLo chassis. I am not an ice hockey player so I'm not going to buy a brand new pair of ice skates just to rip of the blade and put a roller chassis on them. Aside from Graf, are their any companies that will sell you the boot separately?

[Sghockey21 1]

Tried on a demo pair of Soldiers here in Singapore and they felt pretty comfy. I thought the boot wrapped the foot really well. Didn't skate in it so I can't comment on the pain in the ankles.

Problem for me was my heel was lifting alittle in the boot (Same as the other mission skates I have tried).

Anyone knows if I were to skate with a EE, would the heel lifting be worse?

[revision_88 0]

if the skates are still a problem after like 4 games you should take them to get punched out. make sure whoever is doing it knows whats up or they will ruin your skates.

[shute 4]

Not even close...Mission had over 1000 people put on these skates at NARCh, and have over 200 pairs of test samples out...Definitely not the Wicked Line....

wouldn't happen to be the same people who tested the wicked line now would it? :lol:

[Larouche10 0]

Update on the Soldiers. After one 2 hour pick up skate last night, they are feeling amazing. Very little ankle pain to mention and man are these skates sweet. I honestly cannot believe the difference in how much faster and how my turning has improved with these skates. The wheels have the best grip that I have ever skated on. Overall completely satisfied, although my opponents arent gonna be happy ; ) ;)

Hey one other quick question. How often do you guys rotate your wheels???

[gman 0]

I never tried the wicked line. I went straight from the 9500's to the syndicate BOSS. The BOSS are amazing. They are WAY more comfortable than my 9500's at the same break in point. If you have been wearing old soft boots for so many years then you experienced exactly what I would have expected. I am glad to hear you are happy with them now. I imagine they will last you "forever".

[trajik78 0]

Hey one other quick question. How often do you guys rotate your wheels???

when i was playing on asphalt it was about every 3 skates, which was when they started looking uneven. i just try to keep them as uniform as i can.

[mattzilla 0]

One frustrating thing I've noticed when looking for inline skates is that companies will put less than spectacular wheels/bearings on their lower stiffness (lower end) skates. I don't see how lack of stiffness should also correlate with not having a need for good wheels and bearings. Why does lower stiffness=lower end?

stiff = better power transfer. just like a ski boot.

[STLtour85 0]

ive skated in nothing but tours my entire life (950s, 962s, g-80s, blue max, beemer, code one, code e-2, and code carbon)... the mission boss is a sick skate. while giving up a few ounces to the carbon, its the only mission skate in the past 7 years that i would wear. the boot feels perfect, my only issue with them is that i just dont like the hi-lo frame.

[umafuaba 0]

One frustrating thing I've noticed when looking for inline skates is that companies will put less than spectacular wheels/bearings on their lower stiffness (lower end) skates. I don't see how lack of stiffness should also correlate with not having a need for good wheels and bearings. Why does lower stiffness=lower end?

stiff = better power transfer. just like a ski boot.

Eventually I think you're going to reach a maximum stiffness needed, depending on the weight of the skater and the power of the skater.

[Justin 1933 134]

Proper location/amount of stiffness = 1 ingredient to maximum power

[umafuaba 0]

Proper location/amount of stiffness = 1 ingredient to maximum power

Touche

[Larouche10 0]

skating on soley sport court, how many games prior to rotating? If ever?

[cj190 0]

Long Answer:

It really depends on the player. Some players are harder on wheels than others, probably even depends on whether you are more advanced. The more advanced the player, the faster they burn through wheels. I would really just look at them when you are done skating and see if they are wearing down. You will be able to see it, trust me. You might even try rotating them AND switching the wheels from the right skate to the left skate and vice versa. You might also move the back wheel up, as the back wheel gets the most wear usually. Depending on which foot you primarily stop with will case the wheels on one side to wear faster.

Short Answer:

Every 5-10 skates.

[thefelixculpa 0]

These new mission syndicate skates are DAMN expensive.

300 dollars for the "intermediate" level skate (assassin).

I am interested in the Leutienant skate, but at 400 dollars it is not even the top mission skate and more expensive than the Tour code carbon/code 1s.

I hope it is worth it when I end up buying them! I've been rolling on NBH accel lites and they just aren't stiff enough for me.

[Aussie Joe 0]

Expensive!

One90's go for 1300 bucks here in Aus.

[thefelixculpa 0]

Can somebody give me a definitative answer on how the 08 missions fit?

I am seeing that they are true to shoe size, I am seeing that they fit 1.5 smaller than you're shoe. I am seeing that a guy with size 13 shoe wears a 10.5.

[flyweightphantom 1]

Man i cant take it anymore I keep calling my LHS for the new mission line they keep telling me a different date. First it was end of Oct, then it went to Nov15th, now its a few more weeks I wanna try these things on already!!