Skate Technique Question

[Jordan 13]

Hey Shark,

I see your point; but, what happens if I am late at three ball at 32 off? ;)

[Larry54 243]

Getting back to the original post, I bought new skates at the start of this hockey season and had similar problems. My new skates were a lot stiffer than my old skates and I couldn't flex forward as much as before. I thought that after a few weeks they would break in and flex a bit more but it just wasn't happening. I felt totally clumsy in them. One day I decided to try leaving the top pair of eyelets unlaced and that toatally fixed the problem. The lace in the second eyelet falls right in the bend between my foot and ankle/leg. And my foot feels perfectly secure in the boot. That might be something to consider. BTW, I went from 752 Kevlar Tacks to RBK 5K if that makes any difference.

[TBLfan 25]

Well, I did just change from a 9 radius to a 7/10. But I have had a decent amount of skates with the 7/10 and feel like I'm used to it. Also, my blades are pitched medium forward. Do you think a more agressive forward pitch would help.

You must have filled out the survey wrong.

:lol:

[Blade-Tek 1]

A primary goal of an ideal profile is to place the players centre of gravity over the balls of the feet. Not an easy task via a questionaire.

I literally service (sharpen and/or profile thousands of skates every year, many of them have been previously profiled at various local proshops. Even though I am a 'skate guy' I must admit that profiling has become a healthy and lucrative business and is very regularly not completed correctly, and in fact is done incorrectly more often than not. Many shops will pump them through and happily collect their $35 or $40. I regularly see size-4 skates fitting a 4'3" 10 or 12 yr old with an exact same combination radius profile applied as the size 9 or 11 skates fitting the 6 foot guy.

People seemingly are happy to pay the $$$ thats it thats all - no follow ups and no adjustments, unless you are willing to pay again. . . .

This may actually be ok if everyone used proper text book skating techniques and everyone had the same postures etc etc. but mostly this "production line" profiling as I like to call it that is performed by most proshops is simply just a great money maker and does little to enhance a skaters abilities.

To complete the process correctly the shop (skate guy) must work with the player over a few to many ice sessions to get the correct pitch, radius and the best radius of hollow (bite) to provide the maximum glide while also providing the agility and bite that the particular skater may require. Depending upon the players specific needs or wants, he/she may require less forward pitch, or more blade to ice contact (radius), or more bite (radius of hollow) or any variance in the combination of these 3 main variables. Even though the person may be the exact same size as another player.

Wether you want to admit it or not - Skate profiling has become the "cool" thing to have done, even if it isn't done correctly.

My advice is to find yourself a shop, with a 'skate guy' that is willing to work with you over a few ice sessions in tweeking the profile until it feels best for YOU and your style of skating.

[gxc999 7]

I may not be the foremost skate expert here, but I strongly advise against blade profiling. I simply think people are using it as a crutch and are preventing themselves from improving as skaters.

[Chadd 916]

I may not be the foremost skate expert here, but I strongly advise against blade profiling. I simply think people are using it as a crutch and are preventing themselves from improving as skaters.

It isn't a bad thing at all. The problem is most people don't know what they need. When someone tells me that they need X profile and Y hollow according to an online chart or spreadsheet I laugh at them. You should change your profile based on what change you want to feel, not on static measurements. It may take several tries and often a change in hollow along with the change in profile to find what feels best to you.