Vapor XXV vs. RBK 9K dilemma

[th6252 25]

a few months back, i was in the need for a new pair of skates after having been away from the game for nearly 10 years. i knew i had a forefoot that runs a bit on the wider side, not REALLY wide, but wider than normal with relative normal to slightly narrow ankles. i'd heard that the vapor line runs a bit narrow, but tried on a pair at a lhs and was surprised that the 6d nearly fit, just a tiny bit narrow in the toe box. the following week, they'd gotten in pair in EE and was surprised that they fit near perfect, even moreso after having them baked(which was a new feeling to me).

felt great after the first few skates with nearly no break-in pains(which was also new to me). only thing that didn't feel quite right was that i felt that i was on my heels a lot, and almost felt like i was gonna fall on my arse every once in a while. last pair of skates was a pair of ccm 892's which i'd only worn for a half a season before walking away. before that, i'd pretty much always been in ill-fitted bauers growing up.

so at this point, i felt everything was fine and dandy until my bro decided to pick up a pair of rbk 9k seconds and decided to give them a skate(even though they fit a bit big-6E, and had a lot of heel slippage). regardless of the ill-fit, i was surprised at much better i skated in them...back skating was much more comfortable, felt like i had a ton more balance and felt noticeably more on my toes. as a matter of fact, i nearly did a face plant when i first got on the ice with them after having just skated on my vapors. so on a whim, i picked up a pair of these as well, but in regular width. now although these fit a bit better than the E's, it's noticeable that there is way too much volume for my foot in the ankle area, although the forefoot fit is just about perfect. when i tighten them up, the top eyelets are only an inch to 1.5 inches apart, and still get a bit of heel slippage on the right boot.

regardless of all that, i skate MUCH better in them, and feel way more balanced. after a bake and 3 skates, i'm getting nearly no pain, but still some slop on the right, even with the top eyelets cinched in to a nearly abnormal amount.

now here's the other kicker, off the ice, the XXV's still feel like they fit my foot CONSIDERABLY better, like a glove, as a matter of fact, they're still easily the most comfortable boot i've worn to date by far. but i don't feel nearly the same amount of control in them when skating.

my question is, is there any way to bring the skate feel of the 9k's to my vapors or am i just sol? i know the vapors are supposed to be most forward raked of all the bauer boots, but doesn't feel anywhere close to the 9k's. also, would heel lifts help the situation? and finally, it just feels like i have more blade touching the ice with the 9k's. i may be in the minority, and i know it's comparing apples to oranges, but i seem to like the e-pro blade and holder over the ls2. would a switch to the 2.1 steel and a 13' profile also help the situation? just really confused at this point.

[cptjeff 0]

It's the profile of the blade you're probalby having trouble with. You need a forward pitch on yours. A heel lift or a new forward pitched profile would be your best bet.

[Jordan 13]

The Reebok has more forward pitch in the holder than the Bauer. Get them profiled to a more forward pitch and they will feel like your Reeboks for balance...this is $30 deal, cheaper than trying new skates

[JohnnyCanuck 0]

The CCM Skates are notoriously pitched more forward than Bauers.

If the vapor boot fits your foot best you should go with them and tell your LHS how to deal with your steel/holders to get your pitch where you want it.

[Hockeyman11385 1]

The only slightly worrying thing about adjusting the steel is that a bad sharpener will ruin its effects extraordinarily quickly. The more permanent solution would be to fit heel lifts. That way a poor sharpener would not be able to ruin your pitch. If you have a trusted sharpener, then adjusting the pitch on the steel would be a good solution. Also, you don't have to change the steel to LS2.1 to have a larger radius. You should be able to do it with the regular LS2's.

[thehomez 0]

Sorry to hear about the problem your having. Unfortunately I don't have much of a solution but I wanted to post because funny enough I'm having the same problem but in the opposite way. I recently bought some RBK 5k's which fit my foot like a glove and coming from Nike Air Accel Elites with TUUK Custom holders, the E-pro's make me feel like I'm going to fall forward/faceplant. I'm also a considerably worse skater on the E-pro's. I'm assuming this is all attributable to the forward lean and different radius and I am hoping/praying I get used to it after a few more skates.

Good luck with the heel lift on your XXV's. Hope they turn out to your liking!

[Jordan 13]

So again, why don't you get them profiled to a more neutral pitch ??

[thehomez 0]

So again, why don't you get them profiled to a more neutral pitch ??

I think I'm just going to try to stick it out and get used to the new holder rather than have them profiled. I figure it might take me about 4/5 skates on them to get more comfortable with the new pitch. Does that sound about right or does it generally take longer? ;)