lace bite in Vapor XXXXs

[epstud74 24]

Whatever it is, it is causing a sore spot on my shin/ankle

Here are the skates in question. You can see the crease in the tongue causing the lace bite. I've been skating a little harder than usual and seeming to lean a lot more into my skates than in the past and I'm not sure if I'm getting enough support and need to go to a custom skate. Anyone have an idea as to what a good skate for high insteps would be? The Vapor XXXX is a perfect fit for me length/width-wise, but I may need to find a skate where I do not need to crank down on the laces over the instep. My feet have been numb for months heh

[lampliter87 8]

Bunga pads/new tongues?

[epstud74 24]

Is there a plastic insert etc in the Vapor XXXX tongue? I did not have this problem until the tongue started to fold at a 90 degree angle

As for bunga pads etc, Westwood gave me some Pedi Fix sleeves to wear. We will see how that works

[Jarick 5]

What kind of laces/lacing are you using? I was getting some lacebite in my XXV's but switched from a complex lacing scheme with waxed laces to a normal lacing with stock laces, as well as dropping another eyelet and the boot is holding my feet better.

Maybe try having the Supreme felt tongues put in?

[epstud74 24]

What kind of laces/lacing are you using? I was getting some lacebite in my XXV's but switched from a complex lacing scheme with waxed laces to a normal lacing with stock laces, as well as dropping another eyelet and the boot is holding my feet better.

Maybe try having the Supreme felt tongues put in?

Jarick, I use wax laces and tie them up normally. I'm going to try the padded sleeve and if that does not work, perhaps take the black tongues off my cousin's old One55 skates and put them on mine. I was not having any issues until the skate tongues started to crease and break down.

[VakarLajos 5]

I had a bit of the same problem with my Vapor XXXs and it helped when I stopped using wax laces. The wax laces were much thinner. The regular laces are thicker and don't cut into the tongue as much.

[porky45 1]

get a piece of foam... like packing foam and put it between the top of your foot (where it angles) and the tongue. problem solved.

[epstud74 24]

get a piece of foam... like packing foam and put it between the top of your foot (where it angles) and the tongue. problem solved.

I was given a pedi fix sleeve at Westwood Sports. It looks like it would take up a lot less space than foam

[Jarick 5]

When I switched from the Gorilla laces (like waxed) to stock laces, the distribution of pressure seemed a lot more even. I have no idea why. But the pressure was equal all around the foot rather than tighter up top, and that's been helping the pain as well as skating.

[epstud74 24]

I'll have to try that. I was also asked if I would be interested in trying a different lacing system as opposed to how I normally tie them up

[porky45 1]

get a piece of foam... like packing foam and put it between the top of your foot (where it angles) and the tongue. problem solved.

I was given a pedi fix sleeve at Westwood Sports. It looks like it would take up a lot less space than foam

Foam compresses and provides extra comfort. I personally lace my skates up pretty tight, so the extra foam I use really helps disperse all of the pressure.

[frankie56 0]

In the foot section of the drug store you can find some gel type pads, these are the same stuff as the bunga pads.

[forbs02 20]

Relace your skates and skip the eyelet over your trouble spot. A bunch of my girls had trouble with the bottom of the pads in the x60 tongues and that's what I had them do. In most cases it took care of the problem.

[Jarick 5]

I found when I did outside-in lacing, that spot would be looser and the inside-out part would be tighter, but going back to inside-out for the entire boot kept a more consistent pressure around the top of the skate. Maybe try outside-in on the soft spot or skip it like forbs said until it heals?

[epstud74 24]

Yea, I'll try all of the above. I'll tinker with everything until I find something that works. Hopefully the new Pedi Fix gel sleeve helps out a bit. I'm 230lbs, so I probably put a lot of stress on the skate tongues. Maybe I'll get Forbs to come over and customize my skate tongue for me ;)

[Larry54 243]

I found when I did outside-in lacing, that spot would be looser and the inside-out part would be tighter, but going back to inside-out for the entire boot kept a more consistent pressure around the top of the skate. Maybe try outside-in on the soft spot or skip it like forbs said until it heals?

Then I guess it's not a coincidence that I got rid of lace bite just by switching from inside-out to ouside-in for the whole skate.

[roscoe6 1]

Relace your skates and skip the eyelet over your trouble spot. A bunch of my girls had trouble with the bottom of the pads in the x60 tongues and that's what I had them do. In most cases it took care of the problem.

+1

I had this EXACT problem last season with my XXXX's. I tried thicker socks; didn't work. I tried Bunga Pads; worked for a bit. I tried foam; worked, but was too uncomfortable to skate in. I tried taking a week off; didn't work, plus I almost died of boredom.

Lace normally, skip the second to top eyelet, lace the top eyelet. And, for the love of God, don't wrap your laces around the back of your skates if you do.

[ktang 34]

If the skate tongue is folding right where you have your lace bite, and if your skate tongue is stiff and thin, it could be that the inside padding is a hard foam that has creased.

That happened with my Bauer 8090s, so I took out the hard foam padding from inside the skate tongues and replaced it with thick felt.

I will try to post some pictures later.

Outside view of the hard foam that I removed:

You can see where the creasing occurred, and where the foam broke apart.

Inside view:

I think my Bauer 8090 tongues have the same kind of construction as your XXXXs.

[epstud74 24]

Yea, it is right where the crease is on the tongue. If the lacing and pedi fix pads do not work, I'll either replace the tongue or get custom skates

[ktang 34]

You may not need to replace the tongue; you could destitch the inner round piece (top side, below the logo on the tongue), remove the plastic / foam piece, put in some thick felt, and re-stitch it.

If you can do this, it is much less expensive, and faster because you don't have to sew through the toe cap.

[epstud74 24]

I was told today that George's Shoe Repair (hockeyrepair.com) has been doing this to a lot of Vapor XXXXs.

I will perhaps stop in and investigate