Skate Problem or User Error?

[Jarick 5]

Ice was pretty terrible but I got about 15 minutes in tonight. Holy crap these things are great. The forward lean of the boot/holder/tenon is forcing me to get into better position (I have a bad tendency to stand up and hunch)...It seems like a good thing. Laced all the way up and getting plenty of forward flex. Feet are completely locked in no matter what and I already feel I can dig way more into my edges.

I did get some good arch pain, felt like the foot is a bit narrow up front, might have to get that stretched. Also, the steel wasn't profiled at all so I might need a bit more rocker at the toe and heel.

But so far so good!

[epstud74 24]

It had been awhile since I skated in Graf and I did put the Tuuks on them, but kept the forward lean and rocker. The whole set up forced me to bend my knees at an almost 90 degree angle when skating in order to feel comfortable. The first few sessions left my quads, hamstrings and hips sore for days, but now I can skate forever and miraculously, my back pain has gone away as well.

[Jarick 5]

I do have some of that low back pain, and my posture is not great. Hopefully I'll start the process or correcting that. A big part of that is just being exhausted when I skate, probably from being out of shape. Then I get lazy and start standing and hunching.

I could see putting Step Steel on these guys if the steel is as bad as advertised. Hopefully not for quite a while though, lots of money spent on these skates!

[epstud74 24]

The only thing keeping me from putting in the Step Steel is the added cost of re-contouring my skates and the installation fees. Yea, I tend to lose my center of gravity when I get tired and hunch over a bit too much. I'm 240lbs, so maybe that is part of the problem? hah

[Jarick 5]

After skating a couple times, I'm getting some serious pain in the front part of my foot after only a few minutes. It almost seems like arch pain or forefoot pain, after taking the boots off and waiting a few minutes it goes away. Should I be looking to get them stretched a bit up front or is this something that should go away on its own?

[CAmmon 2]

Have you tried to taking out the footbeds? I know with my supremes the insole has too much arch so I skate without them and it helps a ton.

[Jarick 5]

Lhs did a hell of a job again. Explained the problem, they punched out the forefeet a bit, played a game last night, no pain. I can't begin to explain how much better these skates are. I can take much tighter turns, getting more power from my stride, stop on a dime, and I'm bending my knees more, especially in turns and stops. Very cool.

[Jarick 5]

Last skate I had two issues that kept coming up:

1. Couldn't find a happy medium with skate tightness, either too tight or too loose. I'm going to try unwaxed laces, which in the past have been good for evenly distributing the tension of my skates...hopefully it will work with the Grafs too.

2. Lost my edges with tight turns/agility skating. My Vapors had what looked like a good amount of rocker to them on the skate blades while the Grafs look pretty squared. I'm thinking about trying a smaller radius to see if I can get back some of that agility. I don't want to get too crazy without someone watching me skate, but going 1 or 2' smaller in radius can't throw things too far out of whack, right?

[epstud74 24]

Are you still in the Cobra holders? It takes some time to get used to the different holder and you'll tinker for awhile when it comes to finding a happy medium. I'm still tinkering, and I think that the more you play, the more you want to tinker and find an advantage. Does that make sense?? You may want to replace your wax laces as well. I find that after a few skates, the wax laces really are not worth a damn after awhile. It does not help that I've been leaving my skates in the bag since I've been playing 3-4 days a week as of late. Where did you play at? I've lost a few edges lately too, but then again I've been going 2-3 weeks w/o sharpening and playing quite often. The ice has been pretty shitty at a few local arenas as of late too. I'm going to go back in and put a different rocker on my skates today and get them sharpened. Have you thought about baking them again? It usually takes a couple bakes to get the Grafs to fit right after a few skates. I think the lower cut boot may be giving you some adjustment issues as well?

[Jarick 5]

Yeah I still have the Cobras. I'm liking the forward pitch, I'm on my toes which is good, and I'm bending my knees, which is good. I'm doing less of the prairie dog hop when I skate too (up-down-up-down).

I had them punched a couple weeks back and they feel pretty good around the foot now, it's just I'm either tying them tight enough to cut off circulation or there's some wiggle room in the boot. I remember when I had lace bite issues in my Vapors I went to regular laces and that helped.

The lower cut seems pretty nice though, I used to skip 1-2 eyelets and now I don't. I'm not losing edges on turns, crossovers, lateral moves, it's more transitions and quick stops.

Edges were still pretty fresh and skated at New Hope (sauna). The worst was a puck coming at my from the wall at an angle, I'm playing the point and skate up to meet it and tried to make a quick transition backwards to pull the puck to the middle then fire off my back foot...instead I got up there and did a face plant and of course there was a breakaway for the other team. Another lost edge was chasing a forward down into a corner, he does the quick stop and reverse and as I did the same I went down.

I'm pretty sure when I get them dialed in they'll be even more fantastic. Overall I've been pretty thrilled with them, it's just tinkering a bit after every skate to get them where I love them.

[epstud74 24]

Yeah I still have the Cobras. I'm liking the forward pitch, I'm on my toes which is good, and I'm bending my knees, which is good. I'm doing less of the prairie dog hop when I skate too (up-down-up-down).

I had them punched a couple weeks back and they feel pretty good around the foot now, it's just I'm either tying them tight enough to cut off circulation or there's some wiggle room in the boot. I remember when I had lace bite issues in my Vapors I went to regular laces and that helped.

The lower cut seems pretty nice though, I used to skip 1-2 eyelets and now I don't. I'm not losing edges on turns, crossovers, lateral moves, it's more transitions and quick stops.

Edges were still pretty fresh and skated at New Hope (sauna). The worst was a puck coming at my from the wall at an angle, I'm playing the point and skate up to meet it and tried to make a quick transition backwards to pull the puck to the middle then fire off my back foot...instead I got up there and did a face plant and of course there was a breakaway for the other team. Another lost edge was chasing a forward down into a corner, he does the quick stop and reverse and as I did the same I went down.

I'm pretty sure when I get them dialed in they'll be even more fantastic. Overall I've been pretty thrilled with them, it's just tinkering a bit after every skate to get them where I love them.

Sounds like operator error there :P

I took such a non-traditional route to skating, that it is easier for me to make an off balance pass or shot off my back foot than my other foot.. :lol: I seem to be incapable of making the simple play, but if it has to be done immediately and w/o thinking, no problem..weird. The slower the game, the worse off I am.

[Jarick 5]

Okay, season end update.

I had them profiled at 9' (they were 11' stock), and that helped immensely with the turning and transition issues. That's definitely my radius, since I've been skating on it for about four years before the Grafs.

They might be a little TOO forward pitched for me. I've noticed I really have to skate on the balls of my feet, which doesn't jive with me playing defense full time. Skating forward, leading the rush, I'm really much better, but coming back and being agile in my end is still tricky.

Oh, another thing, I'm using Bauer unwaxed laces in these now. They are much wider than the Grafs, which distributes the pressure a bit more evenly. The Graf laces seem to bite into the foot more, probably because of the more flexible boot material. Might try and find some waxed Bauer laces to see how that goes, but nobody carries them around here.

On the whole, my skating is much improved, I've got more speed and power, and feel a lot more stable and comfortable. I might put some thought into putting LS2's on these guys, if just to get them back a little more neutral pitch.