Reebok (RBK) Kinetic Fit Pads / Gloves

[Netminder32 32]

Don't know much about this stuff yet other than Miller had been spotted wearing the trapper on and off throughout last season and sets are starting to pop up all over the place now... Supposed release date is June 2010.

While admittedly I've not been a fan of any of the RBK gear to this point. I do at least really like the graphics on this new stuff....

[The Webster 0]

Looks something like brians would churn out

[K9 Unit 1]

Looks something like brians would churn out

haha was about to say that, and as a person with no knowledge of goalie gear what-so-ever, they kinda look like vaughns to me (the pad not graphics)

[Law Goalie 147]

Looks something like Brian Heaton (RIP) would churn out

Fixed - very BHG-esque, except for the square vertical roll.

Interesting sets - they remind me of those 585/RBK hybrids that a few people got their hands on.

[sogaduch 0]

Fixed - very BHG-esque, except for the square vertical roll.

Interesting sets - they remind me of those 585/RBK hybrids that a few people got their hands on.

This does look very BHG like and something that I was telling Mr. Heaton what would make his eyewall10 pad popular

[SEagle30 0]

RBK's with rolls? I don't know what they are trying to pull here but I think that they should stick with their box style pad. The X-Pulse didn't work out that well and I'm sure these won't either

[Law Goalie 147]

What they're 'trying to pull' is an updated Koho design, at heart, with some new insights from the Reebok years and some Heaton influence.

All Lefebvre pads have rolls. Reebok remains the only major retail pad with a round medial roll, in fact, which most builders have long since eschewed for a flat gusset -- which is far easier to build. If you mean the knee-rolls, it remains to be seen whether these are integral (ie. presenting functional breaks in the pad on the face) or simply cosmetic.

Based on the way the stays look, and the breaks in the vertical roll, it seems evident that the uppermost and lowermost breaks run through the pad, and the middle two (around the middle knee-roll) do not represent a functional break; it's kind of hard to make that middle roll work when you've got an HD110 knee-wing across it.

What's really interesting is what this does to the medial surface of the knee. For those who haven't used recent Lefebvre pads (Koho 580/590/585, RBK/Reebok), that round medial roll I mentioned is a big part of the way they play: it reduces the surface area of the pad in contact with the ice in the butterfly, which makes it slide extremely well and does a fabulous job of preventing wear to the medial gusset. It also makes the pad technically unstable in that position, since it's resting on a slightly deformed (that is, from the weight of your body) half-round shape that can act as a fulcrum instead of on a hard, flat surface 1.5-2.5" wide. This is exactly why there can be a bit of a learning curve on Lefebvre pads, which has lead to a bit of a love/hate relationship with some people.

On the Kinetic Fit pads, this medial roll is interrupted by the knee-rolls where they wrap around (just like on his old Koho designs) from the face of the pad over the medial gusset. Although it doesn't look truly flat, in the sense that, say, Bauer/Itech or Vaughn medial gussets are flat, it will 'play' flat: that is, it presents a relatively wide surface (or three surfaces, to be precise) to the ice in the butterfly.

They have also, thank god, avoided the one gigantic pitfall of the Koho design and left the graphic off the medial surface. On the 580s in particular, there were a few exposed seams that carried over onto the inside of the pad, and they got torn to pieces: the whole pad would start coming apart.

Incidentally, a new picture has surfaced:

In my heart of hearts, I hope these show up for inspection at the Summer Jam. :)

[McDougalfaschnitzer 32]

I like the overall design just because it gives some variety in the Reebok line. Not too sure about the graphic though; I feel like when a company makes a more traditional looking pad they all need to make solid color schemes :p

[Law Goalie 147]

Have to agree with you there. I was kind of hoping for a more angular, 590/PS1 sort of graphic, or even a pure retro design where solid colours are applied to different sections of the pad, eg. for a Fuhr-esque pad, orange knee-rolls, blue vertical roll, white body, blue accents.

Still, I'm mainly just grateful he kept the graphic off the bloody knee this time.

BTW, PMed you about the mysterious case of the Cubberly...

[flyboy34 0]

Not a fan of the graphic, but the pad itself looks great. I hope the make it with a slightly deeper leg channel for the traditional/hybrid goaltender.