MLX Skates Now Available

[goaliemanshark 6]

Are you going to ask for a deeper boot JR? I fail the pencil test in every boot basically (minus the Graf 709), these were no exception. Do you have a thicker normal width foot?

[JR Boucicaut 3760]

Lack of energy transfer, sloppy stride, lack of support, premature breakdown...

Think of it this way - think of a sneaker as opposed to a slipper. Your lateral support is much less on a slipper.

I wore them on ice today. Felt very "loose" even though length and width are fine. The ankle is too deep (why it creased heavily) and the foot is too shallow, which you can see by my lacing pattern.

[raganblink 82]

I got the Total Ones for 450$ through a friend who works at a sports store. Sick employee discount...goes to show how much Bauer is gouging us on skates.

FYI, that's below wholesale by quite a bit, and ur buddy made a couple bucks off ya. Employees can get a discount below cost if they make a lot for their rep or their rep likes them.

[irishlaxburger2 0]

Lack of energy transfer, sloppy stride, lack of support, premature breakdown...

Think of it this way - think of a sneaker as opposed to a slipper. Your lateral support is much less on a slipper.

I wore them on ice today. Felt very "loose" even though length and width are fine. The ankle is too deep (why it creased heavily) and the foot is too shallow, which you can see by my lacing pattern.

Any pain? Lace bite?

[JR Boucicaut 3760]

FYI, that's below wholesale by quite a bit, and ur buddy made a couple bucks off ya. Employees can get a discount below cost if they make a lot for their rep or their rep likes them.

Or just be an employee of an authorized retailer. Bauer participates in 3point5.

[raganblink 82]

From personal experience tho, unless you're doing a bunch of business with them, reps don't care to help the small guys.

[shotty 7]

depends on the rep, they all work their territory differently.

[Krev 86]

From personal experience tho, unless you're doing a bunch of business with them, reps don't care to help the small guys.

I disagree. From my personal experience, reps will help whomever so long as you are nice to them. But that's just my experience.

[raganblink 82]

All of mine tho are our best buds when were buying a lot of their product, when we aren't all of a sudden those once a week calls turn into once a month, and definitely put us on the zero priority list, despite still being a client. For instance with bauer our rep finally mentioned the 3.5 program, after just booking 3x as much as we did last year. We bumped up another company aswell and our rep for that company is all of a sudden our best friend and is helping us and calling to bs. then with another company, we cut book in half, and now his time spent on us dropped completely and we can't get a word back on an Smu we wanted to do.

[Chadd 916]

Yeah I'm fairly sure. From your pictures it looks like you were more or less in the same boat as me, with not being able to lace them before heating. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you like the skates) you might need a deeper skate. I didn't, so it wasn't an issue for me.

For what it's worth, here is a picture of mine laced up. Click the link. I'm certainly not coming out of the skate as much as you, but I don't have any problems at all with mine. No lace bite or anything of that sort. Maybe it won't be a big issue for you. Good luck with them.

That's a terrible fit for depth. You may not have problems now, but once the tongues break down a little, you will.

Let me ask you this then, since you've been fitting them for 10 years, because I'm not sure of the answer. If I'm having absolutely no problems with the skates; no foot pain, no lace bite, etc, etc, what would I gain if the boot was deeper? Would there be a performance benefit, or would I just have the satisfaction of knowing they're a "good fit"? If these are technically a "bad fit" because of the volume, I'm accepting it because they feel so good on my feet, they're like slippers. My One75's most likely weren't deep enough for me either, but I loved those skates.

They're brand new, the lace bite will come when the tongue loses its ability to protect from the pressure points.

[danno25nh 3]

I'm not sure why folks are arguing about volume. If the volume is too small it's too small. Period. No mater the shape you can only fit so much mass into a container, in this case a boot.

What this boot does allow is pretty significant changes to shape. It does not and can not allow changes to volume.

The consensus seems to be: If it fits your foot it's amazingly comfortable. If not, you need to keep looking. No skate can fit everyones foot.

Anyone that got a good fit that could compare it directly to a top of the line production skate? I'd really be interested in either performing or reading that review? Wife gave me "The Face" when I suggested I might buy a TO just to compare.

[JR Boucicaut 3760]

Exactly - I was merely proving that volume cannot be increased by baking.

The skate isn't for me, that is well-established.

My opinion based on my experience is that if you are good in a CCM or Reebok boot fit-wise, MLX will serve you well.

[mojo122 530]

Aside from the skate being too shallow for you to wear I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts of the overall skate construction/workmanship, holder, and runner.

[JR Boucicaut 3760]

It's a hodge-podge of sorts.

Stitching looks good - the eyerows are bare, as the inner liner stops right where the eyerow starts.

The quarter material is glued under the arch like Eastons are.

Steel quality is good, it sharpens pretty well.

The holder is a direct Tuuk infringement; I'm sure Bauer will be serving them at some point. The "C" between the towers infringes; that is why CCM's is squared off, and Easton's droops in the middle. PITCH was set to be taken off the market because of this. The channels in the toe and the heel are very similar as well.

No gaps where the carbon meets non-carbon areas. The heel is a bit bumpy, but seeing how they laid the carbon to form the heel, I understand why.

It's not bad at all, slightly rough and industrial.

[fastbrother7 0]

It's a hodge-podge of sorts.

Stitching looks good - the eyerows are bare, as the inner liner stops right where the eyerow starts.

The quarter material is glued under the arch like Eastons are.

Steel quality is good, it sharpens pretty well.

The holder is a direct Tuuk infringement; I'm sure Bauer will be serving them at some point. The "C" between the towers infringes; that is why CCM's is squared off, and Easton's droops in the middle. PITCH was set to be taken off the market because of this. The channels in the toe and the heel are very similar as well.

No gaps where the carbon meets non-carbon areas. The heel is a bit bumpy, but seeing how they laid the carbon to form the heel, I understand why.

It's not bad at all, slightly rough and industrial.

Im glad that you added some detailed clarity to that because when looking at he holders online (i ordered mine without holders) they looked almost just like ls2s which I thought was pretty odd since companies across all retail genres are very tip-toe about releasing product that may be similar to other companies designs.

[ju87 0]

Could anyone comment on how the MLX compares in fit (mainly in terms of volume / depth) to the major skate brands ?

[goaliemanshark 6]

5 posts up...

"My opinion based on my experience is that if you are good in a CCM or Reebok boot fit-wise, MLX will serve you well. "

Seriously dude?

[mojo122 530]

It's a hodge-podge of sorts.

Stitching looks good - the eyerows are bare, as the inner liner stops right where the eyerow starts.

The quarter material is glued under the arch like Eastons are.

Steel quality is good, it sharpens pretty well.

The holder is a direct Tuuk infringement; I'm sure Bauer will be serving them at some point. The "C" between the towers infringes; that is why CCM's is squared off, and Easton's droops in the middle. PITCH was set to be taken off the market because of this. The channels in the toe and the heel are very similar as well.

No gaps where the carbon meets non-carbon areas. The heel is a bit bumpy, but seeing how they laid the carbon to form the heel, I understand why.

It's not bad at all, slightly rough and industrial.

Appreciate the objective overview of the skate. Too many members tend to look at products subjectively, especially if they have already made the purchase. The ability to adjust the holder position is intriguing, but it seems like the stock skate is not going to work for many folks.

[vek 0]

Appreciate the objective overview of the skate. Too many members tend to look at products subjectively, especially if they have already made the purchase.

Heh, agreed. I don't think I've read better examples of cognitive dissonance than some of the posts throughout. Personally I just could never buy a pair of skates the way they're sold.

[irishlaxburger2 0]

"Slightly rough and industrial" is probably a pretty good way to describe the boot. I don't think it's as bad looking as others seem to think, but I definitely agree with that point. It's definitely not as "clean" or "finished" as other skates out there are. It looks like what you would expect from a prototype.

Haven't been able to heat them up yet but I was able to get them on out of the box and the length/width fit me a lot better than I expected. They're real snug, but feel fairly good. Also had a decent hold of my heel right out of the box. Unfortunately, it seems like I'll have some depth trouble around the 4th and 5th eyelets. I'll heat them up sometime this week and try them out.

I wonder if MLX will do anything about the depth issue. Has anyone contacted them about it?

[JR Boucicaut 3760]

Appreciate the objective overview of the skate. Too many members tend to look at products subjectively, especially if they have already made the purchase. The ability to adjust the holder position is intriguing, but it seems like the stock skate is not going to work for many folks.

Sorry that I did not touch on that - I will attempt to adjust them tomorrow.

I messed around and removed the tendon guard and the tongue just to see how it was, but I hadn't adjusted the holder yet.

[IniNew 52]

"Slightly rough and industrial" is probably a pretty good way to describe the boot. I don't think it's as bad looking as others seem to think, but I definitely agree with that point. It's definitely not as "clean" or "finished" as other skates out there are. It looks like what you would expect from a prototype.

For $500 I'd better have a finished skate, not a prototype.

[ju87 0]

5 posts up...

"My opinion based on my experience is that if you are good in a CCM or Reebok boot fit-wise, MLX will serve you well. "

Seriously dude?

Thanks

I was hoping to elicit more comments and discussions about the depth of the MLX boot because there has been scant discussion on the topic save in the last page or 2 of a 28 page thread.

[applesauce683 0]

Skated for the first time on these yesterday for about 4 hours. Some background on my feet/ankles, I have very skinny ankles and a generally skinny/small foot. I have tried various brands and nothing seemed to provide me with good lateral ankle support. Earlier this year I settled on Graf 703's as they came the closest to fitting me, but I still wasn't satisfied. After baking the MLX's they fit my foot/ankle amazingly well. I have complete lateral ankle support without even lacing them tightly. When I first stepped on the ice, it was an instant smile on my face because I knew I had finally found a skate to match my wimpy ankles. The LHS owner who instructed me last year when I was a novice and sharpened my skates yesterday was watching me skate from inside his store. He remembered that I had issues with my skates before. He came out a while later and told me I looked a lot better with these skates. It was the first time he had seen them in person and was impressed by them. So from reading other peoples stories, it seems like these will suit the skinny to normal sized ankle and foot people better.

[fastbrother7 0]

Ive skated on mine about 5-7 times (4 adult league games and about 3 practices coaching) and they feel great. I like to do things a bit differently, so as far as the looks go, I dont mind them. I coach 13-14 y/o Bantams, and while they werent bursting at the seems with praise about my skates, they didnt beak me about the way they look ( teenagers do that fyi lol ). I personally like the way they look compared to the new Vapor APX. Thats just my opinion. Besides that, they fit well. I imagine that 12-13 years ago I would have balked at these skates, but nowadays for me its comfort over looks when it comes to my feet, i.e. ECCO's over Jordans haha.