Tour Silver Max & New Models

[Snigglefish 0]

I've seen Tour has added a new model to their lineup, the Silvermax. Has anyone heard anything about this? It doesn't have the carbon weave like the Bluemax and Beemer, but appears to be inbetween the Bluemax and Redmax.

Any ideas if this is their 2005 lineup or do they go several years with a product line?

Thanks...

p.s. Thanks MDE? (sorry, I forget your handle) for the details on the new Tour skates. Others I've talked to that have them concur with your findings.

[MDE3 0]

All I have heard about the Silver Max is that it is a limited edition.... meaning limited production. Probably a good performing skate at competitive pricing with some visual "pizazz", to help garner some more exposure to the new series by giving the player a bit of a "unique" look. Maybe they are doing what Nike did with their HiHo's, but with a twist.....Nike took intermediate ice boot technology (XII ice boot) with some "flash" and mounted it on a "low end" chassis and then charged premium dollars for it. Basically this plan promoted the "fit" of the Nike boot, and it was marketed as their high end skate to many Nike Sponsored teams. I think the plan succeeded to a degree.... Tour appears to be offering their version at a more competitive price than Nike did with their HiHo's, and equipping it with a high end chassis as well....I would think the Silver Max's would be a better overall buy than the Nike HiHo's if they fit as well the Beemer's and the Blue Max's.

I am not sure what they will bring out for 2005, but like any manufacturer, they will no doubt have something to keep the pot boiling. I think they are finding good response with the comfort and performance of their new line and the new Hum'er chassis technology, which is helping them recover from the previous G-series acceptance and fit problems, so they probably want to keep that momentum going for a while.

[JasinC19 0]

I spoke with a Tour sales rep recently and he informed me that there will be no 2005 line. They feel their 2004 line is good enough to last 2 years. Which it is, but I still wish they would bring out something new.

As far as the silver max goes, I tried on the blue and the silver and I thought the blue felt much nicer. Better quality materials, and didn't have purple wheels. ;-)

Jason

[Snigglefish 0]

Thanks for the info guys. Locally (Raleigh, NC) I've had a hard time finding retailers who stock the Tours as Mission seems to dominate. One guy told me they had cleared out of their stock in anticipation of the 2005 models but he didn't sound too sure when I talked to him.

Silver is being packaged with a Tour helmet for around 240 on the online vendors, but I'll probably go with the Blue. My 5 year old 902s are shot but have been great skates.