Step Steel for Bauer LS2 - what modifications worked best for you? (poll)

[RussianPlayer 0]

Interesting what people did change on Step Steel to fit their needs and what's the experience.

[squat 5]

I had 4 sets of steel. Fusion, LS2, Step, and Blackedge. I went from forward pitch to aggressive forward pitch and tried combo radius of 8/13 8/12 7/14 and 9/15. I used a FBV 100/50 and 90/1 as well as a 1/2 hollow.

Step steel allows you to lean more and if you are a leaner that uses your heel you will get a tighter turn with the STEP as it allows you to lean more. The Fusion and LS2 would hit the holder on aggressive turns blowing a tire.

I skate in a crouch and try to minimize upper body movements, knees bent, in the more european or the way that Laura Stamm taught me years ago. I have fairly loose skates and do not lace the top Eyelet, I use both edges in stride so i spend a lot of time rolling edge to edge

The combo radius were interesting. I noticed a huge difference in the 7/14 and 9/15. 7/14 is going to require you to be fairly good on your skates, its a quick skate meaning on the ice your skates will out turn you. You will have to have good balance as if you stand to upright you will be unsettled easy. I Actually liked it a lot till I tried the 9/15. I felt me feet in mud on the 9/15 to start with but I pulled the tongue out from behind my shin pad and things got easier. That reduces some rigidity and when I went from the 7/14 and being used to very quick feet it was a must. You wont believe the differences you will feel just by changing your tongue from in to out of your shin pads.

I went from X60 to APX, to NXG skates and kept the same steel. I didnt spend a great deal of time on the APX as the volume of the skate is not for my foot. I had over a year on the X60 and over a year on the NXG. I am now using the Edge holder with LS3 and LS3 only steel.

As to your original question about wobbly, The steel height has nothing to do with being wobbly or unbalanced. Or unless you are a very upright skater, it shouldnt. I like the STEP because of the way i skate I like the extra height for turns and I like how in a deep high speed turn you can keep your skates on the ice and still drive your edge and get some more speed that you bled off and that extra height gives you that much more clearance before you hit the plastic holder.

Again the higher steel is perfect for my style of skating. If you are an upright skater you might have more balance issues.

[RussianPlayer 0]

Very useful info, thanks. One thing I do not understand is I thought radius measured in whole numbers like 8, 9 etc? What is 8/13, 7/14 etc?

I had my Step profiled at LHS at radius 11. I have APX skates. I tried to skate yesterday. Seems better than it was before, but still hard to tell.

I kinda not sure if LHS did 100% great job on getting it done right, just because they do not seem to be doing it a lot.

I am thinking to try sending another pair of new Step to Noicingsports maybe?

As I understand they can also adjust the blade's pitch to make them lean you more forward.. at LHS they mentioned something like 11 is very flat and it will probably make me lean backwards kind of.

I seem to favor more of a like you mentioned ..a crouched leaned forward stance..

After I skated yesterday, I noticed again that Step made my back ache.. I do not get it that noticeable with LS2 blades I got. My LS2 are factory, but undergone many sharpening by me.

LHS told me my LS2 seems real flat, more like 13 radius or something. LS2 is the best I skate on at the moment. But started noticing now that I dont have enough Toe to push off for backwards skating.

Possibly steel is getting worn down.. Do not know exactly.

I got to play with all of it to find what works well for me. I can tell there's big difference once fitted right.

Also, I noticed that on 90 degree stops there's so little trace on the ice after. The trace seems so thin and it's more towards the toe from the balls of my feet.

I feel that I would be so much more efficient if I had more flat spot centered more under the center/ball of my foot.. Just what I keep observing...

[t6lock 24]

I got step steel put in last week and had em put at 9', previously used 2 sets of LS2 at stock radius and my transition to Step was seamless. I could tell on turns there was a bit more blade touching the ice, but it definitely felt like a good thing that it was. I know a lot of people like to shave the toe down on new steel but I had no problem at all in my strides or pivots, backwards or forwards

Was using 7/16" mainly on the LS2, tried 1/2" and I really liked it for the game or two that the edge would last on so I'm hoping to try 1/2" again

[squat 5]

Its a radius where the first number is the the front of the blade and the second is the back. You can google power skating or think how a speed skater skates. I really dont see someone putting a full 13 on a set of skates.

[RussianPlayer 0]

Its a radius where the first number is the the front of the blade and the second is the back. You can google power skating or think how a speed skater skates. I really dont see someone putting a full 13 on a set of skates.

What about the middle part then?

[squat 5]

Like a triple radius? or the back half? Most hockey shops do not do a dual radius they have 9-10-11 for the most part. Couple places near me do and you can mail it to noicing which does it as well.