Favorite Skates of all time, top 5 (just for fun)

[matix218 11]

I for one have owned quite a few pairs of skates over the many years I have been playing ice hockey.

I thought it would be fun to see what some other member's favorites have been and share what mine have been.

Post your top 5 favorite skates of all time (they can either be based on ones you have owned or even wanted to own).

Mega/Bauer Air 90: I only owned the Bauer version but they were probably the most comfortable (slipper like) skates I have ever worn. The air pockets in the ankles were more comfortable to me than the memory gel/foam ankles in most other skates. I loved the black/gray look of them as well.

Easton S15/17: Only owned the S17 but I loved the bare-bones super lightweight approach easton took with these skates. I am still currently skating on my S17's and I have a brand new pair in reserve for the day that my current pair is too beat up to use. I know people had some durability issues (specifically s15s) but I love the weight/performance of this skate and I always thought that the bare carbon boot sections looked really nice too.

CCM 952 (Kevlar) skates: This was the pair of skates that I skated in for the longest period of time of any skate I ever owned. The fit and comfort were perfect and they had a perfect blend of stiffness and forward flex. They were also very protective with that DST wraparound sole (although the one thing you could claim as a negative from that same feature is that it added a lot of weight to the boot).

CCM 352 skates: More of a nostalgia thing for me than anything truly special about these skates. They were my first "real" pair of decent quality skates and I was so proud to be skating on "Tacks". I thought the heel wedge looked super cool at the time and these were the skates that I truly learned how to be a "good" skater on so they carry a lot of memories for me.

CCM Vector Pro and Vector 10.0: Loved LOVED this boot. Still using a Vector 10.0 boot for my inline hockey skates because I love them so much. Would probably switch back to them for ice if I could find a new pair in my size (which I always am searching ebay for haha). I love the shape of this boot for my foot and if I drop down 1 eyelet they had the perfect mix of support and forward flex that I have ever found. Lacelock was also awesome feature on these skates (I know reebok still offers this but I am not a big fan of the heel lock I get from Reebok boots). Def one of my favorite skate boots of all time.

What about the rest of you guys? Please be sure to post reasons as to why a certain skate made your list to make it more interesting!

[deathb4dismount 11]

Micron Mega 10-90s: If you owned them they will be your # 1.

CCM U 08 (or better): Current Skates. Best fitting skate as an adult and have gotten my moneys worth. Love the stride I get with these. Great for North/South skater

Easton Z Air with tuuk holders and blades: Very light (when they first came out) fast strides and edge transitions

Bauer Supreme 3000s: First skates

[Matty33 6]

I really only have two, others I've had were all good skates just nothing to make me miss them.

Mission Amp Flyweight's: I got a pair from an ECHL equipment manager when they first came out. They came in for one of the players and they didn't fit so he gave them to me. Loved those skates, I still have them but the steel is too run down to skate on. I've thought about throwing on some new holders and steel and take them for a spin just for old times sake but never want to spend the money on them.

Reebok 16k: current skate, I love them...so comfortable. I'm sure I'd love the 18/20k's just as much or more as well.

[jonesy9020 77]

1) Mission Pure Lites - just enough stiffness for me without being uncomfortable at the time - was probably a pee-wee. Loved the supplefit design. Also helps that I wore these at the peak of my playing ability compared to my peers.

2) Bauer Supreme 1000 - First "real" skate when I was a kid. Might have rose-colored glasses on but compared to the plastic, non-cushioned, I think they were called Bauer Challengers or something like that, these were awesome and my skating got much better very fast.

3) CCM 352 Tacks - Probably the best fitting I ever had done on a skate. Not super high tech but so comfortable.

4) Bauer Supreme 6000 - Felt ok, not great. Probably would be top 2 if I had gone with a wider size. Despite fitting gripes, leather-like liner and super clean all black leather classic design were excellent.

5) Mission L7 - Most comfortable, lightest, best performing skates I ever owned...until they started creasing all over about 2 months in. Most exciting, expensive, and disappointing skate I've owned.

Here's hoping the one.7s I have on order make the list, (although it's probably not too hard to bump the L7)

[boo10 323]

Micron Mega 10-90

Daoust 301

Daoust 501

CCM Super Tacks

Micron Medallion

[CTB 32]

Mega Air 90s (as Matix said, ankle pads were ultra comfortable, for vanity reasons I was a huge Bure fan and he wore them for a while)

Vapor X 7.0 (current skate, great responsive skate, by default most technologically advanced skate I've owned)

Bauer Supreme 3000 (first top end skate I owned)

Bauer Supreme 4000 (had a pair custom cut toward the end of my youth hockey days, best fitting pair I had but I suppose didn't have the novelty effect of the 3000s)

CCM 252 (first pair of "serious" hockey skates I owned, at least they were better than the glorified recreational pair)

[Fire Walker 22]

Bauer APX2- current skate

Bauer x60

Graf 709

Bauer 6000

Bauer supreme 1000 when I was a kid

[grnmtnvt 18]

Bauer Supreme Classic 100- First new pair of skates. Plus, love the nostalgia of buying skates at Canadian Tire when they still sold decent equipment.

CCM Tacks 152- First pair of skates that I paid for myself. Such a flimsy skate but lasted a long time given the price.

CCM Tacks 952- First and favourite pair of top end skates. Still the most comfortable skates I've ever owned and they lasted forever. Way too heavy, even for the day but super protective.

Bauer Vapor 8- Just loved the look of these skates. They weren't the most comfortable nor the lightest but they were slick. Not the brightest purchase.

Reebok 18K- Current skates and best blend of stiffness, weight, and comfort.

[Cavs019 702]

One90, NXG, Vapor 10, Bauer Comp, 952

[decoy 164]

Bauer Vapor X7.0

Bauer Vapor X:60

Bauer Vapor XXX

Bauer Vapor 10

Micron Mega Air 90

[MaximRecoil 7]

Bauer Turbo - I couldn't go back to these now, but when I got my first pair of them, Christmas of '87 when I was almost 13, I loved them more than anything; they were my most prized possession. I'd wanted some since Christmas of '84 when my old brother got his. Plus many of the best skaters at the rink had them, and I'd looked through old hockey cards and found a few NHL players wearing them, or similar molded plastic skates.

We always opened presents on Christmas Eve (after eating supper, so around 7 PM), and as soon as I got them I went over to the rink (along with a new Vic hockey stick that I also got) and skated around by myself until after midnight. It was snowing that night, several inches had accumulated on the ice by the time I left, but I didn't care. They were so comfortable, and actually had ankle support. This was a major improvement over the "Sherbrooke" skates I had previously, i.e., crappy vinyl Chinese torture devices with zero ankle support.

They were size 7, and in '89 I got another pair, size 9. I was always perfectly happy with them, but I still wanted to try something better, so in '90 when I was 15, I saved about $150 from my part-time job and had my mother take me to Goldsmith's Sporting Goods in Bangor, and for $120 I bought:

CCM 251 Tacks - These were amazing, and I could easily go back to them today. At the time, the 251, 451, and 651 Tacks were all made the same way and of the same materials (full-grain leather and ballistic nylon mesh), though the 651s had the Vacu Tack or Custom Fit ankle padding which the 251s and 451s didn't have. These had the best tongue ever. The ankle padding and heel lock in these (absent in the Bauer Turbos) brought my skating to a new level immediately.

CCM 652 Custom Fit Tacks from '92/'93 - I actually liked the 251s better, but they were still good skates. I regretted not getting the Vacu Tack version of them.

Bauer Supreme Composite from '95/'96 (known as the Supreme Composite 5000 the following year) - I still use these. Slightly better than the 652s, but not better than the 251s. That's probably due to how they fit; i.e., I don't think they are deep enough. With the CCMs I could lace every lace tight and be in perfect comfort. With the Bauers, I have to be careful with the middle laces or I quickly get arch pain. The Tuuk Plus holders/blade seemed to be shorter than the SLM holders/blades on the CCMs, which makes the boot more likely to hit the ice during aggressive crossovers.

I have some like-new Micron Mega 10-90s on the way, the version like the ones Ray Bourque used to wear, so I'll have to see how those pan out.

Edited February 19, 2014 by MaximRecoil

[moreoutdoor 6]

on a purely 'memories' thing, #1 are the first pr of Tacks I could afford back in '67. Before that I skated in CCMs which were always 1 or 2 levels below.

along the way until I stopped 'skating' in '87, I had plenty of Bauers (supremes), Daoust & Hydes, but mostly short daliances because when I got on Langes, back on 72/73 season, you couldn;t tear them out of my grip.

So most favorite:

Original Lange Pros - had 3 pr

then

Lange Pro IIs - another awesome skate, even though they gone to PU as the shell material.

along with the Tacks, these had the best steel, bar none...

in fact I still have my last pr of Lange Pros & Pro IIs - and skated the Lange Pro in my 're-entry' into hockey, some yrs back...

I still skate the Pros when I go to a Public Skate...

stilled skated the Pro IIs in a few pickup and sticktimes, until 3 wks ago, when I caught a deflected slapshot on the back of the boot, which proceeded to explode into a zillion pieces... PU does get brittle after some years - Oh well... kept the good skate as a momento....

Honestly though, the new stuff is so far superior to ANY of the old school stuff we remember fondly;

so the Vapors I now have are just awesome skates. Comfy, powerful, fast and incredible edging angles.

Although I still haven't gotten accustomed to the 'sound' of plastic holder skates - they sound ... funky... like an unloaded pickup on a bumpy road.

nothing like the sound of a steel holder skate on solid ice - they just sing...

think I'll wear the langes to the next sticktime...

[wrangler 157]

I've had only 5 pairs of skates in my life. The first ones were bargain junk, the second were bottom-of-the-line Bauers, which weren't that bad. I really liked the third pair, Bauer Black Panthers, which I got about 1970. In 1975 I got Super Tacks, which didn't seem much different to me. A few years back I got One95s, and I like them the best. A big part of it is that they fit the best -- not that the others weren't a good fit.

[zebra_steve 11]

Daoust Super National 501 - Loved them had several pairs and would still be using them if they were still made. - Custom boot

Bauer Supreme 100 - with BLACK SLM blades... they seemed to hold an edge MUCH better than the white ones. - Stock boot

Bauer Supreme Comps - Heavier than my 501's but comfortable. Daoust (and Lange) was bought by Canstar and they really cheapened the 501's before killing them - Custom boot

Graf Supra 707 - Comfortable but fell apart way too soon. - Custom boot

CCM Crazy Light - Most comfortable "modern boot" that I've had..... Custom boot.

I'm old school and learned to skate on boots that allowed for forward ankle bend and foot\toe extension ant the end of the stride. Back then, we did everything we could to get them as laterally stiff as possible but still have the proper hinge.... If you've never worn a pair of stitched leather boots that were properly broken in to your feet then you have no idea what comfortable skares really are.

Edited February 23, 2014 by zebra_steve

[Fishing1 0]

Apx2 one.9 7.0 mission fuel 120 ag and bauer vapor 40

[bunnyman666 445]

I've only been back on the ice since September, but I have already owned three pair of skates!!!

CCM U+07- fit was good after break-in, but skating on them 8 hours per week proved too much for them as they started breaking down and hurting my feet

Bauer Nexus 400- I love the feel of these, the toes box was wide enough for me, but darn if after fully broken in, the heel started slipping. They became downright slippery without a second pair of socks!!! These are still a back up pair.

Reebok 16K- stiff, supportive, and I hope it takes at least a year before they break down. I skated their first full pick up game in them Wednesday, and they felt good from warm up to my very last shift!!! The Pump really helps lock my heel.

My favourite skates previously were Bauer Supreme 90, but were way long in the tooth before they went to the rink in the sky... I had some cheap crappy Bauers that weren't the same for a short time after that and before I took a twenty year hiatus.

[Miseaujeu 291]

1. CCM 552

2. Mission PureFly

3. CCM ProTacks (the first one circa'01/02)

4. Mission Flyweight M

5. Graf 705

[iceman8310 103]

1. CCM 552 tacks

2. Bauer one95s

3. Micro Mega Air 90s

4. Bauer Vapor 10s

5. Van Hornes

[sturdy22 26]

Nike Quest 1 (still have 4 pairs)

Bauer S9/8090 ( one90 and one95 badging)

Vapor 10

Easton Mako

Bauer 7000

I have multiple pairs of the Bauer S9 a couple pairs of Quest 2s that I don't like as much as the 1s. I also have a pair of Flexlight 12s.

[sickwilly 37]

Daoust 555 Gold (custom extra wide, extra stitching/stiff).

RBK 11k

CCM 1052

Hoping that my pretty much new Graf G3 Ultras will fit somewhere on this list. Lots of potential and great fit if they hold up well.

Lange plastic/molded skates, just because it was my first pair of hockey skates.

[jisatsu 4]

1. CCM Pro Tacks

2. CCM 1152

3. CCM 752 with the Insta-Pump

4. CCM 352

I haven't really cared for any other skates to put them in the #5 slot. Absolutely hate my pair of Eastons right now.

[#94 3]

1) Bauer Supreme

2) Mission Flyweight

3) Bauer/Micron Mega

[GiffhipcheckNH 5]

1) Daoust 301 Super (first edition the "D" logo at front of boot not ankle)

2) Bauer 7000

3) CCM Custom Tacks

4) Lange Pros (I think that is what they were called the one Espo is wearing just not with Tuuks in his Ranger pics)

5) Micron M-1 (mainly because they were so much lighter than the Langes, they were half the weight)

[BrondonZA 0]

1) Bauer Vapor APX (current skates)

2) CCM U+10

3) Reebok 4K

4) CCM V02

5)Reebok 1K fitlite

[Powerfibers 8]

Mega 10-90

Flexlite 4.0

Graf 735

Kor Shift 1