Switch from ROH to FBV, 9' Radius to 8/12

[z1ggy 81]

Really love the fit of my Mako IIs, but ever since switching from LS2 and Tuuk, something has just felt off, even after skating on these now for about 7.5 months. I feel as if there's not enough contact of blade on the ice, especially when doing crossovers forward and backward.

No Icing has suggested I get a FBV 100/50 (similar to 9/16 hollow), a combination 8/12 radius, and to get step steel and leave the profile at 'neutral', for an overall +2 on my skate (instead of +3 now).

I'm wondering if anybody here has any experience with any of these changes, and if they've ever changed 3 things at once. I'm concerned this is too much to change at the same time, and that skating will feel completely off, until I adjust. I'm most concerned about the combo 8/12 radius out of all of those...I'm considering just getting a regular 9' radius, regular hollow with the neutral step steel. If I like all that, I can send them the runners back and get the FBV and combo 8/12.

Thank you for your responses.

[jimmy 194]

Most likely the CNX pitch is too much for you, even with Step's taking some off. If you are spending most of your skating on the front of the blade, the symptoms or feel you describe can result. Going to a 9' is really not going to change much. See if you can have your shop instal a lift under the front towers to truly neutralize the forward pich. Some skaters just don't feel comfortable with that much.

[z1ggy 81]

Right, going with steps which themselves are neutral, would leave me at +2. I'm not sure if I'd want to go +0, as I am used to some forward lean (my Marsblade chassis for roller is fairly aggressive). How much shim would I add to take away 1 degree of pitch? Ie, if I wanted to go from +3 to +2, I'd add a 1/8'' shim, etc.

Would the 8/12 combo effectively feel like a 10' overall?

[chippa13 1844]

This thread reminds me of the "Suzie and Elaine" scene from Seinfeld.

[z1ggy 81]

Jokes on me I guess.

[MThockeydad 469]

I went from a "stock" 9' LS2 Bauer radius and 1/2" ROH last season to Step and LS3 runners, 100/50, 8/14, and +1 forward pitch based on Noicing's suggestion. Zero complaints here.

If it's mid-season, it might feel funny. If you do it during a break in the season (summer?) it might work great.

I couldn't always get the 100/50 during the past season and sometimes went back to 1/2", but the profile and pitch worked awesome for me.

I had a spare set of stock profile/radius LS2 steel and put them on late in the season and was instantly back on my heels and felt like my feet were stuck in concrete. I really missed the pitch and profile. I'm a believer.

[z1ggy 81]

Glad to hear you liked it! I'm definitely sold on the FBV from what I'm reading online and from talking to a few guys at hockey monkey, but I'll have to consider the combo radius a bit more.

[Chadd 916]

I don't like to make that many changes at once

[MThockeydad 469]

Hence my comment about doing it mid-season.

For sure, if you make all those changes at once, you don't really know the effect of each change individually.

When Noicing is 2500 miles away from me, and there's no shop doing profiling and pitch in the state, FBV is 120 miles away, it made more sense to do it all in one order.

[jimmy 194]

Glad to hear you liked it! I'm definitely sold on the FBV from what I'm reading online and from talking to a few guys at hockey monkey, but I'll have to consider the combo radius a bit more.

I misread your first post, I thought you were already on the combo and step steel. If you are still skating on stock mako steel, perhaps going to the STEP steel will be enough of a pitch adjustment for you. I wouldn't worry about making changes, most of my customers change radius pitch and to FBV all at once and very few have issues. If you did, a simple symptom evaluation can determine what the issue is related to, e.g, pitch or radius.

[z1ggy 81]

Nope, still on stock set up.

Thank you everybody for the advice, I will place an order soon and let anybody who is interested know what I ordered, and how it is working.

[yipperzz 28]

I went from stock LS2's with 1/2" ROH to the Step Steel from noicing and went with the same 8/12' custom radius. I went with the 92/75 FBV though and added a medium forward pitch. I really liked it a lot but my only complaint is that I don't know exactly what change had what kind of effect. But I love it and don't really care at this point. I wanted to go to a pickup or stick time to try it first, but ended up going to my beer league game and didn't have any issues with it. I'm thinking about getting another set so that I can them sharpened ahead of time since I'm so far away from them.

[z1ggy 81]

Yeah if I got everything done that No Icing suggested, we would have identical set ups other than the FBV sharpening, but that's minor. I'm already used to a pretty aggressive stance though being on Mako's so maybe I won't notice a huge difference. Like you said, I would want to try and get them out on a public skate first just in case it felt weird.

[z1ggy 81]

Got my Step Steel runners in and put into my Makos. I took a picture of the mako steel sitting on top of the Step Steel (I will have to post it later tonight) and I noticed quite a difference. The Step Steel is definitely taller than stock Mako Steel, and the profile on the stock mako runner is pretty aggressive compared to my neutral Step Steel. I think I am going to want to go grab a public skate first to get used to this. Overall, I should still be at +2 pitch, so I shouldn't feel on my heels, but hopefully just more balanced and not so much on my tippy toes.

I'll post again once I skate on my set up for any interested readers.

[z1ggy 81]

Ok just did a public skate with the new set up. As far as the profile itself, I found it to be more stable than stock steel. The biggest adjustment I had to make was backward skating as I felt like I couldn't get as far over my toes to push off, but I got used to it.

For the fbv, I didn't feel a huge difference. I did notice though they seemed to bite into the ice a lot more during turning which I few as a positive over ROH. I did a few hard stops and got a little chatter, so that sharpness might be a little bit too much for summer ice.

Overall, this set up is better I think than I had previously.

[z1ggy 81]

Skated on the new set up in game for the first time. I think it will take me a few games to truly adjust to have a bit more blade on the ice, and the FBV does definitely feel different in game. Hard to explain, but for me the most I notice is just tons more "bite" when turning. The extra glide, I don't really notice. Maybe that's due to the stock Mako just having a slightly lower friction amount of the steel. Honestly, I'm not even sure I like the much added bite. It's great for holding tight turns knowing I won't blow a tire, but stopping, or going into a stop while in a turn felt a little uncomfortable. Maybe the hollow I got was a little too sharp for the summer ice. I'll give it a few games before I make up my mind for sure, but after my initial impression, I don't feel like it's worth the $7 + shipping to No Icing when I get a free sharpening of a regular hollow from my buddy any time I want. For others who don't get that luxury, I would say the FBV is likely worth it.

I still haven't had time to post a picture of the Mako Blade vs the SS... Guess at this point I probably won't bother.

[chippa13 1844]

FBV can be great when you find the right setting.

[yipperzz 28]

I ended up buying another set of Step steel. I don't like the stock LS2 feeling anymore and would rather rotate between the two sets of Steps now. Unfortunately I can't really find many consistent sharpeners in my area, so I'd rather pay and ship it out to noicing to get it done. I tried FBV from a local shop before (I think it was also 92/75), but I didn't like it. But after trying it with the custom radius on the Step steels, I loved it. Again, I can't be positive since I replaced the steel, did a custom radius, and FBV sharpening all at once. But this combo seems to be the best I've skated on so far.