Blade Radius question

[Labrat198 7]

I am currently skating on a 9 foot radius with a 5/8 hollow and have been thinking about moving to a 11 foot radius in hopes of getting a touch more speed. What I am wondering is if I should expect the same "bite". I know the hollow is what really affects how much your skate digs into the ice, but figured that putting more blade on the ice would also give more grip. I occasionally get a small amount of chatter from my inside skate when stopping with my current set up and a ton if I accidentally get a 1/2 hollow, so I might try a shallower hollow when I get the radius done if it does give more bite.

Nothing that I couldn't figure out by playing around with the hollow afterward, but if I know what to expect I can get my head back in the game instead of trying to figure out what my skates are doing and what I should try next.

[chippa13 1844]

It would result in less "bite" but also a harder to turn skate.

[Bbd94 26]

From someone whose tried 9, 10, and an 11 radius with a 5"8 hollow I can definitely say that I prefer the 10 foot radius. It's hard for someone to diagnose what you need  though because we don't know your weight, skating style, rink you play at, or what you prefer to skate on.  I'm 5'8 and 170 so fairly average, maybe a little overweight, and not a very good skater. I've tried an 11 foot radius with a 3"8 hollow and I didn't like it. I felt it wasn't beneficial enough to offset the sluggish feeling I was getting on the ice. I tried the 11 foot radius with a 5"8 and it was much better, but I settled with the 10 foot radius. 

I agree with what chippa13 said but again that may work for you, you may not need to change your hollow.  What's worked for me is knowing what my rink's pro shop sharpens at, and then going from there.  

IMO I would start with the 10 foot radius on a 5"8 or a 3"8 hollow and then profile it to 11 if you don't like it.There's a chance you'll go back to the 9 foot radius so I would just buy a pair of LS3 and test that. Already set to a 10 foot radius and that way you don't have to get profiled twice. If that makes any sense

[Labrat198 7]

9 hours ago, Bbd94 said:

From someone whose tried 9, 10, and an 11 radius with a 5"8 hollow I can definitely say that I prefer the 10 foot radius. It's hard for someone to diagnose what you need  though because we don't know your weight, skating style, rink you play at, or what you prefer to skate on.  I'm 5'8 and 170 so fairly average, maybe a little overweight, and not a very good skater. I've tried an 11 foot radius with a 3"8 hollow and I didn't like it. I felt it wasn't beneficial enough to offset the sluggish feeling I was getting on the ice. I tried the 11 foot radius with a 5"8 and it was much better, but I settled with the 10 foot radius. 

I agree with what chippa13 said but again that may work for you, you may not need to change your hollow.  What's worked for me is knowing what my rink's pro shop sharpens at, and then going from there.  

IMO I would start with the 10 foot radius on a 5"8 or a 3"8 hollow and then profile it to 11 if you don't like it.There's a chance you'll go back to the 9 foot radius so I would just buy a pair of LS3 and test that. Already set to a 10 foot radius and that way you don't have to get profiled twice. If that makes any sense

 

A little background. I picked up a pair of 18K's that started with a 10 foot radius but I wanted a more forward pitch. The only local shop I trust to work on my skates didn't have a 10 foot template so I went with the 9 foot at the time. I have been skating on that for the last 3 months and while its not bad, I want to try the 11 to see if that works any better. Getting a second set of steel done through the mail would be my next option.  I am 5'10 at about 210 and while I think I am a decent skater, I get beat in a foot race more often than not.

 

14 hours ago, chippa13 said:

It would result in less "bite" but also a harder to turn skate.

 Thanks, sounds like sticking with my current hollow is a good place to start.

[vsawchuk 8]

You could always try out a combination radius.... I was using a 9ft radius before and about a month or two ago switched to a combo radius 9ft/12ft (that's 9ft radius on the front half of the runner to keep my quick starts and agility and 12ft radius on the back for more top end stability and speed.)  It took about a few hours to get used to but I really like it!

[Labrat198 7]

16 hours ago, vsawchuk said:

You could always try out a combination radius.... I was using a 9ft radius before and about a month or two ago switched to a combo radius 9ft/12ft (that's 9ft radius on the front half of the runner to keep my quick starts and agility and 12ft radius on the back for more top end stability and speed.)  It took about a few hours to get used to but I really like it!

 

Yep, the combo radius is on the table if the 11ft radius leaves me wanting. I prefer to give my LHS a shot at helping me before going somewhere else. But whatever recommendation I get from noicingsports would be my next step in perfecting my skates.

[vsawchuk 8]

4 hours ago, Labrat198 said:

 

Yep, the combo radius is on the table if the 11ft radius leaves me wanting. I prefer to give my LHS a shot at helping me before going somewhere else. But whatever recommendation I get from noicingsports would be my next step in perfecting my skates.

Yeah Noicingsports did my combo and I'm very happy with them.

[rawkstar 45]

Same here, had noicing do a combo radius 8/13 and it feels great. I had a 9 ft before, switched to a straight 11 and I really liked the extra stability and speed, but felt a bit flat footed, wanted a bit easier starts. Before I went to noicing I had LHS shave some of the front and that didn't work very well, I ended up catching the toe on fast starts, so I went with the 8/13 and it feels great, exactly what I was looking for. Lots of speed, stability, and you get easy fast starts and direction changes, lots of steel on the back. 

[Labrat198 7]

1 hour ago, rawkstar said:

Same here, had noicing do a combo radius 8/13 and it feels great. I had a 9 ft before, switched to a straight 11 and I really liked the extra stability and speed, but felt a bit flat footed, wanted a bit easier starts. Before I went to noicing I had LHS shave some of the front and that didn't work very well, I ended up catching the toe on fast starts, so I went with the 8/13 and it feels great, exactly what I was looking for. Lots of speed, stability, and you get easy fast starts and direction changes, lots of steel on the back. 

 

Did you feel like you had to change the hollow much when you changed the radius? To deep of a hollow messes with my ability to stop smoothly and I am wondering if you can notice any difference between the front and back and how much they dig into the ice when using the combo radius?

[rawkstar 45]

I didn't really notice the difference front and back, its a pretty smooth transition, feels pretty normal. It doesn't feel like you are skating on two different profiles, it just kind of works and feels natural. Honestly I was a bit concerned it would be an adjustment, but took me like less than 30 seconds to get used to it on the ice. If you're having problems with chatter when stopping you may have too much edge, like its sliding and then catching constantly, maybe try a shallower hollow. I usually get 1/2, and I went down to 9/16 and it feels great. Then again it all depends on what kind of ice you're playing on, the rinks here in NC have pretty soft ice so a shallower hollow works well.

[jimmy 194]

If you go to a longer radius, the hollow will feel slightly less sharper, although you may not even notice.  As a general rule, the shorter the radius, the more pressure/weight is placed on a smaller footprint and it will grab more.  Make the footprint (radius) larger and it disperses the weight over the larger area. I wouldn't worry about it though, like I said, you may not even notice.

[Labrat198 7]

4 hours ago, rawkstar said:

I didn't really notice the difference front and back, its a pretty smooth transition, feels pretty normal. It doesn't feel like you are skating on two different profiles, it just kind of works and feels natural. Honestly I was a bit concerned it would be an adjustment, but took me like less than 30 seconds to get used to it on the ice. If you're having problems with chatter when stopping you may have too much edge, like its sliding and then catching constantly, maybe try a shallower hollow. I usually get 1/2, and I went down to 9/16 and it feels great. Then again it all depends on what kind of ice you're playing on, the rinks here in NC have pretty soft ice so a shallower hollow works well.

Awesome, Good to know.

 

[GloriousLeader 31]

I remember that when I first went from 9ft to 10ft radius, I didn't immediately notice a huge difference. It took me just a warm up to get comfortable with them. Yes, the hollows did play a bit less sharp (less "bite") but nothing too noticeable.

 

Just went back to 9ft after couple of years in 10ft and boy what a difference! I could barely stop on the first shift for all the chattering. They were great on quick turns and I could really dig in to those shots  but man I'll tell you I was sweating a little going in to those corners fast and trying to stop... needed couple of games to get used to the new blades (and dull the edges...)

[Dizzyg12 27]

I went from 9' to 10' and I love it.  It didn't impact my tight turning or agility at all but helped with speed and with stopping (more blade

on the ice makes it easier to stop - for me anyway).  I use 1/2" hollow and find it to be a good blend of glide and bite. I'm 5'10" 180 if that helps at all.

 

 

[talkintothemike 4]

I have a question concerning the blade profile along with the pitch.  After reading through many posts in various threads, I went to a LHS to have blades profiled for my daughter.  She has Jr Nexus skates with the LS Edge holders and steel.  We live in an area where there really isn't much sophistication in our LHS when it comes to any profiling.  I had wanted to try a combo radius, and also a + pitch on her skates.  I knew a +3 like a Mako CXN arrangement (+2 holder and then +1 for the steel as I read)  was going to be too much, and too different, for her to adjust to.  The LHS recommended we do an 8/11 combo radius with the "center" placed back towards the heel by 1/2".  The LHS guy could not tell me if this was a +1 or +2, or +1/64 or +1/32, or anything.  

 

Does anybody have any idea what an 8/11 combo radius with the center 1/2" towards the heel on 230mm steel gives us as far as a pitch?  I have to assume this is somewhat forward compared to the factory/Bauer/Tuuk neutral, correct?

 

Thanks.

[Marek26 0]

Hi guys ! I just changed the skates and my new model fits me better in half size smaller shoe so I took them. But thing which changes was also size of my holder and blade from 296 to 288. The shoe fits perfectly to me but my skates are not skating as well as those old ones. I'm sure that it's because of that blade but I can't change it. Does anybody has experience with same problem? Maybe change of pitch of gliding spot can solve it? If I had a neutral pitch on 296 blade should I have bit forward leaning pitch on 288 blade to get same feeling? 

[Larry54 243]

1 hour ago, Marek26 said:

Hi guys ! I just changed the skates and my new model fits me better in half size smaller shoe so I took them. But thing which changes was also size of my holder and blade from 296 to 288. The shoe fits perfectly to me but my skates are not skating as well as those old ones. I'm sure that it's because of that blade but I can't change it. Does anybody has experience with same problem? Maybe change of pitch of gliding spot can solve it? If I had a neutral pitch on 296 blade should I have bit forward leaning pitch on 288 blade to get same feeling? 

More details would help, like old and new skate models and the blade model if it's not stock so we can compare old and new blade profiles, etc.

And how many times have you skated with the new pair? I recently changed from LS2 263 to Step 254 and it took around 5 skates to get used to it but all is fine now.

[Marek26 0]

My old skates are Bauer X100 and I had there LS 2 edge holder (296) with LS 2 steel 30/60 neutral profile. My new pair is Bauer 1X with same holder (but smaller size - 288) and I put there also LS 2 steel with same radius and same 30/60 neutral profile. I don't know why, but I don't feel as well on those new skates. My stride is much worse compare to old ones and I didn't change a hollow. So that's why I ask, if change of pitch (more forward or more on heels ) can help in this case.

[Arch 0]

I switched from 9ft to 11ft recently in my VH skates - since 11ft has more blade touching the ice at any one time, i did notice an increase in bite when both pushing off and stopping.

I went down another 1/16th of an inch in my hollow to compensate and now it feels great - more stability from the 11ft radius and a much better push off that helps me get up to speed much faster. I haven't noticed a big difference in my ability to turn but i definitely fall a lot less often now.