VH Footwear/TRUE by Scott Van Horne

[Sniper9 530]

SP 1.0 for me with no red insole in my custom trues. Love how firm they are. Hate the spongey feeling of the stick insoles. 

[Giltis 116]

10 hours ago, darkhors said:

Have you tried the stock True insoles? I had fully custom insoles in my X90s and now use the stock insoles baked with the skates. I have zero pain (high arches) and can be in the ice for 2+ hours without any pain at all. Those shouldn't change your volume since they're made for the skate anyway. 

Yeah same here, I usually need insoles for any other skates (and still be in pain!), but I just use the stock ones that True comes with. There's times where I'm on the ice for 2+ hours in a day, I don't think I could do it with any other skate. 

[VegasHockey 1280]

10 hours ago, Sniper9 said:

SP 1.0 for me with no red insole in my custom trues. Love how firm they are. Hate the spongey feeling of the stick insoles. 

SP 1.0 are also very good and you can find them for a good deal online, but I like how the SP 2.0 are little less firm and have a bit more flexibility to them. 

[Sniper9 530]

On 1/27/2021 at 10:35 AM, PBH said:

SP 1.0 are also very good and you can find them for a good deal online, but I like how the SP 2.0 are little less firm and have a bit more flexibility to them. 

Ya both are good. The SP2.0 is prob the only mother insole I'd use if the 1.0 are no longer available to me. I have three pairs of the 1.0. Good thing I've had no issues with breakage with them so far and it's been a couple years. I have a pair of 2.0s as well. 

[hockeydad3 51]

Does anyone know the differences between the different skate tongues and their effects on the skate properties? Do you have to bake or position them differently?

[SolarWind 23]

Apologies if it's been already covered, the search didn't reveal anything relevant so here it goes:

I've been looking at custom True skates for a while, but the concerns around their durability (specifically rivets getting lose sometimes on a monthly basis) held me back.  Now that my current skates are falling apart I'd like to pull the trigger but curious if anyone can comment on the quality/durability of the recent True customs - have the issues been resolved?

Also any thoughts on the new Shift holder vs Tuuk LightSpeed would be appreciated as well with regards to height/pitch/flex?

Lastly if anyone is in the know are there any dramatic improvements/re-design coming down the pipe any time soon?

Thanks!

[VegasHockey 1280]

3 hours ago, SolarWind said:

Apologies if it's been already covered, the search didn't reveal anything relevant so here it goes:

I've been looking at custom True skates for a while, but the concerns around their durability (specifically rivets getting lose sometimes on a monthly basis) held me back.  Now that my current skates are falling apart I'd like to pull the trigger but curious if anyone can comment on the quality/durability of the recent True customs - have the issues been resolved?

Also any thoughts on the new Shift holder vs Tuuk LightSpeed would be appreciated as well with regards to height/pitch/flex?

Lastly if anyone is in the know are there any dramatic improvements/re-design coming down the pipe any time soon?

Thanks!

This should be merged with the TRUE mega thread 

[SolarWind 23]

No thanks, that thread existed since the beginning of time and is really about “everything and the kitchen sink” for True skates. My question is specific to the durability of the current version and any publicly available info re any upcoming upgrades.

[Furyan 1]

In the couple words: nothing changed

litle bit different outside matherials, bolt instead of rivet for tendon guard and weird new holder

Ah, and brand new flashy innovation - YOU CANNOT ORDER >1K USD SKATES WITH DIFFERENT HOLDER/STEEL which makes me really upset cuz you need to drill your new skate costs >1K USD to mount something else

[Giltis 116]

4 hours ago, Furyan said:

[...] YOU CANNOT ORDER >1K USD SKATES WITH DIFFERENT HOLDER/STEEL which makes me really upset cuz you need to drill your new skate costs >1K USD to mount something else

Wait, how is this different from any other top of the line skates?

I love CCM XS holders but I wouldn't expect Bauer to mount them from factory.

[Miller55 333]

4 minutes ago, Giltis said:

Wait, how is this different from any other top of the line skates?

I love CCM XS holders but I wouldn't expect Bauer to mount them from factory.

It's not different from anyone else, but it's different from Trues previous offerings. 

Anyway, in answer, the rivet issue is more likely related to maintenance, although earlier generations of True skates did have more likelihood of loose rivets, changing once a month sounds much more extreme than anything I've heard. Haven't heard anything about this for the new TF Customs. 

Regarding the holders, I see a lot of people changing to LS or XS, so that should tell you what you need to know. 

Regarding updates, no they just released this new custom design in the summer, I wouldn't expect anything for at least half a year to a year.

[Buzz_LightBeer 969]

13 minutes ago, Miller55 said:

It's not different from anyone else, but it's different from Trues previous offerings. 

Jut thinking out loud, but wasn’t that a service they offered prior to having their own holder?

I could see them offering to mount CCM, Bauer or Step holders previously but now that they have a holder/steel combo I can understand the restrictions. 

Edited February 9, 2021 by Buzz_LightBeer

[Hills 712]

Some shops have said if you ask True to they will drill the holes for the specific holder and not mount theirs if you ask. But I have hear conflicting reports on that.

[Miller55 333]

11 minutes ago, Buzz_LightBeer said:

Jut thinking out loud, but wasn’t that a service they offered prior to having their own holder?

I could see them offering to mount CCM, Bauer or Step holders previously but now that they have a holder/steel combo I can understand the restrictions. 

Yeah definitely. It makes perfect sense, but if you got a pair of Trues a few years back and they sent them mounted with ls holders and then you go to order another pair and they don't offer that, you're gonna be bummed. And especially if the reason that they don't offer them is because the offer their own product which is a completely different style of holder altogether. Thus, imo, is a mistake on the part of True. The LS is the most popular holder and CCM is trying as hard as they can to create a similar style and feel in the holder, and I think True should have done the same, but they went with a product that they have to prove to every single new customer, because everyone coming from Bauer and CCM is used to a certain holder feel in the LS/XS, and now everyone has to adjust to the shift. I'm sure they have their reasons, but I just think they created this very uphill battle for themselves where, in addition to having finally proved their boots, they now have to prove a new holder model as well. From what I see it's not going great, as I can't remember the last person I saw with TFs and a shift holder. 

[Giltis 116]

2 minutes ago, Hills said:

Some shops have said if you ask True to they will drill the holes for the specific holder and not mount theirs if you ask. But I have hear conflicting reports on that.

Yeah at least the two shops that I've dealt with said that they can have it drilled to the specs of either the XS or LS holder, if you specify from the beginning.

I didn't do this from the beginning (big mistake), but True worked with the shop that did the conversion and sent my scan with notes on where it should be drilled for the XS holder. I don't know what more you could want.

[pucks_putts 13]

Got my customs at the end of 2019. Have had a couple rivets come loose on outside of forefoot. 
 

Requested Tuuk Edge but True would NOT do it. I gave the Shifts a try but ended up swapping for Tuuk after about 3 weeks. 

Definitely some minor sloppiness in assembly but overall sturdy construction. Most comfortable and best performing skates I’ve ever used. 

Edited February 9, 2021 by pucks_putts

[SolarWind 23]

1 hour ago, pucks_putts said:

I gave the Shifts a try but ended up swapping for Tuuk after about 3 weeks. 

what was so different about Shifts that you had to revert back to Tuuks? Was that a height of the holder or the pitch or something else? Looking at holders side by side they seem very similar in terms of height/pitch but it obviously impossible to confirm without skating on it so any further insight would be appreciated.

From what I gather a lot of riveting issues stem from swapping holders (especially if re-drilling is involved & of course LHS is a whole wild card in of itself) and the factory does a decent job installing Shifts. So I was hoping to avoid this issue altogether if somehow I can make Shifts work. Too bad there are no demos available anywhere and it's not possible to "try before you buy" so as others said I very much hope True still supports other major holders.

[Hills 712]

29 minutes ago, SolarWind said:

what was so different about Shifts that you had to revert back to Tuuks? Was that a height of the holder or the pitch or something else? Looking at holders side by side they seem very similar in terms of height/pitch but it obviously impossible to confirm without skating on it so any further insight would be appreciated.

From what I gather a lot of riveting issues stem from swapping holders (especially if re-drilling is involved & of course LHS is a whole wild card in of itself) and the factory does a decent job installing Shifts. So I was hoping to avoid this issue altogether if somehow I can make Shifts work. Too bad there are no demos available anywhere and it's not possible to "try before you buy" so as others said I very much hope True still supports other major holders.

I swapped because I hated the steel height. Maybe it was a mental thing but I swear I couldn't turn as tightly without my skate hitting the ice and bottoming out.

[pucks_putts 13]

1 hour ago, SolarWind said:

what was so different about Shifts that you had to revert back to Tuuks? Was that a height of the holder or the pitch or something else? Looking at holders side by side they seem very similar in terms of height/pitch but it obviously impossible to confirm without skating on it so any further insight would be appreciated.

From what I gather a lot of riveting issues stem from swapping holders (especially if re-drilling is involved & of course LHS is a whole wild card in of itself) and the factory does a decent job installing Shifts. So I was hoping to avoid this issue altogether if somehow I can make Shifts work. Too bad there are no demos available anywhere and it's not possible to "try before you buy" so as others said I very much hope True still supports other major holders.

As someone mentioned earlier there is a lot of discussion about this on the True TF9/TF7 thread but I understand it’s tedious to sift through so here is a mashup of some of the posts I made about the Shift...

When I got my True Customs I really wanted to give the whole setup a chance including the Shift. I could NOT get used to them. I struggled badly with the Shifts, especially backwards skating and transitions. I went so far as to profile the steel twice but it was just too much of an adjustment for me and I ended up swapping for Tuuk Edge. Felt 100% back to normal in 10 minutes. 

 

If you read around on the True Custom / VH thread a lot of guys talk about how the Shift holders are actually quite different from the others. I don’t know much about the CXN but I know that the XS is designed very much like the Tuuks for the specific reason of how popular Tuuks are with pros. I’m guessing the CXN isn’t far from Tuuk either since they dominated that era. I can’t remember all the details but three of the key points about the Shifts are:

1) They have a very aggressive forward pitch. More so than any of the other holders. Combine this with the boot that also is designed for more forward pitch and personally I felt like I was falling forward all the time and though I somewhat adjusted it never felt right to me. 

2) The Shift holder is designed to put more steel under and behind the heel. Supposedly this is better for skating but again personally this was the most uncomfortable aspect for me. I felt like my toes were “hanging” way out over the front of the steel. Just not a good feeling for me and I “toe picked” a LOT amy first few times out. 

3) The Shift is a Symmetrical holder. Meaning there is no difference between the left and right holders. They have the exact same rivet pattern and “down angle” to the steel. There is a lot of science behind this part and I’m not sure if this really made a huge difference but some people on here says this changes the distribution of weight and downward force into the steel this affecting stride and balance point. 

Again, there are some much more knowledgeable people than I on here and I’m just relaying my personal experience. I can’t personally comment too much on #3 because 1 + 2 were so prominent for me. 

Lastly I want to add that I know a few excellent skaters that kept the Shift holders and like them. Upon asking they all said that it was a bit of an adjustment but that after a few weeks they didn’t have any issues. 

I think it may come down to trial and error unfortunately. Good luck and I want to close by saying that my True’s are the best fitting and performing skate I’ve owned and I’ve owned many. Absolutely love the boot and will never buy a skate that isn’t built off a mold of my foot ever again. 

I think True was doing a 30 trial for the TF9 + TF7. If still going you could get a pair of TF9 to try out the shift holder but from what I hear it is extremely unlikely for True to do anything but ship with the Shifts so if you know you want the boot just get the Customs and give the Shifts a try. My LHS ended up putting on Tuuk with LS5 in a straight swap for the Shifts with Blacksteel and 2 extra regular Shift steels sets I had. Hope this provides some insight...

Edited February 9, 2021 by pucks_putts

[VegasHockey 1280]

13 hours ago, Hills said:

Some shops have said if you ask True to they will drill the holes for the specific holder and not mount theirs if you ask. But I have hear conflicting reports on that.

If you request the skates to be drilled for Edge or XS holders they will do such and ship the SHIFT holders unmounted. 

I think all holders have pros/cons and recommend players use whatever works best for them. 

[SolarWind 23]

Thanks a Lot for the detailed response pucks!

Given the state most LHSes are nowadays due to covid I feel bad getting them through extra work white TF9s just to try the holders out (picking the size, baking, sharpening and then returning back)... wish they just had some demos or something 😞

[Allu 5]

Does someone know is the true skates lower cut than bauer vapor skates? 

[SolarWind 23]

Thanks for the detailed explanation Pucks!

didn't realize True was reinventing the wheel so much with their holder?! 

1 hour ago, Allu said:

Does someone know is the true skates lower cut than bauer vapor skates? 

comparing @ the store side by side it looked lower, but it might be misleading if the foot sits lower in it.

what I found surprising was that Chara skips the top eyelet in his Trues, but I don't recall him ever doing it in Bauers he was all these years before switching to True?!

does anyone else around here skip top eyelet in Trues? I've always been doing it in Supremes but was under the impression Trues flex differently so skipping isn't required?

[VegasHockey 1280]

2 hours ago, Allu said:

Does someone know is the true skates lower cut than bauer vapor skates? 

Yes the top eyelet is slightly lower on the TRUE skate boot than the Vapor boot. 

[Giltis 116]

3 hours ago, SolarWind said:

[...]

does anyone else around here skip top eyelet in Trues? I've always been doing it in Supremes but was under the impression Trues flex differently so skipping isn't required?

I skip the top on mine, I could probably skip another to be honest.