VH Footwear/TRUE by Scott Van Horne

[Beleafer 14]

They look great. Also do you have LS3 / Step steel in em? Looks really tall.

[Speedz98 15]

How was the protection? Do the skates feel light? Did you get full customs or just ordered in your size? What process did you use for baking?

[flip12 714]

The more I look at these, the harder it is to resist the notion that Karl Lagerfeld contributed to their cosmetics.

[smcgreg 81]

The more I look at these, the harder it is to resist the notion that Karl Lagerfeld contributed to their cosmetics.

Took the words right off of my keyboard.

That being said, I'm still very interested. Especially considering Giancarlo is coming from Makos, which I am currently on. Achilles area is such a cluster on the Makos, I'd like to hear how the VHs look/feel.

[flip12 714]

Yeah, I'm still interested in these too. I'd gladly take a Lagerfeld over what other companies have been putting out.

Seriously though, I'm excited about the recent speed skate technology and knowhow bleeding over into hockey, and I'll definitely get a pair of VH boots if I can afford to later this year. I'm excited to see how these play for people.

[GiancarloSFL 15]

Yes they are step steel absolutely fell in love with that steel a while back when i was skating in my bauer nxg and upgraded to step.

They look great. Also do you have LS3 / Step steel in em? Looks really tall.

How was the protection? Do the skates feel light? Did you get full customs or just ordered in your size? What process did you use for baking?

The protection was really good took a couple shot off the boot and felt nothing. Weight was phenomenal really light, i have a pair of x60 and mako skates that i held while holding the VH skates in the other hand and these skates are really really light (thats even with the steel). I did get them custom (Scott is really easy to deal with and literally built the skate around my foot from just tracings and a couple measurements) I followed his instructions on the VH Footwear website for the measurements and baking instructions. One thing that I did that i recommend against is baking without the steel, i received the boot with just the holder and baked them right away with out the steel. That made it harder to install the steel after, i ended up heating the holder with a heat gun and installing the steel once the holder was warm (snapped right in)

[Speedz98 15]

Was it very difficult to put the skates on and tie them up at first? If it was tough, is it an endurable inconvenience for you? Any pain breaking in a new pair of skates? What discomforts did you find if any?

Thanks for enlightening us.

Edited June 21, 2013 by Speedz98

[GiancarloSFL 15]

Was it very difficult to put the skates on and tie them up at first? If it was tough, is it an endurable inconvenience for you? Any pain breaking in a new pair of skates? What discomforts did you find if any?

Thanks for enlightening us.

The skate wraps extremely well which makes putting them on a little harder than regular skates but not painful. No pain at all so far and they really do mold extremely well. If you look at my foot and look at the boot you can see every bump even my arch was perfect which I always have arch and volume issues with my skates. Scott really got my foot down even told me what was bothering me with my current skates just by looking at my tracings.

[kenneth 5]

how much did they charge for the customs? and did you get a choice of which holder you wanted or you had to put it on afterwards?

[hound97 3]

From their website.

http://www.vhspeedskating.com/hockey/warranty/

[flip12 714]

Jaw dropped--I was expecting more expensive for customs. Sweet.

[IniNew 53]

$100 cheaper than current customs, and $100 more than current retail. Not too surprising.

[flip12 714]

True, but (showing my work below...)

I just remember $1000 for complete custom skates from the first word from SVH. I guess that meant with the holder+steel, so they're -$100 from that earlier projection.

With custom speed boots at $1500 (and the old video featuring margarine molding saying $1200), it just seemed like $800 was a deal.

[romdj 26]

double post

Edited July 3, 2013 by romdj

[romdj 26]

Wow, it is so amazing to read all this!! I'm really excited about these skates which are in my opinion absolute beauties. :)

@ vhfootwear:

• I love the composite toes, I understand you want to implement a plastic toe cap down the road, still, are you planning on keeping that composite toe option available? or was it just about the retail vs custom route?
• Is it possible to get t-nuts installed instead of rivets?
• I've experienced some discoloration and deterioration of the leather, how durable are they regarding skate cuts?
• overtime, the plastic of the boot's skeleton cane through the liner at the top of both sides of the boot, will there be some sort of comfort edge feature to avoid that?
• PS: These skates are immaculate!

@vhfootwear & GiancarloSFL:

• Back on the mlx's i found the lining to keep its moisture quite a bit, and that is keeping me away from making a roller boot I see in the specs that you've adressed that, but I'm just checking.how they were addressed

Yeah, but can you even get sprungs anymore? I e-mailed them with no reply a while back.

Apparently, Sprungs are back (Aug-Sept I believe)

[GiancarloSFL 15]

@ROMDJ

I didn't have a problem with drying the boots out. The liners were dry by the morning and i had a late game i do take out the insoles though.

[Krev 86]

Oversized tower? Looks a little not flush with the front.

[SirJW 207]

Is the screw/bolt on the toe for the tongue?

[romdj 26]

Kind of a humangous big toe cap from that angle

Is the screw/bolt on the toe for the tongue?

According to the skate specs, a velcro holds the tongue in place

[GiancarloSFL 15]

Oversized tower? Looks a little not flush with the front.

Thats the angle that I took the picture from, they are your regular LS2 holders

Is the screw/bolt on the toe for the tongue?

That screw holds the velcro which the tongue attaches to. Very cool idea i love being able to adjust the tongue.

Kind of a humangous big toe cap from that angle

According to the skate specs, a velcro holds the tongue in place

The toe cap was made for a growth that i have on my big toe it was bothering me with all of my other skates but Scott really took care of me with his design. Not the prettiest but boy is it ever comfortable.

[flip12 714]

The toe cap was made for a growth that i have on my big toe it was bothering me with all of my other skates but Scott really took care of me with his design. Not the prettiest but boy is it ever comfortable.

Man, that sounds uncomfortable, bet it feels nice now. It may not be pretty but it's easy to forget right away. I had the same reaction when I got my Vapor 8's punched way out to accomodate my heel shape and the nasty Haglund's I had developed from not knowing how to fit skates when I started playing.

The shots you took of the skate are amazing. That frontal shot really shows how much the boot wraps, and I can see much better now how it locks you in with very little lacing pressure. I'm really curious about the inside of the boot heel/tendon guard area. Teasingly, it's just out of frame on shots 5 and 6; could you take a shot of that area?

Also, how high does the boot come on your ankle compared to your previous skates?

[vhfootwear 5]

Wow, it is so amazing to read all this!! I'm really excited about these skates which are in my opinion absolute beauties. :)

@ vhfootwear:

• I love the composite toes, I understand you want to implement a plastic toe cap down the road, still, are you planning on keeping that composite toe option available? or was it just about the retail vs custom route?
• Is it possible to get t-nuts installed instead of rivets?
• I've experienced some discoloration and deterioration of the leather, how durable are they regarding skate cuts?
• overtime, the plastic of the boot's skeleton cane through the liner at the top of both sides of the boot, will there be some sort of comfort edge feature to avoid that?
• PS: These skates are immaculate!

@vhfootwear & GiancarloSFL:

• Back on the mlx's i found the lining to keep its moisture quite a bit, and that is keeping me away from making a roller boot I see in the specs that you've adressed that, but I'm just checking.how they were addressed

Apparently, Sprungs are back (Aug-Sept I believe)

Hi, thanks for the questions.

• For at least the next 6 months we will be using the carbon toe caps exclusively. When and if we do bring in a line with plastic toe caps we will still offer the carbon toe cap option.
• Yes, we can do t-nuts instead of rivets.
• We did a lot of research on our materials and found the most durable synthetic leather for our exterior. It stands up very well to abrasion.
• Yes, there is 15mm of comfort edge at the top.
• Thanks we appreciate the kind words!

[GiancarloSFL 15]

Edited July 4, 2013 by GiancarloSFL

[flip12 714]

GiancarloSFL, thanks for the new photos! It's an interesting tendon assembly. Also, I love how the shots of the middle to top eyelets show just how form fit the wrapping of the boot is to your foot. I love the feeling of broken in wrapping like that on my Graf boots...this new look has me even more interested in these.

[jimmy 194]

Love the skate but I hope it wasn't VH who did that rivet job because if that's a indication of their quality, what else was slopidly done.