Laces Problem

[dstars 3]

I just got ccm jetspeed 260 hockey skates about 2 months ago, and the laces are extremely hard to tie. I have to re-tie them every couple minutes because they are never tight enough. they are my 1st hockey skates, and I wanted to know if its something to do with the skates, the laces, if I need to break them in more, or if im doing something wrong?

[JR Boucicaut 3802]

Are the laces the ones that came with the skates?

[SILVER82 8]

Are you doing a double knot?  You could always try waxed laces if you can’t get the originals to work. 

[mojo122 535]

I've always found that cloth laces will stretch a bit when skating, so they start out tight and loosen up a bit.  I'm a big fan of waxed laces, but the lightly waxed ones like Howie's sell.  Not a fan of the heavy coated wax laces.

[DRR 112]

I'd try waxed laces, but a simple thing you can do with your existing laces is change your lacing pattern.

Lace from the outside of the eyelet in, and continue this up the skate until the last eyelet, and then tie normally. Often when skates are laced they use inside-to-out, which is more common for shoes, but has the tendency to loosen and stretch. I've never had a problem with this outside-to-in method. Not sure if there's a better name for it. You can tighten as much as you want and they should stay pretty tight.

 

 

[DRR 112]

This video shows the opposite of what i'm talking about (the "standard" way)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9mVxv6emUk

Start at 1:10. Notice that when lacing the eyelet he starts from the inside of the eyelet and goes out. What I mean is the opposite - start from the outside and lace in. Simple fix.

 

[puckpilot 312]

I find when I get new skates it's always more difficult to get the laces tight and keep them that way. I find the stiffness of the new boot and the snuggness of a newer liner makes it difficult to gauge if my skates are tied tight enough. New liners have a little more volume, so may may give you the illusion that the skates are tighter than they are when you're tying them up. 

The stiffness of the boot makes it difficult to fine tune the tightness. The new boot wants to spring back to neural position more than a broken in one does, so it tends to be this struggle between you pulling the laces tight and the boot pulling them loose as you move up the eyelets. All it takes is for one eyelet not be as tight as it should be and as you skate, the skates will loosen significantly.

For me, as others have suggested, wax laces helped, but I also got myself a lace tightener. Found it made it waaay easier to fine tune the tightness and to double check that every eyelet was as snug as it should be before I stepped on the ice. Saved me a bunch of blisters too.

Once the skates were more broken in, I stopped needing the skate tightener.  

[bondoao1 8]

I had the same problem with my Ribcore's, even the lace lock didn't help much as I found myself retying the skates after every couple shifts. 
I switched to waxed laces and haven't had a problem since.

[VegasHockey 1280]

16 hours ago, dstars said:

I just got ccm jetspeed 260 hockey skates about 2 months ago, and the laces are extremely hard to tie. I have to re-tie them every couple minutes because they are never tight enough. they are my 1st hockey skates, and I wanted to know if its something to do with the skates, the laces, if I need to break them in more, or if im doing something wrong?

Factory laces are not very good. Consider getting some nice thick aftermarket laces, waxed or unwaxed, either way, they will be much better quality. Also, make sure to double knot to keep them tight. 

[dstars 3]

I have a lace tightener and it dosen't help, but I will definitely try to get waxed laces. Thanks Guys

[beerleaguecaptain 999]

Big fan of Howies

[g3k 29]

I switched to Howies waxed like 4 months ago, they originally were pretty waxy but now that some of the wax wore off they're perfect for holding tight while not being too difficult to get undone.

[Stewie 721]

I’ll also throw one in here for Howies. Perfect amount of wax on the lace. 

[JR Boucicaut 3802]

They’re Tex-Style laces. Same company that used to make Graf laces. 

[bondoao1 8]

JR,
My LHS doesn't carry Howies, so I use CCM Proline waxed. How do these two compare?
If Howies laces are better I wouldn't mind trying them.

[VegasHockey 1280]

30 minutes ago, bondoao1 said:

JR,
My LHS doesn't carry Howies, so I use CCM Proline waxed. How do these two compare?
If Howies laces are better I wouldn't mind trying them.

They are about the same quality as Howies.I think Howies still has better tips though. 

[JR Boucicaut 3802]

41 minutes ago, bondoao1 said:

JR,
My LHS doesn't carry Howies, so I use CCM Proline waxed. How do these two compare?
If Howies laces are better I wouldn't mind trying them.

Not familiar with proline. Aren’t they Elite?

If so, those tips suck. 

[bondoao1 8]

3 hours ago, JR Boucicaut said:

Not familiar with proline. Aren’t they Elite?

If so, those tips suck. 

These are the laces I use, I dont know who makes them aside from them being boxed as CCM. 

CCM Proline

[bondoao1 8]

3 hours ago, Nicholas G said:

They are about the same quality as Howies.I think Howies still has better tips though. 

Yea the tips remind me of the tips on the A&R laces I tried which are kinda a pain to get through the eyelets. 
I might look into getting a set of Howies. Like I said IW doesn't carry them so I'll probably order them online, I think I saw them on Hockey Giant's website. 

[Giraffe14 23]

Another +1 for Howie's laces

[CigarScott 132]

7 hours ago, JR Boucicaut said:

Not familiar with proline. Aren’t they Elite?

If so, those tips suck. 

You could be right; the packaging looks like Elite.

[VegasHockey 1280]

Has anyone ever used Proguard Sonic Tipped Heavy Weight Hockey Laces? They claim "Revolutionary lace tip is guaranteed for the lifetime of the lace, Heaviest lace on the market"

[JR Boucicaut 3802]

13 hours ago, bondoao1 said:

These are the laces I use, I dont know who makes them aside from them being boxed as CCM. 

CCM Proline

Thanks for the picture - yes, they're Elite.  

Actually - I'm sorry - I take that back.  I personally don't have an issue with Elite tips.  I have an issue with the amount of wax on them.  I used the S700 ones and those seemed to have less wax than the Proline, but still a tad too much.  

The one with the bad tips are the A&R boxed laces.  

[JunkyardAthletic 505]

Support domestic jobs and quality, use SportsTape laces.

[marka 526]

Howdy,

Re: laces... I like wide non-waxed laces.  Been using Howies, but I have a pair of black laces that I don't know where I got that are even wider and have a molded plastic aglet that I like even more.  I like my laces short enough that I always have to unthread the top hole...

What're the wider non-waxed laces out there with a good tip like that?

Mark