9'/50mm/10.5' - Marka

[marka 526]

Howdy,

Had a chance this morning to stay on the ice after a game and test another profile...  Thanks to JR and ProSharp for the ability to give these things a go and see what I notice for myself!

About me:

I'm a relatively new hockey player, but a relatively old person. 🙂 I started skating and playing hockey in 2015/2016 at age 46.  Prior to that, I'd played a tiny bit of hockey with other neighborhood kids a couple winters on a pond in Maine, when I was growing up.  When I started a couple years ago, I could sorta hockey stop on one side and kinda do forward crossovers.  Today my skating has greatly improved and I can perform any normal "hockey skating maneuver", but nobody will mistake me for Connor McDavid or even just anyone that played hockey seriously as a kid.  I currently play in "D" leagues in the Pittsburgh, PA area, which are one step up from full beginner leagues.

I use size 7.5D Easton Mako M8 skates, with regular 263mm Step Steel.  I use a 5/8" Fire 'radius' and sharpen my own skates with my Sparx.  This set was initially sharpened by JR at 1/2" ROH when it was profiled, then I ran 6 passes with a 5/8" Fire ring at home.

9' / 50mm / 10.5' 

Please see my other reviews for context!  All of my comments and ratings are in relation to other profiles I've tried.  A Zuperior profile with a little added forward pitch was my baseline, which I rated at all 3's for each category.

This morning, after a game in which I tried the Quad 1 profile out I had a chance to stay on the ice and give the 50 flat a try... I assume that it gets this name by having a 9' profile on the front of the blade, a flat section 50mm long, then a 10.5' profile on the back of the blade.  @JR Boucicaut, please let me know if that's not correct!

After trying  a Quad 0 and Quad 1 without being able to notice much of any difference as compared to the Zuperior S that's my baseline, I was expecting basically the same result with this profile... I.e. that if someone switched my runners without my knowledge, I likely wouldn't be able to tell that it'd been done.

Interestingly, while the feel difference was still fairly subtle, I _DID_ notice an immediate difference with the 50 Flat.  For lack of a better description, it felt like I was a little more stable when my weight was centered over the middle of the blade.  That did not translate into issues with tight turns...  Agility felt pretty much exactly as it had before.  It just felt like I had a bit more fore/aft stability and it also felt like I had a touch more edge grip.

Here's some totally subjective numbers to try and say the same thing...

Acceleration: 3.5
Mobility: 3
Stability: 4
Speed: 3

I bumped acceleration a slight bit over my baseline Zuperior S profile just because it felt like maybe I was getting a tiny bit more push from the toe flick during the skating stride.

Now, these were still minor differences... If I hadn't known that I changed runner profiles I'm not sure that I wouldn't have put the difference down to just changing ice conditions or the skates being freshly sharpened.  But this was a back to back comparison between the Quad 1 with both profiles on freshly sharpened runners.

I liked the difference!  It was subtle, but that little extra bit of stability / perhaps edge grip made me a bit more confident in my skating.  It also didn't seem to affect tight turns / agility in any meaningful way.

I'll have a chance to play a couple more games this week, and will be sticking with this profile.  If my impressions change at all, I'll post a follow up.

Mark

[marka 526]

Howdy,

Wanted to post a quick follow up here, after having played a full game with the 9/50/10.5 profile...

I still like it!  It for sure feels more stable than the others I've tried (Zuperior S w/extra forward pitch, 9/10, Quad 0, Quad 1), but I don't feel like I've lost any agility.  The best way I can describe it is that it just feels like I have more blade on the ice when my weight is centered over my skates, but not so much that my feet/skates feel "locked" into whatever direction they're going.  It also seems a bit easier to get that little extra contact for toe flicks on skating strides.

I may do an actual back to back comparison with my baseline Zuperior S setup before I decide I'm done with profile experimentation and for sure I'll play a few more games with this, but while the differences are kinda subtle I just have a little more confidence on this profile, at least so far.

Mark

[Paddy 11]

Did you notice any difference in backwards skating? I like the concept of a flat in the middle of the runner, but I know I tend to get too far in my toes when going backwards...

[marka 526]

Howdy,

2 minutes ago, Paddy said:

Did you notice any difference in backwards skating? I like the concept of a flat in the middle of the runner, but I know I tend to get too far in my toes when going backwards...

I liked it in terms of backwards skating.  I think it was the additional stability helping there as well.  Basically, it felt like I had a bigger "sweet spot" where if my weight was near the center of the skate (in the fore and aft axis), it was stable and solid.

That said... I noticed my bad knee feeling a bit different and went back to the Zuperior S, just in case the (minor) additional torque to turn the blade on the ice was the cause.  Only been a couple skates so too early to tell on that, but I would say that I didn't notice a huge stability difference between the Zuperior and the 50 flat, if that helps at all.  If anything, the Zuperior may have been a bit more stable as my weight went backwards.

Mark