Custom Skates: CCM vs. Bauer vs. True

[Oilers97 20]

Sorry if there is a topic comparing all 3:

I have never ever ever been able to find a skate that fits properly. I have a very wide forefoot and a narrow heel. I was fitted in 1Ns 1.5 years ago and absolutely hate them. My heel does not stay in place and lifts up. I’ve tried stable 26 socks that help slightly. And still even with punching, stretching and heating the forefoot is too tight and causes me extreme foot pain unless the skate is very Loose. 

 

I am stuck. I don’t want to buy another pair of skates that aren’t going to fit. It’s ruining any performance I have or ability to skate. So customs are probably my next step. 

 

I know three brands have Custom skates. I’ve heard mixed things about true, good things about CCM (other than they are costly) and not much about Bauer. I really am looking at CCM as I am a huge fan of their other gear. I’ve done some research but for my specific foot issues would a custom skate even help? The severe issue is the foot pain from the skate squeezing. What are your thoughts? 

 

Thanks so much! 

[VegasHockey 1280]

Look around on the forum, there is a ton of topics on this. 

[Oilers97 20]

9 hours ago, SkateWorksPNW said:

Look around on the forum, there is a ton of topics on this. 

Im aware of that but I was just trying to see if anyone has tried all three and how custom are they. I have yet to see a full out comparison of all three brands in terms of customization, price, and quality. 

[VegasHockey 1280]

2 hours ago, Oilers97 said:

Im aware of that but I was just trying to see if anyone has tried all three and how custom are they. I have yet to see a full out comparison of all three brands in terms of customization, price, and quality. 

Trust me, this would start a debate and nothing good will come from it. The best skate is the one that fits you personally best and will provide you the greatest performance for your skating style. 

[clarkiestooth 235]

I think in your case, use your last skate purchase as a learning experience. Get properly fitted at a shop that knows what they are doing. A mid level skate that fits will be WAY better then a top level skate that does not. You can't go wrong with CCM or Bauer these days, as long as you get the proper fit. As you experienced, you can't cut corners on fitting. 

[Leif 161]

I haven’t seen much about Bauer customs. I know four people with them including myself, and all are happy. However, that does not tell you much since the sample is small. Customs do well with feet that are a bit odd such as having weird lumps on the heel but otherwise not far off stock. I have flipper shaped feet with narrow ankles and wide shallow forefeet. I would probably fit stock Bauer 2s Pro skates okay, as I fit Bauer s160 skates okay. 

You sound like an outlier which means you are a severe test of the custom process. I suspect you would be closest to Bauer Vapor and perhaps they could fit your width. Maybe one option is to chat with the shop staff explaining your issues, and get a Bauer or even CCM scan to see how well you match their stock and custom skates.

[Oilers97 20]

6 hours ago, clarkiestooth said:

I think in your case, use your last skate purchase as a learning experience. Get properly fitted at a shop that knows what they are doing. A mid level skate that fits will be WAY better then a top level skate that does not. You can't go wrong with CCM or Bauer these days, as long as you get the proper fit. As you experienced, you can't cut corners on fitting. 

Oh trust me. I’ve tried on every line of skate. And yeah I agree fitting still may be an issue. 

The ccm tack and jetspeed wouldn’t even go on. My foot legit just hovered. Nothing fit. Ribcore was ok. But too tight in the forefoot. 

Bauer 1X and 1S didn’t fit either. 1N was the only one my foot could fit flat in and had an ok forefoot. It’s been punched and stretched 5 times. 

With customs, are you getting s full custom boot with the graphics you choose or just slightly modified? If none of these work, would the custom not either? I guess that’s my question. 

I live in a city with no place that offer custom so I’d have to travel to a larger city. 

[strosedefence34 175]

1 minute ago, Oilers97 said:

Oh trust me. I’ve tried on every line of skate. And yeah I agree fitting still may be an issue. 

The ccm tack and jetspeed wouldn’t even go on. My foot legit just hovered. Nothing fit. Ribcore was ok. But too tight in the forefoot. 

Bauer 1X and 1S didn’t fit either. 1N was the only one my foot could fit flat in and had an ok forefoot. It’s been punched and stretched 5 times. 

With customs, are you getting s full custom boot with the graphics you choose or just slightly modified? If none of these work, would the custom not either? I guess that’s my question. 

I live in a city with no place that offer custom so I’d have to travel to a larger city. 

There are ton's of threads on custom skates.  If you do some searching you may get some more info.  A quick rundown though

Bauer and CCM are pretty similar in that you get your feet scanned they make boot recommendations for you.  You go and try on those boot recommendations and they build your custom skate off of that recommendation and your 3D foot print out.  Both companies recommend you stay within the family they put you in.  So if they say you're a Nexus you shouldn't try and ask for a Vapor without at least trying on a retail model and seeing how it fits.  That being said though their recommendation may not be the best choice for you either.  These are computers you need to go with what fits the best retail wise.  While doing the process your fitter will be able to add notes to the order and you'd have some input with those notes as well (for example by pinky toe rubs in the retail skate).  Both companies have been making custom skates for a very long time so they know what they are doing.

True skates are a little different in the sense they do not have a retail counterpart you can try on to really nail the sizing down.  They scan your feet and usually ask you for the size and model of your current skate and build you a skate.  You also have a spot where you or your fitter can enter in notes about how you would like your skate built.  There is a 100+ page thread on True skates alone.  Read through it if you are considering these.

 

If you are considering customs the best advice is figure out which brand you want to go with and try and find a shop/ fitter who has experience doing this.  Going to someone who has years of experience fitting people for retail and custom skates will be a much more enjoyable experience than some high school kid making $14 an hour counting down the minutes till their shift is over.

[Leif 161]

1 hour ago, Oilers97 said:

With customs, are you getting s full custom boot with the graphics you choose or just slightly modified? If none of these work, would the custom not either? I guess that’s my question. 

That is a very good question. smu’s experience suggests True can struggle with odd feet. Clearly Bauer start from a given stock model, but how far they can accommodate differences is unclear. Maybe shop owners can chip in. 

[Oilers97 20]

6 hours ago, strosedefence34 said:

There are ton's of threads on custom skates.  If you do some searching you may get some more info.  A quick rundown though

Bauer and CCM are pretty similar in that you get your feet scanned they make boot recommendations for you.  You go and try on those boot recommendations and they build your custom skate off of that recommendation and your 3D foot print out.  Both companies recommend you stay within the family they put you in.  So if they say you're a Nexus you shouldn't try and ask for a Vapor without at least trying on a retail model and seeing how it fits.  That being said though their recommendation may not be the best choice for you either.  These are computers you need to go with what fits the best retail wise.  While doing the process your fitter will be able to add notes to the order and you'd have some input with those notes as well (for example by pinky toe rubs in the retail skate).  Both companies have been making custom skates for a very long time so they know what they are doing.

True skates are a little different in the sense they do not have a retail counterpart you can try on to really nail the sizing down.  They scan your feet and usually ask you for the size and model of your current skate and build you a skate.  You also have a spot where you or your fitter can enter in notes about how you would like your skate built.  There is a 100+ page thread on True skates alone.  Read through it if you are considering these.

 

If you are considering customs the best advice is figure out which brand you want to go with and try and find a shop/ fitter who has experience doing this.  Going to someone who has years of experience fitting people for retail and custom skates will be a much more enjoyable experience than some high school kid making $14 an hour counting down the minutes till their shift is over.

Thank you so much. This is exactly what I was wondering. It’s mainly because I have the narrow heel and huge wide forefoot. Like a duck lol. And even nexus EE doesn’t work (they said I’m an EEE nexus which is a EEEE in most other skates). But the heel is way too large no matter what. I’m leaning towards true. Three of my teammates just ranting and raving. But I’m going to go to the bigger city to a pro shop. Thanks everyone. 

[Above40 7]

Hey Oilers, I am in your boat but not quite to the same extreme. I'm in a 9ee and my foot is roughly 4.25" across at widest point.  I went so far as tracing my foot on a piece of wood 3/4" thick wood (standard 1 x 6 nominal board) and cutting it out, then contouring the edges slightly sanding basically making a replica of my foot. Had to cut it off about where the arch is cause boots arent flat and also to get it in the boot. Heel area not necessary. Anyhow made a few relief cuts going up the piece of wood not all the way to the toes so it would squeeze a bit smaller in order to shove it in the boot. Then I baked skate nice and hot and jammed that piece of wood in there and laced up the first few eyelets lol. Forefoot actually sat flat after that! It was a used skate I experimented on but it did work. Definitely looked pretty duck-like afterward. I look at other people's feet in skates and I wonder what their foot looks like in the boot cause mine would need to be rolled under like a tortilla to make those shapes.