Outdoor / asphalt sticks?

[marka 526]

Howdy,

So... Its kinda looking like if we play hockey this summer, it'll be outdoor.

I think I have a general handle on gear, but I'm wondering how sticks for outdoor use work?  There'd be two main places I'd be using it... One is just in our asphalt driveway. 
The other surface is a sport court type thing at a local-ish outdoor roller rink.  I assume that the asphalt surface would destroy a regular CF stick quite quickly.  No real clue about the sport court-y think at the local roller rink.

What do folks do for sticks?  I've only ever played ice and always with a modern one piece stick to this point.

Mark

[BenBreeg 493]

I have a shaft and just put ABS blades in it.

[Left Wing King 50]

Maybe get one of those wraparounds for blades, or get wooden ones.

[althoma1 574]

Asphalt will chew up unprotected composite blades in short order. Wood will splinter and wear quickly as well. So you want a shaft and ABS blade, a stick with an ABS blade or buy a wraparound and replace it as it wears. Personally, I use composite shaft with ABS blades when playing on asphalt or slightly gritty concrete. 

For Sport Court, you can use a regular one piece stick - I cut the strip of tape off the bottom of the blade so there's less drag and one piece sticks still hold up well on Sport Court. I have never had a composite blade wear down on sport court; the stick lasts until the blade or shaft breaks.

Edit: If you're using inlines, you'll also want to have wheels that were designed for sport court and have another set to use on asphalt. Trying to use one set for both surfaces is a bad idea. If you use a sport court set an asphalt they'll wear out really quickly and become useless on sport court. If you use a set designed for asphalt on sport court you'll have no grip and will be sliding and falling all over the place.

Some good outdoor options are Labeda or Revision Asphalts, Revision Clingers, Konixx and Red Star Rockets. 

Some good sport court options are Konixx Pure (my personal favourites -they're expensive, but perform and last longer than anything I have used) at the upper tiers, Revision Variant or Steel for a mid-range dual pour wheel or Labeda Grippers for a more budget friendly single pour option. Just stay away from things like the HiLo multisurface wheels that come on a lot of the low end Bauer skates (I mean, use them up if you have them, but don't buy another set when they wear out). I've seen a lot of hub separation with those in the leagues I play and ref in and the players that use them always notice a big difference when they upgrade to a better sport court wheel.

If you want to cut corners somewhere; do it with the outdoor wheels. You could get a bunch of cheap unbranded outdoor wheels in the 82a to 86a durometer range and use them on asphalt. They'll probably wear down faster than the more expensive outdoor options and may be more prone to hub separation, but asphalt kills all wheels sooner or later anyway. You'll notice a bigger difference with better sport court wheels vs. the cheaper options and the sport court wheels should last much longer if you only use them on the sport court and never on asphalt. 

 

Edited May 8, 2020 by althoma1

[marka 526]

Howdy,

Where are you guys getting shafts and blades?  Are all shafts the same across manufacturers (or at least... The same in terms of straight vs. tapered)?

I looked through my sticks... I'd forgotten that I bought a wood stick back when I very first started.  Its an Easton, 95 flex, Yzerman, and says "ABS" on the side.  It weighs about 900 lbs and feels like it never has flexed in its life.  🙂  Still, maybe that would work for the asphalt driveway?  Can I heat the blade up with a heat gun or something to open the toe up to be a little more like a Sakic curve?

Mark

[the_game 452]

I have a few friends looking for ABS blades and they're saying they are hard to come by with a lot locations online being sold out or unavailable. I've just been using an old one piece in the driveway with my son and its held up pretty well believe it or not. Its been worn down and lost some height but not enough that its having a negative impact. Granted its just me messing around and not playing a game but its held up pretty well. If you've got an old one piece I'd say keep that around and give it a try for the asphalt to see how it holds up.

[althoma1 574]

There are a few standard shafts on Icewarehouse: https://www.icewarehouse.com/Hockey_Shafts/catpage-HOCSHAFTS.html

icewarehouse also has some ABS replacement blades (both standard and tapered) listed on this page: https://www.icewarehouse.com/Hockey_Blades/catpage-HOCBLADES.html

Base makes some tapered shafts, but don't sell tapered ABS blades (there are a few tapered ABS blades on the IW page though): https://basehockey.ca/collections/shafts

The actual shafts I own are well over 10 years old. I've also converted a few older one piece sticks to either standard or taper shafts; this was easier to do several years ago with sticks that were actually fused 2 piece sticks. It's harder to do with true one piece sticks, although you could cut off the blade, flip them upside down and insert a standard blade into the top of the stick - this would throw off the kick point and I'd never do this for any competitive play, but could work for just messing around in the driveway or street. The blades, I also picked up years ago (mostly on clearance) and haven't shopped for a new blade in quite some time as I have been only playing on sport court or ice for several years. 

You can use the old Easton wood/ABS stick outdoors. It may be a wood stick with an ABS blade - if it has an ABS blade it should hold up pretty well. Yes, those wood/ABS combos are quite heavy. I have one that I only used once or twice that I picked up on sale; I couldn't stand it after a couple of uses since I'm spoiled by composite sticks now. A blade/shaft combo isn't as light as a true one piece, but it's way lighter than wood/ABS sticks. 

I would not try to heat and recurve the blade. You'll likely just decrease the durability or even snap it during the attempt. 

Edited May 8, 2020 by althoma1

[marka 526]

Howdy,

Ok, I ordered a True A6.0SBP shaft with a Sherwood T20 ABS PP26 blade from IW.  $102 total

If this is stupid, someone tell me and I'll call them and change it.  🙂

Mark

Edited May 8, 2020 by marka

[althoma1 574]

The True shaft seems like a great option on clearance.

Some people seem to have durability issues with that Sherwood blade (snapping at the hosel) if you read the reviews. The Frontier F-Xover ABS blade seems to hold up better based on the reviews and it's only a couple bucks more, I'd probably grab that one instead: https://www.icewarehouse.com/Frontier_F-Xover_ABS_/descpage-FXABS.html

[215BroadStBullies610 435]

Hoapa is having a special where you get a tapered shaft + 2 blades for $99 (you get free shipping if you spend a total of $130): https://www.hoapahockey.com/products/helium-custom-2-piece-training-set?variant=33543403896971

Don't know anything about them, but I know that I expect to be working from home till at least early June 2020. Would be nice to order a cheap 2-piece and get some outdoor wheels and utilize all that sunlight during the early evening.

[althoma1 574]

That's a good price for a shaft and 2 blades, but it'd be a better deal for outdoor use if the blades had an ABS core instead of being composite and fibreglass. Fibreglass/composite will wear a lot faster than ABS on asphalt. 

Edited May 8, 2020 by althoma1

[Stewie 721]

5 hours ago, 215BroadStBullies610 said:

Hoapa is having a special where you get a tapered shaft + 2 blades for $99 (you get free shipping if you spend a total of $130): https://www.hoapahockey.com/products/helium-custom-2-piece-training-set?variant=33543403896971

Don't know anything about them, but I know that I expect to be working from home till at least early June 2020. Would be nice to order a cheap 2-piece and get some outdoor wheels and utilize all that sunlight during the early evening.

I’ve been using their one piece sticks for a while now. Impressed for the price, currently my go to for roller hockey as I love the customization options and that I can get them already to size 

[.am 13]

Anyone know how long those Hoapa Sr shafts are? I tried asking on the chat, but no response even after leaving an email address to send me answers. Sorry for adding to the deterrence of this thread into a Hoapa thread.

[marka 526]

Howdy,

On 5/8/2020 at 11:05 AM, althoma1 said:

The True shaft seems like a great option on clearance.

Some people seem to have durability issues with that Sherwood blade (snapping at the hosel) if you read the reviews. The Frontier F-Xover ABS blade seems to hold up better based on the reviews and it's only a couple bucks more, I'd probably grab that one instead: https://www.icewarehouse.com/Frontier_F-Xover_ABS_/descpage-FXABS.html

Hey, got this rig in today (I swapped to that Frontier blade, btw).  Cut/taped it came in at almost exactly 500 grams.  More importantly, it doesn't feel terrible.

Gave it a little bit of a stick handle out on the asphalt driveway with a green biscuit and I think it'll be good.

edit, I did tape the blade too.  Tape on the bottom of course got shredded almost immediately, but I figured having it on the face would help with "normal puck feel" (if that is such a thing with a green biscuit... :).  Is that was people do?

Appreciate the help!

Mark

Edited May 19, 2020 by marka

[althoma1 574]

For indoor inline I either tape like I normally would for ice and then use an exacto knife to cut off the bottom strip of tape (I cut carefully along both sides of the blade a touch about the bottom and then peel off the bottom strip) or I'll just put a few horizontal strips of overlapping tape across the front and back if I'm feeling too lazy to use the exacto knife. I hate the feeling of tape on the bottom of the stick for inline, but some people actually play like that. Outdoors it wears off very quickly and then feels usable, but on a smooth indoor surface it won't really wear off and I definitely notice the increased friction. 

Bottom line; I think you're fine taping as usual if you don't mind spending a little time with the extra friction, but when you retape you could get rid of the bottom strip of tape before even using it. 

[Leif 161]

I use a wraparound, and it works. It looks like it’s made from nylon which is more wear resistant than many plastics and it has resisted wear quite well. It’s still damned expensive for a simple piece of plastic. There must be a source of a similar edge strip designed for some other purpose but for more sensible money.