TRUE TF9/TF7 skates

[jmaister 4]

Just reading from some of the stuff here. Baking isn't the solution for ill fits. The boot shells themselves aren't that formable unless you take a heatgun to it.

Baking is to speed up the lining material packing process. There is about  roughly 5mm width in the boot that will give. But the foot last shape won't change.

If you look at Scott Van Horne's TF9 tutorial on reducing boot by 1/4 size, he's an artisan and a hacksmith, I wouldn't be surprised if boot size issue are from those method, work for some, and not others.

If you have 70 percentile feet. Med high arch, long toes, big heel bone, you won't have issues. Heck any brand works.

But any feet outside of those parameter, man, no one knows the pain, literally.

[IPv6Freely 2092]

16 minutes ago, jmaister said:

Baking is to speed up the lining material packing process. 

That's not exactly true with modern boots. It certainly used to be true, but nowadays boots are made to be baked to heat mold to the foot. You're completely right that it's not going to make a poor fitting boot fit, but saying it's just "to speed up the lining material packing process" aka breaking in, that's not giving the modern foams enough credit. 

Of course there are some that are known to be significantly more heat moldable than others, like the TF9. And certainly the Mako back in the day. 

[jmaister 4]

36 minutes ago, IPv6Freely said:

That's not exactly true with modern boots. It certainly used to be true, but nowadays boots are made to be baked to heat mold to the foot. You're completely right that it's not going to make a poor fitting boot fit, but saying it's just "to speed up the lining material packing process" aka breaking in, that's not giving the modern foams enough credit. 

Of course there are some that are known to be significantly more heat moldable than others, like the TF9. And certainly the Mako back in the day. 

Tf9 rocks...all high ends do..

 

If I can only fit them...

[Sniper9 529]

2 hours ago, IPv6Freely said:

That's not exactly true with modern boots. It certainly used to be true, but nowadays boots are made to be baked to heat mold to the foot. You're completely right that it's not going to make a poor fitting boot fit, but saying it's just "to speed up the lining material packing process" aka breaking in, that's not giving the modern foams enough credit. 

Of course there are some that are known to be significantly more heat moldable than others, like the TF9. And certainly the Mako back in the day. 

Agreed. You can bake a skate over and over again. It really doesn't do much in terms of breaking in the foam except conforming it to some degree to your ankle bones. Even with my trues. After baking it a number of times, the only thing that broke in the foams was using it and having your weight against certain parts and hours put into wearing it. As you said. Boots now adays are meant to be heat molded and wrap so much better than materials even 10 years ago. Well except Bauer. Bauer is still using curv composite which doesn't really form as well as other brands during their respective baking instructions. 

[beedee 227]

I know TRUE sizing has been a huge point of confusion, and I recently measured my foot on their brannock at Hockey Monkey and the size it showed was actual .5 to 1 size larger than my Bauer size (7 Fit 2 Vapor 3x and 6.5 Fit 3 Mach), it shows me in a 7.5. Is their brannock sizing to be taken as a grain of salt, and more of a "starting point" (similar to what many say the Bauer scan should be viewed as). Since the TRUE brannock is blue, is it fair to say that this was created for their TF series? Should one subtract 1 full size from what the TRUE brannock says? Most here in this thread understand the TRUE boot (and other brands) will open up a bit after the bake. Do you guys believe brannocks are created with the sizes placed on them prior to a bake?

Earlier in this thread (I think?) I shared my sizing experience across the TF and Cat line, and its been noted that many believe the Cat line sizing has been updated to be more in line with Bauer and CCM. Regardless of what a scan or brannock says, I suppose the bottom line to an extent is everyone has their own preference as to how snug or not a skate should feel, with the general consensus of toes brushing the toe cap as the "proper" fit.

 

 

Edited January 24, 2023 by beedee

[Sniper9 529]

7 minutes ago, beedee said:

I know TRUE sizing has been a huge point of confusion, and I recently measured my foot on their brannock at Hockey Monkey and the size it showed was actual .5 to 1 size larger than my Bauer size (7 Fit 2 Vapor 3x and 6.5 Fit 3 Mach), it shows me in a 7.5. Is their brannock sizing to be taken as a grain of salt, and more of a "starting point" (similar to what many say the Bauer scan should be viewed as). Since the TRUE brannock is blue, is it fair to say that this was created for their TF series? Earlier in this thread (I think?) I shared my sizing experience across the TF and Cat line, and its been noted that many believe the Cat line sizing has been updated to be more in line with Bauer and CCM. Regardless of what a scan or brannock says, I suppose the bottom line to an extent is everyone has their own preference as to how snug or not a skate should feel, with the general consensus of toes brushing the toe cap as the "proper" fit.

 

 

My fitter used this on me before the tf9 came out when true took over vh. Imo I think it size says 7 even those the little prongs say 7.5.  This was also used on me when I was fitted with the cat pro. Both times my customs skates came out perfect length wise. 

If this was adjusted to tf9 skates it would technically say you would be a smaller size not bigger wouldn't it. 

Edited January 24, 2023 by Sniper9

[pgeorgan 76]

3 hours ago, beedee said:

I know TRUE sizing has been a huge point of confusion, and I recently measured my foot on their brannock at Hockey Monkey and the size it showed was actual .5 to 1 size larger than my Bauer size (7 Fit 2 Vapor 3x and 6.5 Fit 3 Mach), it shows me in a 7.5. Is their brannock sizing to be taken as a grain of salt, and more of a "starting point" (similar to what many say the Bauer scan should be viewed as). Since the TRUE brannock is blue, is it fair to say that this was created for their TF series? Should one subtract 1 full size from what the TRUE brannock says? Most here in this thread understand the TRUE boot (and other brands) will open up a bit after the bake. Do you guys believe brannocks are created with the sizes placed on them prior to a bake?

Earlier in this thread (I think?) I shared my sizing experience across the TF and Cat line, and its been noted that many believe the Cat line sizing has been updated to be more in line with Bauer and CCM. Regardless of what a scan or brannock says, I suppose the bottom line to an extent is everyone has their own preference as to how snug or not a skate should feel, with the general consensus of toes brushing the toe cap as the "proper" fit.

 

 

Probably True just grabbed the closest Brannock and stuck their branding sticker on it. 

UX is everything, as the saying goes. 

[jmaister 4]

On 1/24/2023 at 10:45 AM, beedee said:

I know TRUE sizing has been a huge point of confusion, and I recently measured my foot on their brannock at Hockey Monkey and the size it showed was actual .5 to 1 size larger than my Bauer size (7 Fit 2 Vapor 3x and 6.5 Fit 3 Mach), it shows me in a 7.5. Is their brannock sizing to be taken as a grain of salt, and more of a "starting point" (similar to what many say the Bauer scan should be viewed as). Since the TRUE brannock is blue, is it fair to say that this was created for their TF series? Should one subtract 1 full size from what the TRUE brannock says? Most here in this thread understand the TRUE boot (and other brands) will open up a bit after the bake. Do you guys believe brannocks are created with the sizes placed on them prior to a bake?

Earlier in this thread (I think?) I shared my sizing experience across the TF and Cat line, and its been noted that many believe the Cat line sizing has been updated to be more in line with Bauer and CCM. Regardless of what a scan or brannock says, I suppose the bottom line to an extent is everyone has their own preference as to how snug or not a skate should feel, with the general consensus of toes brushing the toe cap as the "proper" fit.

 

 

Note*

If you have European feet and have BMI less than 25%, high arch, long toes, ridgid and doesn't expand when knee over toe, aspect ratio is long and narrow. Brushing against the toe cap is the rule. Since the foot last were based on these foot type. North American/European sport, naturally these kinda feet.

Its also important to line up your metatarsals so the arch length is correct.

The ideal branoock device would be if the device has a step heel built in, since flat measuring vs in skate size, IMHO, there is some difference for feet that aren't ridgid.

I think the issue can come from translating flat measurement to boot size, and then boot manufacturing technique may influence the fit some what.

 

Edited January 26, 2023 by jmaister

[calixguy18 8]

On 1/9/2023 at 8:14 AM, Sniper9 said:

Did this ever resolve itself completely? I'm having this issue with my cat pros and never had this on my tf customs. Might be because the new baking instructions is only 6 mins vs 10 mins for tf customs and the skates never got as pliable. How long did you bake yours for?

Going to try a full rebake for 8-10 mins and see if that helps. 

I skate without the top eyelet done and it seems worse with this vs lacing up all the way to the top but I don't like the loss of ankle flexion with the latter.  I even flared the top cuff on the medial side but it didn't really do too much. Maybe I need to flare the outside cuff too. 

Sorry for the very very late reply but no the issue was never resolved. The only thing that made it better was wearing a thick gel wrap around my leg and that only worked for about a game before I could start feeling the pain. If I had two or more games in a day, I'd have to double up on the wrap and tape it so it didn't move during the game and that was the only way it would be bearable.

I baked mine at home but the amount of time it said on the instructions (can't remember, I think 10 mins) weren't enough and didn't really do much for the boot molding so I added maybe 4-5 more minutes. I flared the cuffs on the outside way more than what you did on yours and it didn't help.

Sidenote, I was randomly getting blisters occasionally on my arches recently and threw the stock footbeds in the skates to see if the superfeet were causing it and noticed that was a pretty noticeable gap on either side of them (between the footbed and boot). It looks like over time the boot got wider so my foot is lifting up in the skate and rubbing my arch against the footbed causing blisters. So with all the problems, I decided to get new skates. Ordered some FT4 Pros!

Has the pain gotten any better?

Edited March 22, 2023 by calixguy18

[calixguy18 8]

deleted

Edited March 22, 2023 by calixguy18
doublepost

[Sniper9 529]

3 hours ago, calixguy18 said:

Sorry for the very very late reply but no the issue was never resolved. The only thing that made it better was wearing a thick gel wrap around my leg and that only worked for about a game before I could start feeling the pain. If I had two or more games in a day, I'd have to double up on the wrap and tape it so it didn't move during the game and that was the only way it would be bearable.

I baked mine at home but the amount of time it said on the instructions (can't remember, I think 10 mins) weren't enough and didn't really do much for the boot molding so I added maybe 4-5 more minutes. I flared the cuffs on the outside way more than what you did on yours and it didn't help.

Sidenote, I was randomly getting blisters occasionally on my arches recently and threw the stock footbeds in the skates to see if the superfeet were causing it and noticed that was a pretty noticeable gap on either side of them (between the footbed and boot). It looks like over time the boot got wider so my foot is lifting up in the skate and rubbing my arch against the footbed causing blisters. So with all the problems, I decided to get new skates. Ordered some FT4 Pros!

Has the pain gotten any better?

Ya for me it seemed like the genetix insoles that's came with my skates are quite a bit thicker than anything out there and that I've used. Bc of the added height it actually placed my foot higher in the boot and out of line with the ankle pockets. It also caused the edge of the tongue to really pinch that area in my foot.  When I went back to my speed plates the pain was pretty much gone. I feel a slight rub only when walking but nothing painful or annoying like it was with the genetix insoles. I think it I went one step further and modified the edge of the tongue the issue would be completely gone but bc I barely notice it now, and it's only when I'm walking, I'm not gonna bother doing anything about it. Right now I'm using the cat tongues that come with the cat 9s. I actually like them. I didn't think I would as I've always used their felt but I don't mind the extra stiffness the t guard adds. I might throw in the felt ones to see how they feel at some point though. 

[Giltis 116]

So I've been loving my Custom True player skates, but I need a goalie pair so I wanted to see if the TF9s would do. 

I have a bad navicular bone issue with a collapsing arch which makes the navicular issue even worse (this is why I went Custom in the first place). 

So I went to prob the best skate fitter in the Ottawa area (everyone knows the place, IYKYK) and he was pretty confident that he could resolve the issue with a stock TF9, so we will see once his stock comes in. I'll report back if we are successful or not. In terms of sizing though, I am a size 9 in most skates, and we ordered a size 9 in the TF9 so maybe they line up closer than some have said? He was able to pull up the original scan that my customs were done for, and he confirmed my sizing there too, built out from a 8.5 last and sized up to a 9.

Edited April 4, 2023 by Giltis

[Sniper9 529]

57 minutes ago, Giltis said:

So I've been loving my Custom True player skates, but I need a goalie pair so I wanted to see if the TF9s would do. 

I have a bad navicular bone issue with a collapsing arch which makes the navicular issue even worse (this is why I went Custom in the first place). 

So I went to prob the best skate fitter in the Ottawa area (everyone knows the place, IYKYK) and he was pretty confident that he could resolve the issue with a stock TF9, so we will see once his stock comes in. I'll report back if we are successful or not. In terms of sizing though, I am a size 9 in most skates, and we ordered a size 9 in the TF9 so maybe they line up closer than some have said? He was able to pull up the original scan that my customs were done for, and he confirmed my sizing there too, built out from a 8.5 last and sized up to a 9.

Good luck. Worst case you swap it for a different size lol. Does the 30 day guarantee apply to the goalie tf9?

[Giltis 116]

Just now, Sniper9 said:

Good luck. Worst case you swap it for a different size lol. Does the 30 day guarantee apply to the goalie tf9?

Yes, so that puts my mind at ease too. But I trust Joe from B-Sharp with all skate related stuff.

[Sniper9 529]

3 hours ago, Giltis said:

Yes, so that puts my mind at ease too. But I trust Joe from B-Sharp with all skate related stuff.

Ya I ordered my jrz dlc steel from them for my trues. Great sharpening job.  

[Giltis 116]

2 minutes ago, Sniper9 said:

Ya I ordered my jrz dlc steel from them for my trues. Great sharpening job.  

I will probably keep the Shift Attack holder on the TF9s, not sure what aftermarket I would go for if I do. I like the idea of the offset 4mm blades, but I'm also curious about BladeTech. 

[VegasHockey 1280]

7 hours ago, Giltis said:

I will probably keep the Shift Attack holder on the TF9s, not sure what aftermarket I would go for if I do. I like the idea of the offset 4mm blades, but I'm also curious about BladeTech. 

They make Bladetech for the Shift holder. IMO, their steel isn't impressive (quality is good but the "flex" is nonsense)

but hey, to each their own. 

[Giltis 116]

Gonna see if I can try a demo pair

[crispy92 14]

On 4/4/2023 at 11:06 PM, VegasHockey said:

They make Bladetech for the Shift holder. IMO, their steel isn't impressive (quality is good but the "flex" is nonsense)

but hey, to each their own. 

Actually prefer stock steel. Fwiw my pair of blade techs seem to get nicked way to easily therefore ruining the edge

[Giltis 116]

I got my skates today and I'm pretty happy about the fit so far, I can't wait to get a skate in. Because I feel that you can't get a good tell until you put it under pressure and skate in it.

It feels much lighter than my Bauers, and the ankle wrap is unreal. I got the Genetix insole, and they do feel comfier which is mostly what I care about.

[Giltis 116]

On 4/14/2023 at 3:35 PM, Giltis said:

I got my skates today and I'm pretty happy about the fit so far, I can't wait to get a skate in. Because I feel that you can't get a good tell until you put it under pressure and skate in it.

It feels much lighter than my Bauers, and the ankle wrap is unreal. I got the Genetix insole, and they do feel comfier which is mostly what I care about.

Just a quick update.

These are fantastic, and I'm so happy with them. I feel a bit of pressure on the navicular where normally I would feel pain in other boots. But I am told that this will work itself out.

One thing that I've not seen in any reviews about the TF9 goalie skates is the back piece where there's a cutout for your achilles, and is covered by a stretchy neoprene allowing for more ankle flex during your backwards C-cut and angled pushes. Also about the backside, I have read about needing to protect it, so I will try to put something clear on it.

The stock profile is really good and I was able to get used to them immediately. I may get another steel but not sure at the moment.

 

[x-axis 44]

Hoping for a little advice as I need last minute roller hockey skates for work. Could anyone give a guesstimate on the heel width on the retail TF7 roller hockey skates? I'm too far from a retail shop and can only order online.  I basically have a AAA heel that tapers to something narrower. 

[VegasHockey 1280]

6 hours ago, x-axis said:

Hoping for a little advice as I need last minute roller hockey skates for work. Could anyone give a guesstimate on the heel width on the retail TF7 roller hockey skates? I'm too far from a retail shop and can only order online.  I basically have a AAA heel that tapers to something narrower. 

I would say the heel is a standard A on the regular width skate. If you need a AAA heel, these might feel sloppy for you. 

[PuckItAll 1]

Hi, I'm considering buying a pair of TF9 on sale (if they fit) but I'm a bit worried about the durability of the skates. Read quite a few stories about the carbon cracking at the heel and the holders chipping/getting damaged from shots. Rusting rivets, damaged/cracked tongues and tendon guards, etc.

My 6 year old Bauer Nexus 1N is basically indestructible and would probably last me forever, but is half a size too long. I'm playing around 25-35 games a year in mid-level beer league-ish setting. I want my next skates to last me at least as long, but would prefer to keep them for the rest of my beer league career, haha (I'm 36 and planning on playing a long time)

Do you think the TF9 could fit the bill or should I go for a Supreme Mach in my correct size? Which skate is more durable?

[Westside 232]

I, personally, can’t think of any skate that would last me 6 years. I did love my TF9s and are probably still the best feeling skates I’ve ever used. Yes, I replaced some rivets, but part of that was due to the poor initial installation and part of that was taking a clapper to the holder which popped a pair of them. I did have the carbon crack on one heel but it only appeared to be the outer shell and didn’t affect performance.
 

I play at least double the amount of games you play each year so based on that kind of math, these skates could have theoretically lasted 4-5 years