Skate for high instep with narrow foot

[mamalulu 1]

Hello,

I'm currently skating in non-custom true skates. Love these skates with the stiff boot and low cut but i always feel a lot of pressure in top of my instep. Doesn't cause any pain but is enough to slow blood flow in this area and my toes get numb real quick which is a problem especially when playing outdoors. Is there currently a skate on the market that has a high instep, meaning the eyelets over this area are quite high from the bottom of the boot so to speak; allowing for the skate to wrap the foot correctly instead of clamping the foot with pressure on top. If that helps my feet are quite narrow. Currently fitting well in jetspeeds or ribcors D/A but would be better in D/AA if i could.

I guess going full custom would solve the issue but I'm curious if you had any suggestions before I drop 1300$ + on skates. I remember graf offering specific models for this issue but I guess thats not an option anymore

Thank you very much.

[althoma1 574]

There have been photos of pros wearing a new True Catalyst skate. I have no idea how they will fit, but there's a chance the depth will be different in those and it's likely we'll see retail catalyst skates toward the middle of this year. If you can wait, you could see if they added any depth in that area. 

Another option with your current skates would be to switch to a thinner tongue if you haven't already. The TF7 felt tongue is much thicker than the TF9 tongue. These pro tongues also look thinner: https://www.hockeyvancouver.ca/products/true-tf-pro-replacement-tongues

[Westside 218]

Where is your tongue positioned? The further down the less volume you’ll have. You can gain more volume by moving it higher or using a thinner tongue.
 

I have one pair with the retail TF9 tongue and move it slightly lower. Another pair has the old custom felt tongue and I move it higher. 

[mamalulu 1]

On 1/17/2022 at 4:56 PM, Westside said:

Where is your tongue positioned? The further down the less volume you’ll have. You can gain more volume by moving it higher or using a thinner tongue.
 

I have one pair with the retail TF9 tongue and move it slightly lower. Another pair has the old custom felt tongue and I move it higher. 

For now Im skating on FT1s and replaced the thick ccm insoles with super thin rubber insoles, which lowered my foot into the skate and fixed part of the issue. The standard CCM tongue is super thick so changing it might help too, do you have any thin tongue suggestions? from my understanding it seems swapping tongues requires unsowing and sowing new tongues on these older CCMs..

 

thank you very much for the input

[puckpilot 312]

No skate on the market has the right combination of length, width, volume for me. Struggled with this for years, and here are the solutions I found that work best for me. First, is Option-B skate straps to replace some or all the laces. Because the straps go over the top of the skate, it gives you more volume. Second, eyelet extenders, same concept as the straps, except you keep your laces. Here's a thread that shows you how to make them. There's also a place that sells them, but I can never find the website. 

 

Third, loosen your laces. Over the years, I've found that you don't really need to tie skates all that tight. In fact, a lot of people I've noticed tie them too tight, leading to issues like lace bite. If the skate fit is perfect with length and with, I found I just have to have the laces taught for games. I don't need the laces to pull the boot in. During stick and puck, I tend to leave the laces saggy without issue.

Like I said, these are my solutions. Maybe one of them with work for you. 

 

[Vet88 673]

Everything @puckpilotsaid is correct, there is no retail boot that will fit you today. Go for the narrowest heel (fit 1) and then fix the volume with what puckpilot said. Eyelet extenders can be purchased from greatsaves.org. Or if your volume is marginal you could try a lace hack I have used. The 1st version I used is to get a spare lace and then starting from the top eyelet, thread it down one side of the boot, across the bottom and then up the other side and tie it off at the top eyelets. You are creating a loop between each eyelet, now take your normal lace and lace thru the loops, you only get every 2nd eyelet laced but because the lace goes over the facing, the top of the facing is the lowest point of the lace. Issues - it's a lace thru a lace so you get no lock like you would from an eyelet. Another option I have considered is to put a loop in each eyelet, thread the 1st lace thru the eyelet from the inside and then feed it back in again. I will post a pic of the threaded lace idea so you can see what I mean, I have used this for the past few weeks with my fit 1 hyperlites (I have the same foot shape as the OP).

[mamalulu 1]

On 1/25/2022 at 1:57 AM, puckpilot said:

No skate on the market has the right combination of length, width, volume for me. Struggled with this for years, and here are the solutions I found that work best for me. First, is Option-B skate straps to replace some or all the laces. Because the straps go over the top of the skate, it gives you more volume. Second, eyelet extenders, same concept as the straps, except you keep your laces. Here's a thread that shows you how to make them. There's also a place that sells them, but I can never find the website. 

 

Third, loosen your laces. Over the years, I've found that you don't really need to tie skates all that tight. In fact, a lot of people I've noticed tie them too tight, leading to issues like lace bite. If the skate fit is perfect with length and with, I found I just have to have the laces taught for games. I don't need the laces to pull the boot in. During stick and puck, I tend to leave the laces saggy without issue.

Like I said, these are my solutions. Maybe one of them with work for you. 

 

yes i actually have skate lace extenders in stock from other skates. I'll actually try them lower on the boot on top of the arch see how it works out

[Vet88 673]

A lacing pattern that will actually give you more volume

[epstud74 24]

Your best bet is to get customs with the necessary clearance and width. It works best with a custom footbed installed as well.  

That will keep your arch in place and your feet flattened out in the skate.  Do you have high arches as well?   The Ribcor skate fits pretty well stock wise but it sounds like you need a custom width.  utilizing stop gap methods and “fixes” is a waste of time and money, get it done right the first time. 

Edited January 26, 2022 by epstud74

[mamalulu 1]

On 1/26/2022 at 12:02 AM, epstud74 said:

Your best bet is to get customs with the necessary clearance and width. It works best with a custom footbed installed as well.  

That will keep your arch in place and your feet flattened out in the skate.  Do you have high arches as well?   The Ribcor skate fits pretty well stock wise but it sounds like you need a custom width.  utilizing stop gap methods and “fixes” is a waste of time and money, get it done right the first time. 

Yes i have a high arch as well but never felt like i needed any support (maybe im wrong). So far the retail 10D are serving me much better than other skates. I created more depth by removing the stock insoles and replacing them with a super thin rubber insole. I'm working on getting a thinner tongue which should help as well. I saw this beauty for sale which might fix the width issue, C/AA skates. Do you guys think being pro-stock these could could have different (lower? instep height?) :

Edited February 2, 2022 by mamalulu