New True Catalyst Skates

[swede 49]

How much can one expect the newer Catalyst line of skates will expand or widen with baking? 
reason for asking is cause i ordered a pair of Catalyst 5x4 for myself in Wide, (Fit3 vapors now) and the Cats are really crushing my forefoot, especially behind the big toe where i have bunions.. 

Do the cats widen that much with baking, or will i probably need to punch them aswell like i had to with the vapors??

[Westside 232]

Did you buy the same size as your Bauers? The Trues should open up a half size after baking

[swede 49]

No, actually the Cats are one size up.. I’m a size 7 Fit3 in vapors, and the Cats are 7.5 Wide..

Fit3 and EE Bauers are longer than Fit1, Fit2 and D width Bauers.

my toes are jammed against the toecap, so they are not to long. Will be perfect lengthwise after baking, the question is, if they will widen enough to fit my forefoot after baking. 
 

my only issue with the Bauers is that the toecap are to narrow and dig in between the first and second joint on my big toes. The Bauers are punched right behind the toecap, to accomodate bunions i have on my big toe joint.

[flip12 714]

34 minutes ago, swede said:

No, actually the Cats are one size up.. I’m a size 7 Fit3 in vapors, and the Cats are 7.5 Wide..

Fit3 and EE Bauers are longer than Fit1, Fit2 and D width Bauers.

my toes are jammed against the toecap, so they are not to long. Will be perfect lengthwise after baking, the question is, if they will widen enough to fit my forefoot after baking. 
 

my only issue with the Bauers is that the toecap are to narrow and dig in between the first and second joint on my big toes. The Bauers are punched right behind the toecap, to accomodate bunions i have on my big toe joint.

I'm the same: 9.5 R in True, 9 Fit 1 in Vapor. Bauer's Birkenstockier toe cap makes the difference.

[Sniper9 530]

8 hours ago, swede said:

No, actually the Cats are one size up.. I’m a size 7 Fit3 in vapors, and the Cats are 7.5 Wide..

Fit3 and EE Bauers are longer than Fit1, Fit2 and D width Bauers.

my toes are jammed against the toecap, so they are not to long. Will be perfect lengthwise after baking, the question is, if they will widen enough to fit my forefoot after baking. 
 

my only issue with the Bauers is that the toecap are to narrow and dig in between the first and second joint on my big toes. The Bauers are punched right behind the toecap, to accomodate bunions i have on my big toe joint.

Well only way is to find out. No one has your feet. General answer is yes it would open up a bit but to how much you actually need, only way is for you to do it. You can always stretch the boot too. With trues it's easier bc the entire boot is one shell and doesn't have a junction where the plastic toe cap is attached to the quarter package. 

[swede 49]

I guess so.. 

well, the True 30-day money back fit warranty applies also in Europe, so i guess i don’t have anything to loose baking them..

interresting to see if they can expand that much width wise in the forefoot and how it will effect the toecap since the toecap is glued on the outside.

[Left Wing King 50]

With the skates that have returned under that warranty, what do True actually do with them?

 

[Westside 232]

Not sure about True, but retailers sell them at a significantly discounted price. Typically online and under a different name or as an ‘outlet’ 

[Leif 161]

On 11/14/2024 at 7:59 AM, swede said:

No, actually the Cats are one size up.. I’m a size 7 Fit3 in vapors, and the Cats are 7.5 Wide..

Fit3 and EE Bauers are longer than Fit1, Fit2 and D width Bauers.

my toes are jammed against the toecap, so they are not to long. Will be perfect lengthwise after baking, the question is, if they will widen enough to fit my forefoot after baking. 
 

my only issue with the Bauers is that the toecap are to narrow and dig in between the first and second joint on my big toes. The Bauers are punched right behind the toecap, to accomodate bunions i have on my big toe joint.

I had problems with Bauer rubbing the sides of my big toes, it could be painful, even with customs. Those hard toecaps are horrid.

My True TF9 opened up noticeably after baking. but were still tight round the forefoot. Each time I skated, they felt just a bit looser and today they are like cosy slippers. A year later I bought TF9 inlines, and the weird thing is right away they felt just like the older TF9. So either they were a tad wider, or my feet gradually adapted i.e. changed shape. Unlike Bauer, the side pressure from the TF9 was spread out over a sizeable area. Anyway, yes the TF9 forefoot expands a little bit when heat moulding. It has a thin plastic skin over a carbon fibre shell, except at the very front where it is thick plastic. I think Cats are pretty much the same. On this page you’ll find a photo showing the construction of the Cat Pro: 

https://www.truetempersports.com/en-us/hockey/hockey/hockey-more-information/custom-skates/catalyst-pro-player-skates.html

You won’t get more volume, but it should squash down a bit. 

[swede 49]

I had to return the Cats.. They are not for wide feet even tough the size was 7.5 wide.. Even after baking they squeeze my forefoot way to much. Not even punching the entire forefoot out would be able to fix the width issue.

Back to tweeking my 3X instead..

[Sniper9 530]

3 hours ago, swede said:

I had to return the Cats.. They are not for wide feet even tough the size was 7.5 wide.. Even after baking they squeeze my forefoot way to much. Not even punching the entire forefoot out would be able to fix the width issue.

Back to tweeking my 3X instead..

They may not be wide enough for your feet but it doesn't mean they aren't for wide feet. Just depends HOW wide you need them.  Depending how long you baked them it also could've not been hot enough. 

And you would t be punching the forefoot, to increase volume/width you'd stretch them which is a different process, but you'd need to leave it at the shop for a couple days at least to do it properly. 

Edited November 20 by Sniper9

[swede 49]

I baked them acording the instructions that came in the box. The heel and ankle  molded nicely, but the forefoot would not. 
So, i dont know.. I returned them while i still could!

I can still use my Vapor 3X skates, but i need some extra silicone pads between the big toe joints.

Vapor Fit3, with old Vapor EE forefoot and Old toe cap would be perfect.

Edited Thursday at 02:37 PM by swede

[Sniper9 530]

23 hours ago, swede said:

I baked them acording the instructions that came in the box. The heel and ankle  molded nicely, but the forefoot would not. 
So, i dont know.. I returned them while i still could!

I can still use my Vapor 3X skates, but i need some extra silicone pads between the big toe joints.

Vapor Fit3, with old Vapor EE forefoot and Old toe cap would be perfect.

Fwiw, the instructions I think call for 5-7 mins baking time? In reality it should be like 7-10. When I baked it cat pros which are the same as the 9s shell, it was barely moldable after 7 mins. 

[Westside 232]

25 minutes ago, Sniper9 said:

Fwiw, the instructions I think call for 5-7 mins baking time? In reality it should be like 7-10. When I baked it cat pros which are the same as the 9s shell, it was barely moldable after 7 mins. 

Definitely agree with this. 5-7 minutes at 175 is not enough. 200 for 5-7 or 175 for 8-10 is the way to go 

[swede 49]

Instructions in the box said 6-8 minutes at 83-92C° (180-200f°).. I baked them for 8 minutes at 90°C, but still could not get them wide enough. The conditions for returning skates are a little more restrictive in europe, so i didn’t want to risk not being able to return them.

Rebaked my punched Vapor 3X for 6 mins at 90°C yesterday and did the shrink wrap thing really hard on them.. I did actually get even better heel lock and fit around the heel and ankle. Hopefully the heel sunk a little more into the heel cup, which would give me some clearence up front where the toe cap meets the boot.

Edited Friday at 06:29 AM by swede