Kenesky PP1 C/A

[Chenner29]

I took receipt of this beauty last Tuesday and wanted to start off by showing some pics and discussing some changes I made to the unit.
Wait time was tough on this thing, but based on what I've seen so far it was absolutely worth it; Mike killed it with the mod requests and the fit is fantastic.

@TheGoalNetshared this on his IG earlier this week, and I promised him I'd start the process of digging into this piece of gear.  It's received a lot of hype in the goalie community, with some NHL guys adopting it right away (Crawford, Rask, Helleybuck) and others using parts off of it (Ward, Rinne, Saros).

My initial impressions:

• Beefy!  I was told the blocks are about 1/4" thicker in the belly and ribs than a stock Premier 1.  They certainly feel thicker and stiffer than my pro return Bernier P1.
• Good flexibility; I was able to touch the top of my head right out of the box.  It's been going through some steaming in the shower to soften it up a bit more.
• the NHL spec arms are noticeably narrower than the old spec.  It seems as if the arms were made to wrap around more.
• Arms seem thinner than the original P1 (if you look at one of my mod threads, you will see the original P1 uses a layer of HD sandwiched by layers of LD) - but noticeably stiffer.  I don't think protection will be an issue, and there is some mobility to be gained by thinning out the layers.

Here's the body portion. 

I went with a 7 block (XL) body because I wear my chest pad outside my pants.

The arms are a large bicep pad and medium forearm pad.  I'm 5'11, with slightly shorter arms for my height. I was able to achieve about a 1.5" desired clearance between the bottom of the forearm pad and my wrist bone.

I also added a higher collar.  After trying this out a few times at home, I think the second collar is going to come off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the backside, you can see I changed the chest and shoulder height adjustment to be like the CCM Premier.  There's a lot of flexibility to be had here, which I will enjoy tinkering with.

I also added a forearm pad to the bottom of the glove hand, had the belly tie down sewn to the inside of the body, added a fight strap to the backplate, and removed the elastic across the waist in favor of nylon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's an outside shot of the arm, you can see the forearm pad and back strapping a bit better.
You'll also notice a high rib pad (in blue air mesh) that was added just above the rib protection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the inside of the forearm.  I had it lined with nash to give a bit of grip.  The inside of this portion is a soft foam that will allow me to really cinch these down if I prefer.  I've found that with stock C/As, this portion is the same layered LD/HD foam that tends to into my forearm if I go too tight.

I also removed the elastic at the wrist in favor of jenpro to stay more consistent over time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's it for now, I'll block out a couple response windows below to reserve them for further updates.  Feel free to ask any questions you may have and I will do my best to answer.

[Chenner29]

Wow I've been really bad at following up with this stuff.  At this point, I've had the unit a bit over 5 months, and have been wearing it non-stop for the last 4 (needed to finish a very brief playoff run before trying out new gear).

I'll just post some overall thoughts after using this unit pretty extensively, particularly in the last couple weeks.

I've been very impressed with this thing.  It's damn solid - my first skate out with it I was taking bombs from a guy on a KHL contract who was back in town for the summer.  I took a fair number of shots to the chest and arms, and came away bruise-free.

Mobility wise, this thing has been incredible.  I picked up a pro return CCM ABPro around the same time and this thing feels more like my old Bernier pro return (about 5 years old at this point) than the CCM did.

I ended up switching the collar back to the original single lip instead of the double lipped version it shipped with.  I'll probably do a Price mod one of these days and stitch in a Vaughn style bib into it.

 One underappreciated mod that ended up feeling really good is the high rib pad (see pic #3) - it was a nice suggestion by Mike since he knew I wear this thing outside my pants.  I know I've opened up the arm a few times and taken a shot up there as I've woken up sore the next morning in that area a few times, but no bruise.

If I had to reorder, I would probably go back to a Large/6 row body and ask him to extend the oval pad on the bottom.

Edited August 25, 2019 by Chenner29

[Chenner29]

Blocked: 60 day

[Chenner29]

Blocked: 90 day

[bunnyman666]

How long was the wait? Were you given regular updates on the wait or were you twisting in the wind? Were you given reasons for the wait? 

I know that Howie does deliver and this would not be a Dave Agatone situation, but did deadlines pass and you had to bug them to find out or were you sent a proactive email in the vein of “hey- sorry that a deadline is going to pass, but (this) happened and I will happily give you your deposit back if the indefinite nature of the wait is unacceptable” or after the fourth email you sent with no replies you FINALLY get a “Sorry, buddy boy- you will have to pull on your big boy trousers and slog it out. I got yo moneys and you will have to kindly naff yourself whilst I leisurely build this at my own pace”?  I would have kittens if it were the latter, and would be closer to it with the former if it was more than twice the quoted wait time, I admit. 

[SaveByRichter35]

47 minutes ago, bunnyman666 said:

How long was the wait? Were you given regular updates on the wait or were you twisting in the wind? Were you given reasons for the wait? 

I know that Howie does deliver and this would not be a Dave Agatone situation, but did deadlines pass and you had to bug them to find out or were you sent a proactive email in the vein of “hey- sorry that a deadline is going to pass, but (this) happened and I will happily give you your deposit back if the indefinite nature of the wait is unacceptable” or after the fourth email you sent with no replies you FINALLY get a “Sorry, buddy boy- you will have to pull on your big boy trousers and slog it out. I got yo moneys and you will have to kindly naff yourself whilst I leisurely build this at my own pace”?  I would have kittens if it were the latter, and would be closer to it with the former if it was more than twice the quoted wait time, I admit. 

It was bad.  Not going to steal Chenner's thunder though.  He can explain.

[SaveByRichter35]

Any reason you went with the larger heart guard vs the smaller one that the original P1 came with?

[bunnyman666]

28 minutes ago, SaveByRichter35 said:

It was bad.  Not going to steal Chenner's thunder though.  He can explain.

So you’re saying that I possibly would have been trying to get paypal involved, eh?

[Chenner29]

5 hours ago, SaveByRichter35 said:

Any reason you went with the larger heart guard vs the smaller one that the original P1 came with?

No real reason. The larger chest plate is stock and I didn’t see a need to change it. 

4 hours ago, bunnyman666 said:

So you’re saying that I possibly would have been trying to get paypal involved, eh?

You probably would have. I did not pay until he shipped. 

Let me be clear, I do not have an issue with the company, the product, or the service.

There was some frustration with the wait, which I shared with a few select people and with Mike. I don’t think he knew how popular these would be at the pro level, and as with all manufacturers, the pro clientele comes first, which I completely understand.

My order was pushed back a few times because new pros kept coming in or units came back to get tweaks.  It’s one of the challenging aspects when working with a small manufacturer. 

Mike expressed some regret at opening these up for preorder before the pro ordering season was over.  He said he’s working on developing some new product but will not be taking preorders on these moving forward until he has a sense of demand at that level, so he’s learning from what happened here 

[SaveByRichter35]

28 minutes ago, Chenner29 said:

...Mike expressed some regret at opening these up for preorder before the pro ordering season was over.  He said he’s working on developing some new product but will not be taking preorders on these moving forward until he has a sense of demand at that level, so he’s learning from what happened here 

And that is the important part.

[bunnyman666]

1 hour ago, Chenner29 said:

No real reason. The larger chest plate is stock and I didn’t see a need to change it. 

You probably would have. I did not pay until he shipped. 

Let me be clear, I do not have an issue with the company, the product, or the service.

There was some frustration with the wait, which I shared with a few select people and with Mike. I don’t think he knew how popular these would be at the pro level, and as with all manufacturers, the pro clientele comes first, which I completely understand.

My order was pushed back a few times because new pros kept coming in or units came back to get tweaks.  It’s one of the challenging aspects when working with a small manufacturer. 

Mike expressed some regret at opening these up for preorder before the pro ordering season was over.  He said he’s working on developing some new product but will not be taking preorders on these moving forward until he has a sense of demand at that level, so he’s learning from what happened here 

Was he proactive on notifying you about delays or did you have to prod him? That is the difference between me being okay with delays or getting irate. As long as I am kept in the loop and don’t get the proverbial “it’s on it’s way” when it wasn’t, I am generally chill.

I think of one place I had a custom order with. Mistakes were happening in his shoppe on my order, and it would push my order to the back of the queue. Then the pro orders would start showing on FaceCrack (one of many reasons why I stopped that nonsense), and he was NEVER upfront about it. And he had 100% of the money upfront. 3 month wait time; 5 and a half months and I finally had my fill!!!! This is the CHIEF reason why I will NEVER give more than 50% up front for a custom order over $100 to ANYONE. If they need more than 50%, I will NOT do business with them. 

At least you did not have any money up front.

Edited May 16, 2019 by bunnyman666

[ZeroGravitas]

Heh. PP.

[Chenner29]

36 minutes ago, bunnyman666 said:

Was he proactive on notifying you about delays or did you have to prod him? That is the difference between me being okay with delays or getting irate. As long as I am kept in the loop and don’t get the proverbial “it’s on it’s way” when it wasn’t, I am generally chill.

Like how you keep prodding me about the wait?  No, nothing like this.

[beansbats]

That chesty is gorgeous!  I love my Anderson return.

-steve

[aircanuck]

I too endured the crazy wait on the PP1 only to find it is too long for me and my pants setup. SO if anyone is looking to score an immediate PP1, not played in, I may be the guy to talk to. You just have to deal with having my name on it. 

Size is large...

Edited May 18, 2019 by aircanuck

[Chenner29]

3 hours ago, aircanuck said:

I too endured the crazy wait on the PP1 only to find it is too long for me and my pants setup. SO if anyone is looking to score an immediate PP1, not played in, I may be the guy to talk to. You just have to deal with having my name on it. 

Size is large...

That's a bummer to hear.  Are you getting back in queue or going with something else?

[aircanuck]

1 hour ago, Chenner29 said:

That's a bummer to hear.  Are you getting back in queue or going with something else?

Basically, since I have returned to the game, everything that said Passau on it has been a home run. Everything else has been a royal pain in the heinny. So I would go to Passau. 

I have a Simmons 1000 to fill in until I figure out what’s what.

[Chenner29]

Finally posted my thoughts...5 months later.  See post # 2

[RichMan]

On 5/18/2019 at 5:20 PM, aircanuck said:

I too endured the crazy wait on the PP1 only to find it is too long for me and my pants setup. SO if anyone is looking to score an immediate PP1, not played in, I may be the guy to talk to. You just have to deal with having my name on it. 

Size is large...

Any personal mods done to it when ordered?

[dreadlocked1]

Bump.  How's this thing held up?  No regrets? 

On 8/24/2019 at 11:12 PM, Chenner29 said:

Finally posted my thoughts...5 months later.  See post # 2

[Chenner29]

1 hour ago, dreadlocked1 said:

Bump.  How's this thing held up?  No regrets? 

Build quality is fine, but I've gotten smoked in the arms a few more times than I can count.

This was the worst one - image is reversed, it's actually my blocker arm - pic taken maybe 6 hours after getting off the ice.  The bruise spread out even more on day 2 to the point the entire front of my arm was covered

[dreadlocked1]

So...arm protection is lacking?  That's a good one!  I would not be happy if that is a reoccurring weak spot.  I don't think I've ever gotten an arm bruise like that in my Simmons.  Is it something you can beef up or just the way it's designed?

[beansbats]

3 hours ago, Chenner29 said:

Build quality is fine, but I've gotten smoked in the arms a few more times than I can count.

This was the worst one - image is reversed, it's actually my blocker arm - pic taken maybe 6 hours after getting off the ice.  The bruise spread out even more on day 2 to the point the entire front of my arm was covered

The only bruise that I have received in mine is in the same place on the blocker side where I was a little sideways on the shot.  FYI....  That looks like the blocker arm to me, I'm full right

[mr_shifty1982]

5 hours ago, Chenner29 said:

Build quality is fine, but I've gotten smoked in the arms a few more times than I can count.

This was the worst one - image is reversed, it's actually my blocker arm - pic taken maybe 6 hours after getting off the ice.  The bruise spread out even more on day 2 to the point the entire front of my arm was covered

I'm sorry I know that these things happen, but this is something else. When people spend so much money on these units this shouldn't happen! That's massive! 

[Chenner29]

5 hours ago, dreadlocked1 said:

So...arm protection is lacking?  That's a good one!  I would not be happy if that is a reoccurring weak spot.  I don't think I've ever gotten an arm bruise like that in my Simmons.  Is it something you can beef up or just the way it's designed?

I tried opening it up and adding more padding - it's only gotten a little better.

They are still using the original P1 composition - a sandwich of two layers of LD foam and an HD layer inside.