Bauer Vapor X900 Skates with Tydan blades

[jeff da goalie]

So I've got a few skates in with my new Bauer Vapor X900 skates.  Most recently, I added Tydan blades having heard that the stock steel is meh.  I'm coming from Reebok 11k skates due to my wide feet.  

First impressions:  Very comfortable skates.  The toe box is wide enough for my 4Efeet (I wear a size 8 2E in skates).  I like them tight around the ankles and I do have a little bit of soreness on my ankle bones which protrude a bit any way.  I wear those little gel pad slipons that the figure skaters wear.  It's very masculine.  Really.

My first time on the ice, other than them being a mite too sharp, they felt very natural.  I took them to an open skate first and they felt great.  Didn't have a chance to do any real goalie specific movements since it was crowded with short tiny people who either didn't know how to skate or were skating too fast, along with their accompanying larger older people, who didn't know how to skate and a bunch of figure skaters who didn't give a damn that it was crowded.  

Got them on the ice for a game I was subbing in, so if I shat the bed due to the skates, it wouldn't have killed my team.  As it was, the skates were wonderful.  It made butterfly slides effortless, skating was awesome, and they really just felt good.  Same with my next game.

Then I got the Tydan blades.  I initially had trouble getting them in, but with a gentle whack with Maxwell's silver hammer (or a rubber mallet) and they slid in.  I was a little worried because of the additional height, but really had nothing to worry about.  I adjusted very quickly and the height let me get even deeper in my stance and movements were even easier.

My one complaint is that I'm coming from Reebok's which have the lace lock so I'm used to wearing them loose below the lock and tight up on the ankles.  I may have to mod the skates to add that since my foot fell asleep a little due to having to have the laces consistently tight.  But it's not a huge complaint.  I'm very pleased with them.

[Kayen]

Hey Jeff,

Regarding the lace lock issue: Try looking at how Scrivens does his lacing, as it mocks up a lace lock essentially, and would seem to alleviate what your issues would be. 
I will have to see if a EE Vapor will work better for me, as my 7D toe box is NOT cooperating at all with me (i've since switched to reebok 16k skates, and my X900's are for sale). 

 

[Chenner29]

On 3/6/2018 at 10:29 AM, jeff da goalie said:

My one complaint is that I'm coming from Reebok's which have the lace lock so I'm used to wearing them loose below the lock and tight up on the ankles.  I may have to mod the skates to add that since my foot fell asleep a little due to having to have the laces consistently tight.  But it's not a huge complaint.  I'm very pleased with them.

You can make your own lace lock.  It's super easy.  Best part is, no real modding necessary.

Find the point you want to lock the laces in.  I'd assume given your preference that you'll probably do this right as the eyelets transition to going straight up.
Instead of threading across the top of the foot, run the laces straight up one eyelet and through the one above it, leaving a little loop (see pic below)
Cross the laces through the loop on the opposite side.
Pull, tighten, resume lacing as normal.

[jeff da goalie]

6 hours ago, Chenner29 said:

You can make your own lace lock.  It's super easy.  Best part is, no real modding necessary.

Find the point you want to lock the laces in.  I'd assume given your preference that you'll probably do this right as the eyelets transition to going straight up.
Instead of threading across the top of the foot, run the laces straight up one eyelet and through the one above it, leaving a little loop (see pic below)
Cross the laces through the loop on the opposite side.
Pull, tighten, resume lacing as normal.

Holy crap, that's brilliant.  I do that with my running shoes to lock in my foot, never thought to do that with my skates.