Modifying skates to prevent lace bite, add ankle support, and better heel lock on GSX skates.

[OldSchoolGoalie]

I'm sadly stuck with these GSX Bauer skates and one major problem I have is the lack of support around the high ankle which means I have to crank the laces up top a bit more. This makes the sides more supportive which I need, but then I get the issue where flexing forward in a stance causes some dig. I'm getting nasty pain in my inner ankle and now what feels like shin splints which I'm sure is due to the pressure made when flexing forward in a skater's stance. I don't have any visible bruising or swelling thankfully but it hurts bad enough to move post-game. Never do I have pain during skating beyond inner ankle pain due to a sprain depending on the angle I flex sideways.

The GSX is pretty wide up top. Example:



This is just someone's photo but the same for me anyhow. My heel has a nice spot but just the top part is so open. So when I do my heel lock lacing:
 

I like it to better form around the sides and as a by product of that the fronts are also tight and when you flex forward there is resistance. I'm also coming off some bad ankle problems so my support isn't as good.

I was considering making a DIY solution like those Bunga pads for hockey or maybe something like this:



I wasn't sure if I could just buy maybe 1/8" Sponge Neoprene and make my own wrap? Or if I need more. If I double up it would just be the same as 1/4", I just don't know how much padding I need for now.

 

There are these lace bite socks:

But I think I need the padding a slight bit up. I'm also not 100% sure but I'm assuming most issues are from the front, not the sides but I could be wrong on that.


Soon I'll be dumping these skates but it has been a nightmare thus far! I had to bake and punch these out several times just to fix a lot of the other problems. Now with my ankle issues I need additional padding so when I crank the laces at the top I don't get massive stress.

Any ideas?

Edited February 4 by OldSchoolGoalie

[IpaddyTECH]

Sorry to hear about your experience, pain from equipment is always no good. I have a very similar issue with my player skates so I look forward to seeing how your methods work as I still haven't found a fix for mine. I'm playing out tonight and I'm trying a foam pad sleeve on my low shin to see if that stops the top of the skate cuff from rubbing my shin raw.

Funny enough though I have the same GSX goalie skates and love them. Maybe a bad fit or not your style?

[OldSchoolGoalie]

17 minutes ago, IpaddyTECH said:

Sorry to hear about your experience, pain from equipment is always no good. I have a very similar issue with my player skates so I look forward to seeing how your methods work as I still haven't found a fix for mine. I'm playing out tonight and I'm trying a foam pad sleeve on my low shin to see if that stops the top of the skate cuff from rubbing my shin raw.

Funny enough though I have the same GSX goalie skates and love them. Maybe a bad fit or not your style?

I got everything to work fine, it is just the ankle support issue. I normally don't like loose ankles at the top so I like to crank them down to get the sides in tighter so I'm not wobbling around, but that comes at the cost of having it tighter in the front as well. If I stand up and bend forward like I'm in a stride then tighten it I don't have enough side ankle support. Having it tighter does work, but then I have too much pressure on the front so I'll see what happens.

[OldSchoolGoalie]

Just an update. I made my material order so it should be here around the 30th of January. I'll do some tests, but the main idea is to use the 1/8" foam to make a wrap around like in the picture here:



If it works well I can make a fabric sleeve for it as well but will probably just put it on first, then put my thin dress socks on and over it to hold it in place. I'll need to do some tests at home to see if the foam will shift up or not.

The main goal is to have the frontal pressure apply to the foam first and not my shins or upper ankle directly. Hopefully this works until I can get my KONEKT Goalie Skates as those have a hinge system in place.

[IpaddyTECH]

So you need a narrower skate at the top then sounds like. KONEKTS should be great for you. They're also on my shopping list for after I wear out my GSX's. For now, have you tried baking them again? And then the shrink wrap thing to make them fit tighter?

[OldSchoolGoalie]

15 minutes ago, IpaddyTECH said:

So you need a narrower skate at the top then sounds like. KONEKTS should be great for you. They're also on my shopping list for after I wear out my GSX's. For now, have you tried baking them again? And then the shrink wrap thing to make them fit tighter?

Yes, this is the only problem with the skates. The GSX skates are way too wide at the top, but I think the foam idea will fill that space well and it should work until I can get those skates. I did one bake, and a few others because they had to punch the skates in several times. I'm not sure if I should bake and do a wrap on the top to close it up more, or just do the foam and wait it out. I'm only worried if they bake in a way where I have it too narrow on the sides and not enough give on the front, but I'm not expert in this to know how it will turn out.

[OldSchoolGoalie]

4 hours ago, IpaddyTECH said:

So you need a narrower skate at the top then sounds like. KONEKTS should be great for you. They're also on my shopping list for after I wear out my GSX's. For now, have you tried baking them again? And then the shrink wrap thing to make them fit tighter?

I took some photos to show you but keep in mind that these skate fit 100% snug from the ankle down to the toes so I never need to crank any laces, just loose enough to slide the foot in and a very slight pull so the laces are not flapping around and I'm good. This is because when I got fitted I was 100% snug into the skate, but had to get a few problem spots punched out.

The ankle part here is the issue. The first image is the skate without doing any tightening at the top (I have a two lace setup due to sensitivity feet with pressure so ignore the second set).

So my heel does not move around side to side or anything it is just above that you can see how wide it is:

 

If I take a forward stance like I'm in a stride and tighten it I do get zero pain in front but the sides are still a bit too open:

Now when I crank them I get a perfect fit for support but now the front doesn't give enough so I get pain when flexing forward:

Since I'm dealing with some ankle issues right now I'm trying to keep everything a supportive as possible. I'm just hoping the foam will let me get enough padding in there and also fill some space while allowing some forward flex without digging in. The skates apart from this fit 100% fine. Also I'm normally an inline goalie coming into ice so I had aggressive inline skates (they kinda look like the KONEKTS with buckles and the forward flex wasn't an issue. So maybe I need to force myself to use the skates like the 2nd example when I tighten them with forward flex and hope my ankles don't give. They just feel so wobbly... My first set of skates before this were more supportive and they had 4mm blades and lower down so I felt more stable.

The last image example gives the best side ankle support, but is too tight for the front and when going into a skating stance it causes that pressure.

Here is the boot inside:


So it is formed nicely around my heel, just as you go up the boot is just flared out wide like a bowl.

The angle of the photo makes it look off at the heel but where the superfeet end and the one where you see the liner end is the wall. It just looks flat.

Edited January 29 by OldSchoolGoalie

[creasecollector]

Is it possible to remove the laces out of the top eyelet to help with the forward flex of the ankle and add some ankle wraps like posted above?

[OldSchoolGoalie]

4 minutes ago, creasecollector said:

Is it possible to remove the laces out of the top eyelet to help with the forward flex of the ankle and add some ankle wraps like posted above?

I'm going to try some things and see, but the only reason I use the top eyelets is for that heel lock trick to pull the sides in.

Like in this video: 

If I could support my ankles on the sides mostly via a wrap then I'm golden because my feet from the 3rd eyelet to the toes requires zero lacing to fit snug as the skate was super good from the get-go apart from the few spots I had to punch out. It would be nice of the skates didn't flair open like that at the top.

I'll wait on my materials and give that a go! I'm off any games until near the end of the week due to some ankle problems.

[OldSchoolGoalie]

Bit of an update... Got the materials and doing a wrap really doesn't work well because lower down the fit is so snug in the skate that even 1/8" of padding causes issues. If I only have foam wrapped around the high ankle and up it really doesn't add enough to fix the issue with side wobble in the same way I got support from lacing with that heel lock trick.

Just some background... Why I even did the heel lock lacing was because I have very wide feet in the front but a narrow heel, so while my heel does not move side to side there is a problem of my heel lifting up. I also have another issue where my feet are so sensitive due to the width that I can only crank those top 2 eyelets like in that video to lock it down, otherwise any additional tension on the laces causing the boot to squeeze at where my ankle flexes forward to the toes will cause massive cramping.

So now I can only think of one way to reduce volume and that would be to make some foam cutouts and put it under the tongue just like you would with a lace bite pad, which after testing it actually keeps my heel from lifting and I don't need to crank my laces like before. It also feels more snug and better fitting without having to use all my eyelets at the top.

Even though I still have that side wobble it does feel more stable without my heel popping up all the time. I do know that in general you don't want your skate supporting your ankles like that but I just liked a more snug fit where the skate felt like it was an extension of my leg. It does build that bad habit of not depending on my ankle strength to hold me in position and I rely on the boot, so maybe it now time to start doing things right and build up better ankle strength. I just had some bad ankle injuries as of late so this is mostly the reason I've been depending on the boot to support my ankles. Coming from inline to ice and using aggressive inline skates with a lower profile and buckles to actual ice hockey skates is really different.

I've also went down an eyelet from the top and I now have full flex forward without any tension and those pads take the full brunt of the laces, so I don't feel a thing. I'll need to do a skate test to confirm but it seems promising. I'm probably going to use two pieces at 1/8" each so that would just be 1/4" under the tongue.

Edited January 30 by OldSchoolGoalie

[OldSchoolGoalie]

On 1/28/2024 at 8:35 AM, IpaddyTECH said:

I'm playing out tonight and I'm trying a foam pad sleeve on my low shin to see if that stops the top of the skate cuff from rubbing my shin raw.

Did you solve your problem? Not sure if you also tried doing the DIY Forsberg pads?

(Someone else's pictures)



 

[raidersgoalie]

I had the exact same problem with my ankles to.  Took me awhile but putting on a lace bite pad on the tongue and wearing the gel sleeve u have pictured. The one that’s up high on the ankle.  That combo worked with absolutely no pain again.  But another thing I did was cut the tongue where the pain was at. It worked but in my new skates I didn’t wanna do that, so I found a solution with the lace bite pad and the gel sleeve. 

[OldSchoolGoalie]

1 hour ago, raidersgoalie said:

I had the exact same problem with my ankles to.  Took me awhile but putting on a lace bite pad on the tongue and wearing the gel sleeve u have pictured. The one that’s up high on the ankle.  That combo worked with absolutely no pain again.  But another thing I did was cut the tongue where the pain was at. It worked but in my new skates I didn’t wanna do that, so I found a solution with the lace bite pad and the gel sleeve. 

I think this is really the solution... I just need to protect my tendons from direct pressure and the rest will be fine. After all of this I cannot wait to get rid of these skates. The GSX skates are just too wide in the ankle area forcing you to crank those laces for heel lock.

I was considering heating up the boot and clamping them like you do with True skates for heel lock, but I don't think the boot really will hold up to that.

Looking forward to going custom! Not sure of KONEKTS will work too because of my narrow ankles/heel.

[Puckstopper]

5 hours ago, OldSchoolGoalie said:

I was considering heating up the boot and clamping them like you do with True skates for heel lock, but I don't think the boot really will hold up to that.
 

It won't hold up well, especially if you've already baked them multiple times.   Lower end skates aren't meant to be baked over and over, eventually the materials will give out.   The better materials and adhesives used in mid and upper tier skates are one of the things that are rarely discussed but are a real thing.   Even top tier skates can only be baked a finite number of times, but usually something other than the boot itself is what gives out.  

I feel your pain, although in the opposite direction.  Having non-standard feet makes for an expensive buying experience or a lot of compromises on comfort!

[OldSchoolGoalie]

43 minutes ago, Puckstopper said:

It won't hold up well, especially if you've already baked them multiple times.   Lower end skates aren't meant to be baked over and over, eventually the materials will give out.   The better materials and adhesives used in mid and upper tier skates are one of the things that are rarely discussed but are a real thing.   Even top tier skates can only be baked a finite number of times, but usually something other than the boot itself is what gives out.  

I feel your pain, although in the opposite direction.  Having non-standard feet makes for an expensive buying experience or a lot of compromises on comfort!

I'm going to be putting in some velcro strips for easy in and out foam adjustment as well. This is about the best I can do to get things working. With feet like mine I think custom is really the only option and since I'm that invested in the sport and position it becomes a well needed purchase. I went back and forth already prior just managing issues with the boot width punching/stretching out spots and this heel lock thing was the last piece of the puzzle. Aside from the extra foam under the tongue, I'll add in a very little sliver near the heel to fill up some space there because I'm getting a tad bit of movement, enough to trigger my OCD.

I was also in a bind where my other skates were out and I needed replacements to get on the ice right away so stock at the time was the best option. I'll mod these up to work and keep them until the customs are 100% good then sell them off.

Thanks for the replies, I'm learning a lot here too.

[OldSchoolGoalie]

I've done a bit more testing and found that just putting padding under the tongue won't be enough because the tendon is still going to get pressure so really at this point doing a Forsberg Pad would be my next option.

I went and picked up a 1/2" of Foam Pipe Insulation and did a cut out for both feet like this:



The hole in the middle is supposed to be where the lace would make contact with the tendon. I'm assuming it would be near the center up of the ankle where the flex point is but just popping my toes up I can see the movement at that spot. If I'm wrong on this let me know but I believe it is there.

In order to make sure the hole is correct based on the lacing I popped the tongue up and did my lace setup just under it to see:

I'm probably going to need to make the hole a bit longer down just in case, but this is the general area. I just need to tie and pull up those laces to get it over the center a bit better.

Once done up: 



I did the final test taping them and it seems to hold up well. There is a slight problem where I need to cut out some foam over the ankle bone on the side as I really didn't do any adjustment other than for length, and the hole size.

I have full forward flex with these on, and it seems to work well as I can heel lock and crank those laces. Also, I should mention apart from that section all my laces are pretty much just barely snug only enough so they're not flopping around. My boot fits well enough where I don't have to tighten the laces further down so having the foam on my foot shouldn't cause any problem apart from the tongue bulging a bit. I have a skate tomorrow and a few to follow so I will report back.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! I'm going to be stuck using these until I get new skates sadly so I want this to work the best that it can.

Edited February 2 by OldSchoolGoalie

[IpaddyTECH]

On 1/30/2024 at 2:26 PM, OldSchoolGoalie said:

Did you solve your problem? Not sure if you also tried doing the DIY Forsberg pads?

(Someone else's pictures)



 

Yes I did. I have the G-form knee pad sleeves for under my warrior knee pads (which works great), so when I skate out I just slid one on over where I was getting friction from the skate cuff. Did 90 minute pick up with no issues.  

[OldSchoolGoalie]

19 minutes ago, IpaddyTECH said:

Yes I did. I have the G-form knee pad sleeves for under my warrior knee pads (which works great), so when I skate out I just slid one on over where I was getting friction from the skate cuff. Did 90 minute pick up with no issues.  

That is awesome!

I'm going to make some minor adjustments on mine before my skate in a few hours. Hopefully this works out! I only crank one area of lace out of my entire skate the rest are just tight enough to not have the laces flopping around. As long as that part is over the hole I shouldn't get direct pressure on the tendons anymore. It sucks that these GSX skates have such a wide ankle/heel area that I'm forced to do this, and by cranking those laces this is where the lace bite comes into play. I also went down an eyelet for the heel lock lacing so I now have full forward flex. Prior that restriction put even more pressure on that spot causing flareups in both ankles. Hoping for the best!

[IpaddyTECH]

Good luck! Sorry for all your troubles!

[OldSchoolGoalie]

46 minutes ago, IpaddyTECH said:

Good luck! Sorry for all your troubles!

Custom is really the only way at this point but if these work out I'll be happy until then.
 

I did an update to the pads cutting some width away, so the old ones would wrap around more causing pain near my ankle bone so I just cut it to pretty much fit a tad wider than the tongue.





I also cut down a bit more to make the hole longer. Also due to such a tight fit in my boot as it is I cannot tape the bottom so I only tape the top part which works as I tape it to my sock and it doesn't move. Once I crank my laces down it should stay in place as well.

I put them on for about 30 minutes game ready to see if any pain would happen. All I do get a slight burn at the top of my foot due to added padding, but no numbness thankfully, and no ankle pain yet. After the game I'll usually know if my ankles are bad and it will really flair up within a few hours if this doesn't work. I also got a few games on the weekend.

Once I'm back from today's game I'll wait and see how things look and if everything seems to work alright I'll make some duplicates of these to bring along. I'm not sure how much flex these can handle before cracking. I might also consider making these out of neoprene 1/2" instead of the poly stuff for durability.

I was not able to fix the slight heel lift, we're talking about probably half a cm because if I put padding on the sides I have no room for my ankle bone and I get instant pain. Also the back doesn't work well because I really don't have much room to work with lengthwise and moving my foot forward also messes with those spots I got punched up where I feel certain areas now. I need to cut some foam on the heel sides I think but this will require some more testing.

Edited February 2 by OldSchoolGoalie

[OldSchoolGoalie]

So I finished my Friday game and normally with this issue it means after the drive home and getting out of the truck I get really sore ankles and it hurts to walk. Oddly enough the only pain I really have is my existing shin splints, and some side ankle pain because I went down an eyelet I lost a bit of side support so I'm using more muscles to stabilize. I don't feel the same pain as when I had this issue where walking would hurt, or even just stretching my toes up it would hurt a lot.

I'll know for sure when I wake up tomorrow how things are. I also got 2 games tomorrow and if Sunday is still good then it means this was a success! If this doesn't work then I might have to hang up the pads for ice and revert to the horrors of ball hockey until I get new skates.

Edited February 3 by OldSchoolGoalie

[OldSchoolGoalie]

Saturday and so far so good. Did one game today with them as well. I got one more and I'll see how Sunday goes. I think I'm going to look into an extended version of the eyelet extenders though to bring the laces up more in the front while being able to crank the sides in.

[OldSchoolGoalie]

So I had my game on Saturday night and instantly noticed something was off on my left side a few minutes into warm-up. I think I had the pad too low because I felt a nasty push near the top of the hole where the tendon is supposed to go. It looks like the tongue just above where the lace is cranked down makes a bit of a crease and it was digging into the uncut middle foam at the top giving me a lot of pressure there above the ankle. I'm going to try just doing another modification where the hole is cut fully through to the top apart from the bottom where it is attached, and just have the foam on the sides going up to see how that works.

I'm searching right now for some other materials to make some thicker eyelet extenders and give that a go. If I can get the boot squeeze on the sides with lots of room to flex forward as the laces would be offsetted that would be substantially better than the pads. The main goals here are sideways ankle support, and heel lock. The mod I did see is done with leather and several squares so I'm not sure if there is another material like that cheaper or if I'm going to be forced to get leather. The main concern is the amount of squares needed on each side per skate isn't cheap and to spend a few hundred dollars for that wouldn't make sense unless you're already in pricey skates you just don't want to let go of.

Some materials I found online that are supposed to be as strong as leather are:
Microsuede
Cork
Waxed canvas
Vinyl
PVC
Polyurethane
Leatherette
Pleather

Cork is an interesting one as I can buy 30 squares of very cheap and make the mod for under $15. I would of course need to test the materials under pressure. The main concern is the hole made and the lace that goes through for the "eyelet" if it will rip through the material.

I'll update the post thread if I can to reflect the changes and post back once I get a prototype or something with the eyelet extenders. I just need enough thickness or several squares of a certain thickness to offset the laces perfectly with full forward flex to where I need and just enough support on the sides and my heel locked in.

Edited February 4 by OldSchoolGoalie

[johncho]

I had an issue like this but for ankle abrasion and it turned out to be my socks.

But before figuring that out, I had tried something similar using adhesive felt at first and it did not work as it did not have enough cushioning. I also tried Eva foam with 3M VHB tape and it would not secure well. I then tried thicker Eva foam that I put lace through, so that I could secure it at the top eyelet with a tiny knot with a loop as I wasn't lacing to the top of the skate so the top eyelet was free. Like a custom ComfortEdge. But this too did not work as it shifted too much.

Edited February 4 by johncho

[OldSchoolGoalie]

5 minutes ago, johncho said:

I had an issue like this but for ankle abrasion and it turned out to be my socks.

But before figuring that out, I had tried something similar using adhesive felt at first and it did not work as it did not have enough cushioning. I also tried Eva foam with 3M VHB tape and it would not secure well. I then tried thicker Eva foam that I put lace through, so that I could secure it at the top eyelet with a tiny knot with a loop as I wasn't lacing to the top of the skate so the top eyelet was free. Like a custom ComfortEdge. But this too did not work as it shifted too much.

That is brutal! Are you skating now bare foot? No more issues?