Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Bont hybrids, Sure Grip Avenger plates, Roll Line toestops

So I've had a few adventures in obtaining my new skates. First, there was a delay in processing my custom Bont boots because the tracings "didn't look right" (which wasn't communicated to my skate shop until they called to get a status check). Uh, isn't having weird shaped feet why people get custom boots? You'd think they'd be used to that by now. But I got them in about 2 months and they were super light, perfectly formed to my feet, and amazingly comfortable. I heat molded them in the oven twice (175 degrees, 20 min, strapped them on and got into a skating stance until they cooled) and they were golden. IMPORTANT: if you get custom Bonts made from a tracing of your foot you will need to go down a plate size. You're actual foot is always smaller than a stock boot. One of my buddies learned this the hard way and had to sell her old skates to finance new plates.
My only grip with the Bont boots is the stock laces. They will not stay tight. I need to go get some waxed hockey laces.

And now for the plates. As with most brand new products, they never come out when they say they will. I got mine in November after ordering my boots (and pre-ordering the plates) in July. I get it, but it's still annoying. What was REALLY annoying was getting the plates home, going to change the toestops and the plate cracking. REALLY annoying. I had to send them back and wait another week for new ones. Not cool, Sure Grip.

But I have to say, I love this set up. My feet don't hurt, my skates are freakishly light, and the plates are just as responsive as my beloved XK4s, only without the weight. I went with a soft/med combo bushing set up since I've been gradually loosening my trucks and had to tighten them to compensate for the extra squish. They are super bouncy, I love it! I also changed my toestops to the standard thread Roll Line. It took some getting used to the size and grip (had to play around with the position some), but being able to stick a turn stop at high speeds without eating shit and getting stitches in my lip was totally worth the $40.

I'll keep you posted ....