New blade choice may have been a bad one

[LIskate]

Hi Everyone,
It's been a while since I have posted.
My daughter finally outgrew her Jackson Freestyle's. She was in them for 1 year and 8 months (is that a world record?)
Today I brought her for new skates. She ended up with Riedell 320 boots, and Coronation Comet blades. After doing some reading here I am a bit worried about the 8.5' radius on the blades. She is 11 years old working on her axle. Jumps are her strongest part of her skating. Her spins are ok but need work. I am afraid that with these blades she will loose her spins, or have a harder time improving them. I spoke to her coach today and he liked what we bought for her. Maybe he thinks the flater blade will force her to use proper technique? I am going to call him again tomorrow and make sure he realizes they are so flat. I just want to make sure before she skates on them.
Does anyone know what the radius on the Ultima Mark IV blades that are on the Jackson Freestyle's? I searched but cant seem to find that anywhere.

Thanks,

[ferelu]

I can't answer your question about the radius. But generally as you increase in skills, your blades become flatter and your picks become bigger. There's no need to worry, just let her adjust to them which takes about 2/3 weeks and then she'll be fine.

[Virtualsk8r]

Since this is her first pair of real blades - the Jackson blade set don't really count as the blade comes with the boot I believe - I wouldn't get all worked up about it.

The Coronation Comet, the Coronation Ace, MK Professional and Four Aces - are all entry level blades that can theorically take a skater to their gold test. An 11-year old at that level can't really tell the difference between a 7' or 8' rocker, especially if they have just graduated to separate boot and blades. The Comet boasts that it has increased gliding ability - which is a good thing.

The radius is not the real issue with a blade - it is the rocker that affects the skating. A Pattern 99 blade has an 8' radius as does a Gold Seal. However, the Pattern is a much flatter blade, which the Gold Seal has a more pronounced rocker and quicker take-off. I know skaters who started with Pattern 99's and then switched to Gold Seals - and couldn't handle the difference. One skater lost her 3loop but gained an awesome double axel with the Gold Seals. Same rocker - different blade characteristics.

I've always found that the better the blade at the younger age - the better the skater becomes. My 7 year old was in Pattern 99's and boy did that make a big difference.

So let your skater get accustomed to the blades - and I bet you will see an improvement in skating!

[dbny]

Let us please not talk about radius, as it can refer to either radius of hollow or radius of rocker. LIskate is referring to radius of rocker, so "rocker" in that case is the problem, which is also what Virtualsk8r is talking about. If you use the simple terms "rocker" and "hollow", there will be no confusion.

As far as the blade being right or wrong for a given skater, you just have to wait and see.

[BatikatII]

Hi Everyone,

My daughter finally outgrew her Jackson Freestyle's. She was in them for 1 year and 8 months (is that a world record?)
,


Sorry just had to comment on this: My daughter had her last pair of skates for over 3 years 8O from the ages of 13 - 16. I'm not sure how they lasted that long - her feet did grow a bit and we had the skates stretched twice.

I do wonder sometimes if they did any damage to her feet but she didnt complain about them - well not til recently!;)

Now she is sufferring from the new boots! You cant' win!

[Virtualsk8r]

Wow - I envy you both . More than a year out of your skates -- and three years in the same skates....hope you put the money you saved away for the next pair.

My child went through 5 pairs of skates in 2 years at the age of 10-11...Not only did she grow - but broke the boots down in record time (Harlick Finalists). Between 13-16 she must have gone through another 5 pairs, but only because we had each pair of boots rebuilt twice (they broke down in 3 months-)

And, the killer was - none of the blades could be reused either because the size changed or she wore them out within the year.

Let's hope you can get another 3 years out of the teenagers skates:lol:

[sk8tmum]

Freestyle with the Mark IV blade to the Comet is the normal progression at our club (many kids in Freestyle, it's the most common skate here, more coaches are going to the Comet than to the Ace) - and it seems to be a fairly good progression. DD and DS did exactly that, and their only comment (and the coaches concurred) - the spins improved immediately, toe-assisted jumps were higher and easier, and they really liked the new blades.

Plus, it makes that transition to paying for pattern 99's much more seamless for me ... breaking me in gently and in sequence to paying that much for a piece of metal ...8O

[CanadianAdult]

Freestyles have a Mirage blade on them now, which is an 8" rocker. Comets are 8.5, Aces are 7.

[sk8tmum]

Freestyles (from the Jackson site) have Ultima Mark IV, and that's all we have ever seen here ... the Competitor, which is one level up, has the Mirage blade ... which is why I assumed that the skates in question HAD the Mark IV. Weird ...

Then again, DD and DS used their Comets on Freestyle boots, because we went to the Freestyle boot only and added on the Comets; Freestyle is sold boot and boot and blade. What blades does your daughter have on her boots????

http://www.jacksonskates.com/html/frames/frameset-prod.html

[CanadianAdult]

. What blades does your daughter have on her boots????


I just went and looked at the box and the skates, that tells you how much I was paying attention at the skate store this week! Just hand over the credit card. Her Freestyles have Mark IV. We did try some Competitors, they must have been the Mirage I remembered. Competitors used to have Mark V I've got a pair in the basement. I can't believe how many skates I've got in the basement :D

[Bogie88]

I'm a little confused...are you talking about the Ultima Freestyle blade, or is this something else? I know several national and international skaters who are in that blade, so I don't know why the Comet would be considered a step up...:??

[TreSk8sAZ]

I'm a little confused...are you talking about the Ultima Freestyle blade, or is this something else? I know several national and international skaters who are in that blade, so I don't know why the Comet would be considered a step up...:??

"Freestyle" refers to the model of Jackson boot that the OPs daughter was in, which can either come with a blade already mounted or just the boot itself. The Ultima Freestyle blade is much higher than the Coronation Comet that is on the boots right now.

[Skate@Delaware]

the skating director at my rink puts ALL students into Comets...so they can learn correct spinning technique; and they also have a flatter blade to land their jumps. The steel is much nicer (and holds a sharpening a tad longer) than a stock blade-it is a step up in quality. it's the sheffield stainless..:)

[Kim to the Max]

Hey all,

Just wanted to comment...I have been skating with in comets (with a Harlick Finalist boot and way before that a Super Teri by SPTeri) for a long time now...I absolutely love them! My spins need to be dead on (which I'm having trouble with right now, but I will chalk that up to not skating much for the past 9 years), but it forces me to have some pretty good technique. As with anything new (boots, blades, wearing a skating skirt, etc.) the new blades will take some getting used to, but in the long run, things hopefully will turn out pretty good.

--Kim

[LIskate]

Thank you all for the help.

It's been a pretty busy weekend, so she hasn't had a chance to try them yet. She is going to try them tomorrow. Hopefully she will have a easy time with the break in.
Thank you again for your aswers and comments.

[LIskate]

My daughter tried out her new skates today. All went well.
She took it pretty easy. She said her ankles hurt a bit shortly after she started. She did some basic stroking for about 10-15 minutes, then unlaced them and took a 10 minute break. When she started skating again she said they didn't reall hurt any more, but were definately stiffer than she was used to. She took it pretty easy, but did try a few spins and jumps. She absolutely loves the new blades. She said every aspect of her skating is faster. Her spins looked better than ever. So I guess I was worried for nothing.

Thanks again for the help.

[Skate@Delaware]

that's good news! she can either loosen the top a slight bit or keep the top hook unhooked for the first week....not much longer than that or you won't break them in right. And lots of back crossovers, getting down in the knee!

When I got my boots, my coach had me do figure-8's around the end zone hockey circles to "help" break mine in...plus standing at the boards and bending deeeeep!

Remind her to point her toes, even though it's hard to do in stiff boots!

[doubletoe]

My daughter tried out her new skates today. All went well.
She took it pretty easy. She said her ankles hurt a bit shortly after she started. She did some basic stroking for about 10-15 minutes, then unlaced them and took a 10 minute break. When she started skating again she said they didn't reall hurt any more, but were definately stiffer than she was used to. She took it pretty easy, but did try a few spins and jumps. She absolutely loves the new blades. She said every aspect of her skating is faster. Her spins looked better than ever. So I guess I was worried for nothing.

Thanks again for the help.

That's great news! If her previous blades had been sharpened a number of times, she probably ended up with a flatter rocker by the time she switched to the Comets, making it much less of an adjustment. Just be careful to only have her Comets sharpened by someone who really knows what he's doing, since she'll have nothing to spin on if these get any flatter! ;)

[Skate@Delaware]

That's great news! If her previous blades had been sharpened a number of times, she probably ended up with a flatter rocker by the time she switched to the Comets, making it much less of an adjustment. Just be careful to only have her Comets sharpened by someone who really knows what he's doing, since she'll have nothing to spin on if these get any flatter! ;)
that's what has happend to my Aces! My spinning blade has been mis-shapen by a bad job and now is flat like a comet! Good thing I trained on them first!

Comets are nice, they "swoosh" through the ice...like a hot knife through buttah!!!!