Hi

After my accident of a month ago, I sold my skates and at last, tonight I get to pick up my new ones.

Im getting a Risport RF3 with Coronation Comet blades. I originally decided Id have the coronation aces but there arent any in stock. I have been assured that Ill be fine with the comets and that they are not that different to the aces.

Can anyone tell me about Comet blades? Does anyone use them here?

Andrea xx

I used them for about 2 years; recently got the Aces. The Comets are much flatter....probably the flattest blades on the planet, with the exception of speed-skating blades. They have an 8.5' rocker. You will notice that they are fast blades, and your jump landings will be extremely stable. Your spinning and 3-turns may be off. The sweet spot is very hard to find, so your technique/body alignment has to be spot on. That is one reason why I switched to the Aces. Other than that, I really liked the Comets.

ETA: the Aces have a 7 or 7.5' rocker, I can't remember which, so they are rockier, making spins a bit easier to hit and 3-turns a bit easier as well. Landing jumps on them just means forcing the heel down.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Who told you the Comets were similar to Coronation Ace? Seems like there is a great deal of difference to me and I would not have thought Comets were ideal as a blade for people early in their skating lives. Maybe 'similar' as in they are both figure skating blades!

Most people go for the Aces or MK Professional as an alternative blade. I have the MK Professional and they are great.

Don't use Comets if you ever want to spin again. They have the flattest rocker on earth, which is great for landing jumps, but will make it very difficult to spin.

On the other hand if you haven't learned a one foot spin yet and start out with a 8.5' rocker not really knowing any difference, it might take you a bit longer to get the hang of it but if you persevere and do, then I would imagine that you would develop excellent technique and amazing spins

That is true, but it is very frustrating to try all the time and never "get" it. I was in a Mirage blade (came with my boot in the beginning) which is either 7.5 or 8' rocker to the Comet. I went from having a nice scratch to losing my spin.....I ended up losing my confidence in spinning as well. That's a sad thing for an adult to go through (we have enough issues as well to deal with).

The only similarities between the Comets and Aces is the high quality of the steel and the toepicks. They are both fast blades and you will fly. And you can probably kill small children with the monster toepick

I just got tired of fighting my blades all the time on my spins and crossovers....I'd rather switch than fight and save my energy.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Hi

Well as it stands at the moment, the rocker on these blades is better than on the skates I had before, now they were flat, utterly flat and utterly useless and on these you can see that the rocker is better. These are only my 2nd pair of skates so bare with me If I appear ill informed.

I cant spin at all anyway, I cant even do a two foot spin yet but Im hoping that as these blades have a rocker that is more than the original factory blades on my Risport Anteas that I may have a better chance than in the others.

If I find I aint moving with them, I will probably change to the Coronation Ace.

What I have found just by trying the boots on is that the support is a million times better than the Antea. I feel that Ill have more confidence in the RF3 becuase the other boot was a pile of bilge, which I feel resulted in me nasty accident of last month.

Andrea xx

Ja, I have Comets. . . can't spin, but I do feel nice and stable when gliding and jump landings are good. I have had little coaching on spinning, though, so we'll see if that helps (although, yes, I do wonder about the rocker size being a problem). And it is, indeed, a monster toepick. I *have* to have good posture when stroking or I go SMACK on my face.

Then again, why settle? These blades aren't cheap, so wouldn't it be worth it to return them before mounting them and instead get blades that will really be the right ones? MK Professionals are an excellent good choice, with the same rocker radius and features as the Wilson Coronation Ace.

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

I probably should have waited but it seems almost impossible to get stuff in the north west of England at the moment. Ill probably just see how I go and if im not happy, change them later.

I understand why you might want to do this but learning to skate is difficult enough without your equipment making it more difficult. How will you know if you find it hard to spin whether it is actually you, or the blades, so how will you know whether they are OK for you or not? I'd hate for you to be put off skating because everything will be so much harder to learn to do in those blades. Wouldn't it be easier on you (and wallet) to use MK professional (if you can't get the Coronation ace you wanted). Then if you turned out to find spinning easy and wanted more stability on jumps then you could consider going to Comets later if you really wanted to. But if like many of us you don't find spinning easy then it would seem you are just setting yourself up for more difficulties.

We have had a few kids at our rink who have bought 'too much' blade thinking it would save them upgrading later only to find it has set them back so much that they have ended up shelling out for a more suitable pair anyway and wasting the money.

Not to beat a dead horse if you have already made up your mind to use the Comets, but. . .
Another thing to consider is the fact that you will become used to very flat blades, and you will have to adjust to new blades not just once, but twice: once to the Comets now and once again to the blades you switch to later. It's hard enough to adjust to the rocker of a new blade when going from blades flattened through repeated sharpenings to brand new blades of the same model (I know because I'm doing it right now). But going from a flattened 8.5' rocker to a new 7' rocker will be a HUGE adjustment. Better just to adjust once and get it over with!

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Maybe I will change. Apparently the guy I got them from is a specialist and said that the comet is better for adults, I dont know why? Maybe as Im not planning to compete and im in my 30s he figured it would be the better blade. To be honest after the accident I had, Im gonna take it very very slow and not worry about how fast I progress or not and if i never spin its not that big a deal for me anymore. Ive lost my confidence to the point Im dreadding going back on the ice. However I must.

Ill have a try in the comets and if theyre not good Ill order some aces. Just seems at the moment there is very little in the UK. It took 6 weeks to get these skates and Im not being rink sided another few weeks just for the sake of a pair of blades. I will probably get the aces though when they are eventually available again.

Can you tell us who the specialist was? I'm very curious as to why anyone would say that about Comets being better for Adults - it doesnt' seem to make sense to me. Thanks

I'm curious too. It sounds a bit like you've been fobbed off with the comets because he didn't have the aces in stock. The guy we use invariably has a large amount of stock and you can pretty much guarantee that he'd stock aces in all the most used sizes. Also as Batikat said, don't discount the MK Professionals. I too have these and find them great.

Nicki

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My old coach (i.e. the one I used to have) recommended Comets for everyone. But they are not a one-size-fits-all blade. I have found that out the hard way. After losing my spins and confidence for a whole year, I am so pleased with the Aces. I had to get them from another pro-shop (not from my own rink's). They would not order them for me (too bad for them, they lost a sale and all my future business).

I shudder to think of all the other people (kids AND adults) at my rink getting the same recommendation from this person when their individual needs/requirements are not taken into consideration.

My daughter is getting MK Pros with her new boots (whenever they come in....).

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

It does sound like that. I bought my Aces about 4 weeks ago from Everglides, they were in stock and I got them next day and just got (a very experienced) coach to mount them for me.

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Loving it, Loving it, Loving it!!!!!

I think i will order some MK professionals or Aces and keep these comets for future use if needed. Specialist Skating Services reccommended them to me, we had a personal consultation and allthough I would have preferred the Aces they had none in stock and I was told that the comets will do the job fine. Allthough I must admit, the rocker on the aces (the blade he had was too small) did seem far superior.

Andreaxx

Don't keep them - tell the people who sold them to you that you're very unhappy with the blades and you want to return them for full credit.

The Comets and Aces are NOT interchangeable and you were intentionally deceived by the salesperson because they wanted an immediate sale more than a happy customer.

You've wasted your time, money, and effort trying to get used to these blades.

They can give you a credit for these blades and let you use them until the Aces arrive. If they can't (or won't) order the Aces for you, get them somewhere else and demand a full refund.

I have a perfectly good pair of Pattern 99's that I can't get rid of because my BIL the Cop engraved them with my social security number and name. They sit in my basement because I hate them. If you can't return them, sell them to someone else. You will never use them again, trust me.

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I havent used them at all yet. Will they not simply do just for the LTS program? I havent finished that yet and I have absolutley no intention to compete?

If the comets are indeed so bad then I think I will have to consider swapping them.

Andrea

I think I misunderstood - I thought you were saying that your skating has decreased since you started using these blades.

How many times have you skated on these? Give it a few tries before you make a decision, but if you decide to change blades, don't keep these. They'll just be cluttering your basement, too.

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Your SS number??? Whatever the heck for???

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Because I was going to Europe for skating and taking my skates. He knew how expensive the blades and Klingbeil's were, so he did his Police Officer duty and engraved 'em. (Big heart, in truth.)

In NYC, the police department will engrave (although now they use etching) bicycles and other expensive things you don't want to lose. Gave the cops some leverage when the items hit the pawn shop after being stolen.

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I would swap them! I've been on Aces forever, but I got a used pair of Comets to try, and felt like I was wearing skis. Everything was much harder on them, even simple edges. In fact, if anyone wants a gently used pair of Comets in size 9.5, you can have them for $10 plus shipping.

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Check w/ the shop first if you decide to try them----some places won't take blades back once they've been mounted & sharpened.