Too bad that bebi's boots fell apart. I have skaters in the proflex boot - and they can't seem to wear them out! For those skaters whose feet have quit growing, the Proflex seems to be lasting forever. Mind you - we have had to change the wires on one pair, and send another in to have the tongue fixed - and another had the knob lose its locking ability. But the boots still hold even after more than a year of use by skaters doing triples.

I had a skater last week in a brand-new pair of Proflex land all her doubles and do full runthroughs - without missing a beat! Different blades as well. However, another skater at a higher level took a couple of weeks to get the triples working....and lower level skaters starting on doubles didn't even notice any difference. I guess it all depends upon the skater.

And yes - I carry a spare pair of wires to competitions (and learned how to change them the hard way following those difficult instructions - which took about an 1 1/2 for the first wire and 5 minutes for the second!!). I also carry a roll of white (or black for boys) duct tape too!!!

The best way to prevent the wire snapping in competition, is to regularly inspect the wire after every skate to see if the wire is starting to fray. The one wire I had break - after multiple triples were landed - was fraying prior and the skater did not inspect it or replace it!

WOW Virtualsk8r!
I want my double-jumper daughter to try them at the next boot change time. Your post gave me hope she will be fine. I myself jump only single jumps and I have ajusted easily. I was worried about doubles. Do your skaters usually stay with Proflex? We have at the rink one girl and she likes them and stays with them, another one switched after struggling for a while with the fit. I like mine too but have problem with pronation on my right foot - can't seems to find right combination af arch-heel support/blade setting. I probably need orthotic but don't have resources for it.

Most of my skaters wear custom orthotics in their skates - Proflex, too. However, I have some that don't (but should) and the well constructed footbed that comes with the Proflex seems to be all they need for pronation problems.

I think adjusting to the forward flex design of the Proflex is an individual thing. Both my national level skaters had different experiences. I have one skater who wanted to switch back to Riedells - but found them really strange and soft (they were old boots).

I'd say your dd would probably have a bit of a learning curve - depending upon at what stage her doubles are at - but would find the spins better and jumps higher. Triples take a bit longer to get the timing for, and the double axel tends to go but comes back strong once you figure out the press and release needed. Good luck with them!

PS If your foot is a strange size, custom Proflex can be ordered. Jackson boots tend to fit wide so if you have narrow feet, or a narrow heel - you may need to ask for customs, which may take a while to make so think ahead.

Wow, me too. I got my patch blades (Comet Test) mounted and got 'em back Sunday. Had them on for, what, 90 seconds and fell, LOL. Fell one more time in the 10 minutes I had 'em on. I was able to do a one-foot glide and that was about all. How do you stop in these things?!

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Gordon Zaft
http://sk8rboi.blogspot.com
School figures are skating's equivalent of the Latin Mass.

Updating where I'm at since I started this thread, it's been about 4 weeks, I guess. Sorry to say, I am still struggling.

Both forward & back spins still weird. IF I can actually get down into one, I can do a change sit but back sits aren't as low as before. It's like I actually need the pressure of the front of the boot in an ordinary skate to get into the sit position. I'll ask coach to have a look at what I might be doing wrong here. Can't blame the boots for my camels, but they are coming back.

All jumps continue to feel uncomfortable and harder than before also nowhere near as high. I'm occasionally getting in a good flip or loop, or even a salchow, and I have landed some lutzes, but am not comfortable or confident.
Still not sure whether it is the flex of the boot or the blades/picks. I am blaming the blades/picks still.

Something weird about loops. I thought being able to point the toe would give me better spring upwards on edge jumps, however I sometimes feel I am taking off a loop somehow flat-footed instead of off the pick properly, and I have noticed another Proflex wearer doing loops that look like mine feel.
I suspect it may be a timing thing, the different rocker & picks, coupled with the extra flexion.

If I had the money I would have already ordered a pair of Phantom Special blades and listed the matrix freestyles on Ebay. But then, maybe I'd find it is more the boot than the blade that's causing my problems, who knows.

I want my skating to feel like it used to

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Katz

Saved by Synchro!
I was over it, now I'm into it again !

[QUOTE katz in boots] Something weird about loops.[/QUOTE]

Mine were strange at first too. On a first try I could not even lift up for a watz jump. Salchows were the hardest. Then I realised I have to roll forward to take off from toe and there is no more stiff tongue in the boots to help me. The boot is unforgiving if you dont roll up to your toes on take off. It takes a little bit but not too long to adjust. Practice heel raises in your sneakers and in skates too. Anyway this is how it should be done in any boots. My coach yelled at me for that when I was in Grafs. It felt like I'm raising just fine but only after switching to Proflex I've realised how right was she .

I actually changed also both boots and blades so I can feel your pain.

Thanks a lot for you help. My DD has all of her doubles and started on 2axel. I guess I need to switch her before she gets it

I think I'm over my problem with pronation. I've put in arch cookie and a bit of heel lift and skated awesomely today. Even my Novice moves were so decent looking today.

Proflex medium fits me well in heel and toe but very flat and wide through arch area. Grafs were way tighter there.

it's totally a learning curve - !

to stop in patch blades. A. never go very fast in them. B. Backwards: roll gently forward to the bottom toepick (which is admittedly higher than in a FS blade). C. Forwards: never skid to a stop. Just glide to a stop. Or do a three turn and do version B. Or if you're gliding on your L, transition to some toe steps - R, L, R, stop.

Practice side-stepping to get a few feet over from where you are to where you want to be - rather than gliding - too.

They're way flatter than FS and Dance blades and it'll feel like you're slipping all over the place until you learn how to really get on the edge.

Oh, Gordon - I totally feel for you - I tried my patch blades again today and was able to do a little more in them than the first day (but not by much) - I could finally do a one-footed three-turn in them by the end of my little session with them but couldn't hold the exit edge without putting my foot down. These blades are not forgiving, BUT I could really feel where my body needed to be to get the edges right on the figures that I tried (mostly just outside and inside 8s - serpentine... BO 8) -- so that was great.

Still haven't doctored up my boots to make them more comfortable - I am totally falling into the tongues.. have to get that fixed.

As for stopping, I found I could do a T-stop just fine - except for it was really, really slow.

Good luck!
Lisa

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Is Portland the only city with it's own ice-dance website? http://www.pdxicedance.net/