I'm currently skating in Riedell Blue Ribbons. I've had them since March, they felt fine till a little under a month ago. I posted a thread about them a few weeks ago. So, last night I went to the skate shop and got fitted. We ended up going for an older model of the Silver Star (no ankle notch) and MK Professional blades. At the moment I'm landing waltz, salchow, half-flip, half-lutz, toe loop, half-loop and working on landing the full flip and just started the loop. I can do a centered scratch spin and am working on sit & back spins. According to my coach I have very good footwork (I can do almost all the three turns, I have a little trouble with back 3's on my left foot, but can do them) and am fairly light on the ice, for someone my size (5' 6", 145 lbs but don't look like I weigh nearly that much. My legs are very muscular).

My old skates were too big and I had broken them down (I skate 12.5+ hours a week over five days). The biggest problem was my heel lifting up and moving, causing blisters.

So, we bought these, they have to order the blades and build up the arch in the skate (I'm flat-footed) but they punched out the ball of my foot a little (The ball of my foot is slightly wider then a B but my heels are way too narrow for a wide?) and the ankles to help with breaking them in. Besides the fact that they feel much stiffer then my old skates, they felt pretty good last night.

My mom is wondering about how long these will last and how long the blades will last? My coach said don't come home in less then a Gold Medallion with Club 2000 blades. We went for the slightly more expensive model so that it will hopefully last more then a year? I'm done growing so that's not the issue. Opinions anyone?

__________________
Working on:
NOVICE! MIF
Juvenile FS
Bronze Dances

I think it's hard to predict if your boots will last over a year. It's possible. But you are putting in alot of hours a week. When my daughter was skating, she put in ten hours a week, and her skates would last 8 to 12 months.
I think your mom needs to consider that you are spending a huge amount of time on the ice. Good equipment is essential, so cross your fingers and hope for the best. But when those boots do break down, it is in your best interest to replace them no matter how long that takes.

Good luck and enjoy those new skates!

That's exactly the boot and blade I had, at about your level, although I wasn't skating quite as many hours. IIRC, the boots lasted somewhere between 1 and 2 years--though by the end, the padding around the heel had compressed, and I had heel movement issues. (In my experience with Riedell, if fitted well, they feel great for a number of months, but then the padding compresses somewhat and you slop around in them, causing a slightly faster breakdown towards the end of the boot's life.)


That said, I enjoyed my Silver Stars, and since I'm somewhat hard on my boots, I didn't really expect more life out of them than that anyway. The Pros are good blades, too. I only switched to Visions because I wanted a smaller radius (I'm a sucky spinner).

__________________
"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
--Thomas Jefferson

www.signingtime.com ~sign language fun for all!

My skater wore Silver Stars many years ago, probably when she was doing the jumps you are doing, but she was only 7 years old, maybe 60 pounds. She moved into Harlicks after that, but her friend stayed in Riedells, and now wears Goldstars. Her friend is 89 pounds now, doing all the double jumps, working on double axel, and gets about one year of wear out of her boots. Based on your size, I wouldn't expect to get any more than a year or less out of the Silver Stars.

I'm not a freeskater so no jumping, but I've had my Silver Stars for almost 8 years and they are still going strong. I've been using them for competitive synchro as well as dance and skills tests. I did get them rebuilt after three years of using them for synchro, but I still have them and they have tons of life left in them. I'm 5'7 and weigh 133lbs.

__________________
~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~