Skate new from manufacturer, but faulty toepick?

[sallybee]

I just purchased a pair of Jackson Artiste ice skates. THey are size five and recommended for feet that are 9 inches long. My feet are 8 7/8 and 8 5/8 respectively, and wide such that the width (only made in a C) is not enough.

I had them heat molded and now (well, even before the heat molding) I find that I keep hitting the toepick when I skate! This has never happeneded with any pair of skates.

I looked at the toepick, and I saw that if you draw a line from the toe of the boot (looking at the outside leather) straight down to the blades, it hits AFTER the first toepick pick. (of the many picks that comprise the toepick, the first pic actually starts before the toe of the boot by one pic. I looked at Sp teri super teri and also Riedell Silver Medallion (old model) and they don't do that-- the first pic starts after the toe of the boot.

Wierd, huh? However, I am wondering if there are also other problems since the blade is screwed on with holes that don't allow for adjustment--so maybe it's meant to be like that?

if so, it might be a problem with my heel raising up (I have wide feet but a small heel) and there is also 1/4 an inch of space at the point of the the toe of the boot.

When I skate, I feel like my wieght is on my toes inside of on the center. I checked the (rocker!!!) of the boot and it seems fine. Sharpening is also fine. I do not think I am pronating one way or the other.

Also, the blades are 9 1/3 when the boot is 9 inches. Is that wierd? SHould I downgrade to a 9 inch blade? (I have 9 1/3 inch adjustable for remounting MK shieffield test blades and 9'' inch MK professional blades)

Or, should I use multiple laces for different sections of the boot in an attempt to keep my (feet from slding forward??!!!!)

Or, pad the toe area that has 1/3 inch extra space and pad the heel?


Pad the tongue?

Lol, I don't really know what to do...Help me preventing myself from kiling myself with a toepick in the ice XD

p.S. my posture and everything is fine, only with this pair do I have problems. I also cannot afford another pair.

[GoSveta]

The blades can be adjusted in the PVC boots.

It's not as easy as with leather/cork heels, but a good skate technician can move them if needed.

I had to get mine moved when I got my first pair of Riedells, in fact.

[Isk8NYC]

The Artiste skate set is intended for recreational skaters. The mounting IS intentionally designed to be that far forward. If it's the Mark IV, that's an okay blade through the upper level Basic classes, but you should upgrade it if you're doing freestyle.

With the PVC soles and heels, it's difficult to find a skate technician willing to replace or adjust the blade. It's not impossible, as others have pointed out, but you have to do some legwork to find a local fitter willing to do it for you.

You said the boot is 9" - is that the outer sole length, toe-to-heel? If so, then the blade length (which is stamped on the blade) should be 8-3/4" or 9".
Are the sole plates of the blades sticking out past the boot's toe or heel? If so, then the skates are defective and should be exchanged right away, but I think the fitter/sharpener would have noticed that right away. I think you're using the internal measurement of the boot, which is not corrrect.

The narrow heel is a problem when you have a wider forefoot. Plus, your feet are slightly different sizes and your skates are sized for the larger foot. There are a few things you can try:


Tie a half-knot above the eyelet lacing area to cinch your heel back a bit before you do up the hooks.
For the first few weeks, leave the top hook unlaced. Just go around a lower hook to pick up the extra lace, but tie your bow above the second the hook. That gives you some more knee bend without your having to move your weight so far forward.
Cut an insole from a sheet of craft foam for the smaller foot. Put it underneath the existing insole to raise your foot up and make the skate fit more snugly.
You can also tuck a half-insole under the insole, just for the heel area on both skates, which will raise the heel a bit so it's held by the skate more.
Silicon gel sleeves made for heels (Bungapads.com sells them) can give you a better grip on the heel section.

[Sessy]

Slightly different sizing of the boot and blade happen. If they came pre-mounted from the factory that way it should be ok. If you have doubts, show boots and ask people who have been in the skating sport for a long time.

Yes, you can mount something else on the boots. With Artiste though, the boots won't last you very long anyway once you start doing single jumps, so I really don't see why you would want to mount something else on them if these blades are ok (if they turn out not to be, the skating shop you bought them from should probably replace them... at least mine would)

I had three different mountings on PVC soles. First, Mk21's replaced with Coronation Aces. The demand the skate shop put forward for doing that was that at least 4 of the mounting holes for the new blades would not (partially) overlap with old mounting holes. Aces have a totally different holes pattern though so that was no problem. I even had ANOTHER pair of blades mounted on the same pvc soles by the same store (after I put my aces on new boots), that time, I put Snow White artistic inline skates on the boots, again, none of the mounting holes coincided so it wasn't a problem. I stopped torturing those poor ol' boots since... :lol:

A different tought - is this your first pair of real skates? If it is, it may be that you're simply not used to blades with "real" toepicks. Tripping over the toepick happens because of the bottom most toe pick (not top most one). Some sharpeners will suggest taking just a tiny bit off that pick to give you a little more room to not trip over it, I'd be very wary of this because it will usually make it very hard to spin on picks. It's simply a matter of getting used to toepicks, it really is.

[icestalker]

You're tripping over the toepick because it sounds like these skates are your first pair of real skates, meaning that the toepick is bigger. Every pair of new skates you get, you are going to trip over the toepick, because the toepicks gradually get bigger on higher level skates. Even high level skaters have a bit of an adjustment period, I thought I wouldn't have a problem with the big toepicks on my new skates and it took me quite a few hours of skating to stop tripping over the toepicks.

When I draw a line down from the toe on both my skates and my mother's skates, the first pick is behind that line. It probably depends on the model of the skate and the model of the blade, whether or not that pick hits behind the line.

Blades are measured by their sole plates. You should measure from the front of the sole plate to the back of the heel plate to find the blade measurement. 9 inch boots need 8 3/4 blades, so since your blades are 9 1/3 (it sounds like you measured the actual blade, not the plates?), it sounds about right to me, since the length of the actual blade is a little bit longer than the length of the sole plate measurement.

[cazzie]

My daughter trips over toe picks more in new boots and she reckons its because (if boots stiff) she doesn't do quite a much knee bend as usual. She has a 10 hour rule (given by her coaches) that the boots/blades should be feeling a lot more normal by the time she does 10hours in them. So far seems to have worked although the boots are only properly broken in a month or two down the line.

[Clarice]

Every pair of new skates you get, you are going to trip over the toepick, because the toepicks gradually get bigger on higher level skates. Even high level skaters have a bit of an adjustment period, I thought I wouldn't have a problem with the big toepicks on my new skates and it took me quite a few hours of skating to stop tripping over the toepicks.


And when I switched to the smaller toe picks on my dance blades, I felt like I was going to pitch forward and fall on my face because I didn't have that huge bottom toe pick to stop me! Same thing - after a relatively short adjustment period of a week or so, things felt just fine again.

[sk8tmum]

it's also the new blade length on new skates; you have to "reach forward" more from the rocker with a longer blade which positions the toepicks somewhat differently in terms of balance and orientation. When my kid jumped 3/4 inch on a blade ... it was an interesting experience, but we were forewarned by the coach, thus, it wasn't too much of a shock.