I’m new to the forum and have been reading through various topics. Finally, I have found my people! Details and passionate curiosity are hard to find, so I’ve been binge-reading in my spare time. I have noticed multiple comments with questions about SkateScience blades so I thought I’d share my experience.
I have skated on the Olympus Dance blade for the last 5 years, with most of my previous skating being on the Coronation Ace. I needed new blades recently and they are having a supply chain issue getting the steel from Sweden, so Warren suggested I try the synchro blade since it has the same profile but a larger toe pick. He has been recommending this for dancers, and suggesting that their skate tech could grind down the toe pick to match the dance blade. I really wanted new blades to go on my new boots , so I ordered the synchro blade. My dance partner skates on the Triple/Quad freestyle blade in a size 1/4” shorter than the maximum for his boot (to keep the tails from being quite so long and also keeping the blade out of the custom order length category).
General comments: the metal these blades are made from flows across the ice like silk. I’d have a hard time switching to anything else. My coach tried my skates because she needs new blades and does both dance and freestyle...and immediately ordered a pair of the synchro blades. She has been on MK Gold Star and MK Dance for decades, but always wished she could find more of a hybrid for simplicity. She’s a USFSA triple gold medalist, and I was surprised by how much she wanted my blades.
Dance vs. Synchro:
Profile is the same...but the rear stanchion is lower on the synchro blade, so it affects the natural balance point. For me, this turned out to be an easy way to resolve my skier tendency to be too far forward, so I’ll probably stick with the synchro blade from now on. [And if I didn’t like the lower rear stanchion, I could just shim it under the heel until I achieved the desired ramp angle.]
Synchro blade is about 1 cm longer, which kind of put me in a panic when I first opened the box and compared. [I switched to dance blades because I kept stepping on the tails of my Aces. After a lot of mental writhing around, I convinced myself that it would be fine because my dance blades are so short that the back lines up with the back of the heel. One more cm is still nowhere near my other blade when I do a tight T-position.] On the ice, the extra cm increases my flow, so I’m glad I didn’t reject the blades based on length.
Toe pick is larger on the Synchro blade. Back pivots are really nice now. Have not tried any jumps yet, but need to at least work on a waltz jump soon because there is a waltz jump move in our current free dance program. I had one “toe pick” moment but fortunately was with a partner so no slam to the ice. I’ve been on the new blades for 2 weeks, which means 6 sessions in these grim, limited-ice days of Covid.
Skill level comments, in case they help with perspective: I grew up skiing and dancing, started skating after our rink was built in 2004. It’s open half to 2/3 of the year, so even though that sounds like 18 years, in ice months, it’s closer to maybe 12 years. I’m working on Pre-Gold pattern dance, Silver free dance, and Gold moves. I passed the PB free skate test a long time ago (learned singles up through lutz) but really have more interest in dance. Maybe with the new gnarly toe pick I will revive my previously decent single toe, but due to years of skiing, my knees just don’t tolerate a lot of jump landings. I have been coaching adult learn-to-skate since 2006 (I had coached skiing for decades, so it was an easy transition) and have coached adult synchro (due to my dance team background) and lower-level freestyle. Last year, I started working through becoming a USFS judge for dance and singles, but test sessions are so limited now that getting through the trial period might take forever.
If you have specific questions about the blades, fire away.
Topic: Skate Science Blades (Read 10772 times)