New boots - foot fits perfectly but ankle feels loose?

[khii]

Hey all

I've just bought my second ever pair of skates. I skated on some old (15+ years) graf arosa previously, which have more pliable leather which fits extremely close to the foot/leg. They are full of creases and don't give me any ankle support anymore so I upgraded.

I got a pair of used Risport RF3 Super - ankle still has full support, no creasing at all. Even my old aftermarket insoles fit perfectly.  The foot part fits great and my heel feels like it's locked firmly in place. However I'm having trouble doing up the ankle part as tight as I'm used to. I can easily rock my ankles back and forth in the skates before my legs hit the stiffened part of the boot. Haven't tried them on ice yet but will this weekend.

Is this normal? How much side to side  ankle movement do you get in your modern, stiff skates? I assumed my ankles would be completely locked down. The new skates also go slightly less far up my leg than my old skates.

Attached a (not very good) photo to try to show what I mean new skates on the left.

I live ten hours from any kind of boot fitter so any replies or advice are much appreciated

[amy1984]

My risports were noticeably shorter than my jacksons so I don't think that's abnormal.  You may have to work at lacing tighter.  I know it's hard with stiff skates.  But they still look really loosely laced and the solution is probably just to work at lacing tighter.

[nicklaszlo]

Sounds like a poor fit to me.  I'm guessing they are too big everywhere.  Skates should be much closer fitting than shoes. 

If you have wide heels, Risports might not be right for you.  I like them, but I think my heels are quite narrow.

[Ethereal Ice]

I had a similar issue with my pre owned but not pre worn Riedell Silver Stars. They are older, a discontinued model, leather with no flex notch. I noticed that my ankle flexion seemed to be giving my boots a deeper crease than they should and that the ankles never really felt quite right. The actual lower boot part fit like a glove after a few weeks break in time, no blisters, snug but no significant discomfort and I could still move my toes a little. And yet the sides appeared to be breaking down, and I am a lower level skater, no jumps.

My solution was two fold. I changed my lacing technique to the Edea style, I have also heard it called the Russian Lacing technique. Basically it means that you are always taking the lace over and down into the holes instead of up through them. The reason it helped me is that it provides a more even pressure along the lace line. Looking at your boots, the one on the top that is more of a side view, appears to be laced that way already, though it is a little hard to tell, the other boot that is more a top view I cannot tell for sure because of light glare, but it looks as though it may be laced the other way (under and up through the holes). I was talking to a woman in my skate group the other day with brand new Edeas about this and we discovered her boots were laced in a combo of the Edea technique on one (done by a guy in our pro shop) and the other was incorrect at the bottom (the laces on that one came partially laced from the factory) and correct on the top (done by her). Once we figured it out it was a quick fix, but it made me realize you can actually have two patterns on the same boot, it is easy to get mixed up.

If the Edea lacing technique is correct then you will only be able to tighten the individual laces by pulling them sideways, I do it with a little jerk-jerk motion. Trying to pull them up towards you as you can with the other lacing technique feels very awkward. So, the lacing technique was one thing, the other thing I did was make my ankle slightly bigger, "stickier", and more padded by adding Bunga pads around my ankle bone and lower shin area. Often used to prevent lace bite, they are also great if you have skinny ankles.

For me, the combination of redistribution of pressure on the boot and getting my ankle to better fit in the boot stopped my boot creasing completely and made me much more comfortable. Even better, a few months after making those changes, simply adding a new pair of laces improved things even more, the laces my boots came with were too stretchy and therefore gave inconsistent pressure.

[sampaguita]

Can you fix it with lacing? The boot seems too big from this angle, but if you say your ankle feels fine, maybe you can fix it by adding bunga pads or something similar.

[celia]

I had a similar problem with a pair of new edea chorus.  The foot was perfect - I couldn't have gone down a size but the ankles always felt loose.  I think this is also an edea thing to some extent.  I solved it with bunga ankle gel sleeves and now they feel great.

[AgnesNitt]

And if a gel ankle sleeve isn't enough you can also add a lace bite pad.

[Query]

foot fits perfectly but ankle feels loose?

That's a contradiction!

I think there should be no detectable side-to-side movement inside the boot. If there is empty space or lessened pressure between the boot and the side of your foot, the boot and blade are not under control as you rock back and forth. But control is essential to figure skating.

(Also, the ankle is not adequately protected.)

But maybe tight lacing or ankle padding, as other people suggest, will solve the problem.

[khii]

Thanks for all the replies!

I actually have pretty narrow heels/ankles which has caused me grief with ski boots as well. The heels fit well in these boots though and I think my forefoot bones would start to be crushed if I went down a size - I skated yesterday and had to be careful not to lace the midfoot too tightly, or I'd get pain in my arches.

That's a contradiction!

It's like if you have a perfectly fitted pair of street shoes - they might fit your foot like a glove but you still have full freedom to move your ankles from side to side! It feels like that (except I don't have complete freedom to rock my ankles - just a tad more than I'd like) - my foot feels tightly hugged up to just below my ankle bone. If I could bring the stiff sides closer to each other it would be fine I think :/

I had a skate in them yesterday, took probably a good couple of hours to start getting used to them (the blade is also extremely different to my old one which was nerve-wracking). I re-laced them probably 20 times and nearly rubbed my fingers raw doing so - putting my gloves on to pull the laces tighter around the hooks made them a little better.

Sounds like there's a few others here who have the same thing going on, where you couldn't go any smaller in the foot but you have skinny-ass ankles - I had a look at the bunga pads and there seem to be a ton of different types, which bunga pads exactly are you guys getting which has helped you with your woes? there seem to be a general 5" gel sleeve, and ones like bumper pads or ankle pads etc! I'll relace the skates in the Edea way and see if that helps as well.

More info: tried to take this video to show how much lateral ankle movement I have. I can get part of my index finger between my leg/ankle and my skates around most points (side, back) and absolutely no more, so they're pretty snug/tight around my actual ankle bone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fDS34FE6m4

If this is normal ankle movement and I'm just overreacting then someone do tell me, my old skates fit me like a glove (like a sock?) but the leather was so soft they had almost no support so it wasn't exactly useful. I've never worn stiff skates before and I haven't been able to see how much movement others get in their skates!

Thanks again for all the comments and advice!

[riley876]

Can one take skating boots to a craft bootmaker and get them to re-last them to a narrower heel?   Or is the construction too specialised for the average bootmaker?

[tstop4me]

More info: tried to take this video to show how much lateral ankle movement I have. I can get part of my index finger between my leg/ankle and my skates around most points (side, back) and absolutely no more, so they're pretty snug/tight around my actual ankle bone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fDS34FE6m4

If this is normal ankle movement and I'm just overreacting then someone do tell me, my old skates fit me like a glove (like a sock?) but the leather was so soft they had almost no support so it wasn't exactly useful. I've never worn stiff skates before and I haven't been able to see how much movement others get in their skates!

Before you go any further, I would recommend that you contact Risport to find out the design objectives for your particular model boot. I checked the Risport website, but it doesn't have many details.  One skater at my rink had similar problems with a loose fit near the top of her Riedell boots.  Well, it turned out that that particular model of Riedell is designed to give a loose fit at the top (some skaters prefer it).  I asked her why she bought that particular model instead of a more traditional Riedell model that you can lace snugly all the way up.  She told me that the model she chose looked cooler. 

I can't tell from your video:  How deep can you stick your finger in?  If it's an inch or less, you may be OK.  But if it's much deeper, probably not.  In any case, if the feel is not to your liking, and if the boot is not designed to be laced snug at the top, then you'll need to resort to the sleeves and pads mentioned by others.

[Ethereal Ice]

Before you go any further, I would recommend that you contact Risport to find out the design objectives for your particular model boot. I checked the Risport website, but it doesn't have many details.  One skater at my rink had similar problems with a loose fit near the top of her Riedell boots.  Well, it turned out that that particular model of Riedell is designed to give a loose fit at the top (some skaters prefer it).  I asked her why she bought that particular model instead of a more traditional Riedell model that you can lace snugly all the way up.  She told me that the model she chose looked cooler. 

My own issues with my Riedell Silver Stars were apparently noticed by other wearers of the boot, though it did not seen intentional on the part of Riedell. I did a few searches on this forum and found others complaining of what appeared to be early break down of the boots as well, this was a few years back when my boots were more popular. I believe it was probably one of the reasons the boot was redesigned, just like any other product, companies have to listen to feedback about the old product as well as take new innovations into consideration when designing new models.

That said, there are certainly models developed to have more ankle mobility and I think it is a good question as to whether or not the OP's boots are supposed to feel looser than some other models, an inquiry to Risport would seem appropriate at this point. With my own boots, the fact that they were developing the deep creasing within the first month or two of my wearing them was a really strong indicator that I had a fit problem, I do not recall if the OP mentioned seeing early creasing in her boots?

I completely understand the "fits perfectly except for the ankle" statement. And while I understand that a truly perfect fit would seemingly include the ankle region and upper part of the boot, with skating boots, when you feel the actual foot part fitting so well from the ankle down, it is inconceivable what you could do (size wise) to improve the fit above the ankle without going to a custom boot. Any change in boot size from that point on will alter that good fit around your foot, it is a frustrating problem. I think if the suggestions made of switching lacing techniques and adding padding does not help, looking at a different type of boot or even brand may be in order. Not every brand fits every person well.

As for the question on Bunga pads from the OP, I do not get the brand name ones but a gel "sleeve" https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JFTW43I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I just cut mine in half. I keep many on hand, I have an extra pair in my Zuca and my husband has an extra pair in his skate bag, he also wears them with his hockey skates. When we have taken friends to the rink and their rentals are uncomfortable sometimes a gel pad can make things bearable, and even within our skating group at the rink you sometimes find someone who needs them or just wants to try them, and it is nice too have them on hand.

I notice people do not always wear their Bungas exactly the same in the ankle/shin area. Some wear them just above the ankle bone itself on the lower shin bone, I actually cover my ankle bones on both sides and then very carefully slip my foot in the boot to make sure they don't shift or wrinkle.