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Measure Twice, Cut Once

Started by FigureSpins, March 03, 2015, 02:34:35 PM

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FigureSpins

This is pretty funny, in hindsight.  I've lusted after Rockerz skate guards for years because of the colors and the stylish penguins on them.  (I love and collect penguins.)  The two-piece design bugged me, though: I like one-piece guards but I decided to bit the bullet and switch because the rubber loops on the one-piece guards just don't last long.  It's a pain to find replacement loops and I keep wearing out the guards with the tail of the blade.

Sooooo...at US Nationals, I broke down and bought a pair of purple ones as a souvenir of the event.  They cut them to fit my blades after I said that I used 10" Gold Seal blades.  That was in JANUARY.  I was disappointed that they were so "clappy" when I walked in them, so I went back to my ratty old one-piece guards after a week. 

One of my skaters had the same problem -- he had changed to a smaller boot/shorter blade, so his Rockerz were now too long.  His dad shortened them nicely and the clapping went away.  The dad (who's a good friend of mine) looked at my skates/one-piece guards yesterday and asked "Do you want me to shorten your Rockerz for you?  What size is printed on your blade?" 

That was the $64 question!  On my old Klingbeils, I had 10" Gold Seals.  We're talking 15 years of 10" Gold Seals.  The same length.  On all six pairs.  Coaching boots, freestyle boots, white, tan, rebuilt, etc.

Last year, I switched to Sp-Teri skates.  When I looked at the blades yesterday to answer his question, I realized that I had 9-3/4" blades, not 10".  (Still Gold Seals.  I'm stuck on them.)

NO WONDER they "clap" - I gave the kid at Nationals the wrong length!  The dad is going to fix my Rockerz for me by shortening them a 1/4".  Yay!

Measure twice, cut once, right?  At least it was a shortening situation, not that they needed to be cut longer.
"If you still look good after skating practice, you didn't work hard enough."

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alejeather

Haha! I double and triple checked my blade details when I ordered Rockerz! I bought them to celebrate my new boots--as if I needed to do something extravagant after dropping that much money on skates! I was surprised how nice they felt. I wasn't expecting much of a difference, thinking the ergonomics talk was mostly marketing, but I really like them.

Hope you have the same experience when you get yours cut down to size!
"Any day now" turned out to be November 14, 2014.

CaraSkates

I've had mine cut twice and they are still clappy!! I like the wider base for walking on so still wear them (and hoping that they last longer then my Guard Dog guards - I've got through 6+ pairs of those!). Maybe I should try shortening them a smidge (I wear 10 1/4" Gold Seals). Do yours stretch/have space between the guard pieces?