Breakdown: sudden or slow?

[nicklaszlo]

My boots just broke down rather suddenly.  They were okay one day and excessively creased the next.  They are heavily used.  Do boots typically break down suddenly or gradually?

[Query]

Yes. 

[sarahspins]

It's always been VERY sudden for me.... but I really think it's more that the process reaches a tipping point where you go from being able to compensate without really noticing it too much, to suddenly you just can't, it's not that the actual physical breakdown accelerates.

[TDL]

And a reminder that Mont Clare in Chicago can do a good/prompt job at rebuilding broken down skates.

[Query]

What I was hinting at with my one word answer is that I've had both types of apparent breakdown. The sudden breakdown on relatively cheap skates, the gradual breakdown on higher end Klingbeils, where the crease didn't form for the first 10 years and 1500-2500 skating hours (an estimate), then gradually became worse and worse over hundreds of hours of skating (at least) until it no longer felt sufficiently supportive to be useable over the next couple years.

From what I've seen, people who don't compensate appropriately for obviously misfit boots can break them down a lot faster than that - and people who do triple jumps and above often dispose of them in 6 months or less. I had one coach (no big jumps) who stored her boots in her car trunk, exposed to heat and moisture, whose boots only lasted 3 or 4 months.

We've all watched people break down rental boots that were too large or weren't tied tight enough in a few minutes.

My current boots are much stiffer than I need, so I doubt they will ever break down - which has both advantages and disadvantages.

The O.P. sometimes sounds like he might have a hard science or engineering background - so I suspect he knows perfectly well that what appears to be a sudden breakdown on the outside likely occurs after an accumulation of gradual damage on the inside. Which may be why boots, at least in my experience, gradually soften over time, including the desirable "break in", a process that usually starts long before they show a clear breakdown crease.

Regarding TDL's suggestion of rebuilding boots, most or all high end boot makers will rebuild their own boots for $50 - $100 / pair, provided the breakdown creases are reasonably high up - e.g., near your ankles, rather than at the bottom, and that the stitches at the top are still in good shape. Klingbeil did it for me for free, but it would have been well worth the cost.

TDL, does Mont Clare have an advantage over using the original boot makers?

[TDL]

To respond to Query, I hadn't really thought about using the original supplier (Riedell in my case) to rebuild the boots.

A few thoughts comparing the two alternatives:

1.  The price for the rebuild itself from Mt. Clare was about $80, so roughly the same as the supplier would charge.
2.  Of course, Mt. Clare will make other repairs to the boots at the same time (torn eyelets, etc.).  Don't know if that is a service the original supplier would provide.
3.  Takes about a week for Mt. Clare to complete the job.
4.  Mt. Clare will remove the original insert (plastic, as I understand) and replace it with a leather insert. 

My overall impression is that Mt. Clare repairs boots in an old fashioned way with old fashioned materials, and that the modern suppliers often  use newer, cheaper and lighter materials.     

[TDL]

One more thought:

My 2010 LS's broken down in about 6 months.

After I had them rebuilt by Mont Clare, they lasted for another 15 months and were beginning to show signs of breakdown.  At that point, the stitching was deteriorating and I tore out an eyelet so  I switched to another boot (but I did get Mont Clare to repair all of this and hope to use them again some day).

[Query]

So Mont Clare's rebuild lasted for you much longer than the original boot build... And you apparently you were happy with their work.

[nicklaszlo]

Mont Clare has done good work for me before, but these boots are not worth fixing.