400 replies to this topic

[GiancarloSFL]

[wild4hitmen]

Looking good! I just ordered VH goalies skates! I'll post pics here once I get them.

[Liddy019]

Do they have their own website? Where did VH come from

[Beer leaguer]

Wow ! I can't wait until my Makos arrive. These look very mlx with the inside padding.

Weight?

What was the baking time on these?

[GiancarloSFL]

Hey Boys and Girls I have had the pleasure of skating on these VH hockey skates for about a week now and had a game monday and wednesday with them. My impressions so far have been amazing. A little back ground on what I have been skating on lately. 

 

-Bauer APX: loved the heel lock but too narrow and not enough volume for me. Light and responsive but felt restricted. 

 

-Bauer NXG: much better fit for me than the APX, loved the flexible tendon guard. I did find this skate to be restrictive as well because of the height of the boot, i found it hard to "get on my edges" 

 

-CCM CL: Loved the fit and feel of the boot but found it to put me on my inside edge constantly which didn't bother but was always on the back of my mind. Liked the fact the that the boot wasn't high like the APX/NXG. One thing that i wish it had was a stiffer boot i felt like I torqued the boot too easily with not much feedback from the boot.

 

-Easton Mako: this was my most recent boot before the VH footwear. The makos baked great and felt amazing but I did have problems with volume, stiffness and hard to say but almost too much flexibility.  I loved the performance for the most part but i did feel like i lost speed in exchange for range of motion. My crossover suffered and due to the extreme forward positioning my patellar tendon really started to hurt. 

 

Now to the VH footwear hockey boot. These boots baked just as well if not better than the Mako skates. They have an amazing wrap which for the first time really blew me away because of the volume of my foot (always had problems before except with the NXG's but went with a EE and my foot was swimming in the boot). Definitively much more comfortable than the Mako which is hard to believe but yes, these felt like clouds on my feet. The performance was spot on, everything I wanted from a skate responsive, light; lots of mobility but not too much it felt very supportive throughout. I like the fact that I could choose my holder and my steel that was a great idea. I love TUUK LS2 holder with Step Steel can't mess with perfection. The range of motion on these skates is perfect because it give you the "right range of motion" you get proper knee bend -so you fully load/torque the skate- and the tendon guard flexes but it's supportive as well. 

 

I will continue to fill everyone in on my feelings and experience with the VH Footwear Hockey boots. 

[GiancarloSFL]

Do they have their own website? Where did VH come from

 Scott VanHorn (VH in the VH Footwear) was the custom boot designer that Dave Cruikshank went to see when he was starting the idea of what later became MLX. 

http://www.vhspeedskating.com/hockey/

 

 

Wow ! I can't wait until my Makos arrive. These look very mlx with the inside padding.

Weight?

What was the baking time on these?

Extremely light much lighter than the Mako and Vapor X60 which is what i had at the house at the time

Baking time was 10 min a side 180 degrees (20 total per boot)

[Beer leaguer]

Beauty! Thanks man keep us updated! Get some on ice pics if ya can!

[GiancarloSFL]

Lol will do need the wife for that LOL 

[Yetso]

Do you know how they are compared to MLXs? Mostly in volume and boot height? I assume performance is similar.

[Mincy]

Very unique, I like them. Good stuff man!

[GiancarloSFL]

For me the weight is really light but here is straight from Scott who helped design and build the MLX. 

 

 

Comparison/similarities to MLX:

We weren’t interested in reproducing the MLX skate.  MLX was a first generation hockey skate that although had it’s positives, also had it’s negatives.  As mentioned above our mission was to create a skate that incorporated a monocoque skate boot body, and to do this we had to start from scratch with the foot last.  The easiest way to teach some of the major differences from the MLX boot is to describe the construction of the VH boot starting from the inside out: components of the VH boot are layered onto the inner foot last (as it is regarded in the industry) and then formed through the carbon fiber/composite wet epoxy lay-up process.  With the VH boot, the wet lay-up process incorporates most of the major components (liner and eyelet cuff) in the one step, and therefore there is no need to glue and stitch them in place after.  The VH tendon guard is permanently attached to a proprietary inner recessed part of the monocoque boot body, located over the Achilles tendon, and it is fixed in place, creating a seamless, clean look.  We wanted to do 3 main things with the VH tendon guard: make it so it doesn’t break, make it so it is substantially integrated into the skate boot body, and position it at the optimal angle so that players can extend their ankle adequately and still lean on it for posterior support.  Through dart fish analysis we found that ankle joints only extend to 97° while skating at max effort, on hockey skates; speed skaters, using klap skates, maximally extend to just over 100°.  We designed the VH tendon guard to allow 100° of ankle extension, which means when you are standing up straight, with your knees slightly hyper extended, the tendon guard will comfortably cradle the back of your leg.  The tongue is the only component of the VH boot that is removable/replaceable, and it is held in place with a high grade Velcro strip.  The advantage of the Velcro strip is that it allows the wearer the option to customize the position of the tongue, forward/backwards or side to side.

As far as VH vs MLX fit is concerned, they are different.  This is mostly because of the different way in which the boot is actually formed, and the fact that they are made from different foot lasts.  The biggest thing you will notice out of the box with the VH boot is a better heel lock, and substantially more wrap through eyelets 3,4,5,6,7.  In fact, the most common feedback we hear is that the skate wraps like nothing else, which also means it is harder to get your foot into.  You will find more depth with the VH boot vs the MLX – although this aspect can be easily customized to be more or less, when a custom pair is ordered.  The positioning and placement of the eyelets on the VH boot is very specifically located to maximize forward knee position as this is the critical factor for increasing push force and maximizing skating velocity.

The upper stiffness of the VH boot is similar to a Bauer Supreme. 

 

The weight of a size 8 VH skate (with LS2 holder and step steel), plus laces and insoles is 770grams, as a comparison the Vapor x60 skate is 882 grams.  The MLX skate was north of 900grams.

[Grammer]

To quote Giancarlo, " http://www.vhspeedskating.com/hockey/ ". I just looked around the whole site. Answers all the questions one could have. Sounds pretty rad to me. 

[Beer leaguer]

So a mako is 45 grams more.
Size 9 mako is 815g
Size 8 VH is 770g
Monkey shows apx2 766g
Nxg 708g
Crazy we can even notice these things.

So a size down the mako is same or closer in grams.

[ibeck]

How much did these cost?

[Monty22]

Here is the price list: http://www.vhspeedsk...ockey/warranty/

[ibeck]

Thanks

[GiancarloSFL]

http://www.vhspeedsk...ckey/size_6.jpg

Just up on the site

[GiancarloSFL]

That's with regular steel not the fusion.

[Beer leaguer]

Anyone know where to find weight specs in the same size. Monkey stats weight with no size marked.

[GiancarloSFL]

Scott will be more than willing to help you out. He'll weigh it out it for you