Who knew that new skates would make such a difference.
:) I actually expected it. Boots and blades are intentionally made differently depending on the skater's level. For the blade especially, it's always a compromise--flatter is better for learning basics on, but harder to do more complex things like spinning; huge toe picks are bad news for beginners who will trip over them, but necessary for people who want to jump, etc. So you have to get the set of qualities that meet you where you are.
You might want to plan on buying them more often, now that you know.
Heh, at $500 for this whole set, I'm hoping they last for ten years! Well, okay, more realistic is four. Every sharpening makes the blade flatter, until you run out of metal to sharpen or you get it so flat it's no longer worth trying to skate on. A blade has about forty sharpenings in it--this is really variable, but that's a decent rule of thumb--and I tend to go 6-8 weeks between sharpenings, so these should last me perhaps 4-6 years, at which point my boots will probably be breaking down as well. They're made of leather, so just like shoes, they'll eventually soften and start getting creases, which means they no longer support the ankle, which is critical.
Depending on how far I've advanced, at that point I may upgrade to an even better boot or blade, or I may stay in what I have. These are both recommended through axel and beginning double jumps, and I doubt I will have reached those by that point. (Frankly, at my age, axels sound like a terrible idea with great risk for injury!)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2014-12-07 04:24 pm (UTC):) I actually expected it. Boots and blades are intentionally made differently depending on the skater's level. For the blade especially, it's always a compromise--flatter is better for learning basics on, but harder to do more complex things like spinning; huge toe picks are bad news for beginners who will trip over them, but necessary for people who want to jump, etc. So you have to get the set of qualities that meet you where you are.
You might want to plan on buying them more often, now that you know.
Heh, at $500 for this whole set, I'm hoping they last for ten years! Well, okay, more realistic is four. Every sharpening makes the blade flatter, until you run out of metal to sharpen or you get it so flat it's no longer worth trying to skate on. A blade has about forty sharpenings in it--this is really variable, but that's a decent rule of thumb--and I tend to go 6-8 weeks between sharpenings, so these should last me perhaps 4-6 years, at which point my boots will probably be breaking down as well. They're made of leather, so just like shoes, they'll eventually soften and start getting creases, which means they no longer support the ankle, which is critical.
Depending on how far I've advanced, at that point I may upgrade to an even better boot or blade, or I may stay in what I have. These are both recommended through axel and beginning double jumps, and I doubt I will have reached those by that point. (Frankly, at my age, axels sound like a terrible idea with great risk for injury!)