Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Big Girl Blades

I've been skating on Ultima Mirages for several years. They're decent beginner blades with an 8 foot rocker and a toerake marginally more pointy than sandpaper. The toepick itself is about the size of a grain of rice.
Ultima Mirage
I wanted something with a 7 foot rocker, without the stubby tail of dance blades. So in consultation with my skate tech I got:
The MK Professional
Yeah, I agree the differences don't look much do they? But I swear, the Pros have a Big Girl Toepick (TM applied for).

Okay, MK Pro is a popular blade locally and after skating on it a couple of hours I can see why. There's something about the quality of the steel or the finish that makes moving across the ice take less effort. In my Mirages, I've always had difficulty skating backwards, not so in the PROs. They're almost effortless going backwards.

The rocker makes turns easier. Get in position, think about a 3 turn and zip zap thunderclap I've done one.

So far I haven't caught a toepick. Early days yet. That thing's massive compared to the Mirage.

Toepick!


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7 comments:

  1. AnonymousAugust 16, 2012 at 2:40 AM

    I have the same blades! Have had them since I first started skating, so I don't know any different. Mr Spiteri at SP-Teri in San Francisco chose them for me..

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  2. JessimAugust 16, 2012 at 8:35 AM

    I like my 8' rocker...
    I remember when I went from Mirage to Gold Seal (a used pair, came on the boots- I'm not made of money!) it was like the blades did the turns for me!

    I'm currently on Ultima Legacy and those things have a KILLER toepick. They also have the most beautiful edge rip ever. My back crossovers sound professional.

    Good luck with the new blades!

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  3. MommyTimeAugust 16, 2012 at 11:28 AM

    Just curious why you wanted to switch from 8' to 7'. And how did you decide you needed to upgrade toepicks? I'm trying to figure out my next move...

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    Replies
    1. Babbette DuboiseAugust 16, 2012 at 5:33 PM

      It's the engineer in me. I'd been skating on Mirages for 5 years. Not really happy with them. They were just....blah. Decided to try 7 foot rocker to see how much difference it made, and if the blades moved differently across the ice. It's not like MK Pros are a seriously 'advanced' blade, it's more of a 'step up' blade.

      Cruella told me that Russian singles favor Gold Seal, so take that for what it's worth.


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  4. AlejeatherAugust 17, 2012 at 8:00 AM

    Ooooo! I'm a little jealous of your big girl blades. I skate on Ultima Mirages, because they came stock on my Jackson boots. They seem fine for my current purposes. I have no idea how I would know if I needed to upgrade my blade. The idea appeals to me, but I think I'll wait a little longer, until I can at least come up with a justification I'm happy with :)

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  5. Bunny HopAugust 17, 2012 at 9:35 AM

    I like my MK Pros. I had a choice between them and the Coronation Ace and chose the MKs because the toe pick looked marginally less scary.

    I wish three turns were as easy as just thinking about them though!

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  6. AnonymousMarch 7, 2013 at 1:40 PM

    Radius of hollow effect dramatically how blade works and feels. If your new and old blades has different ROH they surely feel different. When comparing blades, use same sharpener and same ROH on both blades.If the ROH is too small, skating requires more effort and toe pick may hit in to the ice more easily when making crossovers => balance point moves too close to the toes.

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