Current blade setup. Flying Eagle Veloce Marathon 195mm mount (sz 9) Cadomotus Neo Transformer 12" frame (4x100 & 3x110) RB Hydrogen 100mm 85a Bones Swiss Ceramics I've had these blades a little over a month, although I feel I haven't talked about them much. I figured skating almost 300 miles in a month on them with no blisters, foot issues, or pain to my still somewhat recovering ankle injury might be enough said about the performance of these skates but I'll expound a little more here. I really wanted to do a video review but that takes time and all my free time lately has been spent racking mileage on these skates. Again says a lot about them when I would rather skate them as much as possible than talk about them but here we go. The shell itself is a 1:1 mix of carbon and fiberglass, something familiar to most skaters at this point, this gives them the ability to be heat molded. I have yet to heat mold mine as I find they're a perfect Cinderella skate for my feet and haven't felt the need to thus far. The microfiber uppers of the shell are really thick cut and even though you never want to take a spill in skates like these I have confidence the uppers will survive some gnarly high speed crashes if it were to happen. The toe area in particular has a beefy wrap around material that will definitely hold up to some hits. Next thing you'll notice is the shorter, semi-race boot cuff. This skate is basically a speed skate that grew a supportive and cushy cuff. This cuff made all the difference for me when getting back after my ankle injury. Before that I couldn't even put skates on without pain in my ankle so it took a while to even want to try these on but once I did and actually skated them I only regretted not trying them sooner. The inner cuff is composed of a high density padding that isn't too thick or thin it's actually the perfect amount of comfort and support without loss of control and flexion. The way the outside cuff wraps around the inner cuff makes for absolutely no pressure points for me in the ankle area which is highly appreciated in the upper miles. The cuff is a lighter flexible cuff that allows full range of motion, inversion and eversion that any hardcore speed skater could get down with, the back of the cuff has a low V-Cut that allows for full forward and backward flex as well. Coming off an FSK boot that I was using for distance I can really feel the difference in my stride pattern with these skates, so much better in these, feels like I can get the most out of my strides. There is high density padding throughout the entire skate, all over the inside and the same type padding compromises the insole. This padding allows a great amount of energy transfer and reaction from the skate and wheels instead of getting lost in some soft padding. When you combine this high density padding with a carbon fiber shell you get nothing but awesome energy transfer, control and reaction from the skates. I had mentioned once before these skates had the support and control of carbon where you need it but comfort where you want it, and I stand by that still. I have done sessions upwards of 4 hours in these, 50 miles in one session is my max on these so far and never once did I have to worry or think about my feet, other than technique, I was able to zone out and skate, which is amazing for when you're doing distance, you want that confidence that you're not going to be having issues miles away from civilization. The closure system consists of solid waxed laces that go through the entirety of the boot up through the extended cuff. There's also the cuff buckle at the top and a lace cover that would be familiar to speed skaters. For aggressive and freeskaters the temptation to use the lace cover like we would for a 45° micro-buckle and crank down on it will be strong but just don't over do it and you should be fine. The boot is a 195mm mount with 6 pts of adjustment per mounting plate. People familiar to frame adjustment will be happy to see this feature and if you're not familiar, it would be a great opportunity to try some adjustments out and possibly improve your stride and overall skating experience. If you're considering a speed boot and you're coming from an aggressive or FSK background this boot will definitely be accommodating for you as the cuff will give you some familiarity and help as you figure out your stride and double push. Conversely if you're a speed skater already this boot won't hinder you whatsoever and you'll find that you can perform the same movements in your strides with no loss in technique or speed. I feel for long distance skaters in particular this skate will be a great one as you have the best of both worlds, the benefits and support of a cuff with the performance of a speed skate. I'm pretty sure that covers an overall of the boots, if you have any other questions I'd be happy to answer them in comments preferably so other people can see the responses. Like I said I've more than enjoyed these skates and they're easily the most solid skates I've ever had in my entire skating life across all the disciplines of inline skating I participate in. I'd like to thank Tracy and the awesome people at Flying Eagle for giving me a shot to try out these skates. Kind of annoyed at myself for waiting this long to talk about them but it's given me time and plenty of miles to fully evaluate and I'm more than happy to tell everyone how awesome these are, again sorry it took so long but I was too busy racking mileage and having fun on these skates.
