Blade upgrade advice (adult skater)

[Noki]

Hi!

I'm a 19-year-old skater doing 1A and 2Sal, basic spins (sit, backspin, forward scratch, camel)
I'm not a competitive skater, just skating because I love it. I've been thinking about upgrading my blades soon, and I would appreciate some advice.
Currently, I'm using Coronation Aces (with Royal Pro boots) and I really love the 7ft rocker (I had an 8ft rocker blade before and I was having a hard time spinning) so that's something I want to stick with.
However, I don't want to get another pair of CA's (I have the money to get more "exclusive" blades, so that's not an issue for me, and I've been dreaming about getting better blades) so I've been looking at some JW, Jackson Ultima and MK blades.
I'm intrigued by the big toepick of MK Phantom, as I really love jumping and aim to get all my doubles (well, excluding 2A lol)


Any help is appreciated!

 

[k8a]

Have you looked at the MK Gold Star? They have a smaller toepick than the Phantom, but spin beautifully.

 

[bostonskaterguy86]

I haven’t really spent much time on blades more advanced than the MK Professional myself, so can’t advise from personal experience - but if you’re looking to keep a 7 foot rocker, the MK Phantom and MK Gold Star would both fit the bill!

Most other more advanced blades (including the JW Pattern 99, JW Gold Seal, and all of the advanced Ultima blades except for the Matrix Nova) have 8 foot rockers. That being said - there are folks who find that the spin rocker has a greater impact on their skating than the main rocker, especially for spins. Many beginner level blades have pretty flat spin rockers (I started on the Ultima Mirage myself and this was definitely the case) - so if the 8 foot rocker blades you had before were a lower lever blade than the CAs you’re in now, the spin rocker might have been part of the problem too.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Have you even thought of trying MK Pro before trying to go to super advanced blades that you may not be ready for yet, and could cause bigger issues?!?

Many who don't do well with Coronation Ace, do better with MK Pro.

Phantom is not going to be the answer, I'm afraid to tell you, and the larger drag pick will more than likely cause you more issues at this point in your skating than not.

Good luck!

 

[lyssx]

Do you want new blades because you don't like the CAs for some reason, or just because you want to upgrade? What do you hope will improve with the change? I feel like that could alter recommendations.

I ended up with a pair of gently used MK Gold Stars from a mom at my rink whose skater outgrew them very quickly. I was never happy with my CA blades despite most people raving about them (spin rocker was not comfortable for me to find and I was on the verge of giving up completely because of how many hours I poured into practicing spinning with no results), so I took a risk because I knew the blades were in good condition and she was happy to give them to me at a pretty sizable discount and let me take them to my skate tech sign off on their condition before committing to the purchase.

One might say that I'm not advanced enough to justify the blades (I'm definitely a lower level than you, no axel or doubles in sight), but for me they were 1000% worth it. They helped me actually find the "sweet spot" in my spins that totally eluded me in the CA blades. The toe pick seems larger than the CA, but for some reason I don't hit them nearly as much as I do on the CAs. They do make my toe jumps feel very secure and my spins feel great.

This would all be so much more simple if there was more research into how different blades benefit different boots/foot shapes/etc... very expensive process to try multiple and figure out what works.

 

[eclipse]

Hi!

I'm a 19-year-old skater doing 1A and 2Sal, basic spins (sit, backspin, forward scratch, camel)
I'm not a competitive skater, just skating because I love it. I've been thinking about upgrading my blades soon, and I would appreciate some advice.
Currently, I'm using Coronation Aces (with Royal Pro boots) and I really love the 7ft rocker (I had an 8ft rocker blade before and I was having a hard time spinning) so that's something I want to stick with.
However, I don't want to get another pair of CA's (I have the money to get more "exclusive" blades, so that's not an issue for me, and I've been dreaming about getting better blades) so I've been looking at some JW, Jackson Ultima and MK blades.
I'm intrigued by the big toepick of MK Phantom, as I really love jumping and aim to get all my doubles (well, excluding 2A lol)


Any help is appreciated!

This is just my experience I won't really give you any major definitive answers as I cannot see you skate and the descriptions you gave are rather vague.

I hated spinning with my coronation aces, though in hindsight that was almost definitely due to contradicting information I was receiving on spins, I had lots of different people telling me to do different things and nothing was sticking because of it and mentally I had made up my mind it was the blades. I wasn't much of a fan of the 7 foot rocker as I felt it made twizzles feel like they were rocking too much. The toe also slipped out of the ice a lot.

I decided to swap blades to a pair of second hand gold seals which had some decent life left on them and found the sweet spot to be a lot more desirable for me as it was just overall a lot bigger than the coros which is a very subtle spinning blade.

By the time I had decided to swap I was getting nowhere with spins yet my jumps were progressing towards doubles with axel being landed. I found that I felt more stable landing with the flatter blade of the gold seals compared to the rocker of the coronation aces.

8 foot rockered blades aren't made equally, some have different featuring of the blade to make deeper edges and changes easier without detracting from the stability. I never had any difficulty with spin hooks due to the different profile of the blade.

If you do dislike flatter blades stay away from Ultima blades.

Something which you may consider before swapping blades, personally from what I have seen skating skills is something you should really get down before you swap blades more specifically skating and edges on the correct portion of the blade, if you swap to a different blade and you have a tendency to shift weight incorrectly the blades are a lot more punishing and you will get hurt.

I have seen some of the more inconsistent jumpers at my rink use MK phantoms and Gold stars, though of course there are skaters who can do well for example boyang jin uses gold stars.

Spin rocker is also important, Coronation aces have the same spin rocker as the Pattern 99's in theory and gold seals the same as Mk Pro however I do not know how well this holds up in reality as the blades have different heights and pitches. Some blades may also be shorter or longer than their counterparts.

Obviously you don't need a big toe pick to jump doubles, high end blades all have different sized toe picks and work for the people using them so I wouldn't necessarily worry that much about how large the toe pick is.

In the end I would be more inclined to agree with IceRabbit as it is the most sound advice in this situation most of the time advanced blades cause more problems for people not quite ready for it