I’ve been looking at the Paramount blade that was mentioned to me. It’s a shame I can’t get it over here or it would definitely be an option. The price of the blade alone is quite high (although it’s in dollars so I’m not sure how that’d convert to pounds), and with shipping on top of that!
Just had another look into the Paramount. It has an 8” rocker, do you reckon this would cause me any problems? I’ve been wanting to switch to a 7”, as my current are an 8” and hitting the spin rocker isn’t easy.Sorry, since I'm in the US, I'm not familiar with UK retailers. But here are the possible scenarios.
* If you luck out, Everglides will just happen to have a CA in your size. I certainly hope you do.
* If you don't luck out, and you want to get blades mounted there at the same time, looks like the Legacy 7 is your only option. And it is a viable option, just not the best option under normal circumstances. But these are not normal circumstances. Refer back to my list of preferences in Reply #29. I'll agree with WM in that it's still a lot better blade than what you've got now. And by all means don't feel like you're being forced into buying a piece of junk. It's not.
* If you don't luck out, and are willing to get blades later, then, since you will have the boots in hand and will know what size blade you need, you can:
(a) Contact other suppliers in the UK and see if they have CA in the size you need; if you luck out, buy it and get it mounted locally.
If (a) fails, you have a choice of:
(b) Order a Paramount CA in the size you need {BUT, as I mentioned before, do your homework now with regard to whether a UK shop (such as Everglides or Als) will order it, UK pricing, and your sharpener's capability] and get it mounted locally.
OR
(c) Go to the skate shop closer to you, buy a Legacy 7, and have it mounted.
[I'm not suggesting hunting up an Eclipse Aurora here because it's highly unlikely that a UK retailer will have one in your size in stock; but that's yet another option.]
* What I would not do is wait around 5 months for a CA. When waiting times are that far out, I have low confidence that I would get them even then.
* What I would not do is hunt for a CA outside the UK. Suppliers typically post the following caution for sales outside their country: "We are not responsible for customs charges imposed by your home country." You don't want any surprises. [Unless someone here is familiar with UK customs charges and can advise otherwise.]
The choice is yours to make. Good Luck!
There was some confusion on the Paramount CA as to whether it has a 7' or 8' radius main rocker. I don't remember the outcome; it was a while ago. But email Paramount to verify, if this matters to you. But with respect to hitting the sweet spot, it's not the profile of the main rocker that's important, it's the profile of the spin rocker and the placement of the drag pick. And here Paramount does a careful job with copying Wilson/MK spin rockers and pick patterns.
Thank you! Will shoot them an email. I’d love to get a pair, it’s a shame they don’t stock them here.
When I was doing a search, I found this shop in Europe that lists Paramount (and Eclipse, but not the Aurora): https://stifeldshop.com/en/32-paramount-blades. They didn't list an address (or at least I couldn't find it), but the country code of their phone number indicates Spain. Not sure it's coincidental, but Javier Fernandez wore Paramounts.
Please let me know what they say. And while you're doing that, remember to check with your tech whether his skate holder can handle them.
A shame the price is so high! I’m considering them though. Although the JW CA will always be my first choice.
Thanks! I’ve just found out my current tech at my rink has a pretty bad rep for messing up figure skating blades. I’ve never had a bad experience, but I don’t think I’d trust him with my next blade. They’re a figure skating and hockey shop but more catered towards hockey.
The shop is in Barcelona.
I’ve contacted this shop before about a year ago to about whether they had something in stock and never received a reply. Personally I didn’t want to risk ordering something from another country if I both couldn’t be sure they had it and couldn’t get any communication from them should I not receive it. Also with Brexit who knows how easy it will be getting things from Europe now, will probably take some time. If you get a response from them and the import tax won’t be too high it might be worth it if OP can’t get a CA in the UK.
Their price for a paramount CA is 198 euros which is £175 so no more than a Coro ace but I’m not sure how expensive import tax and postage would be
Not sure they have an actual walk in shop, if you Google maps the address there is no store front visible, may just be a warehouse/office and an online shop
Ah, I see. For some reason whenever I searched up the Paramount CA, I was getting all sorts of prices, 170 - 800.
Do you know whether the lower price of 164 euros (for Extra CE) would apply to shipments to UK post-Brexit?
But honestly, if OP does want to get a CA / Clone and can't find that in the UK, than they should just order a regular CA from an trusted online shop.
Remember, the easiest way for a sharpener to screw up a pair of figure skate blades is to flatten the spin rocker. If you have blades with fairly flat spin rockers to begin with, less harm. But if you are buying blades specifically for a more pronounced spin rocker, watch out. It takes only one bad sharpening to ruin a good pair of figure skate blades.
The start of this was there's a shortage of Wilson CA everywhere. It's a matter of luck whether the OP will be able to find one in her size. Maybe, maybe not. So we're suggesting backup options in case she can't get one.
I think the lower price is minus the European sales tax as if they are selling for export outside the EU then in the EU VAT does not get charged on those products. I assume- but may be wrong because I don’t know much about the trade deal we have now - that post Brexit we would pay the lower price as we are now no longer in the EU, instead we would pay import tax which will be higher (when we were part of the EU we wouldn’t have paid import tax, just the VAT required by the country the goods were bought from). But this is just speculation on my part because I don’t know much about this sort of thing.
Yes the lower price is for shipping outside of the European Union, so yes the UK.
I purchased my current skates and blades from this shop - by far the cheapest I found online anywhere, especially with the tax removed for outside the EU. They were very helpful at the time (about three years ago). However, I contacted them at the start of this year as I need new skates and they basically said they don’t have my width in stock and they don’t know when they’ll get it. So not helpful this time - they seem to be hit and miss, but if you follow up they usually respond and their shipping and service was really good!
