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I skated in the Old-School "pros" and the Sk8-HIs "pros." I got a pair of the new SK8-HIs about two weeks ago. Normally when I get a new pair of shoes, I wear them for about two weeks before I even step on a board with them--I hate the "new" shoe feel on a board. So, I have not even skated in these yet. That said, here is my initial reactions to them. So far, most of it is negative.
(1) They are hot. Much hotter than the Pros.
(2) The tongue does not move, at all, because of the internal tongue straps. This is good, because I hated how the tongue would always slip around on the older versions. This also makes them much harder to put on/take off.
(3) I still have some pressure points around the little toe on one shoe. This never happened before with the Pros.
(4) Two weeks in and they still feel quite stiff, as in, not broken-in at all. Around two weeks is when I would normally start considering skating in the Pros. These do not feel like they are anywhere near "ready" yet. What that means long term remains to be seen. Further on this point, Vans always felt "comfy" to me, almost out of the box. These have not yet reached that state. When I got home from work last night I was dying to take them off. That never happened before with the Pros. I'll follow-up more as time goes on.
Anyone else had more in-depth experience with these yet?
Follow-up from my own previous post. Despite my new Sk8-HIs not feeling "ready" yet, I took them for a quick session today. I realized after about 10 min of skating that while they are not "broken in" yet, that these were never going to feel "ready" in the same sense the Pros did, simply because the Skate version is stiffer. I made some peace with that, and just went on skating. There were three distinct things I noticed.
First, board feel is NOT the same. Pros def have the advantage on this. It's not like wearing cupsoles or anything, but it's not the board feel I loved about Vans.
Second, pop was much more crisp. This was a really interesting one, that took me a bit to figure out what I thought was going on here. But when I did, it made perfect sense. So, Pros are more flexible than the Skate line, which is stiffer. So, imagine running in sand, or trying to ollie on grass. Think about how much power/energy gets lost when you push-off/ollie, because the energy gets dissipated into the sand/grass. Now think about running/ollieing on hard concrete. You get a much more explosive run/ollie, because not as much energy is lost. To me, it seemed like this analogy was like Pros vs. Skate line. With the Skate line being stiffer, it felt like more direct power was transferred into my ollies/noilles, and as a result, the pop was much more crisp and responsive. The trade off, of course, is board feel. I'm really curious to see if anyone else noticed this "crisp pop" phenomena, or if it was just in my head.
Third, the comfy factory (mentioned in previous post) still isn't there. I skated for about 30 min, and afterwards I was really like, "Damn. I want to take these things OFF!"
And today was my first mini ramp session in these. Here is what stood out:
(1) Board Feel was bad. I skate with Kingfoam Elite insoles. I feel like these give you even more board feel than the stock Vans insoles (maybe that's just me). Even with these in the Sk8-HIs, I almost felt like I was wearing cupsoles. After skating for a while, I started to adjust a bit, but it really just felt like I had cement shoes on.
(2) STIFF. For some reason I noticed this more on transition than street. They just felt really, really stiff.
(3) Sticky. Maybe the soles still need some breaking in, but my feet feel way more "stuck" to the board when adjusting feet in the flat bottom for next wall. This got kind of dicey with some of those micro-adjustments you have to make mid-trick/on the lip sometimes.
(4) Pressure points in toe box got real bad during run-outs. Bailing/running out of a trick on tranny really jams your foot into the toe of the shoe. The pressure points mentioned above started to get really sore after skating awhile because of this. Eventually I started knee-sliding (I wear knee pads on mini ramps) on bails that I would otherwise would have run-out of to avoid the pain of the run-outs.
(5) Get these off my feet! Again, when session was over, I wanted nothing more than to just take these shoes off.
None of this has ever happened to me with the Pros.
I was not too happy. Maybe I'll have to switch to the "regular" Vans, and that is a horrifying thought.
I have always been about 11.5 in shoe size but in Australia we don't get half sizes (even though I have had lots from ordering from US going back a number of years) so nowdays I stretch out 11 in a tight fit or just wear 12 and have them a bit on the loose side.
The thing for me going between the different types for a bit and then back to the other one is this, all size 12 so already a bit big but easier to wear all day every day:
Coming from Pro, the Skate feels stiff and super solid, not so much in a bad way, but it takes a bit to get used to and then I think my feet feel better at the end of the day skating, even if the shoes are a bit big for my feet in the size I bought. Yes they are definitely more grippy, but once I am used to it, it makes it better to keep my feet in the right place and I got used to being able to move my feet on the board after a while. Not so coarse grip is easier with these shoes too - I skate Jessup untouched and it works well for me.
Going back to the Pro, they feel so soft, flimsy and thin that it takes a bit to get used to the lack of support and having almost nothing on my feet, but once I have a session or two, I definitely am back where I am used to skating softer and thinner shoes when they are still new, but the 12 feel so big a floppy once they are broken in. Grip is a little less, but again I got used to it fairly easily, as well as it being better on newer grip so not too sticky.
From well before pro and anything else like this, I would strip out the classics and put in aftermarket insoles and I still feel like although this is a process in itself (sometimes a real pain if the insole is really glued down hard, but others it almost comes right out in one piece so easily), this is almost the best option for me for what is most comfortable.
The Skate range are actually closer to the Classic than the Pro in terms of how stiff the shoe is, and both Skate and Classic last longer in the sole than the Pro range ever did.
Between size and style these shoes are going to feel very easy to wear / skate (size 12) or very tight and often painful, but that is just me in 11 for the most part.
I wonder if trying a half size up with thicker socks (which is what I do) works well enough / better...