Jackson freestyle heel height - anyone customised to lower heel?

[canskater]

Hello,
I've been skating on Jackson's softskate and ready to upgrade to stiffer boots for more lateral support to work on low level freestyle skating. I am an adult skater (36 years old, 120lb, 5'7) and my local proshop is letting me trial Jackson freestyle 2190 with Aspire XP blades. I am not loving the high heel, mainly because my weight shifts forwards and puts pressure on the front of my feet. My metatarsal heads (joints at front of feet) have little padding and the higher heel does not agree with them. I have learnt to shift my weight back and avoid toe picking but this does not improve the pain. I do not believe this will get better with time or with cushioned insoles because this is a chronic problem I have with certain height heels - I avoid heels in daily life because of this. Has anyone customised their Jackson heels to be shorter? I am loving the wider toe box and narrower heel last that Jackson uses, and the ankle support is excellent. I have tried Riedells with the lower heel but find them too narrow for my forefoot. I have also tried lower support-rated Jackson's with the lower heel (including the Artiste) and the heel height is great but the lateral support is not sufficient.
I know all figure skates have heels but it is only the higher height ones (Jackson Freestyle) that give me problems.
I am open to suggestions and other brands. My proshop fitter has fitted me with everything he has and I hate being the "picky" customer. I am happy to invest in heel customisation if that is an option.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Hello,
I've been skating on Jackson's softskate and ready to upgrade to stiffer boots for more lateral support to work on low level freestyle skating. I am an adult skater (36 years old, 120lb, 5'7) and my local proshop is letting me trial Jackson freestyle 2190 with Aspire XP blades. I am not loving the high heel, mainly because my weight shifts forwards and puts pressure on the front of my feet. My metatarsal heads (joints at front of feet) have little padding and the higher heel does not agree with them. I have learnt to shift my weight back and avoid toe picking but this does not improve the pain. I do not believe this will get better with time or with cushioned insoles because this is a chronic problem I have with certain height heels - I avoid heels in daily life because of this. Has anyone customised their Jackson heels to be shorter? I am loving the wider toe box and narrower heel last that Jackson uses, and the ankle support is excellent. I have tried Riedells with the lower heel but find them too narrow for my forefoot. I have also tried lower support-rated Jackson's with the lower heel (including the Artiste) and the heel height is great but the lateral support is not sufficient.
I know all figure skates have heels but it is only the higher height ones (Jackson Freestyle) that give me problems.
I am open to suggestions and other brands. My proshop fitter has fitted me with everything he has and I hate being the "picky" customer. I am happy to invest in heel customisation if that is an option.

Hi and welcome! You are going to run into this issue with many boots, especially the Jackson line of boots where you are at and above. You may have to at some point choose to get custom/semi-custom boots if you choose to stay with Jackson b/c they have this fusion heel in many of their boots. IDK if the rapid custom Jackson synergy boots (you'd need 60 rating) would allow for lower heel customization or not. The other issue you may be having is with the blades as well. If you go with a separate boot/blade then look at coronation ace or mk Pro (traditional/standard).

You might want to look into Risport either Electra or RF3 (yes I know that's a decent sized jump b/t them in stiffness rating but being an adult with your weight/height a 60/65 would be better for you than a 40/45).
The best boot for you (me not knowing too much about your feet except the heel tip issue) would more than likely be Graf. If they can get them in try F4000 or even the Prestige (boot only). Graf tends to have lower heels.


Good luck and if you need any more help, just ask.

 

[tstop4me]

and my local proshop is letting me trial Jackson freestyle 2190 with Aspire XP blades. I am not loving the high heel, mainly because my weight shifts forwards and puts pressure on the front of my feet.

My proshop fitter has fitted me with everything he has and I hate being the "picky" customer. I am happy to invest in heel customisation if that is an option.

Wow, your fitter is extraordinarily accommodating; especially letting you try out a pair of Freestyles on the ice. I've never come across that.

If your fitter is game to experiment, here's a suggestion for you. First some background. I'm friends with two ice dancers who had the opposite problem: with their boot and blade choices, they needed a higher heel pitch. What I did was insert spacers between the heel of the boot and the heel mounting plate of the blade. I adjusted the thickness of the spacers until the skaters were happy with the heel pitch. Worked well, and saved them from ordering new boots with custom heels.

I haven't worked on your scenario, but a similar approach is worth a shot, if your fitter is willing. Insert spacers between the sole of the boot and the sole mounting plate of the blade to reduce the heel pitch. If you are skating with the factory temp mount, the fitter will need to add two more screws to the sole mounting plate (the existing two temp screws plus two permanent screws in the row in front of the temp screws). For spacers I use fiber or plastic washers. I would first start with a spacer thickness of ~1/16". If that appears to help some, I would then try a spacer thickness of ~1/8".

 

[Tavi...]

Hi - I was able to order Jackson boots in leather with the lower heel but they are full custom (which I needed bc of my feet). They did a great job and I’m really happy with them

 

[Crystal Rainbows]

I cannot skate in any of the Jackson fusion skates with the higher heel pitch.
I love the toe box and the way the fit feels until I am on the ice being pitched forward all the time.
One suggestion: look for Jackson Freestyle with LCL heel which is shorter. There's still new stock around.
I am guessing that your CANSKATE nick is indicative you're in Canada - if you send me a private message, we can talk about tech/fitting.

I have a high instep and a high arch - narrow heel and wide ball.
I've tried every brand easily available to me (Jackson, Riedell, SP-Teri, Aura, Risport, Wifa, GH)
(still curious about Belati, Graf)

I opted for the Risport, which has a decent toe box in the C width. I've had them only a week, but already I feel a huge difference to the
Jacksons I was skating in last season.

An important thing to keep in mind is that there are other factors to customize fit.

• What you wear on your feet
• How you care for your feet (nails trimmed, massaging feet before and after a session)
• how you lace your skates
• how you tie your skates
• which laces you use (I use derby laces because their waxed laces grip better for me)
• which insoles you use (custom, superfeet hockey, currex hockey, riedel custom, etc)
• additional support like metatarsal pads, gel sleeves, etc
• how your blades are mounted (My tech mounts mine slightly off the typical mount to compensate for my pronation which removed a good deal of arch pain)

Hope that helps you out and you get a perfectly fitting pair of skates!

 

[canskater]

Hi and welcome! You are going to run into this issue with many boots, especially the Jackson line of boots where you are at and above. You may have to at some point choose to get custom/semi-custom boots if you choose to stay with Jackson b/c they have this fusion heel in many of their boots. IDK if the rapid custom Jackson synergy boots (you'd need 60 rating) would allow for lower heel customization or not. The other issue you may be having is with the blades as well. If you go with a separate boot/blade then look at coronation ace or mk Pro (traditional/standard).

You might want to look into Risport either Electra or RF3 (yes I know that's a decent sized jump b/t them in stiffness rating but being an adult with your weight/height a 60/65 would be better for you than a 40/45).
The best boot for you (me not knowing too much about your feet except the heel tip issue) would more than likely be Graf. If they can get them in try F4000 or even the Prestige (boot only). Graf tends to have lower heels.


Good luck and if you need any more help, just ask.

Thank you @Ic3Rabbit ! I'm looking into Risport now as they may be best for me. I looked into Graf but they are not sold here in Ontario's pro shops and would be online only but I will continue to ask about them too. I like the height of the Risport's toe box (the Graf's may or may not be too short for me). Overall, I have high arches, narrow heels and wide forefeet and love to have my heels snug, cushioned and rigidly supported - Jackson's were perfect for me until the heel height issue with stiffer models. I reached out to Jackson.ca and they told me I would need fully customed boots and that the LCL heel can have a maximum of 3 layers removed. That may or may not work but I'd rather look into Risport going forward. My fitter did not have any Risport in my size unfortunately. I am still on the hunt and visiting another fitter this week. I agree going stiffer to RF3 would be better and I am ready to invest in that. Thank you for the suggestions!

 

[canskater]

Wow, your fitter is extraordinarily accommodating; especially letting you try out a pair of Freestyles on the ice. I've never come across that.

If your fitter is game to experiment, here's a suggestion for you. First some background. I'm friends with two ice dancers who had the opposite problem: with their boot and blade choices, they needed a higher heel pitch. What I did was insert spacers between the heel of the boot and the heel mounting plate of the blade. I adjusted the thickness of the spacers until the skaters were happy with the heel pitch. Worked well, and saved them from ordering new boots with custom heels.

I haven't worked on your scenario, but a similar approach is worth a shot, if your fitter is willing. Insert spacers between the sole of the boot and the sole mounting plate of the blade to reduce the heel pitch. If you are skating with the factory temp mount, the fitter will need to add two more screws to the sole mounting plate (the existing two temp screws plus two permanent screws in the row in front of the temp screws). For spacers I use fiber or plastic washers. I would first start with a spacer thickness of ~1/16". If that appears to help some, I would then try a spacer thickness of ~1/8".

Thank you @tstop4me , thats a really clever suggestion actually! I already returned the boots and psychologically I can not look at them again (despite 2 weeks of practising every day in them I could not skate or do anything in them - forefoot issues, toe picking issues, blade grinding issues, unhappy feet). I'm sure that would have worked though. Yes I have the nicest fitter who sharpened and heat moulded THREE different Jackson skates for me and let me skate in them for 2 weeks. I was supposed to get store credit for returning the Freestyles but ended up getting a full refund. He really is the nicest person and I feel terribly guilty not fitting into anything he gave me.

 

[canskater]

Hi - I was able to order Jackson boots in leather with the lower heel but they are full custom (which I needed bc of my feet). They did a great job and I’m really happy with them

Hi @Tavi... , did you go with the LCL heel and how many layers did you have removed? Did the lower heel make a difference compared to the standard high heigh fusion heels?

 

[canskater]

I cannot skate in any of the Jackson fusion skates with the higher heel pitch.
I love the toe box and the way the fit feels until I am on the ice being pitched forward all the time.
One suggestion: look for Jackson Freestyle with LCL heel which is shorter. There's still new stock around.
I am guessing that your CANSKATE nick is indicative you're in Canada - if you send me a private message, we can talk about tech/fitting.

I have a high instep and a high arch - narrow heel and wide ball.
I've tried every brand easily available to me (Jackson, Riedell, SP-Teri, Aura, Risport, Wifa, GH)
(still curious about Belati, Graf)

I opted for the Risport, which has a decent toe box in the C width. I've had them only a week, but already I feel a huge difference to the
Jacksons I was skating in last season.

An important thing to keep in mind is that there are other factors to customize fit.

• What you wear on your feet
• How you care for your feet (nails trimmed, massaging feet before and after a session)
• how you lace your skates
• how you tie your skates
• which laces you use (I use derby laces because their waxed laces grip better for me)
• which insoles you use (custom, superfeet hockey, currex hockey, riedel custom, etc)
• additional support like metatarsal pads, gel sleeves, etc
• how your blades are mounted (My tech mounts mine slightly off the typical mount to compensate for my pronation which removed a good deal of arch pain)

Hope that helps you out and you get a perfectly fitting pair of skates!

Hi @Crystal Rainbows , this is me with everything you mentioned. I just cannot skate in Jacksons fusion heels. I also love the fit, the support, the padding - everything is perfect except for that heel height! I've been on the hunt for the LCL soles on discontinued models but they are all online so I've hesitated purchasing those. I will still keep an eye out for them. I'm really considering Risport but haven't yet laid hands on any.

I have high arches, narrow heels and wide forefeet. The Jackson's fit is always perfect for me. I do wear a Jackson supreme insole for my right foot which pronates and this has helped tremendously with control of my outside edge and I no longer have arch pain. I would need a boot that has a nice toe box height (like the Risport) to allow me to add the insole (and I wear the normal insoles on top of them). Will discuss this more with you. Thanks!

 

[Tavi...]

Hi @Tavi... , did you go with the LCL heel and how many layers did you have removed? Did the lower heel make a difference compared to the standard high heigh fusion heels?

Hi - sorry just saw this. I do have the LCL heel but I didn’t specify an exact heel height, just that I wanted an LCL heel and not the fusion. So I don’t think the fitter asked them to further customize it by removing layers and I’m not even sure it’s possible even with full custom (except maybe if you’re an elite skater!) It is about 1-1/2” (about 3.8 cm) if that helps. Sorry for any confusion. Unfortunately I can’t compare LCL to the fusion bc I’ve never had the fusion (when I first learned to skate Jackson was still making the Elle (my first boot) in leather with an LCL heel). So I chose that heel bc it’s what I was used to - but also bc I was afraid that the higher heel pitch might cause balance issues given my feet.

It looks like you might be able to choose your heel even with rapid custom which is much less expensive than full custom, so perhaps that’s an option for you:

Custom

Jackson Ultima Skates

jacksonultima.com

 

[Lucie]

Hi - sorry just saw this. I do have the LCL heel but I didn’t specify an exact heel height, just that I wanted an LCL heel and not the fusion. So I don’t think the fitter asked them to further customize it by removing layers and I’m not even sure it’s possible even with full custom (except maybe if you’re an elite skater!) It is about 1-1/2” (about 3.8 cm) if that helps. Sorry for any confusion. Unfortunately I can’t compare LCL to the fusion bc I’ve never had the fusion (when I first learned to skate Jackson was still making the Elle (my first boot) in leather with an LCL heel). So I chose that heel bc it’s what I was used to - but also bc I was afraid that the higher heel pitch might cause balance issues given my feet.

It looks like you might be able to choose your heel even with rapid custom which is much less expensive than full custom, so perhaps that’s an option for you:

Custom

Jackson Ultima Skates

jacksonultima.com

Interesting to know that the LCL heel is about 1 1/2”, thanks for sharing that. It actually seems quite low. If it helps anyone I’ve measured the fusion soles and the heel is about 2”, while my Risport are 1 3/4”. If anyone has measured the LCF sole I would be very grateful, as looking way ahead to future boots the heel height would be the main reason for me to get a custom, I can adapt to the fusion sole and it doesn’t cause me any tipping forward problems but it feels like skating on stilts compared to Risport!