EGC Skates

Fellow skater Travis Shaw is heading to the World Championships for the first time. It’s gonna be an enjoyable experience for him. When I went to Worlds in Belgium, it was the first time I ever set foot in Europe. What a trip it was! I loved every minute of it.

When Travis makes his way to Spain – he’ll be carrying my latest boot. The Version 4 – EGC. I just finished it this morning. Yeah! That’s two this week. The Mad Dog and the WTE. The colours are black and light grey with a hint of red – something perhaps to go with the new Team Canada suit –

Specs are below:

Weight (each with buckles, no laces) : 310g
Shell: 6 layers of carbon fiber (4 full, 2 partial), 5.8 oz plain weave
Epoxy: West Systems with Slow Hardener
Bagging System: FoodSaver
Uppers: Cowhide, full leather
Buckle: SIDI Micro Buckle
Strap: DACRON webbing 1.5 inches
Liner: 1.5mm Perforated, EVAlite, EVA sheet
Padding: 6mm EVAlite, thermoformed and feathered in the ankles only
Scuff Pad: 1.5mm Vibram Outsole, soling sheets
Blocks: 5mm Aluminum bar

Pretty much the same as the ‘Mad Dog’ boots, with the exception that the buckle is made by SIDI (a very well known Bicycle Shoe manufacturer.)

A few enhancements were made over the Mad Dog’s and a few issues encountered:

• Cuff is a bit cleaner, but as you might have guessed, I really don’t like this design. I’m working on another one and my next boot will use this new modified design.
• Buckles broke on the Mad Dogs, so I’ve reinforced this area, as well as lengthened it a bit as my initial design was too short.
• Eyelets were first drawn in place using a template (see Mad Dog article), then punched, stitched and reinforced with metal eyelets. The topline on the Mad Dogs were only partially stitched.
• The upper uses a different design to match a drawing, but I won’t use this pattern in the future.
• Gloss coating was a bit rushed and the peel ply left TOO rough a surface. It’s not as smooth as the Mad Dog’s
• Minor carbon wrinkling due to the laminating sequence
• The rivet on the buckle is much more pronounced than in the Mad Dog – I can really feel it poking through the boot. While I don’t think this will be a problem since it’s on a very fleshy part of the foot, I can really feel the rivet with my fingers. I’m designing a new “riser” system to separate the rivet from the main boot padding – I’ll write about this in a future article since it will be incorporated into the next pair.