Bauer 20-50 Inline Skates: Someone Call Micron
Written: Aug 16 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Inexpensive.
Cons: Horrible Durability, questionable comfort & stiffness, hefty.
The Bottom Line: Pass these up for the Mission, CCM, or Nike equivalent.
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| penguinman's Full Review: Bauer 2050 Senior Inline Hockey Skates |
When browsing for my first pair of inline skates, I saw the MEGA tag on the side of these and fondly remembered my cousin's Micron Mega skates. The shapes look extremely similar. After two seasons of roller hockey, however, I've come to the conclusion that these are not the Megas of old.
Boot
The boot is constructed of a combination of ballistic nylon (silver), synthetic leather (black and blue), and clear plastic epoxy strips. The leather and epoxy strips give the boot what little stiffness it has; the rest comes from the laces, which is a bad thing. The toe is made of wear-resilient plastic and has vents; so do the instep and ankle of the boot itself. The tongue is a thin felt with vents; unfortunately, the vents are covered by the laces and the tongue is too thin to prevent massive lace bite from the overtaxed laces. The boot does have a very significant forward flex, which is surprising. The outsole is made of the same plastic as the toe, which gives it great wear qualities.
The inner of the boot is a material that looks like Nash, feels like Nash, but is called something that isn't Nash in the materials section of the user booklet. It's a semi-hydrophobic material, but the actual boot inner isn't all that comfortable. The fit is a tiny bit wider than the traditional narrow Bauer fit, but a bit thinner than the CCM fit which I usually use. I got mine punched out a bit to relieve pressure points, so they fit more like a CCM now.
Frame, Bearings & Wheels
The 20-50's come with an extruded aluminium Hi-Lo setup. The junior skates take 68mm wheels in front and 76mm in back while the seniors take 72mms and 80mms respectively. The aluminum is pretty hardy and doesn't bend easily; it's also pretty heavy when compared to Red Star, Mission, and even the hefty Tuuk Shifter frames. It allows a pretty quick turn radius. The wheels are mounted on standard hub ABEC 3 bearings of extremely questionable quality. A few of my bearings crapped out after a few weeks of use, and no amount of cleaning and lubing could get them back to normal. I replaced them with run of the mill ABEC 5 bearings. The wheels are 76A hardness Hyper wheels, which, like most all-in-one wheels, are useless for both indoor and outdoor use. The one time I played indoor they slipped like crazy; outdoor on a tennis court, they were worn to the plastic hub in a matter of weeks. I switched to 84A wheels which don't even blink at tennis courts, and barely show use after the occasional asphalt game.
Comfort and Durability
As I mentioned before, these skates are not particularly comfortable. Because the boot itself isn't very stiff, I find that the laces do double duty: they form the boot to my foot, and they give the boot the stiffness that my 190lb, 6'1" frame needs. This, combined with the paper-thin felt tongue, means that these skates constantly cramp the top of my foot unless I get them laced just so. After that they are ok, although my heavy sweating gets the insides mushy and makes my feet prone to blistering after an hour of play.
Durability is both exceptional and dismal at the same time. The plastic toe and sole wear extremely well, even when used as a goalie skate. The aluminium frame can take a hefty beating as well. The ballistic nylon wears rather well when it does come in contact with the ground, as do the epoxy pieces. What don't are the wheels, as discussed above, and the leather stiffening pieces. These pieces give the boot what little stiffness it has, and they get chewed apart in a flash. That is not a good thing.
In all, these skates seem like a bargain at $115, but between spending $50 on a good pair of wheels and the comfort and durability issues, I'd vote to go to Mission, CCM, or Nike.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
penguinman
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Reviews written: 20
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