Nike admits now that they brought a great deal of arrogance to the playing field when they started making skates. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the knowledge to make a great skate until recently. There are some indicators that the ignite skates are not very good. For starters, Nike changed its line completely from top to bottom 5 times in 5 years. That is not a good sign. Further, Nike is one of the only brands that that you can buy a four-year-old model in almost any size from almost any retailer.

Nike’s hope in entering the skate market was to build a skate that was as comfortable as their shoes. To this end they developed a hard outer shell that they could inject with a synthetic, foam like material in varied levels of stiffness. In theory this was not a bad idea, and in fact the newer Nike skates utilize this quite effectively. The problem in the Ignite series and earlier skates comes primarily from the fact that Nike didn’t yet realize what it took to make a good skate.

In early Nike models, the width of the skates was considerably wider than competing brands. This, in Nike’s view, seemed to be the major problem with skates on the market. Little did they know that a skate needs to fit tight to perform well. Even those people who had extremely wide feet had problems down the road with the low density of foam used in the early models. A pair of skates that fit snugly in the store broke down quickly on the ice.

The components on the Nike Skates are the one place that they seemed to get things right from the start. Bauer TUUKs are the choice holder of the NHL, with well over 60% of the players using them. Numerous pair of CCM, Graf, Easton, and Mission skates have been converted to TUUK holders for NHL players as they are the stiffest and most durable holder on the market.

The Ignite was simply not a skate that matched the quality of its price. At best it was a skate to compete with the likes of Hesspeler, Franklin, Black and the other wanna-be brands. The fact that you can buy a pair for the same price as these lower tier skates certainly indicates this. If you want a pair of hockey skates for free skating once a month or so and don’t plan to spend more than $60, this is the only reason I could recommend this model.

All of this in mind, Nike purchased Bauer Corporation a few years ago. Perhaps this was an admission that they needed some help or a reluctance to admit defeat. Regardless of their reason, the newer Quest and V series skates are much better choices. The Quest was a passable skate with a lot to offer lower level and intermediate skaters. The V series skates are one of the better lines on the market.

© Scott Noble – Unauthorized use prohibited

A few of my other links that you might find helpful:
Hockey Skate buying demystified
Nike THG V-Force
Nike Quest 3
Easton Air
How to Care for Skates

Recommended: No