Ok, so I figured I'm bored and might as well do a big long review. I'll try and break it down into each specific.
Fit: I have a 10 in Carbon 2's. These fit me pretty much perfectly, my toes are just about touching the end. Hopefully once they break in a little more they won't quite be touching. My last skates were an 11 USD Carbon, which was a little too big, and before that I have skated 11 Remz and 9-10 Razors SL shells with 11 Trust liners. They're a little bit narrower than the USD Carbons, but this is probably just down to the fact they're a size smaller.
Comfort: As fat as comfort goes, these are absolutely amazing. The padding is a fair bit thicker now, but only around the cuff area. Lower down, it's the same as the old carbons. The tongue is quite hard, but still very comfortable, and does not twist or fall down at all, despite only being attached at the bottom. I do my skates up as tight as I can, and they were still perfectly comfortable, and my feet did not go numb. The only issue I have is that when I do the buckle very tight, it feels slightly raw, but this seems to happen to me on pretty much every pair of skates I have had.
Flexibility: The skates is quite stiff, although not quite as stiff as the USD Carbons. The Carbon now hardly comes up past the cuff bolt, but this doesn't seem to make much difference. There is a lot, probably a little too much, front/back flex, and when done up tight, almost no lateral, although there is quite a lot when not as tight. One thing I found interesting is that you don't need to adjust the buckle much to take it from very loose to very tight. However, despite this, I have been able to do topsides for the first time in over a year, with absolutely no problems. They just make them feel right and easy.
How they affect your skating: Most people tend to agree that skates influence your ability, and decisions, to do tricks, at least to a certain extent. I have found all previous skates to be limiting compared to these. I know most of the USD team have said that they feel like being in shoes, or they make your switch tricks feel natural etc. I don't agree with this, but I will put it this way. My Carbon 2's let me do what I want. When skating them, there wasn't a single trick that popped into my head as something I might be able to do that I didn't land. Bambi said they were the only skate he had ever skated where Back Savannahs feel right. This is completely true. I've never been able to back savannah before, and with my Carbon 2's on I found them easy, just like doing it on shoes on a curb etc. My friend said it would be sick if someone did this trick he'd never seen anyone do before. I'd never tried it before. I did it first time. It was easy. But I would never have been confident trying it in any other skates. I can't really explain this well enough, but the skates just let your skating be your skating. They don't hold you back in any way.
Souls: Right now I'm skating them with my old souls from my USD Carbons, because I'm too lazy to groove them for a while, and also because I didn't want them to feel too new all at once. I'll probably put the white souls on them once they're fully broken in, or maybe once my current souls completely wear out. Black souls look a lot better on the black ones in real life than they do in pictures. The souls are pretty huge, both on the positives and negatives, but not too big. There's a good balance, especially once you've worn them down doing cess slides a bit (I prefer small souls). The backslides are nice blah blah blah.
Buckle: The buckles is a spring buckle. The strap is new, its sort of wider, and the edges are more bevelled. It's a bit of a pain to tighten up, but once you've got the hang of it, it's not that bad. It looks nice and durable, and generally pretty good. As I mentioned, it's not that far from really tight to really loose.
Overall, these are the best skates I have ever owned. They will save rollerblading. If you are looking at buying new skates, don't get anything but these. If you can't afford them, save up until you can. These are absolutely amazing.
Pics
Side views
I see extra material... but I don't feel it.
Cushty ass padding.
Attempted buckle close up.
Rear view. Carbon stops where the neoprene is.
Notice my awesome facial expressions
Carbon 2 Review
i just randomly, like no shit five minutes ago, had an urge to get carbons.
Originally Posted by :bran^don:
I can't watch videos. i was hoping this was a text review.
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