Most comfortable skate I’ve ever owned. I have these limited edition and the black version. Great forward flew. The liners are better then intuition liners. Which I think are also highly over rated. They are good. I recently bought the new premium ones for $220. Have them in my USD Sam crofts. The factions are a little heavier but way more comfortable. Toe box. Liner. I love mine.
Everyone’s feet aren’t the same so it’s pretty myopic to make a blanket all encompassing statement that something is overrated when the numbers don’t support your opinion.
I wish I could skate the stock liners more but I don't think they will work for me. I have a narrow width foot and stretched the liner as much as I could but it is still too narrow where the neoprene stitching meets the main fabric, which is digging into the side of my foot. Glad they are working great for you!
@@Jordan.Skates I actually switched to the intuition premium plus liners. Now I won’t go back to anything else. I didn’t see what the big hype was at first but I love these liners now. They gave me the right amount of support I need. the faction liners remind me of the liners that come with Chris Farmer skates they can be tight trying to get your foot in
I am the same with the Remz feel Jordan and I also skated Remz before taking my hiatus. These are amazing skates and give you the flex you might be looking for and very well made. Great review and clips!!
Also those soul plates are great. I hated the airplane style soul plates on the black version. I swapped them out for these and put blue laces in. My black and blueberries 🫐 lol
@@Jordan.Skates I always wondered what happens if a ufs receiver straps out on those. Might be able to drill out in the same location. Trim a little spot in the boot above the hole and buy a nut to put down through where that ufs bolt would go into the boot. Might be a little janky, but may work.
I completely agree that these feel as close to a Remz as I've found yet, a feeling I was chasing as well. I really enjoy these boots, skating the AG60s flat, they're responsive and easy to get into grinds, royales are no issue. Sizing is such a hard thing to nail down. I'm a 283mm foot, and I downsized to the 9-10 shell with the 10 liner, thinking I could put my 9-9.5 Intuition Premium liners in if needed more space. It was very tight at first, my big toe pushing into the shell, a heat mould and a few skates later they're feeling great. However, the toe box is too tight to use the Intuitions which have a large high toe box compared to the Faction liner. But I'm happy with the Faction liner, so no issue. Will you continue to skate these, or are you moving on?
I couldn't imagine trying to squeeze a 283 into the 9.5-10 shell since the internal sizing is depicted as being 285. I usually allow for approximately 10mm to account for a liner and that tells me if my foot will fit in the shell or not. I'm really glad that I fell on the lower size of the shell. I will continue skating these for the next couple months until the Standards come.
I had the same experience with sizing. I tried to reach out for sizing about a week before purchasing and received no response. I bit the bullet and bought them anyways. I heat molded them twice trying to get them to fit and had to use myfit 2nd skin liners in the end. I have a 265 Mondo and bought a size 8 1/2 (265) - 9 (270) and I probably should have bought a size 9 1/2 (275). The stock liners are just too thick in the boot for my foot. In the end downsizing if probably best because they are pretty chunky boots. I replaced the stock shock absorber with full length FP insoles. Phlebo buffers, Laced waxed laces, AG60 frames flat config, with 58mm dead bacemint wheels (92a and 95a). I am really torn between swapping the cuff to a them cuff or waiting for the next faction cuff. I also am waiting for the next generation soul plates. Hopefully they have a normal backside groove with the stealth profile. If they continue to do offet backside grooves then I might get the Adapt Symetrics soul plates when my plates wear down. Edit: I wanted to add something. The eyelets on the boots also dragged and shredded laces. I called Clark and personally reported the issue to him and he said he would have the factory QC that part of the process in the future. I filed them with a round file and it fixed the issue but I was very close to taking them to a cobbler and paying to have the eyelets replaced.
I think you would be swimming in the 9.5-10 shell as the internal dimension is 285. Surprised your shell didn't fit well if you were on the low size of it. I think the boot looks chunkier than they are because of the skin over carbon. The skates have good width except at the toe box. The only issues I noticed with the laces was with the elastic stock ones. Once I replaced those, I had no issues with the cuff or eyelets digging in and cutting the laces like you get with THEM. Once you get a decent groove in the stealth plates, the back offset is mute point. It took me about 10 sessions in the stock liners before everything felt perfect. Still feel my toes hit the end of the boot on harder landings, but It is not painful so that is good.
@@Jordan.Skates I have wide feet and it was the toe box that was the issue. Most of the Faction team replaces the stock liners with Intuitions. I love the boots, and I would for sure buy them again. They are an exceptional first generation product and I can't wait to see what they do next.
@@Jordan.Skates btw I have the black boots. So I have the OG soul plates. I'm good with this backside groove. I just hope later when I need to replace this plate, there is one with a normal groove. but your right. I can just skate any plate and eventually the groove will form naturally anyways. :)
Sorry to spam you lol. I just had a thought about your toes hitting the inside of the boot. Try adding some foam weather stripping inside the toe to cushion. It might help some.
Toe hitting the end is not painful and just a “feel”. If I add anything, it would cramp the toebox and be uncomfortable. I really love the faction liners and they don’t stink like Intuition. I am not a fan of how dead feeling intuition liners are on landings
I use Create Originals on both my Shredpools and white Factions and you just need to add some lock tite to it and should be good. But I do make it a habit to tighten all hardware before each session.
14:00 “since these are carbon I have noticed they do weigh a little more than a plastic skate…” Was this a mistake? I thought carbon was lighter than plastic
Carbon fiber in itself is inherently lighter than plastic. Carbon skates are usually skinned so end up being heavier than most plastic boots. The carbon is stiffer and more responsive so has its own trade offs.
I have these and I've swapped back to my Thems. It's a shame as the Factions look sick but the cuff is pants and that backslide groove is all wrong. The boot itself is super comfy but I don't get anywhere near enough support...they flop about far too much. Going to sell them and stick with my 909s. 😢
Thanks for checking out my review. Were you leaving the liners loose? I found that if you tighten the liner and leave the cuff a little lose (slip two fingers between front of liner and inside of buckle strap) that give the support needed and flex. The backside groove did take a little work but once i grooved in then it is improved and not an issue for me. Since i posted the review, I sheared off one of the UFS receiver bolts. I am waiting on parts to see if I can even repair it since the UFS receiver appears to be embeded into the carbon and skinned over.
@Jordan.Skates yeah I pull the liners as tight as they will go with a decent lace. I just can't get away from that cuff...its like paper. I was thinking about waiting for their own cuff (current one is off the shelf) but it won't solve the forward flex issue as the carbon of the boot ends too low. There needs to be a good portion of overlap with the cuff to sort it out. I really like the brand, the team, Clarke...all awesome but the skate just isn't for me.
@@JSClark1984 Understandable. Bummer they did not work for you. Are you still using the bungee for the liners? I found getting rid of that and using an integral lace for the boot and liner did wonders and helped reduce the forward flex. I am curious to see what Factions plastic boot will be like because there is no way it could have a low cut plastic like the carbon.
@Jordan.Skates nah, used laces for the liner and waxed laces for the boot. I will keep and eye on the plastic versions but to be honest the 909 is just perfect. I can't help but try new skates but may now just stick with what I know. Cool videos too dude...the content is great. 👍
@@JSClark1984 Thanks for watching! I always find i get heel lift with two laces so I replaced them. I purchased some Blanks that showed up last night so will be trying those for a bit until the standards show up.
