If you find yourself ordering a set of blade guards and find yourself looking pieces of plastic and springs scattered, don't worry. With a little bit of patience you will be able to mount them on your blades to protect the edges from being damaged. Before you do anything, you need to know the size of the blades these guards will be mounted on. Typical Speed Skate blade sizes are from 14" to 18" with half-inch increments.
Tools that you may need:
- A small hacksaw
- Screwdriver (a flathead or Phillips will do)
Blade guards usually do not need to be cut down in size if your blades are longer than 17". However, this also depends on the shape of the tube which may require you to shorten the length of the guards to be able to create some tension with the provided springs. Twin-Guards come with two marks labeled "A" and "B". These marks make it easy to determine where you need to cut the guards to fit them to your blades.
If your blades are:
- shorter than 14" you will need to determine the cutting a longer piece - beyond the "A" mark.
- between 14" and 15.5" you will cut the guards at the "A" mark.
- between 16" and 17" inches you will cut the guards at the "B" mark.
These are general guidelines and you may need to cut at a different location to properly fit your blades.
Once they are cut to the appropriate size, you will direct your attention to the 4-springs provided. Each guard will use 2-springs. The purpose of the springs is to create enough tension that the ends of the plastic guards are kept tight against each other when they are not in use on your blades. When installed correctly, you will need to exert pressure to separate the guards and fit the blade inside of the guards. The tension of the springs will keep the guards secured to your blades.
Each spring comes with a screw attached on one side and a loop on the other side. As you screw one of the springs into the guard, the screw will come out from the other end where the loop of the second spring will secure itself. The same will happen on the other side. You may need to pull on one of the springs to help it reach the screw. Once the loop is holding the screw, give the screw a few more turns to make sure the thread of the screw is securing the springs in place.
THREE PIECE GUARDS
If the guards you bought are the 3-piece, rather than the 2-piece shown above. You only need to cut the middle piece to the appropriate length. These guards do not have a mark "A" or "B" so you need to make sure you know the length of your blades and cut enough of the middle piece to create the tension necessary.
If you rather not be troubled with fitting these guards, for a small fee, our shop offers this service with every purchase of a set of guards. We only ask that you provide us with the size of your blades so we can cut them to the appropriate length.