Bauer doesn’t just want to help improve your skating—they want you to fly. The Vapor skate line has been upgraded with the new Vapor FLYLITEs, featuring plenty of reworks and refinements throughout. We’ll take a detailed look at the skate, then help you decide if it’s the right one for your game.

Graphics

The Vapor FLYLITEs have a mostly black base, tapering into grey and white near the heel. The transition from white to black is stark, and it’ll definitely get noticed on the ice no matter how fast you’re skating. The FLYLITE graphics and accents, meanwhile, are subtle, almost hard to see unless you look up close.

And up close, they’re pretty fire—literally. These skates sport the latest FLYLITE blue and purple graphics along the white heel, right where the colour transition happens. The design itself sits somewhere between a small flame and sound waves. As an added touch, the grey tendon guard also has its own splattered colour transition when shifting from grey to black.

The skate also has a Limited Edition Variant with all the tech but a brand new colour scheme. Although still sticking to a black base, the FLYLITE LE has a mostly white colouration, from the heel, up to the tendon guard, around the outsole, and along the facing. The blue and purple flame has been changed to a striking white, and there are more splatter patterns at the toe cap, where the visuals transition from white back to black again.

Stiffness Profile and Skate Level

The Vapor FLYLITEs are part of the Vapor family, which means they are designed for quick agility and reflex skating styles. We’ll cover more on the boot’s construction in a later section.

These skates are classified as elite-level, which means you need to be relatively strong on your skates to maximize the benefits. Elite-level skates include the most advanced and toughest technology, but to accommodate high-performance athletes, they are also much stiffer than average skates.

Lacing, Toe Cap, and Tendon Guard

Bauer elected for a few upgrades and changes across these skate components.

One of the first things you might notice, particularly if you’re moving from the Hyperlite 2s to FLYLITEs, is the switch to the Fly tendon. On the Hyperlite, the tendon was softer, made to both stabilize and keep the back of your leg comfortable while doing so. The Fly tendon is best described as a hybrid of Supreme top-end models and the Hyperlite. It’s straighter and more upright like the Hyperlite, but lighter, tougher, and without the foam inserts. This new tendon is also a bit shorter and more low-profile.

A bit more subtle are the adjustments to the facing. Before, the Hyperflex facing was distinctly at the top of the boot, indicated by the silver markings, and was designed primarily to aid with forward ankle flexion. But Bauer realized that this wasn’t quite enough. Now the FLYLITE uses Fusion Flex Injected Facing, which is very similar to the Hyperlite, but with a little more strategic placement. The flex notches are more spread out and further down the facing, which not only makes the skate more comfortable overall, but also allows for more full foot-to-ankle flexion, and thus more load on your stride.

The toe’s geometry has been updated, as you can probably tell in the photo comparison. The skate excels at agile movement and quick transitions. That means the toe needs to be ready to load a lot of energy, and to do it both quickly and efficiently. The Fusion Connect toe cap is a bit more rounded and low-profile, and it loads more consistently than the older angled, asymmetrical shape.

Boot and Tongue

The skate still uses an Aerolite tongue, similar to the Hyperlite 2. Not much has changed here besides the colourway, which now matches the FLYLITE.

Of all the components, the boot is where the Vapor and Supreme families now differ the most, and that’s especially clear the higher up you go in price point. Opposite to Supremes, Vapor skates are designed with a stiffer upper boot and more flexible lower boot. While Supremes are designed to carry and stabilize a massive amount of load on each stride, Vapors are built to adapt. To achieve this, the rigid upper boot stabilizes your ankles for quick turning and transitions, while the more flexible lower portion moves and bends with quick foot movement.

The skate uses a Fusionlite quarter package with a Fusion Flex outsole, made with Fusion CURV composite (there’s a lot of “Fusion” going on here). The refined use of materials plays a major role in increasing the skate’s energy load and storage. The carbon composite is a newer difference in development between Supreme and Vapor. That’s a big deal, since it lets each line lean further into its own style of play.

Inner Padding and Overall Feel

The skates include Bauer’s Lock-Fit Pro liner along the sides and insole, combining padding thickness, grip material, and a comfort lining to keep your foot comfortable and secure. The padding protrudes a bit around the ankle, while the inside and outside areas of the soles feel tacky. Together, the comfort padding forms around your ankle as you tie the skates on, and the tacky material keeps your feet from sliding around in the boot. Wearing skates can easily lead to blisters if your feet aren’t locked in, and the Lock-Fit Pro liner does a great job at holding your feet in place. The comfort and Lock-Fit padding is very similar to how it was in the Hyperlite 2s.

As all high-end skates are now, the boots are thermoformable, meaning you can place them in the oven to soften the shape, then put them on and tie them to let them form around your feet. Make sure to follow Bauer’s written instructions when thermoforming your skates to ensure it’s done properly. If you aren’t sure, you can always get your skates thermoformed at your local hockey store if they have access to skate ovens (like The Hockey Shop).

Relatively speaking, the Vapor FLYLITEs are actually pretty comfortable, even pre-heatmolding. I usually wear Supremes, but putting these on felt natural from the get-go.

Runners and Holders

The Vapor FLYLITE is part of Bauer’s Choose Your Steel initiative, which means the skates are customizable in terms of steel choices. Since they use Bauer’s more recent Powerfly holder, it means they are compatible with any FLY steel, including FLY-TI (comparable to PULSE TI) and FLY-X (comparable to PULSE) blades. The FLYLITEs automatically come with FLY-TI steel.

Every part of the Powerfly holder has multiple distinct functions, from the front to the back, and even at the heel. The front post is rigid, designed to support explosive force when accelerating. The middle stability bar is, as the name implies, built to stabilize and balance out your stride. And then there’s the flexible back post, which is constructed for speed and efficiency when turning.

Final Thoughts

This skate is a Vapor skate, which means it’s designed for players who transition quickly and often on the ice, those who thrive on reacting and adapting to the play. Not only does your playstyle require you to turn on a dime when the situation calls for it, but you also like to make space as quickly as possible. If you’re less of a strategist and more of a react-and-adapt type of player, then these will be the perfect skates for your game.

I love that Bauer made a lot of small but noticeable upgrades, particularly in the facing, toe, and tendon. The Hyperlites were a solid foundation, but to reach the next level for adaptive playstyles, the skate needed a few changes, and that’s exactly what happened here.

One thing to keep in mind: if this is your first elite or pro-inspired skate, you might need some time to get used to the stiffer boot and tongue. The upper portion is stiffer than the lower section and outsole, resulting in a tighter, less forgiving fit around the ankles. You should ideally feel more comfortable with a snug ankle fit while also having decent ankle strength when using these skates. These skates aren’t recommended unless you’ve been skating for a while and have tried them on in-store.

When skate shopping, you want skates that fit well, are comfortable, and are designed around your specific skating style. If you aren’t sure, many stores (like The Hockey Shop), will have expert skate fitters who can help you find the exact kind of skates you’re looking for, and even machines that can analyze your skating and walking style, what parts of your feet you put pressure on the most, etc. Other options also include the FlyPro, Fly40, and Fly30 if you want skates in the FLYLITE family but maybe have a lower budget, or if you aren’t finding FLYLITEs very comfortable.