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A quick post on gear failure.


Joe D

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My front boot broke in a semi-impressive way while riding in chunky powder at Mt. Bachelor today.
I was heavy on my heelside, and ran through some moguls.   Felt a 'snap' in front boot / binding and knew something had broken.  
Still made a few turns, slowing down, before the last mogul popped the boot out of the front binding.

Couldn't get boot locked back in, finally got it lined up and limped down the last few yards.
Really glad I was unhurt.

front boot.jpg

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What we have here is a classic case of " If man made it it can and will break". Glad you weren't hurt ! Plastic will deform and return to shape until it doesn't. Old story but i once witnessed a complete boot sole separation that left the ski brakes retracted while the whole upper boot separated allowing the ski to rocket to the bottom of the hill narrowly missing a young skier. 

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If you're in bail bindings rather than stepins a quick fix to get you riding again may be to see if someone can rent you some Dalbello Kryptons or similar cabrio style shell/cuff design.

Others may know of other ski boots likely to be able to be hired that might get you going again.

Edited by SunSurfer
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On 2/18/2019 at 2:07 PM, Joe D said:

They are ooold.

Raichle SB224's.  I got them in '06.  Not sure model year.  

Had a lot of good days in those boots, had them dialed in & comfy.

 

Noticed on your profile that you use Ibex bindings. I think the less rigid construction of the older Raichle/Deelux boots is not a good combination with less rigid design of the Burton/Ibex race plate binding. To prevent the binding springing open, there needs to be way too much tension on the bails, which deforms the boot. This doesn't happen with a more rigid boot like the the old Burton or Oxygen hard boots.

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Ugh!

Glad you weren't hurt! Plastics degrade over time. It's the reason you shouldn't use a child car seat that is more than 5 years old.

Sun, heat (keep it in the car?), cold, and old age all contribute to the plasticizers leaching away leaving you with a brittle boot. 

 

Hey, at least it's an excuse to pamper yourself with a new pair of boots!

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1 hour ago, BobD said:

Noticed on your profile that you use Ibex bindings. I think the less rigid construction of the older Raichle/Deelux boots is not a good combination with less rigid design of the Burton/Ibex race plate binding. To prevent the binding springing open, there needs to be way too much tension on the bails, which deforms the boot. This doesn't happen with a more rigid boot like the the old Burton or Oxygen hard boots.

I follow your reasoning, although my bails were never hard to close.  Those 224's were really too soft.

In my case, the lower boot plastic has gone crumbly, surely due to age.  I have seen other old plastics degrade like this.  I did like Burton hardboots a lot, but those haven't been manufactured in years.  If Burton were to re-release a medium flex hardboot, I would buy.  

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Plastics degrade.

A buddy of mine had these Deeluxe boots in a shed in Hawaii for 10 years. The shed is used to store wood for surfboard construction so it is not an extreme environment (doesn't bake inside) and it is out of the sun.

He said they came apart like crackers. I guess Deeluxe boots don't like Hawaii. 😉 

IMG_1482.JPG

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