Burton Fire vs. ???

[Gtanner]

Can anyone compare the Burton Fire from '01-02 era to the latest Deelux, Head or UPZ boots from a stiffness, cuff height, etc standpoint? I'm trying to figure out what I need for next year and wanted some basis for comparison.

Also does anyone have any info on the new Deelux boots with the buckles (called track I think 225/325)? What boots are they comparable to?

Thanks,

Gord

[bobdea]

much narrower than deeluxe and most others out there, also these boots work better than the AF/indy/suzuka with catek world cups due to the shell being too soft and too thin in the AF at the top of the toebox

the cuff alignment is also better on the fire, it uses a bigger screw that is harder to strip and it offers more positions than the two posistion AF series boots

the liners in burton boots are kinda cheesy, in particular in the last year that they made them, that said the liners in UPZs are useless but both options offered in Deeluxe are better liners, IMHO head owns the catagory of liners, same quality that you would get in a decent ski boot

the burton boots offer a pretty good spring system that works well and offers a walk mode, it does not offer rearward travel like the bomber BTS or UPZ but it does offer more forward travel than UPZ does

the UPZs did not fit in my TD1 stepins either when the burton stuff did

[Guest Alan]

Just keep in mind

The Fire's are great,,,,but they tend to crack along the

toe-box seam

Start looking for indy's,,,Those that started that way, won't know the differance. and the new spring system is working great

Just .02

Alan

[Gtanner]

Thanks for the reply's guys.

Ya I've broken several shells while I was getting the boots free. At the end I got two sets of shells and have been swaping pieces, but they are starting to reach their end of life.

I run these fires with thermo liners (sweet) and will likely never go back to stock liners.

What about cuff height? I've heard that the UPZ and Head boots are lower than the deelux.

Anyone else with thoughts I'd appreciate them.

-Gord

[bobdea]

seriously benefits from a booster strap, not sure that its that much lower than the other stuff just might feel like it when you have thermos in there

Like Alan said, just get the Indys or if you don't mind a lower cuff get Head

[bobdea]

the bomber BTS rocks, the indys with the BTS is pretty hard to beat, just get the soft springs

[Gtanner]

I weigh about 210lbs and use a set of cateks, will the soft be too soft?

[bobdea]

I am 260 and with the AF700s I have the soft spring in there.

so far I have liked that the best, actually I like a super stiff boot as well, hence my love for the fire and wind

I have also used the race tongues with the AFs with the BTS with soft springs, worked well, the forward flex felt like the medium springs but the race tongues give the whole boot a little boost of stiffness.

one recomedation I have for you is to save the heel pads from your burton boots, the ones on UPZ and Deeluxe boots are crap, they wear down and sometimes split pretty easily, with the UPZ boots to put the pads on you have to Tnut them as if you were installing intec but its worth it, another benefit of using the burton heels is that they are a little stiffer.

if you use intec then this is a non issue anyway

as a side note someone on this message board has been claiming that a company in europe has bought the the buton molds and is going to be selling a improved version of the fire next year, this is the same company that is supplying rebranded burton race plates on the pureboarding site

I emailed the pure boarding folks and the only info they would give was that it was true and thats the plan

[Gtanner]

Thanks Bob,

To be honest, I'm leaning towards the UPZ boots. I like the buckles and with the number of WC riders on them, it's hard to say that they are crummy.

Unfortunately on my burtons, my heals and toe pieces on the fires are pretty worn down and essentially toast. I'd be interested in seeing what this european company comes out with, but I'm also looking to just get rid of all my old Burton stuff and try something new.

I am a user of the booster strap, so no worries there.

So Bob, you have both the AF's and a set of UPZ's. Do you use one for different conditions, different bindings, boards...

[bobdea]

for a few reasons, those being that they are too narrow in the heel when using intec because the intec cable makes it that much tighter in there so even with a thermoflex liner it was too tight

they also did not fit in my intec TD1s since the toebox was so wide even with the OS2s and TD2s it was so close to being too wide that I was wondering if I was going to have some weird binding failures, what was happening was that the toebox was actually wider than the curve of the TD1 toe bail

the forward flex on those boots bottoms out pretty easily, takes some getting used to

and the final reason is that the tongue is super stiff making it very hard to get in and out of the boot

I have only ridden AF 600s a handful of times, I barrowed a pair but I have owned a pair of 700s since '01

when I had both a pair of fires and a pair of 700s I would ride the 700s on icey days since they are a little softer and forgiving when you are on rock hard conditions or hit a death cookie, in good conditions I really liked the fire better, when I was living in steamboat I was almost always riding the burton boots.