ski boots

[Dr D]

I am sick of fighting my boots. If the race tongues don't do the trick I am venturing into the world of skiboots. Anybody riding with ski boots that has any favorites or advice it would be welcome. I learned to ride alpine in my rear entry raichle skiboots in 1990 or so and since I have got back in the sport I have been unsatisfied with the stiffness of the boots available. I can fold my burton reactors and my AF700's in half even with the forward flex mechanisms locked etc. I just got a BTS system and some racing tongues to try on the 700's after that I am out of ideas. I am a big guy but maybe there's more to it than that. any ideas?:( I haven't looked at ski boots in years and don't know where to start. whats with the new park/ freestyle boots and the new "soft" boots LAnge soft 90 rossignal soft and soft lights?

[tex1230]

I have ridden in Raichle Flexons and Salomon Verse (soft ski boots)

I've been tempted to try the Krypton Rampage - softest version of the krypton, which is basically a flexon...

Also if you can find them Kneissl Rail boots are supposed to be pretty good.

[kipstar]

I am not sure you want to go to ski boots. I used to swear by them, and they are definitely stiffer; however I have now come to the conclusion that I was using the cuff of the boot instead of my own muscles to get the board up on edge; I watched a EC rider in Tahoe who was riiiight had over on a long board every turn, then found out he rides in walk mode. He also have massive calf muscles :-)

That said, in perfect hero snow, ski boots can be the bomb; and despite being told multiple times that 'you cannot ride in ski boots' it can definitely be done; however everything you gain in that snow, you give up as soon as the snow has any chop or variations at all; the stiffness of the system becomes too much. And I rode at one point fairly efficient Swiss style rotational technique to win at a national level in a tiny country (not Thailand) in my age group, so it wasn't that slow either. however, this was 10 years ago, when the snowboard boots were genuine junk; they have got a fair bit better since.

Raichle flexon comps were the ones for me; with some mods; the popular things tend to be to cut away some of the throat; to rout out the cuff to get some lateral flex and to increase the forward lean adjuster.

Be aware they were a fairly narrow boot, and the height is a bit much.

After all that, expect to be slower on a race course than in snowboard boots, and get owned in variable snow; get sore knees in powder, and also get some bruises in your front knee because you will be able to hit your back boot in certain positions. Also, they are much heavier than snowboard boots. They may also cause bindings to break, due to the lack of a rubber sole, and different height, I suspect you would want to use a softer binding; TD2s and a ski boot would be rediculously stiff to the point of almost unrideable perhaps. You could also change out the tongue on the raichles to a softer version of the same boot.

The buckles and materials may be fairly flexy, but I'd say it is worth the effort to make snowboard boots work; they were designed to snowboard, and it will take a lot of effort to get a ski boot to work better. The biggest thing that always put me off snowboard boots was every time I tried them they seemed so soft. Since relearning how to ride in a softer boot, my riding has moved to the next level; mind you only doing 4 days a year also is somewhat a restriction L:-0

Hope this helps; I say.....stick with the snowboad boots.

[snowboardfast]

I used to ride with Bomber and Catek bindings with Technica ski boots. 60 degree angles on both feet. No more-same reasons as above too stiff, rough ride . Snowboard boots will allow shallower angles which makes it eaiser to maintain balance and proper body postion while carving. You can generate plenty of edge pressure once you get used to them and don't try to overdrive the boots. I am 5'10'' and weigh 190 and am using Deluxe Susuka boots and find them stiff enough most of the time.I think the Indy boot might be somewhat better if I was riding absoulute ice but living in Colorado we don't see that much ice. With ski boots it is hard to flex foward enough when carving. You can use Catek bindings and adjust the lift to compensate for this but you still will have a rough ride when things get choppy. Another thing you can do is use step in bindings and intec heels which will make things somewhat stiffer particularly in lateral flex. I like stepins better because i feel like I can twist the boot around too much with standard bails.

[Dr D]

Well first I guess you need to know that I am 6'3" and 275 lbs. I don't have much trouble with shallow angles but as I get into the skinnier boards and the forward angles I am having problems with the forward flex being to soft. The Donek is 201 and a 19 waist so it has been tough to run and the skwals really need ski boots in my opinion. I haven't been able to drive the boots into the edge toeside since I can bend the tops down until they touch the toes. Last night I installed the BTS with red springs wound fairly tight and the racing tongues which are a lot stiffer (pleasantly surprised) so we will see how that works. I think I will need ski boots to run the skwal efficiently so I was hoping to find a boot that crossed over well.

I am just frustrated that my carving in soft boots is rapidly getting better than my carving in hard boots. Its partly a comfort issue as well. the boot fitter assures me my shells are properly sized and we blew out the fore foot a little but the next time I went out the plastic had pretty much assumed its normal shape. I have wide feet so the whole 104mm forefoot thing is attractive. More wide foot choices in the skiboot world. I have a 29 mondo size but I often wear 12 + street shoes to get the width.

[boarderboy]

Think these were supposed to be the softest of the soft ski boots 2-3 years ago.

I'm a size 12.5 so not holding my breath to find a pair.

Best of luck

[snowboardfast]

I had the same problems with a pair of Burton boots when running high angles. i could twist them sideways when carving hard. That is why I went to ski boots at the time.Since you have big feet you are forced to ride high angles and I could see why your gear isn't working right due to your size and weight. Also that Donek board is probably real stiff and you need a stiff setup to drive it properly through a turn. Ski boots worked for me at that time because I was running high angles and only needed to flex them foward not sideways. You might try Technica ski boots with some Catek bindings. When Mark fawcett was racing he was running Catek World cup plates with Technica ski boots due to the fact that he was breaking hardshell snowboarding boots. The Catek bindings allow you to adjust for the lack of flex in the ski boot by being able to put in more heel lift and toe lift to help get you in the proper postion when carving. This will help prevent shin bang because of not being able to flex the rear boot enough. The other problem you might have is the sole of your ski boot might be so long that you can't fit it in the binding. You might contact Catek to see what they say about this. You could buy a pair of World cup plates fairly cheap to try this out. Make sure you get the long plate version. I hope this helps. Good luck and don't give up !

[Dr D]

My skier buddies have been trying out the skwal on my Td2's with no fit issues so the newer ski boots must be somewhat shorter than the old days. It was my first clue that the boots were part of the problem watching them drive it around no problem while I bottomed my boots out all the time.

In the old days the burton bindings with the rails could be adjusted in to allow more lateral flex so all the lateral flex was in the binding and the boot allowed for the forward flex. If they stop making good boots we may have to reverse engineer something.

[felix]

I jsut put Ski innerboots into my Raichles and that solved all fit problems. They actually don't work well in the skiboots but they work great in the Raichles.

For Skiing I use a Fischer Soma 9000 and love it. But I would never ever consider to use it for snowboarding, even though the overall lenght would be a mere 5mm longer as I downsized heavily.

[Dr D]

I jsut put Ski innerboots into my Raichles and that solved all fit problems. They actually don't work well in the skiboots but they work great in the Raichles.

For Skiing I use a Fischer Soma 9000 and love it. But I would never ever consider to use it for snowboarding, even though the overall lenght would be a mere 5mm longer as I downsized heavily.

what inner boots are we talking about here? any in particular?

[felix]

I talk about the same as in my skiing boots. So its a "race fit" Fischer innerboot taken from the Soma 9000 race (the top modell of the line for last year taking out the plug boot worldcup soft which I wouldn't recommend for innerboot exchange as its too low volume). Neither would I really recommend low or middle class skiboots as their liners are too high volume and not stiff enough.

I consider buying one more of those Fischer boots just as a backup for the innerboot. However for around 200€ (RRP was 479€) it's a bit expensive. Just go in a skishop and take out a liner to see if you like it more. Maybe try a day with a rental model and then call the distributor for the price of a inneboot only. This is with a AF600 Raichle. Your mileage might vary but I threw out an old foamed inner as it was much better. The big advantage is that my low instep now fits for the first time into my boot (still buckled down completely on the 2nd buckle but no more heellift on FS).

Oh liner Size was 1:1 in Mondo. Don't downsize the innerboot compared to the snowboard outerboot. 26.5 Raichle needs 26.5 Fischer innerboot from last year. This year sizes went up so maybe a 26.5 Raichle needs a 26 or 25.5 Fischer innerboot.

Furthermore I use molded Conformable insoles.

However using a skiboot will make the boot much stiffer overall. I now board with the lever in freeride mode, before locked and its about the same stiffness.

[carvedog]

I am sick of fighting my boots. If the race tongues don't do the trick I am venturing into the world of skiboots. Anybody riding with ski boots that has any favorites or advice it would be welcome. I learned to ride alpine in my rear entry raichle skiboots in 1990 or so and since I have got back in the sport I have been unsatisfied with the stiffness of the boots available. I can fold my burton reactors and my AF700's in half even with the forward flex mechanisms locked etc. I just got a BTS system and some racing tongues to try on the 700's after that I am out of ideas. I am a big guy but maybe there's more to it than that. any ideas?:( I haven't looked at ski boots in years and don't know where to start. whats with the new park/ freestyle boots and the new "soft" boots LAnge soft 90 rossignal soft and soft lights?

Hey Doc,

What size are you? Just curious. Cause one of things that happens with ski boots is that the DIN sole adds almost an inch to two inches to the sole length of the boot which equals = drag and overhang. I am a big guy too and I detroyed three pairs of Reactors and found them soft. I liked them a lot better with custom liners and they worked great. Until I detroyed the shell.

Tried Raichle and found them quite soft too even with race tongues I could way flex the boot and the one buckle on the outside of the ankle seemed to pop open and get jammed with snow. Can't remember model #.

Second set of Burton Fire with custom foam liner and love them. Great flex stiff enough when I crank them down and foot never hurts. Hope you get it figured out.

[Dr D]

I have a set of reactors that I actually like ok. the are a little wide for the TD2 bails and are a pain to close. I run them with intuition liners with mixed success. they are ok until I get on the narrow longer boards then everything seems to fall apart. Its no doubt a technique issue as well. anyway I have installed the BTS and the race tongues and the intuition liners so we will see if its enough. they are definitely stiffer than before.