Another way to soften Head boots' flex

[zoltan]

My new Heads boots still didn't have enough range of motion for me. The issue was the cuff was hitting the back of the lower and was preventing it from flexing forward more. The EC fix for the boot involves drilling out the ankle pivot rivet, and also drilling a hole through the cuff and lower, and slitting them to allow them to flex. After playing around with mine, I didn't feel there was much friction coming from the pivot, and I didn't want to drill it needlessly. I just needed someway to keep the lower from impeding the cuff.

After staring at it for a while I took out my Dremel with a 90 degree adapter on it and a small sanding stone. I cut a notch down into the lower where it was contacting the cuff, and then rounded the two sides so there wasn't a ledge for the cuff to catch on when flexed far forward. I also rounded the edges to allow everything to slide easily and prevent anything catching.

The boot now flexes enough, and is allowing the BTS to do its job. When flexed forward the notch is exposed in the back, but it covered by the BTS, and I have a hard time seeing any snow getting it. It took about 10 minutes per boot, and I'm very happy with the result.

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[michael.a]

Have you ridden in the boots yet? Or just carpet tested em?

[zoltan]

I've ridden the boots before I made the modification, and knew I wanted more motion out of them. However, the weather has sucked around here, so I haven't tested the new modification on snow yet (carving slush scares me). I'm comparing them to my Deeluxe LeMans which had much more range of motion in the ankle. With the Head boots I'd basically hit a wall after just a little movement. Now they have the same range the LeMans had.

[bobdea]

how much do you weigh?

just wondering because those boot are just borderline on being stiff enough for me.

[zoltan]

I'm 6'1" and the heaviest I've ever been at 160 pounds right now.

[BlueB]

The boot now flexes enough, and is allowing the BTS to do its job. When flexed forward the notch is exposed in the back, but it covered by the BTS, and I have a hard time seeing any snow getting it.

Sorry to bring the bad news, but you will likely get some snow in... When I modified my Dalbellos for BTS and softened, I had to do lots of routing too. Some comes as low as yours. The heavy spring slush, or very wet fresh "cement" has the way of working it's way up. I didn't have any problems in other snow conditions.

[zoltan]

I appreciate the heads up! I figure, worse comes to worse, I'll just slap some tape over the inside of the opening.

[Guest]

daaaammnnn you went far....I was scared to go that far for fear of weakening the integrity of the boot. You may have me slicing mine down just a little farther now

I sort of botched the rivet drilling, could barely find parts that fit, and I would do it again 1000 times. It's worth it, and I definitely noticed a difference. I 100% agree, however, that there are other parts on the heel cuff area that are rubbing and causing bigger problem than the rivet.

I've had mine cut out almost as deep as yours and snow does get in there...but if my boot flexes to my liking I have no problem taking my liners out to dry them for a few hours after riding.

[zoltan]

I've managed to get a couple days on the boots now, and am quite happy with them now. In fact, I've stepped up to the blue BTS springs. The modifications were well worth it to me.