D-Sub Posted March 21, 2005 Report Share Posted March 21, 2005 well...I just dont think Im a hardboot freerider, and I know for a fact I _have_ had comfortable setups in the past with soft stuff right now its burton rulers and Ride EXs. Lookin at Flow Pro-11, and am wondering about a medium stiff soft boot with as short a sole length as possible. Malamutes get mentioned a lot. anything else? what about moldable liners in a softboot? 32 has them...does it help much? thanks in advance to anyone. I know this is a hardboot site, but I dont post at any other snowboarding sites Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrokel Posted March 21, 2005 Report Share Posted March 21, 2005 ...Salomon F24's... check'em out, the Malamutes are great too but the F24's are shorter... although a mite softer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted March 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2005 Originally posted by Tim Tuthill Softies: Hey D Check out the Northwave line. The top models are real good. Matter of fact mine are as hard to get on as my hard boots?? Go figure. thats weird...my hardboots are EASY to get on and my softboots SUCK both on and off. the liners are so fckin flimsy. will check whats been mentioned so far. thanks all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted March 21, 2005 Report Share Posted March 21, 2005 Originally posted by Tim Tuthill Matter of fact mine are as hard to get on as my hard boots?? Not unusual - my Raichle hard boots are much easier to get get into than my Salomon Malamutes. D-Sub - since I'm the one who is responsible for getting you thinking about this with my comment at the top of the lift yesterday, can I ask you to measure your current softies and remind me which size? I'll measure mine and we can compare notes. We'll see if my soft boots are really shorter "for their size". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted March 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2005 heh. yes, you are responsible:) but at the same time, if I can find a shorter boot that allows "normal" freeride angles with less toe and heel hang I'll go for it I tried those SB123s, moldable liners and all, and I decided I just dont like hardboots for freeriding. I know it works for many people, just not me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonerider Posted March 21, 2005 Report Share Posted March 21, 2005 Originally posted by D-Sub well...I just dont think Im a hardboot freerider, and I know for a fact I _have_ had comfortable setups in the past with soft stuff right now its burton rulers and Ride EXs. Lookin at Flow Pro-11, and am wondering about a medium stiff soft boot with as short a sole length as possible. Malamutes get mentioned a lot. anything else? what about moldable liners in a softboot? 32 has them...does it help much? thanks in advance to anyone. I know this is a hardboot site, but I dont post at any other snowboarding sites Hah! Should have gone for the Catek FRs when I gave you the chance (just kidding) Did you see Mike T riding with them? The built in lift would have alleviated some of that need for smaller boot profile. Hey Mike, so how are the Cateks FR treating you? I just got a pair of Nidecker 800s but we got 3 feet of snow this weekend and I was riding my Fish with Burton P1MDs (damn them and their 3D pattern) The Salomon F-boots are already mentioned... I think Burton has a smaller profile boots as well (forgot the name). I have the 32 with Intuition liners, I like them - but I'm not sure if they will "help much" for foot size - maybe you could use a smaller boot, but I'm not sure. They are relatively smaller profile (about a half size smaller than my Salomon Synapse/Dialogue if I remember correctly) The Forecast are only medium stiffness - go for the discontinue Team-Ones for a stiffer boot. Try freecarve.com as PSR roams there more I think and probably knows more about stiff freeride boots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted March 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2005 I dont necessarily need STIFF. I dont expect my freeride board to be a carving board. thats what carving boards are for:) anyway...maybe just a stiffer moldable liner will work. I think these boots are pretty stubby anyway! mike...will measure:) anyone have experience with the deeluxe softboot liner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted March 21, 2005 Report Share Posted March 21, 2005 Originally posted by lonerider Hey Mike, so how are the Cateks FR treating you? Quite well, thank you! Definitely my favorite soft bidning to date. I sent Jeff @ catek a couple of suggestions to make them even better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted March 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2005 like putting decent straps on them to start? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonerider Posted March 21, 2005 Report Share Posted March 21, 2005 Originally posted by D-Sub I dont necessarily need STIFF. I dont expect my freeride board to be a carving board. thats what carving boards are for:) anyway...maybe just a stiffer moldable liner will work. I think these boots are pretty stubby anyway! mike...will measure:) anyone have experience with the deeluxe softboot liner? Ok cool - yea, I didn't want my freeride board to be like a carving board... so I went with medium stiffness 32 Forecasts and now Nidecker 800 Freestyle bindings (as opposed to the Nidecker 900 Carbons). This is because I want to be able to take my freeride board in the park/pipe (still ride park almost as much as alpine - about 30%) as well as in powder and bumps. I definitely like the boots, but that's mainly because they fit my foot better than any other boot (although I did get custom footbeds and padded the ankle area around the liner as well). Mike - glad you like them! What suggestions did you make to Jeff @ Catek? Definitely the straps and highback (but the pair you have already have that "upgrade'). I wanted a more ankle strap holes so I could move the strap "higher" and a foam padding ontop of the baseplate to muffle the shock of the all aluminum design a little (a little bit of padding on the heelcup would be nice too). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted March 21, 2005 Report Share Posted March 21, 2005 Originally posted by D-Sub like putting decent straps on them to start? :) Actually, my suggestions were: 1) Lower the heel cup a bit and shape it more ergonomically. 2) Add some kind of raised ridge along the sides. The Catek FR are harder to strap into wile standing up, due to the fact that my back foot slides around a bit The Freeride Pro already addresses "decent straps to begin with" and if I am not mistaken, the pricing is competitive w/ Burton and Salomon top-end bindings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonerider Posted March 21, 2005 Report Share Posted March 21, 2005 Originally posted by Mike T Actually, my suggestions were: 1) Lower the heel cup a bit and shape it more ergonomically. 2) Add some kind of raised ridge along the sides. The Catek FR are harder to strap into wile standing up, due to the fact that my back foot slides around a bit The Freeride Pro already addresses "decent straps to begin with" and if I am not mistaken, the pricing is competitive w/ Burton and Salomon top-end bindings. The Burton C60 as $350, the Fusions are like $300 and the P1s are $280 so yea compared to Burton. I'm not sure about Salomon - the SPX7 (top line) is $270 and the SPX Pro is $230 - so comparable to the Freerides, but not the pros in price. Ontop of that both Burton and Salmon regularly go for 20-30% off and 40-50% off for used gear, whereas Catek essentially never has sales and there are a very limited number of used sales. So I'm saying the Freeride Pros are more expensive... just not much by much - and I agree that given the choice... most carving oriented people should go for the Freerides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnovak Posted March 21, 2005 Report Share Posted March 21, 2005 D-Sub: Know your post asks about boots, but since you are looking at Flows, thought I would relate my experiences since I have had experience softboot "carving" with the various Flow models. My impression is that if you are trying to get as close to a hardboot set-up as you can using soft gear and you like Flow already, you can consider the Flow Team (if you can suffer the price tag -- it drops my jaws) or the more reasonably priced Flow Pro C FR or XFR. There is a difference in stiffness of the Flows and I do not think you can go too stiff on the bindings when you are an experienced hardbooter. An annoying thing about the Team (aside from price) is the highback lever does not have clips in the highback holding it up like all the other models -- it may allow the highback to fall down more easily when skating, which is really annoying if you push the board on the heelside. Anyways, my 2 cents! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted March 21, 2005 Report Share Posted March 21, 2005 I had a pair a couple years ago and I put them up next to a bunch of other boots in a shop and it was the shortest I could find this could be different now because its a totally different boot as of last year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted March 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 actually lookin at Ride Tomcats now for binders. probably just go to a couple shops and see what they have here. thanks all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 nice comfy strap I gotta say it though, Cateks rock! with burton P1 straps perfection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted March 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 if I could find Cateks for cheap on ebay ID probably buy them, but Im seein Tomcats for $150 or less Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted March 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 ok, this turned into a binding thread. picked up a pair of tomcats barely used for a good price. Flows seem good but the damn highback shape KILLS my front calf and they are way too heavy. SO...still a 2-strapper on a soft setup. still wonderin about any other suggestions on boots that have a super short sole length Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmartshopper Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 You probably already know, but just in case, the F series are short, but you pay the price via a non-removable liner. After going through the process of sizing my first hardboots, it occurred to me that you might be able to remove the liner from a softboot, size them per the "2 finger" method, then put intuition liners. I bet you could get into a smaller softboot that way. I haven't tried this... just a theory. Another thing to consider... I just replaced 100day-old malimutes and the new ones were WAY stiffer... they had broken down quite a bit over a couple seasons (I rode them every day out). My point? You may want to go stiff at first, cuz they'll break down with time anyway. ________ Free Vaporizer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hbdad Posted March 23, 2005 Report Share Posted March 23, 2005 Take a look at burton's sl-7.the over all foot print is small articulating cuff and low-profile sole.But it is on the $$$ side. I have them and my feet like them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest k-mog Posted March 23, 2005 Report Share Posted March 23, 2005 My $.02 32 tm2's on Drake LTD's TM2 has overlapping thermal liner, very compact (I know what size shoe you wear :-)), very light. Limited is a great freecarving binding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted March 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2005 Originally posted by k-mog My $.02 32 tm2's on Drake LTD's TM2 has overlapping thermal liner, very compact (I know what size shoe you wear :-)), very light. Limited is a great freecarving binding. you know what size shoe I wear? who is this? a SPY?!?!? :) 32 is nice since it comes with intuition liners, and yeah...Drakes look good. Gonna try these Ride tomcats first tho! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest k-mog Posted March 24, 2005 Report Share Posted March 24, 2005 You may be able to get a sweet deal on limiteds if you can find them. Drake straps rule! Cranked up the axis baseplate is stiffer than anything out there. I like them better than the Cateks. Limiteds are discontinued for next year so grab 'em if you can. 32 moved the overlapping liner (Intuition?)down the model line for next year into a very stiff boot which seems to be aimed at freecarvers. The tm2 has a removeable tongue plate which stiffens it up considerably. It will have a moldable liner with a tongue next year:-( OT: Nidecker has a board coming out next year called the Prime which is a lot fun. It is geometrically similar to the Legend but without the rubber tip and tail. You can get on the nose a lot harder but it is still a good pow board. FUN! Of course, thanks in part to you, I havent been on softies for a couple of weeks....;-)) I am lovin this hard boot thing. What a rip! PS. I have an extra set of Limiteds if you want to try them. I would want them back since they quit makin' them but If you pick up the shipping I'd be happy to let you experiment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted March 24, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2005 the 32 forecast looks good. I have those bindings on the way but would love to try some others do I know you? a bell is ringing but I cant remember why! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest k-mog Posted March 24, 2005 Report Share Posted March 24, 2005 Head stratos pro.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.