AlexJ Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 I am planning to ride softies this year (haven't ridden anything but hard boots since 1996). I want a stiff setup that will allow me to do some light carving, but will give me the flexibility to go in the bumps, trees and park. I am thinking of the Catek freeride pro for bindings and a Donek Axis 177, but I have no idea about boots. Any recommendations on stiffer soft boot that would suite my needs. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgang Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 I use burton rulers from a couple of years back. Not too stiff and fit really well. believe it or not but those cap straps from burton with the gas pedals make a big difference. Wish somebody still made three strap bindings. I remember the torque bindings I got with my first Air 5.1. Those where the best soft bindings ever IMOH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 I am looking for softies, too! A friend of mine advised me to buy the Salomon F24 - they are about one size smaller than other boots. Especially for carving you don't want to have any toe or heel drag. I think I will go for these boots as I have pretty large feet - mondo 29. I don't know how stiff these boots are, but I think you could adapt your bindings if you want the interface to be stiffer. Deeluxe has a softboot in which you can put extra plastic strips making them stiffer. Hope this helps you a little! Grtz, Erwin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 You might also check out the Prior ATV - basically a wider version of the 4WD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnfusion Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 IMO you can carve on anything. I can carve in my Burton Carbines or Burton Drivers, so it is a matter of how stiff you like your boots. Like I said above, I have two pairs of softies. I generally wear my Drivers (the stiffest boots in Burtons line) when I'm looking to just go out and lay an edge. I am a light rider (150lbs) and for anything other than needing a very responsive boot I wear my Carbines. Now being as you have rode hard boots for nearly 10 years I would recomend either the Driver or the Ruler. The driver is gonna be more like a hard boot, esp with the insert added. The ruler is gonna have a little more flex to it, but is still very stiff. IMO, if you go to a mid-stiffness boot after riding hards for so long you may be disappointed. Though the best thing to do is go try on boots and see what fits your foot best and then go from there. I have ridden both softs and hards and the Driver is really close to a hard boot in a soft boot disguise. If that is what you what, go with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pokkis Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 In case you have chance please check F2 Intec HBX and Hurricane boots, that is one mighty combo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 I dunno about the boots but IMNSHO the Axis is too stiff and narrow for soft boots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrokel Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 The standard stiff soft boot list seems to be: Salomon Malamutes Salomon F24 Burton Driver Deeluxe Spark (hard to find though, try Blue Tomato and I've seen 'em on Ebay every-so-often) The Malamutes are probably the stiffest of the first three. The F24 has the advantage of having no liner so the absolute length of the boot is the smallest of those listed. The Driver was the most comfy for me when I tried them on but I opted for the more stiff Malamute (the stiffeners that come with the Driver doesn't do much to the fore-aft stiffness but does help a little with the side to side stiffness). I have no idea how the Deeluxe is but I believe Sean @ Donek uses them (at least per the web site) so that must say something... BTW the Malamute fits nicely with the Catek Freerides... I don't know about the other three... Regarding the board, I love my Incline for both hard and soft boots... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 I've found soft boots much harder to modify for fit than hard boots, so make sure the fit is good out of the box. For me, that's Salomon Malamutes, which are plenty stiff but allow for some sideways flex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bordy Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 Just get a good system the boot board and binding have to work together. If you have a catek binding you will need a stiff boot to power it and if you are riding a stiff boot and binding combo a soft board will just be over powered. Boot fit is more important then any thing if you can find a quality boot in the flex you want that fits perfect that is much smarter then buyin brand name boot so and so because some one on BOL said so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FTA2R Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 i went to a bootfitter friend of mine who sold me a pair of these- they have a heat liner. at first i didn't buy the gimic, but once they packed out a bit (and i took them back to get teh R foot stretched a tad), I'm a total believer. insole/footbed has definitely taken the shape of my arch. re: stiffness, I can't comment. i've certainly tied them too tight before though. the heat moldable feature is really great though. they were 200 at the time. good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svr Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 Alex, I loved the combo of the Sparks with my Catek Freerides and it is the stiffest soft boot ride I have been able to find. The Malamutes would be my next recommendation as they are very comfortable as well as stiff. The newer Sparks are much better fitting and a lot more comfortable so be carefull of older models as they were hard to break in (once they were broke in they were great, but it took a while to get them there). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 depending on the fit, one thing to keep in mind is that the older solomon boots tended to pack out alot, this may still be a issue so ask around and if this is still how they are make sure they are on the snug side when you buy them. the liner in the driver tends not to pack out as much and if you have wide feet the burton will not be as comfy, that said I prefer burton softboots because burton rocks with warranties and I like the way they ride better than the solomon stuff. My next pair of softies will probably be the solomon Mal due to my feet getting more sensitive, I have had a couple off snow injuries that are becoming annoying. So anyway don't le your feet get stepped on by horses and it will probably keep more options open for your boot choices :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 theres a guy selling thirty two forecast on ebay. I just grabbed a pair for damn cheap. theyre one of the stiffer in the thirtytwo line, and yeah...heat moldable liners... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonerider Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 theres a guy selling thirty two forecast on ebay. I just grabbed a pair for damn cheap. theyre one of the stiffer in the thirtytwo line, and yeah...heat moldable liners... In the past few years I've previously tried all the Salomon boots (Dialogue, Synapse, Malamute) and I liked the Dialogues the best, but you might prefer the more secure Malamutes. They all sport a heat-moldable liner now, but are only good for people with wide toes. I also felt the Malamutes were a little to stiff for me at 150lbs... so I would only recommend them if you are big (over 170). I want to check out the F22 or F24 boots in the future. The ThirtyTwo boots are great for people with narrow-feet. They are extremely light and low-profile and the Intuition heat-moldable liners are awesome (they are actually a generation ahead of the standard Deeluxe/Raichle liners, which are licensed from Intuition). The Lashed are very soft. I have a set of the Thirty-Two Forecasts that are one step stiffer (bought at Exitrealworld in Oregon). If you have strong ankles and a dynamic riding style, you could probably ride the Lashed - the key thing is that they fit you really well. My Forecasts are no where near are stiff as my old Salomons, but I have good ankles (I play a lot of ice hockey and soccer) although I don't skate with the top laces open like some of the A-leaguers I play with - they have ridiculously strong ankles and can carve a 10 ft circle going 20 mph with essentially zero ankle support. The Cateks are solidly built and allow you to get ridiculous power onto you edges. However, I far prefer the Nidecker Carbon series - they are very stiff (especially the 900s) and can carve as well as the Cateks, but are much smoother and dampened because of the LDS dampening system. Like the Cateks, the Nideckers are raised up, but instead of solid chunk of CNC machine aluminum, they use a heavy-duty EVA foam pad to reduce vibrations just like the Bomber TD2 E-rings. The tradeoff is that you lose the nice cant/lift options. Also, the Nideckers are a much more mature product, with far better ergonomics... (Catek is still working out a lot of kinks in the boot fit/ergonimics area). The Nidecker's straps are so nice that to answer customer complaints about the fitting of their standard Freeride model, Catek went out and bought a bunch of Nidicker Carbon Straps and retrofitted their existing lineup to create the "Freeride Pros" for an added $50. For a board, I assume you came up with an Axis from the random posts here on BOL, a standard Axis will NOT work for you. NateW sports an Axis, but it was a custom with like a 23cm waist. So don't get confused by random musings of some desktop softbooter on what the ultimate softboot carving board - make sure they the board was actually ridden by said person in softboots. Jack's suggestion of the Prior ATV is perfect as that is exactly the purpose for this board (it's a 4WD with a 23cm waist so it can be ridden in softboots). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Pumpkins Posted September 29, 2005 Report Share Posted September 29, 2005 Love my burton drivers. had them for a few years now, still ride like they are brand new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 30, 2005 Report Share Posted September 30, 2005 When you get your bindings, you might want to consider calling up burton's tech support and requesting new straps, specifically the toe cap ones. They really help hold your heel back in the binding. They should work for the freeride pros. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexJ Posted September 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2005 Thank you all for the great feedback. I will be hunting around and trying on as many of these boots as I can. I have been on a Donek for a long time and love the product, so I will stick with some type of Donek either stock or custom. One thing I forgot was my size which may influence the types of boots I am 210 lbs. Thanks again, I will let you know what I go with. Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nekdut Posted September 30, 2005 Report Share Posted September 30, 2005 Speaking of good softboots, go check out today's steepandcheap deal: http://steepandcheap.com/ Salomon F22's for $99. Good price!:) But only good until Midnight MST 9/30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svr Posted September 30, 2005 Report Share Posted September 30, 2005 You can now get the Nidecker bindings at bcstore.com here is the link http://www.backcountry.com/store/NDK0007/c7/s48/Nidecker-Carbon-900-Snowboard-Binding.html As for the Catek freeride's, my only complaint about both the stock and pro models is the weight and I have made some modifications to the base plates and the catek discs as well to solve some of this. Either the freerides or the nideckers are great bingings...I just wish that someone would come up with a new cant for soft and plate bindings as the burton cants are getting hard to find and the R-17 uni-cant from japan is $40 and they are not very sturdy. cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alakata Posted October 3, 2005 Report Share Posted October 3, 2005 Been softing it for years now, finally have enough money for a hard setup this year but the best soft setup is drake matrix bindings and some thirtytwo boots, they are really warm, light and for a soft setup have a great hold on the board, drake bindings are the best ever made! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Walters Posted October 3, 2005 Report Share Posted October 3, 2005 ...I have been on a Donek for a long time and love the product... You could go for an Incline or Wide? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ar(angel Posted October 4, 2005 Report Share Posted October 4, 2005 I was looking at those at the end of last season when I was looking to pick-up a BX board to do some riding with my daughters on their soft set-ups. I think that would be a good combo on a Oxygen BX board or maybe even a Palmer Ti-Channel board. What do you think of the Thunder boot/binding combo? It's not a HB, but they looked good too. Anyone else who's ridden or has comments on those set-ups chime in, Thanks, Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted October 4, 2005 Report Share Posted October 4, 2005 You could go for an Incline or Wide? ... or the 180 Delrossi (23.5 cm waist) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexJ Posted October 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2005 That is exactly the Donek I was thinking of, It looks like it would match my needs. I also gotta say I really like the features of the F2 setup. If I could find a place to try them on I would seriously consider that setup Alex 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.