Boot Cuff Hieght

[Chuck]

Hi!

Quick Question for all you equipment techies...

I was wondering if the boot cuff height has an impact on shin bang. A low boot cuff with a stiff shell as opposed to a high boot cuff and stiff shell. And then my second question... which boots have the higher boot cuff.

The reason I ask is, sometimes my shin on the rear leg will get sore after a long day. I use to ride Burton reactors but now ride the UPS boots. The Burtons had a higher boot cuff than the UPS boots. I have seen pics of my ridding and notice the rear leg is more flexed when I am lower.

Thanks for the reply...

Chuck

[RJ-PS]

The short answer is no, you can't get shin bang from a difference in cuff height everything else remaining constant.

Shin bang comes from banging your shin against the front of your boots. Sounds simple enough, but thinking it through....the reason it bangs is because there is too much room between your shin and the point of resistance that your boot provides when your shin moves toward it. Thus in situations where you are quickly and forcefully moving your shin toward the front of the boot, your shins will let you know they don't appreciate it. Thus the major solution for shin bang is to tighten the boots with a booster strap or crank the straps tighter. This decreases the room between your shin and the point of resistance in the cuff allowing them to work as one unit and not two units slamming into each other.

But if you phrase the question differently the answer is different.

ie. Is it possible that a boot with a lower cuff is causing my shins to hurt more?

Then the answer becomes yes it's possible lower cuffs could give you shin problems if you don't have your boots/bindings set up correctly. Especially since everything else is not constant. You are talking about two different boots altogether. So more than likely the problem isn't cuff height as much as it could be shin bang or a bad setup.

Because of the way you were phrasing your question it makes me think that setup is more than likely the problem.

Think of your leg as a straight line. Now make a hinge in that straight line to form your ankle and foot. Now place that line into your boot. As you decrease and increase the angle of your line in your boot your shin gets closer to and further away from the cuff at the highest point. So if you feel that the shin pain is coming from the area of your boot near the top of the cuff, then you need to fumble with the canting on your bindings to reach a boot angle that allows your shin to fit comfortably for the majority of the time. I think you referenced that piece of information when you stated that your rear leg is more flexed when you are riding. If everytime you flex your leg it is impacting a particular area (in this case near the top of the cuff?) then it means that the boot pressure is localized and not being spread out over your entire shin. Your goal then becomes how to spread out the pressure over your entire shin during your riding. And I think the answer to that is most likely in canting your boots/bindings.

The other option is shin bang but that doesn't tend to be localized unless your shell isn't flexing correctly in which case there isn't much to be done about it once you've tried the tightening method.

I'll tell you the truth though, there are a lot of the bootfitters on this forum that make me sound like an infant on this stuff. And it's really hard to get this stuff across in black and white. So I hope that Kent or some of the other long term fitters can help. Or even better yet, is it possible any of you guys could meet up with Chuck and help him dial in his equipment?

Where are you Chuck?

Good luck! Let us know when you fix the problem so we can all learn.

[Chuck]

Thanks RJ...

Thanks for the reply RJ. I will have to try canting the bindings this season. I have also made some plastic pieces that go between the shell and liner. I read about that in a previous post. I believe that it would help to distribute the stress. If that also helps I think I will try to get higher cuffs on my next boots.

Also, I am from Cleveland Oh., would love to link some turns with anyone in the area. I mostly ride west NY or Pa.

Thanks again,

chuck