Thread: Category killer - Scarpa Maestrale - now the lightest 4 buckle touring boot

Originally Posted by marshalolson

how is nobody noticing the amount of shell flex in the lower cuff where the shell has 2 pillars supporting the walk mode bar? am i the only one?

Granted I only did a 5-minute carpet test which means little to nothing, but I didn't notice anything like that. The only sloppiness I found was in the walk mode which annoyed me, but (almost) all AT boots have a little slop like that. I am also a girly man, barely topping 160, which maybe has something to do with it?

Originally Posted by johngenx

Yo, wendigo, are the Scarpas the same mondo size as your MR's? BSL similar? I've got a pair of Megarides now that are in great condition and are dialed in perfectly with Intuition liners, but man, I'm interested in these boots.

Maestrale is a few mm smaller for the same size shell. Well within the adjustability of (most) dyanfits. Marshal I haven't noticed the flex you noted, but I'm not really clear on what you are talking about.

Originally Posted by marshalolson

how is nobody noticing the amount of shell flex in the lower cuff where the shell has 2 pillars supporting the walk mode bar? am i the only one?

Marshal are you talking about this? I'm pinner so take that into account

Think that part looks really weak..

I want to love these guys soooo bad, but I just can't justify it..

Originally Posted by LeeLau

Marshal are you talking about this? I'm pinner so take that into account

yes lee, that is the spot, the 2 pillars on either side that support the walk mode.

maybe people don't load the tail to olly the ski ever. but if you tried, you will get SIGNIFICANT deflection in the lower of the boot. i can get a ton of deflection (like scary amounts) just pointing my toes and lifting my heel.

the boot fits really nice though. really dialed anatomical shape in the internal. locks your foot down exceptionally.

I really noticed the slop around the horizontal metal pin that runs through the lower pivot point of the steel walk-mode bar. The pin is clearly too small for the diameter of the hole and gives out a lot of movement when subtended up the full length of the cuff.

After trying so hard to make myself buy them, I think I have given up.

The other bigger deal breaker for me is my skinny bony calf and shins. There is a strip of silver material on the side of the liner cuff that joins the thicker high density foam of the upper liner to the softer and thinner lower density foam of the lower liner. If you feel around that silver joining material you notice a real change is thickness and harness, like a step or a ridge between the two foams. This ridge sits directly under the top buckle attachment which magnifies force directly on top of it. It burns and cramps like a mother fucker if I weight the shins. If I out my 5 year old Scarpa Matrix Intuitions in the shell, they feel like a dream.

I don't think they are as stiff as my Radiums with intuitions wraps in them either. Pity the Intuition wraps kills the walk mode of the Radiums, particularly the rearwards movement for long strides.

Hmmm about stiffness... What about Pegasus? It's supposed to be the PU version of Maestrale. I've had them on for about 15 minutes and they seemed a bit stiffer.
Is PU stiffer than pebax? (I've read that pebax does not depend on temperature, PU gets harder/stiffer with lower temperatures BUT it's also more durable etc etc) Is there truly such a big difference in materials?

Originally Posted by marshalolson

yes lee, that is the spot, the 2 pillars on either side that support the walk mode.

maybe people don't load the tail to olly the ski ever. but if you tried, you will get SIGNIFICANT deflection in the lower of the boot. i can get a ton of deflection (like scary amounts) just pointing my toes and lifting my heel.

the boot fits really nice though. really dialed anatomical shape in the internal. locks your foot down exceptionally.

So my boots have a ridge of plastic between the two ridges in the photo that looks like it's supposed to keep the pin from flexing...

Originally Posted by chemist

Hmmm about stiffness... What about Pegasus? It's supposed to be the PU version of Maestrale. I've had them on for about 15 minutes and they seemed a bit stiffer.
Is PU stiffer than pebax? (I've read that pebax does not depend on temperature, PU gets harder/stiffer with lower temperatures BUT it's also more durable etc etc) Is there truly such a big difference in materials?

pebax is lighter and more expensive than PU. Pebax's stiffness in quite stable at different temperatures, PU gets stiffer with cold. The elastic kinetic of pebax is also less predictable than PU.
very generally speaking, the lighter pebax is more used for AT, the stiffer PU for alpine race boots

Originally Posted by sfotex

So my boots have a ridge of plastic between the two ridges in the photo that looks like it's supposed to keep the pin from flexing...

The ones I have been trying on also had a lump of plastic below the pin.

Are we all talking about the same bits of plastic though?

I am still disappointed about the pressure point caused by the huge change in rubber thickness and hardness directly below the buckle on the outside of the cuff.

Originally Posted by sfotex

So my boots have a ridge of plastic between the two ridges in the photo that looks like it's supposed to keep the pin from flexing...

My boots have a ridge as well below the pin which seems to be absent in Lee’s pic.



There is a little play between the pin and strap but I didn’t notice any real deflection while riding them. I'll try to ride the tails next time out and see if I can feel any significant flex.

sounds like they already adressed my complaint.

i officially need to redact it then!

Thanks for the pic, Mud. Does the pin fit very loosely inside the hole at the end of the metal bar? The ones I have toyed with jiggle a lot, giving perhaps 5mm of totally slack and free movement at the top of the boot shell cuff when wearing them. When in ski mode you can even hear the metal on metal as it jiggles around at the hinge giving that 5mm of loose and unsupported fore and after movement at the top of the boot. At first I thought the walk mode was broken or needed tweaking.

I have not noticed what marshal has mentioned. Assuming I understand correctly his observation.

I noticed about 1.5 to 2 mm play where the strap and pin meet near the heel of the boot and this is probably exaggerated to 5mm at the top since it all connected. (I didn't measure just eyeballed). The play could probably be solved with a hard rubber or plastic bushing in between the heel pin and bottom of the strap.

I haven’t noticed any slop while riding and I average about 220 to 230# with a backpack; although the majority of my time with these boots have been in powder, I would expect any deflection would be felt more on hardpack or icy conditions.

It seems between the two ski modes of 18 & 22 degrees the 18 has the most play.
At 22 degrees the boot has about 1 to 2mm slack at the top of the boot shell cuff.

Playing around with the pin, i can't get any loose play out of it, but i haven't gotten the chance to ski them yet.

Originally Posted by verbier61

pebax is lighter and more expensive than PU. Pebax's stiffness in quite stable at different temperatures, PU gets stiffer with cold. The elastic kinetic of pebax is also less predictable than PU.
very generally speaking, the lighter pebax is more used for AT, the stiffer PU for alpine race boots

So this Pegasus is a stiffer version of the Maestrale? Has anyone skied in both to compare?

Euro only? My Scarpa NA catalog shows no such boot.

None of the people i know have tested them so far..... The weight might be significantly higher, though, and maybe the liners' quality might be different (as in the case of the cheap pu tempest vs the identical - but in pebax - thyphoon)

Huh, I just noticed that Pegasus is only on Scarpa Germany website http://www.scarpa-schuhe.de/modelle-...s/pegasus.html
The page says that it's made of pebax, but there are only few parts made of pebax, the rest is some special PU plastics. I also remembered difference from Maestrale liner: there's no intuition and there are laces in tongue area...

Originally Posted by chemist

Huh, I just noticed that Pegasus is only on Scarpa Germany website http://www.scarpa-schuhe.de/modelle-...s/pegasus.html
The page says that it's made of pebax, but there are only few parts made of pebax, the rest is some special PU plastics. I also remembered difference from Maestrale liner: there's no intuition and there are laces in tongue area...

Very interesting. It should be a tad stiffer when it's cold (since majority is PU) and.... Its about 300g heavier than the maestrale. But something is telling me that the cheaper option in this case also includes a cheaper (heavier) liner.. So, if you ad that sweet intuition into those flying horses you should have a stiffer boot to the cost of what, 200 grams?
Haha. I'm still trying to convince my self into getting these slippers.

Did a day of lift served in these. Mine have the "third rib" like mud's photo.
Impression: way the hell better than my old Mega-Rides. Drove a pair of 112 waist skis just fine in pow. Didn't find the tongue liner to be a problem, though I am partial to wrap liners. Plenty of lateral stiffness, fine forward stiffness for the conditions. Work great for me in soft conditions.

Ceveat: My other boots are the afore mentioned Mega-Rides - soft in forward and lateral flex and a pair of Full Tilts - soft in forward flex, stiff(er) in lateral flex.

i have skied my maestrales a bit by now and thought id report back.
im not a heavy guy (about 140lbs), but the boots are really soft. ive mainly toured with scarpa denali xts before, and they were noticeably stiffer. nevertheless i really like skiing the maestrales so far but i would really like to have a stiffer tongue.

freak~[&]

Took them on a hut trip this weekend. Love the fit, the skinnability, and the weight. Loved how they skied, though it was hero snow and I would've been stoked in rear-entries. I got them for pow and ski mountaineering, so they're perfect for me.

I won't try to give a flex #, but softer than my old Factors.

Am I the only one not smoking crack here? This boot is STIFF, more so than the Typhoon. No comparison. All this talk about stiffer tongues is nuts unless you're a fat fuck (or big-boned for the sensitive folk). At 180 lbs, I felt it was almost too stiff, and this coming from someone that uses the Ghost as a resort boot. The walk mode is a total wet dream and with a weight close to 6.5 lbs/pair, the Maestrale is the complete package ... never thought touring would be so effortlessly awesome.

Anybody skied the TLT 5 Performance and the Maestrale yet? Lee? The TLT 5's really don't fit me, but if they ski as well as the Maestrales I might go on a search for a daring boot fitter.