Dalbello Krypton Review

[weibo]

So I have in my possesion a pair of 27.5 Krypton Pro's. I ran into a rep friend and he left them for me to try for a few weeks.

First impressions.
Bootsole on the 27.5 is 316mm which is the same as my Salomon's so gone is the smaller Raichle bootsole length. The inside of the boots is sharp I have acut hand for each time that the liner has come out. The liner is shitty, maybe just this liner, it seems to have a few folds in it where the material has come away from the foam. These aren't new but they didn't have more than 10 days on them (probably 5) so the liners should be better. No heat mold liner. More fore foot volume than old Flexons, no problems going from Salomons to the Dalbellos, similar size to my 10's.

Impressions on hill. (I have never skied a Flexon)

Me 5'9" 160 in ski gear ( I'm getting fat in this damn cubicle)

Ski 1 - Fischer RX10 mounted night before
Conditions Wetern hard pack (spring morning)
Nice flex seemed soft but transmitted power well. I was able to pressure a race ski with no problems and the feedback from the boot was nice. As I said felt soft but then I realised that I hadn't flexed the boot out but I had actually flexe the boot in a good way. Lateral stiffness very good. Warm and ,for me , comfortable boot. Surprised how it handled a stiff well tuned ski on the groomed.

Ski 2- CMH Explosive old and not recently tuned 180cm
Conditions still hard no real softening that day.
Handled this ski well too. Flex worked well with this less stiff ski as well. Skied groomed and refrozen chunks of death seemed to preform well on both.

Other conditions
Hiking - boot felt good on a short 10 mintue hike up a ridge seemed light enough and didn't offer any more hot spots or weird fellings
Skiing 4 cm's of fresh on top of a hard refrozen layer. Preformed well made my line look really nice although it was skied poorly. (It had to be the boots cause it didn't feel like me)

Snow plowing with 4 year old child- Fett didnot hurt any more than with any other boot. Soft flex helped to initiate solid snowplow with less effort.

More to come hopefully testing in a race course and more general days as well. PM for any other info. If you're in Jasper and wear a27.5 let me know and I'm sure we can work something out.

I

[natty dread]

Thx for the info, seriously considering this boot (if K2 doesn't some out with a flexon replacement soon).

[Tresckow]

I've been real happy with mine this season (thanks IG)

Def some pressure points to deal with ( ankle bone ) the liners aren't all that, and the toe/heel piece cannot be replaced, but they feel so solid and I fear no landing or rough riding through the debris. No shin bang as well, and they feel so responsive.

They are ugly though, and I sorta feel like my feet are in Darth Vader's ski boots, but I also feel like I rule the universe in them. So I guess it's an even trade off

[Woodsy]

but can you tour in them>?
Buster swears by touring in the Raichllles

[Tresckow]

I toured in them a couple days ago, and while I wouldn't take them over my pair of modified AT boots, their fine for short resort hikes/skinning around. I think using the old flexon, and modifying them with vibram soles would be more of a do everything boot, especially because of the light wieght.

The new kryptons are solid, and heavy. If you can find a good price on them during the end-of-season sales, buy them. Otherwise, save your money until Dabello fixes some of the issues (hopefully before next season) like a better liner, replacable toe/heel pieces, and the power strap is junk and almost unusable, but that's what booster straps are made for.

[Schralper]

Approx 70 daze on mine. Just broke an instep bail, waiting for a new one. Raichle bails are just a lil to long, damn!
Had to get my pinkie toe area bumped out as it is WAY tighter than Flexons w/ themo. The booster strap velcro sux if it gets snow packed on it. The metal dohickies on the back to hold the straps also suck as they get hung up on chair, when getting seated and bend. Plastic seems softer than Raichles as the Kryps are CHEWED up from riding the snomo. No they aint AT boots but I have AT boots for dealing w/ rock hiking. Skinned in them w/o a problem, (Jakes/tahoe and local).
Overall they're a good boot, stiff laterally good forward flex, w/2 tongues to pick from.
Got a pr on order for next season, thermoflex liner!

[the_eleven]

Got a pair and they are great. Never skied Flexon's, always Lange. Am using the softer tongue. Ditched the stock liner in favor of some Intuitions.

Definately lighter than Langes with foam liners! I got tired of wrestling with the Langes to get them on & off. Noticed how easy my AT boots with the "Flexon-style" tongue was to enter & exit.

The best part of the boot is the progressive flex, which the Lange did not have. The Krypton feels more alive on your feet, whereas when you flex in the Lange it just just goes mushy...

[vinnay]

Got a pr on order for next season, thermoflex liner!

is it confirmed that they will have these next year? any other mods like replaceable toe/heel?

[Benny Profane]

Has ANYONE who skied the old flexons skied in these? please.

Thanx for the info, really, but would love to hear how they compare to the old Raichles.

[Schralper]

Has ANYONE who skied the old flexons skied in these? please.

Thanx for the info, really, but would love to hear how they compare to the old Raichles.

Pretty sure there was another thread about the Raichle/Dalbello fit back a ways.
I've ridden them back to back.
100 daze on Raichle so....the Raichle is actually wider in the toe box. I had to get my Kryps pumped out a lil. Foward flex w/ stiff tongue nice. Stiffer laterally. I like the Flexons cuz they're a lil lighter and tour better. I'm buying another pr of Kryps. Cuz I need new boots every yr, DAMN!
(Shop sez thermoflex liner, we'll see.)
You could always wait to see if K2 remakes the flexon.

[skideeppow]

Has ANYONE who skied the old flexons skied in these? please.

Thanx for the info, really, but would love to hear how they compare to the old Raichles.

I have skied on both, and there is no comparison. Krypton is much more volumous, particularly in the heel. The tight heel was the selling point of the flexon. The liner is crap, super soft and has no rigidity to it. It folds real easy. The old flexon is stillthe ticket.
I know K2 has not been able to use the old flexon molds they bought with new tooling machines in the far east (China).
Hope this helps

[Benny Profane]

thank you

[Spats]

If you're suffering Flexon withdrawal and can get to Salt Lake City, you might try Daleboots (www.dalebootusa.com). Lots of the same advantages: softish progressive flex, easy in/out, very light, walk mode, &c.

[Skip Dooley]

I second Spat's declaration.

psst.

The downlow is that Bob Graham, CEO Daleboot europe www.dalebooteurope.com

will most likely be buying the US. portion of the company, while ushering in a redesign, ala flexon.

but nothing is final yet.

[snorkeldeep]

agreed w/ skideeppow - theyre very very different boots. The flexon is also considerably lighter, and more versatile from a touring perspective.

[13]

Someone get Vets in here for his input -- he seems to like his & had a lot to say about them at the Mammoth mini.

[natty dread]

Tried them on in the store the other day and found the fit is totally different from the flexons. The Krypton is much higher volume, there is really no comparison, 2 different boots. I guess the quest for flexons continues...

[the_eleven]

If you put an Intuition liner in the Krypton, it is a snug fit, almost too snug. My pair, done by Cosmo in Tahoe City, is race-fit tight.

IMHO, Dalbello blew it by putting in a crap liner in the first year boot. Plake and the rest even dumped the stock liner for an Intuition.

It is really too bad, because the boot actually skis really, really well.

[K2_Skierdude]

Just to give you guys a heads up, i saw the 05/06 catalogue for Dalbello yesterday, and the liner is unchanged. Boot looks, and specs, read exactly the same as this years. Im seeing it again on Friday if you guys have anything youd like me to look for?

[skideeppow]

Just to give you guys a heads up, i saw the 05/06 catalogue for Dalbello yesterday, and the liner is unchanged. Boot looks, and specs, read exactly the same as this years. Im seeing it again on Friday if you guys have anything youd like me to look for?

Dalbello claims they made the liner snugger in the heel, but it feels the same. Skied on a a 05/06 in april for a day. Pretty weak.

[Wild4umlauts]

I put the Intuiton Alpine Custom Power Wrap liners in mine and found that the liner was almost too thick for the shell and chewed up quite a bit of volume. Unfortunately that didn't add up to better heel hold down though. The Flexon shell definitely has a more narrow achilles area and provides better hold down. I noticed however that it looks like if you grind down the Krypton zeppa about a half inch I think it would put my foot in a better position to hold down my heel better. It looks like the grinding would get my heel lower into a "fatter" part of the rear of the boot and my achilles into a narrower section. I have an extra pair of zeppas from my "tin man" Flexons that I could use to experiment with.

The other thing I've noticed is that the toe box on the Krypton actually seems narrower than my Flexons. It could be due to the size difference though. I went from a 310mm Flexon to a 306mm Krypton.

I agree that Dalbello should have put Thermoflex liners in them from the start. That Supercomp liner is a piece of junk. I also heard that they were going to introduce their own Thermoflex for the '05/06 season. Oh well.

[Vets]

Someone get Vets in here for his input -- he seems to like his & had a lot to say about them at the Mammoth mini.

You asked for it.
I am currently using the Dalbello Krypton Pros after using two different versions of Flexons.
My first Flexons were Grey/Black/Pink Flexon Comps w/ a Racing Flex tongue. These are heavier, have plastic buckles and replaceable toe and heel pieces. I fell in love with these boots, skied many days on these, cracked a buckle, replaced the toe and heel pieces, and became part of the Flexon cult.
My second pair of Flexons were the Blue/Silver Raichle w/ a Kneissl Star. These are the lightest boots I have ever skied. They have the metal ratchet/cable buckles, thermo liners, and only a replaceable heel piece. When my shins started swimming in these I added Booster straps. When I was still swimming with the Booster straps fully tightened I decided to look into the Dalbello Kryptons.
I have about 40 days on my Kryptons. After about 30 days I noticed the liner starting to separate and fold around the ankle and heel area. The shop I bought them from is going to replace the liners free of charge under warranty. I have been too busy skiing to go in and get this done.
I tried on both the Cross and the Pro Kryptons. It seemed to me that the Cross had a much better/different(moldable) liner than the Pro. However, I found the Cross to be too soft in flex, so I went with the Pro. The Pro comes with extra tongues and extra boot beds. I'm using the stiffer tongues and the harder boot beds.
After skiing two different Flexons which I loved, I feel that the Krypton performs even better than the Flexons. It feels like it has a quicker response. The buckles are much more sturdy. In terms of weight it is medium, it falls in between the two Flexons I mentioned. I like them all in terms of fit. I buckle up once at the beginning of the day and I don't touch the buckles again until I take them off at the end of the day. Besides having the foot shape, I have to give a lot of credit to Kurt at House of Ski (on Kingsbury, Stateline, NV) for his amazing boot fitting skills.
The only negative about this boot are the liners. Hopefully the replacements will hold up.
If there is anything that I haven't covered in this lengthy post, I'm open to further questions.

[ski whore]

6 feet, 180 lbs...too soft forward flexing and too short of a cuff. My $.02

[Flexon Phil]

Most know my history with these from over at the "other" site. After 20+ years in Flexons I switched to Kryptons last year. The Krypton is a Flexon on steroids. The only area that the Flexon had an advantage over the Krypton is weight. The Krypton is stronger and more responsive in every other aspect. I have never used the stock liner, always a thermoflex. I am waiting for the new D/I liner to see what it is like vs. the Thermoflex.