Dalbello Lupo AX HD - tech inserts?

[TheK12]

Anybody skiing the Dalbello Lupo AX HD boots? If so, how's the durability? Any issues with the tech inserts? Asking since I believe last year's Dalbello's had some binding compatibility issues with the tech inserts. Seems these are not Dynafit certified and rather are "touring norm" inserts.

[TheK12]

Wow. Over 1000 views and no replies. Anybody have any info on my question?

[grinch]

Maybe ask in the lupo thread. Never heard of a problem

Sent from my SM-G950W using TGR Forums mobile app

[gregL]

Any issues with the tech inserts? Asking since I believe last year's Dalbello's had some binding compatibility issues with the tech inserts. Seems these are not Dynafit certified and rather are "touring norm" inserts.

What issues are you referring to? No experience with the Lupo AX HD, but I know plenty of people who use the Lupo AX 120 and haven't had problems with the inserts. FWIW, Dynafit doesn't "certify" inserts made by others, they simply make and sell their own, though the specs are available to others. I believe the ISO 9523 2019 document refers to those dimensions, but I haven't read it as they want money to download it and no one has posted it for free yet.

[davidhuge]

I'm on mobile, please forgive me for any crappy formatting or typos.


No matter which lupo you go with, you'll notice a vast improvement in tourability over an old Lange comp. Any amount of walk mode will blow you away. The Lupo TI Plus is just the Canadian TI. Different color and not distributed in the US.


The choice you have to make is between the carbon and non carbon. Coming from a Lange Comp, the non carbon will feel the most familiar. Even then, though, the liner will feel super soft. It can be replaced with gnarlier things if that's what you're aiming for- things like ZipFits happen to pair really well with stiff Dalbello boots. I wouldn't let the lack of a power strap deter you from the Carbon. For any boot, Carbon included, I'd recommend adding either a WC or an Expert/Race Booster strap- they have a habit of really complimenting the flex pattern an rebound of three piece boots. Go WC for more power up top, go e/r for more bounce and rebound. The Carbon does need new holes drilled in to it to attach a Booster, but tape your holes and the carbon fiber should behave.


The liner that ships with the carbon is... Not necessarily ideal for inbounds ripping. It's pretty lightweight (for good reason) and doesn't have as direct a transfer of energy as denser liners will. Whether that's a stiff Powerwrap from intuition or something gnarlier. That said, I think the Carbon is still pretty usable as an inbounds boot, provided you replace the liner with something burlier, and add a booster to it.


You'll see some more weight savings with the Carbon, too, but maybe not as much as you think. At least not a ton over the normal TI. If you find yourself getting in to longer tours or even some mountaineering stuff, that weight starts playing a serious role. But hopefully by then you'll be tossing it in a tech binding.


Edit: this is more scatterbrained than I intended it to be. If you have any questions, I'm on Reddit more than I should be and I'm happy to answer.

[XXX-er]

The shitty tech fittings in some boots was back in 2012, I remember this cuz I was scoping for boots with tech fittings, my last set of boots were garmont so i was looking at the Garmont Cosmo but the word got around they had bad fittings, we tested out some boots and this was real so I bought mercury's insted


https://www.wildsnow.com/2511/dynafi...boot-fittings/

https://www.wildsnow.com/210/dynafit...anted-to-know/

so Lou over at wildsnow did an expose on toe fittings from what I remeber Dynafit were good, scarpa bought theirs from dynafit and they were good, BD were different

there are articls in there if you wana google

[TheK12]

Awesome. Thanks for the all info all!

Yep, noticed that the liner is pretty soft so would be looking to replace with something else. Will look into ZipFit as davidhuge suggested. How about Intuition liners? Anybody knows which pairs best? Looking for warmth and some stiffness but need it to be on the thinner side as I'm right at the limit of fit, from a foot and instep perspective.