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02-23-2021, 11:57 AM #1Registered User
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90% of people buy boots that are too stiff
TLDR: buy some medium flex boots unless you race.
I just bought a new pair of boots and have to make this PSA.
I worked in ski shops and on the hill from age 17 to 27, selling, as a tech, and shooting video for the advanced ski school. I'm proficient at skiing all conditions on and off piste. I enjoy all kinds of skiing (park, race, etc.) but focus on big mountain powder and cliff drops. I'm big and ski aggressively.
For years I skied in race boots because they were the best boots (fitting and performance wise) you could buy.
The last pair I bought a few years ago was at a shop that was going out of business and I got a great deal on a pair the fit me great. I brought them home, googled the boot and was surprised they were an "intermediate" boot. They were exactly the same as the "expert" boot but with a softer flex. I figured I'd give them a shot and I loved them. I can ski all day and my feet never hurt and they work great in most conditions.
In race training and lessons a drill you do is to ski with your boots completely unbuckled. The people who complain that they can't do it are the ones who's weight is too far back. It teaches you to ski balanced and then you don't need your boots cranked down.
When you ski you want your weight forward with your shins pressing against the boot tongue. If you can't bend your boot forward enough your weight won't be in the right place. About the only time I can press stiff boots far enough forward is on a race course or hard snow at high speed. I mainly try to ski powder, a stiff boot will not flex enough to stay balanced. Even on hard snow a medium flex boot will bottom out it's flex range and you can still transfer power to the front of the ski when the cuff hits the lower shell.
I just bought another pair of boots. I went to a few stores and tried on everything in my size. Almost all of the boots were 120 or more flex. I bet I'm more proficient than 90% of the skiers who buy boots there, but 90% of the boots were too stiff for me. I found a pair that fit me great, then found the softer flexing version (everything else the same) online for less than 1/2 the cost of the "expert" boot.
I know park / freestyle riders have known this for years, but it seem like all mountain skiers are being sold boots that are way too stiff and getting overcharged for them.
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02-23-2021, 12:02 PM #2
Well, this is going to be a SuperFun thread
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02-23-2021, 12:05 PM #3
100% agree.
j'ai des grands instants de lucididididididididi
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02-23-2021, 12:06 PM #4
Paging Bushwacka
crab in my shoe mouth
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02-23-2021, 12:07 PM #5
Everyone should always ski the stiffest boot they can properly/adequately flex. For some people that might mean 90, for some others that might mean 130. All that skiing a softer boot will do is cause you to work harder for every movement, park skiing included.
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02-23-2021, 12:07 PM #6Registered User
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02-23-2021, 12:09 PM #7
What if you like to drink beer and are fat?
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02-23-2021, 12:10 PM #8King potato
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Lol
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02-23-2021, 12:15 PM #9Registered User
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02-23-2021, 12:18 PM #10Rod9301
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I find the skiing inconsistent snow like in the backcountry, a soft boot makes it harder to maintain fore aft balance
Sent from my Redmi Note 8 Pro using Tapatalk
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02-23-2021, 12:32 PM #11
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02-23-2021, 12:36 PM #12
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02-23-2021, 12:39 PM #13Registered User
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- Oct 2010
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I guess I'm in the 10%. Sweet.
I'm in a pair of 120 Tecnicas that I bought because the fit is perfect (Ten.2 120s). The year after they came out with the Mach 1 HVL 130, which would be perfect since the 120s are too soft.
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02-23-2021, 12:40 PM #14
Well yeah but.. it depends. Ski length, ski flex, camber profile, speed.. are just a few things to take into consideration.
But yeah, most people tail pushing around their soul 7s at 12 mph tops, could probably ditch the 130 flex
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02-23-2021, 12:44 PM #15
Can I Dolphin turn in soft boots?
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02-23-2021, 12:50 PM #16Registered User
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- Mar 2008
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- northern BC
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IMO boots that are too big is the bigger dilemma
Lee Lau - xxx-er is the laziest Asian canuck I know
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02-23-2021, 12:57 PM #17
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02-23-2021, 12:59 PM #18
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02-23-2021, 01:04 PM #19Registered User
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02-23-2021, 01:11 PM #20"timberridge is terminally vapid" -- a fortune cookie in Yueyang
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02-23-2021, 01:18 PM #21
I think most people thinking boots are too stiff are either low skilled or the boot is vastly out of alignment.
if you skills arent low and you actually skiing in balance with hip behind feet and shoulders ahead of toes while gliding straight then the boot/binding ramp and forward lean should be set up so its just couple degree more upright than your ideal, letting you flex slightly into a good balance position and if the boot is stiff enough it will not over flex when and outside influence on our ski happens IE small bump or pile of crud or imperfection in the snow. If the boot is too upright it will have to be soft to let the skier flex their ankle into a more "ideal" position. If a boot is set up in a nearly ideal position in the for and aft plane than it can be ran with basically no ability to be flexxed. If a boot has too much forward lean/forward ramp the flex wont matter your quads will burn no matter what.
The correct ramp angle/forward lean assuming a skier knows proper balancing (Weight on heel, toes lifted, ankle closing, knee flexxed, tail tucked shoulder forward spine rounded) is determind by the skiers tib/fib to femur length ratio. A longer Femur to Tib/Fib ratio usually means the skier need the heels higher than average, and a longer tib/fib to femur ration means that the skier need more toe lift. both the boot and binding come into play.
The most sophisticated way of looking at shin contact, which does and should occur is that its an outcome and not a goal. its an outcome of correct alignment and skier moving forward enough in the apex of the turn that the boot and ski push back into them, many skier who think they need to "press" their shin into the front of their boot generally ski aft while accomplishing that "goal" they think should be accomplishing but they are not in balance are going down a fools errand of what balance is.
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02-23-2021, 01:20 PM #22
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02-23-2021, 01:20 PM #23
Oh no I bought into the 130 flex hype. I'm also 200# so figured I'm on the tailend of the curve though. Any good tests or indicators that you're in the right flex boot then?
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02-23-2021, 01:21 PM #24
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02-23-2021, 01:22 PM #25
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