Lupo HD as replacement for FT Classic/12?

[the_eleven]

Looking for something that skis as well as my FT Classic/#12 tongue, that also has a walk mode and tech fittings. The Ascendent is too voluminous to get a decent fit with my pencil feet, and so far, FT doesn't seem interested in making a side country/touring boot based on the Classic shell. I only want one pair of boots, and this will be used 80/20 resort/bc.

The Lupo HD seems like it might be the ticket. Can anyone here who has direct experience with both boots comment on how the Lupo skis in comparison to the FT?

[Timberridge]

Lupo is burlier and will drive a bigger ski better. Imo a 130 flex in Dalbello is an honest 130, FT feel softer than their rating. The liner foam feels stiffer as well. The Lupo liner always needs a good bake and some fit tweaks for me while FT feel like slippers from get go.

[burrito]

I would recommend looking at the Lupo 130C rather than the Lupo Pro HD. It’s not quite as plush a ride as the FT classic, but it’s really close without paying the hefty weight penalty of the HD. The 130C also uses a slightly softer tongue than the HD and thus will feel closer in flex to the FT #12 (though the Lupo tongue is still slightly stiffer IMO.)

I made the switch from an FT Tom Wallisch with a #12 tongue for the same reason and couldn’t be happier.

One small downside of the Lupos in general - Dalbello’s non-Intuition liners suck. I managed to make due with mine for two seasons but switched to Tour Wraps for this year.

[Buster Highmen]

I finally switched from the old school flexons to the Roxa R3 130 T.I. I.R. and love the boot.
It's stiff, with some flex settings, but has a progressive flex and steers the skis much better than the flexon. It has dynafit approved tech fittings.

Top buckle tightness modulated by a wide velcro strap with lots of setting variability, but it's a super stiff boot when tightened down. Tour mode is managed by a flip switch on the back of the boot. The only downside is that the walk mode doesn't have as much rearward freedom as a full on touring boot. The tongue is removable which helps that issue a bunch, but in practice, I don't do that much. GripWalk soles. 1520 grams each.

It fits my foot snug and comfortably out of the box. Comes with intuition liners, either a wrap or tongue style.

I'm on the third season, used them for 5 days of touring in a row with ease but use them as my daily driver in bounds as well.

Very, very happy. I'm amazed the boot hasn't caught on more. All the comfort and prog flex of a flexon, but much lighter, stiffer and with tech fittings.

[gregL]

I would recommend looking at the Lupo 130C rather than the Lupo Pro HD.

If you can find one. Dalbello dropped the 130C and Factory this season and replaced them with the Quantum Free 130, which is a great 1250 gram touring boot but nowhere near a 130 flex . . .

[burrito]

If you can find one. Dalbello dropped the 130C and Factory this season and replaced them with the Quantum Free 130, which is a great 1250 gram touring boot but nowhere near a 130 flex . . .

Oh that sucks on the Factory/130C. I'd consider the Quantum Free if I wanted to build a lighter, backcountry-only setup, but yeah even before I saw reviews I was pretty confident there was no way a boot that's ostensibly a 3-piece without a tongue was ever going to be anywhere close to a 130-flex.

I finally switched from the old school flexons to the Roxa R3 130 T.I. I.R. and love the boot.

I've heard lots of good things on the Roxas, too. I tried on a pair at a trade show a few years ago and thought they felt pretty good but haven't messed with them since.

[Buster Highmen]

(copied from a previous post of mine)

bought a pair of the 2018 Roxa R3 130 T.I. and have put around 10 days on them with 2 smaller (2300 vertical feet) tours.

I've skied Raichle Flexons for around 20 years as my inbound boot and used some Scarpa Maestrales v2 for spring tours but they never really fit. I was never happy with the support of the Maestrales either.

People can read a more detailed review at https://blisterreview.com/gear-revie...3-130-t-i-boot, but there's a few things about how the boot works that could be highlighted.

First, the fit: this boot fits myself really well and is incredibly easy to slip in and out. That should be enough innuendo. They are extremely comfortable for me out of the box (OK, more innuendo), I can wear them after skiing fully buckled. This drives a lot of my satisfaction with this boot.

Second, the downhill performance is excellent, lots of support, way more than any of my previous boots since race days. This is a 3 piece cabrio design and provides great progressive flex (more on that below). In my past attempts to try boots, I get shin bleed in all the boots I tried in the 80s and 90s (Technical, Nordica, Salomon) and I don't with these. When I tightened the settings down, they were too stiff but the simple range of adjustment let me find the sweet spot for downhill flex performance. The Church Of Flexon has gained a new abberant. I like to ski by feeling a forward balance on the balls of my feet and that has taken some getting used to with flexons so easy to get on top of the ski. These are a little different, but I've found that balance and can get on top of the ski the way I like.

Third, and I think this is what has been somewhat overlooked, the boot has really different approaches to flex and lots of flex adjustments.

This is achieved by a top buckle design and an odd little stiffness adjustment on the back in addition to the usual uphill setting lever.

Regarding the top buckle, rather than having some ratchet system or a series of notches, this boot completely relies on a large Velcro strap that loops through a single setting buckle. This works really well, both for adjusting the downhill stiffness as well as tour mode where one simply undoes the top buckle. I like the simplicity of this a lot and the forward freedom can be adjusted by either further loosening the Velcro or by unbuckling, taking the tongue out and just climbing that way.

In my few hours of uphilling, one day on firm icy crust requiring crampons and another day in softening mush, I found the forward freedom to be adequate and support excellent. Not as flexible as the Maestrales but much more secure.

The uphill setting is a lever which is kind of standard and in uphill mode it allows a little more rearward flex, but not a lot. This may change as the boot breaks in.

But the one different feature is the stiffness adjustment on the back, which has 2 settings, stiff and soft. I normally left this in the stiff setting, but on the warmer day, found that the soft setting improved both forward and rearward stride. My only nit here is that this stiffness adjustment requires an allen wrench currently which increases the transition times and fiddlyness. Relative to the Maestrale, the forward flex is almost as good, and in stiff mode the rearward flex isn't much, but in soft mode, the rearward flex for skinning is improved. Still not as good as more touring oriented boots, but acceptable to me.

Lastly, these things are ridiculously light. See the specs at blister.

Now I prefer to minimize gear; having an array of stuff to choose from to tune to a particular situation drives me nuts. So I really like these boots for a day of riding lifts and sidecountry skinning. I typically ski a 120 mm fat ski as long as I can get 1/4 inch edge penetration. I'm 6', 180 lbs, ex racer and 70s freestyle weenie with a penchant for soft snow, cool red wine and sativa.

In sum, I'm really satisfied with these boots for the fit and function. The design for flexibility from a stiff inbounds boot to a decent touring boot is key in my satisfaction. Props to the design team and I hope that my one functional nit regarding the allen wrench requirement can be fixed with a mechanism that can be set without a tool easily at transition time.

[skisurfmirth]

Looking for something that skis as well as my FT Classic/#12 tongue, that also has a walk mode and tech fittings. The Ascendent is too voluminous to get a decent fit with my pencil feet, and so far, FT doesn't seem interested in making a side country/touring boot based on the Classic shell. I only want one pair of boots, and this will be used 80/20 resort/bc.

The Lupo HD seems like it might be the ticket. Can anyone here who has direct experience with both boots comment on how the Lupo skis in comparison to the FT?

No walkmode but the new dalbello krypton 130 should be on your list to look at. For a 80/20 boot do you reallllly need the walkmode? Skis better than the Lupo for inbounds smashing. Happy hunting!

[kootenayskier]

I finally switched from the old school flexons to the Roxa R3 130 T.I. I.R. and love the boot.
It's stiff, with some flex settings, but has a progressive flex and steers the skis much better than the flexon. It has dynafit approved tech fittings.

Top buckle tightness modulated by a wide velcro strap with lots of setting variability, but it's a super stiff boot when tightened down. Tour mode is managed by a flip switch on the back of the boot. The only downside is that the walk mode doesn't have as much rearward freedom as a full on touring boot. The tongue is removable which helps that issue a bunch, but in practice, I don't do that much. GripWalk soles. 1520 grams each.

It fits my foot snug and comfortably out of the box. Comes with intuition liners, either a wrap or tongue style.

I'm on the third season, used them for 5 days of touring in a row with ease but use them as my daily driver in bounds as well.

Very, very happy. I'm amazed the boot hasn't caught on more. All the comfort and prog flex of a flexon, but much lighter, stiffer and with tech fittings.

I get interested every time you post about them, and I expect they’d work well for lots of people I ski with, but nobody around here carries them. I just need to slip my feet into a pair to know.

[nickwm21]

I went to the original Lupo from the FT Classic and yes - you’re on the right path. However I ended up buying touring boots and only use my Lupo’s inbounds. Hopefully they have redesigned the ski/walk because it is pointless in the old Lupos.

Having a dedicated touring boot is really worth it. If you’re actually going to tour. Otherwise just get Kryptons.


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[burrito]

Honestly, if you’re willing to put in some work and shop time, it might be worth trying to gather parts and retrofit an old pair of FTs with tech fittings (via Cast) and a walk mode (via cannibalizing other boots…and magic.) I’ve been thinking about trying it with my old pair of FTs.

If you’re in bindings like the Cast, Shift, Duke PT, or Kingpin (like you should be with this kind of setup) there’s no need to worry about a heel insert, and walk modes can be extremely simple and low tech on 3-piece boots, needing simply a spring-loaded lever attached to the spine with a stop for said lever attached to the clog. The stop, and attaching both the stop and lever robustly/securely, is the biggest challenge. Not sure yet how to execute that, but there’s gotta be a way.

[Timberridge]

^So like a PSA: Build Your Own Fucking Boots thread?

I couldn't own a pair of Roxa boots because I couldn't stop singing this the whole way up the lift.

[the_eleven]

... walk modes can be extremely simple and low tech on 3-piece boots, needing simply a spring-loaded lever attached to the spine with a stop for said lever attached to the clog. The stop, and attaching both the stop and lever robustly/securely, is the biggest challenge. Not sure yet how to execute that, but there’s gotta be a way.

Yes! In addition to seeking out newer boots, as a backup I am waiting on CAST to get parts back in stock so that they can do a conversion on my Full Tilts. Regarding walk mode....if only. Like you, I keep thinking there has got to be a way, but without fiddle-fucking around and ending up with a destroyed pair of boots, I may forego the walk mode in these boots as others have suggested.