raichle f-one boot review

[cmor]

Picked these up for $50. red and grey model. I have a somewhat narrow foot and like an extremlly tight fit. Not sure why, but slop drives me nuts. Lange worldcup lowfits feel a little big to me. Out of the box these are the tightest boots I've ever put on around the forefoot. Very sweet. After baking the liners they came with gave waayyy more room. I'm assuming they're not meant to be used without baking. A lot more room around the calf right off the bat as well. I have never found a boot that fits me around the calf well though.

Liners are nice thermoform wraps, but not quite as nice as the intuition powerwraps I have. Very nice flex, stiff but not akward like a lot of very stiff boots. The flex is actually progressive and nice. all the canting etc, adjustments you could want.

These are very nice boots, very impressed, can't believe more people aren't using them. super comfy.

[Rasputin]

I ski in Raichle F-ONE REVs, with the original Thermoflex liners. I love them though I will mention that they don't have the progressive flex that a Flexon has. They are stiff to a point (stiffer than my Flexons with the stiff racing tongue), but past that point they sort of collapse forward (I found this out running afoul of a mogul), usually it isn't an issue. I have over a 130 days in them and though they've loosened up a bit, I expect I'll get through this season without rebaking the liners.

They never got too popular because Raichle got bought out by Kneissl shortly after the F-Ones came out, and then went bankrupt, effectively disappearing Raichle from skibootdom. The molds are now owned by by an Italian boot maker named Roxa.

I've never played with the canting (which looks fully functional) or the forward lean ( I'm afraid to pry open the cover), but I know for sure that the flex adjustment does NOTHING.

edit: $50 is a steal