New EC12: the first Extreme Carving boots, ready to use!

[Matti]

Concratulations EC Team .

[hknz]

Happy to see growth in EC sport.

If money is not a concern, would the MS951/950 with modified tongue & spring perform similar to the EC12?

951 is made with very hard grilamid plastic which may not absorb vibration as much as PU, however it offers better protection to the ankle against twisting. Our ankle bone and ligament may justify to pay the extra $.

In fact, I twisted my ankle in Deeluxe last year. Therefore, I bought the MS951 last season but have not yet done any modification to suit my 60kg.

[Swoard team]

@jax, @Vitaly, @AVel1990, @wangxyw, @Matti, @hknz and at all the others in the social networks:
Thank you very much for your compliments and the warm words! We are happy to share this with you all.

@Vitaly: we didn't experience any unscrewing issue for two years of testing. If you have some unscrewing with old boots or other brands, you can use blue Loctite (N°242/243). UPZ is precisely using blue Loctite for some screws/nuts, and even stronger Loctite (the red Loctite (N°271)) for some other screws/nuts.

@hknz: Arnaud is the plastics specialist (it was his previous job before CAD) and he will reply you. Note that the EC12 are not made in PU !! Patrice will also reply you on other points.



The Swoard team

[manuchill]

Congratulations on this awesome milestone !!!!
I find the looks amazing and I can totally understand people will switch to these (including myself ).

[Arnaud]

About the plastics used : I confirm that the plastics of EC12 are not PU !! PU don't have a great mechanical strength nor durability.
All the plastics used for ski / snowboard boots have their characteristics depending on temperature. But there are many different grade more or less sensitive to the temperature.
The choice went to a high-end expensive polymer, with high mechanically properties at low temperature. This plastic has also an excellent damping factor, and a quite low temperature dependance.

[fivat]

@hknz: Wow! You are from Hong Kong? Where do you usually go riding?

Even if money is not a concern for you, the chance we have with UPZ is that we are using existing molds. If we had to start with new molds, the sale price of the EC12 package would be more than 1000 €. Indeed, all the molds, left and right, in all sizes, cost at least 500'000 € to make. Thus it's good to put money in high-end plastics with great performances and to keep the sale price at a quite reasonable level. And all this with excellent liners (developed by Wolfgang): no extra costs for changing them after boots purchase.

The absorption of the vibrations is indeed something important, as the snowboard damping (if vivacity is not lost) and bindings damping! But what is also very important for us is the absorption of the moguls by the rider... with real and good ankle flexion... what is not possible with almost all hardboots. This is one main point. We don't want to just lay down by balancing left and right, like a pendulum. We also want to play with the steep, the moguls, all terrains, laying down or not, making even drifted turns, and enjoying narrow ways. Like surfers playing with the waves.

I guess there is a recurrent confusion about the name "EC". It is originally related to our technique of laid turns, whose basics are precisely the key to riding fluent when not ECing.

Making an EC boot allowing "push-pull" technique is not just a question of changing tongues and springs. It would be too simple. The point is how all the different parts of the boot are working together. And as our technique is inspired from surfing, we want to be able to bend the ankles (but keep better control and power than pure softboots).

I invite you to read the conclusion of this thread. It answers to some other points.

Patrice Fivat

[hknz]

@fivat: Yes you are right. As you may know, the present Hong Kong is quite bad. I usually ride in Austria and Hokkaido alone. I guess there is no time for me to try and buy the new EC12 as this season is approaching soon. Therefore, I have to stick to my 951 and let EC12 be my present next year if I find it fits my foot.

Thanks for your reply and the arrival of an affordable EC boots.

[Swoard team]

Here is a frequent question:
What to do if I have thin feet?

Indeed, in addition to the hardboot length, an important thing is the volume inside the shell. If you have thin feet, you can play with the velcro pads included in the EC12 package. Simply place them on the liners. There are also some plastic parts which can be inserted on the two sides of the heels.

Eventually, you can buy the very cheap "bootboard" (only 10 €) which you can see at bottom of this page:
https://www.upz-boots.at/performancepartshard

Bootboard.jpg (34.56 KiB) Viewed 44235 times

As written: "Volume reductive, insulating, shock absorbing. To be assembled between shell and liner, thickness 6mm."

The new liners are awesome and should satisfy almost everybody: comfort, insulation, breathability and holding. As they are self-mouldable, they will automatically adapt to your feet contours with time.

The Swoard team

[olive]

Absolutely great!

The Swoard team has developed from scratch a new sport, extremecarving:
a new riding style, the boards that facilitates the most that technique, and logically the bindings and the boots that are adapted.

They have come so far from the start! And with the success that we know as many other brands have tried to copy the concept... But Swoard remains far in advance on the others.

A big bravo to the team and thanks to Swoard for letting us experience those unique carving and extremecarving feelings.

[jax]

@jax, @Vitaly, @AVel1990, @wangxyw, @Matti, @hknz and at all the others in the social networks:
Thank you very much for your compliments and the warm words! We are happy to share this with you all.

@Vitaly: we didn't experience any unscrewing issue for two years of testing. If you have some unscrewing with old boots or other brands, you can use blue Loctite (N°242/243). UPZ is precisely using blue Loctite for some screws/nuts, and even stronger Loctite (the red Loctite (N°271)) for some other screws/nuts.

@hknz: Arnaud is the plastics specialist (it was his previous job before CAD) and he will reply you. Note that the EC12 are not made in PU !! Patrice will also reply you on other points.



The Swoard team

It was a pleasure, sorry for late answer but I've missed the post.

About Loctite I suggest to use the yellow one for gas pipes because otherwise will be very difficoult to unscrew if necessary.

[fivat]

I have been using the blue Loctite on all my hardboots for 34 years.
Unscrewing was still possible.

Patrice Fivat

[Fotisa2006]

Just arrived my ec 12 . They are superb. Super flexy . Best boot I ve tried so far .

Good job guys

[Arnaud]

Hi Fotisa,

Glad you like the boots. It was a long development to select and test the right plastics for each part (shell, cuff, tongue) to suit our needs. Our exclusive EC-Box is made in Italy. And there are other differences with the other UPZ models.
After 1 or 2 days of riding, we strongly recommend to check the screws. Due to the difference of temperature, you may need to tighten some screw, like on all hardboots.

Arnaud

[guillaume31]

Hi all,

I receive my EC12 a couple of weeks back. Coming from the Head Stratos which have a very comfortable liner, I was concerned about going a step back in comfort but after wearing them several hours at home, I find them very comfortable….to be confirmed after some days of riding . I recommend wearing them before riding to shape the liner to your feet because I noticed a big change between the first time wearing them and after 7-10h (only at home)

I have a question regarding the middle of the shoe to position it nicely onto the binding: there is a mark on the bottom on each side, is this the middle ? I remember reading a comment from someone saying the middle should be 4mm backwards on UPZ shoes because of their shape….I think the liner size vs the shell size must also be taken into account because the foot of someone with a 312 shell (for UK8.5, 9 and 9.5) and a UK8.5 liner won’t sit in the middle of the shell (this is just an example)…any thoughts ?

Or maybe in the end the middle does not matter so much because the most important setting is to have the same shoe clearance from the board edge at the front and the back ?

Guillaume

[Arnaud]

Or maybe in the end the middle does not matter so much because the most important setting is to have the same shoe clearance from the board edge at the front and the back ?

Yes, do not pay attention to this mark.
But set the forward/backward position to get the same angle on each edge, as described here : viewtopic.php?t=2788&start=15