Which boots?

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Wouter
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Which boots?

Post by Wouter » Wednesday 28 December 2011, 13:46

Dear all, I very much appreciate the info on boots in the Forum. I know have old Blax ones and need some new boots for this season. I´ve really no idea which to buy. I´d say I have an aggresive style but also like to tour a whole day through without killing feet. I´ve been looking at www.carversparadise.com: UPZ looks (to me) more for pro´s (pls correct me if I´m wrong). If so, which version of Deeluxe makes sense for a 168 H, 183 cm and roughly 80 kilos. I´m not very handy in finetuning the boots with all type of - surely very useful - gadgets, I read all over the Forum.

Thanks a lot in advance for your help.

WL
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fivat
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Re: Which boots?

Post by fivat » Thursday 29 December 2011, 16:15

Many riders have heels lifting in the Deeluxe boots. :-(
The BLAX boots became HEAD (same molds). It's what we recommend, but with some modification and the ACSS from Arnaud. He sells his spring system, so contact him if you are interested.
UPZ are expensive but better than Deeluxe. You also can modify them with the ACSS.
The best prices are on Blue Tomato.

Patrice Fivat

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Hans
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Re: Which boots?

Post by Hans » Thursday 29 December 2011, 22:41

No one can't have any recommendation about any boot to you. It all depends on personal preference and fit. That said, you have to try and fit several boots to see which one suits you best. Don't no why Patrice says that UPZ boots are better than Deeluxe boots. That's kind of a bold statement. The only thing is that the Deeluxe series Track 700 are a little smaller in the forefoot, as UPZ boots have a very roomy toebox. The heellift problem where Patrice is pointing at with the Deeluxe boots, is when you have skinny feet/legs, you might have a heellift problem with standardliners in a Deeluxe boot (series 700). You can solve this problem by using thermo (Deeluxe series T) or custom made foamliners like Strolz or any ski foamed liner will do. There are enough people who swear by Deeluxe boots, as there are people who swear by UPZ boots or Head boots. All these boots have their own specific weaknesses. If you are satisfied with the fit of your Blax boots, try the Head boots instead. Don't wait too long with buying them, because to my knowledge they aren't made anymore. Shops who have them, are just the last stocks that I know of. Good luck.

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Re: Which boots?

Post by fivat » Thursday 29 December 2011, 23:15

I didn't give my personal opinion, but a general picture that we (the professionals) get from many customers and our testers. I myself tested Blax, Head, UPZ, Deeluxe (and still prefer Northwave). I don't have skinny feet, and Deeluxe is definitely a problem for more riders than with any other brand. We even don't mention the feet pain which has pushed many people (including some of my friends) to leave alpine snowboarding.
I don't think that Wouter would like to buy all brands and test all them for several days, with custom made liners and modified spring systems for each brand. That's why he asked for some advices.
Head has stopped making bindings a few years ago. Their boots were no more in the catalogs. Now this is the end. If you can get a last pair, get it. ;-)

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Wouter
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Re: Which boots?

Post by Wouter » Friday 30 December 2011, 0:09

Thanks a lot. Thats really helpful. I thought old was bad but thats apparently not the case here. I'll contact Arnaud and try to finetune my boots then. If I cant fix it, surely I'll learn it in Zinal in a months time. Thanks again.

Wouter
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Transistor Rhythm
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Re: Which boots?

Post by Transistor Rhythm » Wednesday 4 January 2012, 22:13

If you go to Soelden, you can try on all brands and types of boots. Lots of stores still sell hardboots there.

Get the ones that fit best. Only the Deeluxe 325 and 225's should be avoided I think, all other boots are or can be made into good boots.
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Re: Which boots?

Post by luomu » Thursday 5 January 2012, 5:43

I have been fairly happy with the Deeluxe Indys for the last 6 years and plan to continue with the same model for the next years, thanks to Mikk. Definitely recommend Abrax's ACSS spring modification if you go for the Deeluxe, the boot is way too stiff with others.
Especially the original spring or the 5-position lock I don't understand at all.

For me the boot has fitted very nicely with the original normal liner (with a separate flap, not the overlapping one).
BUT then again, I'm not talking about the Track700 which seems to be roomier.
Seems like MOST people I know of having the 700's experience the issue of heels lifting in frontside turns - so you might end up having to modify the boot more than the Head.

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Re: Which boots?

Post by Snegorez » Thursday 5 January 2012, 14:03

luomu wrote:I have been fairly happy with the Deeluxe Indys for the last 6 years
....
BUT then again, I'm not talking about the Track700 which seems to be roomier.
deeluxe indy suzuka and track700 are went out of the same form.
Difference are colors, buckles, stiffness, RAB

Wouter, what model of blax do you have?

mandrezak
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Re: Which boots?

Post by mandrezak » Sunday 15 January 2012, 18:12

As far as I know the UPZ RC8 are recommended over the RC10, as they should be softer.
Are they a preferred choice even though having only 4 buckles?

Thx

Markus - desperately looking for available shoes :-/

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Abrax
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Re: Which boots?

Post by Abrax » Sunday 15 January 2012, 21:22

I don't believe that the lack of 5th buckle is worse in any sense. Every other boot brand still uses 4 buckles and everything seems just right.
My personal feeling about this 5th buckle is that it is really needed during the championships. It sometimes happen that the 2nd buckle releases and if this happens one can't do the turns precisely.

So in my opinion the 5th (the third one) buckle is there just in case.

For EC we try to look at boots differently. The stiffness is not so important, and the soft feel helps with edge hold. This is very deep so I won't discover it right now. Generally we need very soft forward flex and we don't like extremely precise leg/edge tension transfer. We need this flex to be able to bend our knees really hard while in between the turns and the stone solid shell does not go in pair with our need for a smooth tension transfer.

I mean that the extremecarver needs to keep the edge pressure as smooth as possible to avoid rapid strength changes.

So generally we do use soft boots, soft bindings and we do not like plate systems. This all combines into a platform which makes EC turn much easier and possible in much worse conditions than in stone solid rock hard competition shells.

So as you can see, we have enough area to remember about our comfort.

The perfect EC boot should not be too hard, should have a fully adjustable spring system which allows very big forward flex and it HAS TO BE COMFORTABLE!!!

We do not make just few runs, we make hundreds of fully laid turns and we still want more! :-)
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Wouter
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Re: Which boots?

Post by Wouter » Monday 16 January 2012, 10:42

Dear all, thanks for the clarifications. Here are 2 picture of my boots. Oldies but goldies. The question is whether the ACSS system can be installed on the boots. If so, if it makes any sense as my boots are already 5-7 years old (cant remember when I bought them :wall: ). Thanks again in advance for your help.
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myboots2.doc
Appologies for the low quality. I can send pcitures private mail in colour in jpg.
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Re: Which boots?

Post by SITO » Monday 16 January 2012, 21:25

Wouter,
I think that you are from Madrid, Last season I spoke with you by Phone.....?
If so and you are from Madrid I will go to Xanadu on wednesday since 17.00 in the evening till 21.00 around, if you want, give me a call and I can help you and indicate how to mount the sistem to your boots I have one mounted on mine, they are stratos pro ,diferent model, but we could see how to modify your boots and adapt the sistem spring...
Hasta luegoor!!
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mandrezak
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Re: Which boots?

Post by mandrezak » Monday 16 January 2012, 23:21

Hi Abrax -thx for the great explanation!
After what you say - besides all other details -I firmly believe that I bought my older shoes too big -> hence too much pressure needed -> hence not comfortable enough.

Thx again for the great explanation!

Cheers

Markus

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Re: Which boots?

Post by mandrezak » Tuesday 17 January 2012, 0:50

Oh, BTW, abrax - which is the ultimate boot for you out of all I could get: UPZ RC 8, UPZ, RC 10 or Head Stratos Pro and which is the easiest to tune?

Thx

Markus

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Re: Which boots?

Post by Abrax » Tuesday 17 January 2012, 9:26

I'm not an expert in these shells. Arnaud is the man!
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