Scarpa Maestrale RS

[LeeLau]

Newer uglier stiffer version of the Maestrale hopefully with hardware that won't fall out.

Wasn't there a thread about this -or- my search ability sucks. I'll delete this and add to the other thread if I can find it

So for the weight weenies the OE Scarpa liner (custom made for them by Intuition) is 263g. The Intuition luxury liners I'm going to stick in there are 220g.

Shell weight of Maestrale RS - 1316g; shell weight of Maestrale is 1305g

Maestrale RS is supposed to be 1559g (or 3lbs 15oz as their PR in some totally uncivilized measurement units). My test pair measured 1579g but with my own liners they come in at 1536g. Hooray for weight weenies!

Price goes to 699 from 599 for Maestrale

Will throw up some pics in a bit

[kevino]

I like that opening sentence!

So my buddy who is a rep for scarpa was telling me about these earlier this winter. They have a new upper buckle system too, right?

Curious how you'd compare them to your titan ultralights (that was you that had them right?) once you get skiing them

[wilcox510]

Looking forward to the Maestrale RS vs Vulcan comparison...

[LeeLau]

Vulcan is where-ever the fuck knows in shipping land. That really sucks as there aren't too many of those around.

I'll do the ghey ass Vulcan vs Maestrale vs Megaride vs Maestraele RS vs ZZeus shootout and try to put some numbers in the AT boot flex comparison thread

[LeeLau]

Looks like someone puked neapolitan icecream on these boots. Yeah I'm a fashion queen



Guts look the same


Buckles are beefier but same story with the lowest buckle - i basically leave it almost totally loose



Axial alpine technology - w/e



Side by side with Maestrale - looks pretty much the same profile


Definite beefup

[marshalolson]

lee, are you in a 26?

[Wetdog]

Yup, that is an ugly boot.

[LeeLau]

lee, are you in a 26?

The lucky 27 where most of the first moulds are made.

[whatsupdoc]

forward lean specs on these?

[LeeLau]

18 - 21 degrees per the PK brochure. Unchanged from Maestrale. Walk mode looks like the same as in the Rush

[samthaman]

I got a chance to ski both the RS and the Vulcan at the Mission Ridge Demo day earlier this winter.. and I think i'll be trading my titans in for a pair of the RS's next fall. They fit my feet a lot better than the vulcans and the price was way more palatable. With my (completely thrashed) titan on one foot and the RS on teh other, I felt the RS's were actually stiffer, the flex was different though.

things I didn't like about the RS, heavy looking buckles. I have no idea if they weigh more, but when I look down, I'd like to see the quadrant buckles, not some huge magnesium monstrosity. Also the colors looked like teletuby vomit, but that seems to be the usual for Scarpa.

Undoubtedly Lee will have a far more useful and informative review in the near future, but maybe this will help answer a few questions for now.

[Bzzzt]

I bought the 11/12 Maestrale on sale yesterday, and checked with the Norwegian Scarpa rep (www.outdoor.no) about changing to the stiffer RS tongue. It can be done, but also requires changing the 3rd buckle and its wire. The RS boot is made of polyamide, which is stiffer, but the tongue is made of pebax on both boots. Changing only the tongue might not make much difference.

[verbier61]

hey we already discussed the RS quite extensively...
anyway, I've used them for about 30 days this winter, and am extremely happy. They're significantly more stiff than the orange version, and everytime I used them with big skis like the renegades, S7, etc etc never wished a stiffer boot.
Some had concern that a stiffer tongue might impair the legendary maestrale walk. This was not the case, in my experience the zebra RS walks exactly like the orange.
Cannot comment about the new buckles, because Scarpa was so kind to send me a RS pair with the old buckles, that look very nice on the B&W shell :-)

regarding the plastic, polyamide means nylon. Grilamid and pebax are nylons.... so basically, at this time Scarpa is not telling what time of nylon is used for the RS. Whatever it is, my experience says it works very well in a very wide range of temperatures...

[kevino]

my understanding it that they are using a plastic similar to everyone's beloved tlt5 boots...

[verbier61]

my understanding it that they are using a plastic similar to everyone's beloved tlt5 boots...

no... they say the RS are not made in grilamid or pebax

[LeeLau]

hey we already discussed the RS quite extensively...
anyway, I've used them for about 30 days this winter, and am extremely happy. They're significantly more stiff than the orange version, and everytime I used them with big skis like the renegades, S7, etc etc never wished a stiffer boot.
Some had concern that a stiffer tongue might impair the legendary maestrale walk. This was not the case, in my experience the zebra RS walks exactly like the orange.
Cannot comment about the new buckles, because Scarpa was so kind to send me a RS pair with the old buckles, that look very nice on the B&W shell :-)

regarding the plastic, polyamide means nylon. Grilamid and pebax are nylons.... so basically, at this time Scarpa is not telling what time of nylon is used for the RS. Whatever it is, my experience says it works very well in a very wide range of temperatures...

In Maestrale thread verb? Maybe I'm on crack but am not finding a separate thread. Will go look

[brutah]

Was there a problem with the buckles that they felt a need to change them???

My problem with the orange maestrale's is that the tongue hinges break (broke my first one within 20 days of use) and that doesn't appear to be addressed by this beefed up verison. And the canting bolt recently popped out (which made skiing 'really fun' )

I love these boots otherwise, but durability always takes the cake for me and the orange maestrales are anything but durable. And it doesn't appear Scrapa addressed either of these two problems i've encountered.

[freak]

yeah, thats kind of a bummer.
did anything change in the way the buckles are attached on the RS (cant see how the upper buckles are attached) because they keep getting loose and falling off all the time at my maestrales, gets worse if the boots get older (and yes, i did use loctite). quite annoying and i never had something like that on any other boots.

freak~[&]

[skisurfmirth]

Samthaman or anyone else who can comment,

How is the forward flex on the RS? Sounds like it uses the same tounge but with a bigger top buckle so I'm guessing its similiar, just slightly stiffer. How did the flex on the Vulcan compair to the RS? I'm looking for something with a progressive flex a la Full Tilt/Dalbello. Thanks for any info.

[marshalolson]

the RS is pretty stiff, really. stiffer than a titan for sure, both laterally and fore. it ships with a normal velcro strap, which i was a tiny bit bummed about, so its a little less progressive than i hoped. i wish it came with the same strap on the mobe, which is an elastic strap... which would make it a little more progressive for sure.

my (and lee's) sample vulcans are enroute, so we can both offer head to head insight pretty soon. the vulcan is super stiff at room temperature, but carbon is not effected by the cold, so same stiffness on snow. the RS needs to be compared on-snow since nylon stiffens dramatically with cold temperature.

i have to say i am pretty disappointed with the heel pocket of the maestrale's though. if you are used to a dalbello you should be fine, but if you are used to a tight alpine boot, there is not much anatomy going on there. lots of heel lift.

[LeeLau]

yeah, thats kind of a bummer.
did anything change in the way the buckles are attached on the RS (cant see how the upper buckles are attached) because they keep getting loose and falling off all the time at my maestrales, gets worse if the boots get older (and yes, i did use loctite). quite annoying and i never had something like that on any other boots.

freak - upper buckles attached by rivets. I was going to try to get them out so i could see if i could jimmy the Maestrale buckles on but looks like I'd have to drill and hate to do that to demo boots.

They definitely look clunkier but I'm told by Scarpa that's part of the reason why its stiffer than Maestrale

the RS is pretty stiff, really. stiffer than a titan for sure, both laterally and forward. it ships with a normal strap, which i was bummed about, so its a little less progressive than i hoped. i wish it came with the same strap on the mobe, which is a modified booster/elastic strap... which would make it a little more progressive for sure.

my (and lee's) sample vulcans are enroute, so we can both offer head to head insight pretty soon. the vulcan is super stiff at room temperature, but carbon is not effected by the cold, so same stiffness on snow. the RS needs to be compared on-snow since nylon stiffens dramatically with cold temperature.

yo marshall - mine were apparently delayed so that they could send me the actual productions and not protos. Ask them maybe to confirm to send you productions as they're now at least in the same continent and us.

I've got a list of things to check with Scarpa and one of them is if existing Scarpa boot-owners can get that awesome Mobe booster-ish style strap.

[LeeLau]

Was there a problem with the buckles that they felt a need to change them???

My problem with the orange maestrale's is that the tongue hinges break (broke my first one within 20 days of use) and that doesn't appear to be addressed by this beefed up verison. And the canting bolt recently popped out (which made skiing 'really fun' )

I love these boots otherwise, but durability always takes the cake for me and the orange maestrales are anything but durable. And it doesn't appear Scrapa addressed either of these two problems i've encountered.

Only problem was the green springy things sometimes got lost but that didn't affect anything. Maybe they looked wimpy to some people. I dunno.

Those hinges are unchanged. Not sold on them as I broke all four. My earlier Maestrales didn't have T-nuts in the back of the bolts for the hinges but the replacement kit did. With the Maestrale RS all those bolts have T-nuts.

no... they say the RS are not made in grilamid or pebax

Ok I'm going to have to check. Apparently RS boot shell is made out of polyamide/grilamid per Scarpa

I know nothing about this plastic other than it was in the TLT5 which I thought had shit durability so never followed thru with testing so am going to have to get educated.

[marshalolson]

yo marshall - mine were apparently delayed so that they could send me the actual productions and not protos. Ask them maybe to confirm to send you productions as they're now at least in the same continent and us.

I've got a list of things to check with Scarpa and one of them is if existing Scarpa boot-owners can get that awesome Mobe booster-ish style strap.

yeah man, same here, on both ends. those mobe straps were the bees' knees. i'd order a few of them for every boot i own, really.

[LeeLau]

18 - 21 degrees per the PK brochure. Unchanged from Maestrale. Walk mode looks like the same as in the Rush

18 -22 degrees - typo

[adrenalated]

I skied both the Vulcan and the Maestrale RS at the SIA demo a couple months ago.

As marshal said, RS is pretty stiff. I don't alpine/AT enough (mostly tele) to give a huge detailed comparison, but I would say a little stiffer than my Dalbello Krypton Cross (soft tongue, with all the stiffening inserts in their stiffest positions) in forward flex, and damn close to it if not equal laterally.

The Vulcans I skied were a proto and one size too big for. So, I really can't comment on lateral stiffness as I was swimming in them. But they are considerably stiffer in forward flex than the RS, no doubt about it.