Att zipfit gurus!

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Today was day 13 on the Gara + Lange Shadow 130. First hour+ is just pure pain. My right boot is much better but not perfect and left boot hurts so much. After an hour or so it get better but they are either way too loose or hurt so bad. There is no sweet spot with the buckles. Go in for lunch and it's like my feet shrink a whole size and they fit much much better. Still never "comfortable" and not sure what else I can really do. Honestly, the kid who fit them may not really know what he is doing. The liners seem so thin that I don't see how I can improve anything. They are also SO fucking cold. Like a balmy 25 degrees and it feels like I have no liner and just a plastic boot on my bare foot. Did I "ruin" myself with nice thick power wraps for 20 years? Custom masterfit footbeds for what it's worth.

Should I heat them again at home? 130 degrees in the oven with DIY toe caps?

[TAFKALVS]

Are you able to actually fit in to the heel pocket of the boot? I’d take a close look at that.

[Pinned]

Today was day 13 on the Gara + Lange Shadow 130. First hour+ is just pure pain. My right boot is much better but not perfect and left boot hurts so much. After an hour or so it get better but they are either way too loose or hurt so bad. There is no sweet spot with the buckles. Go in for lunch and it's like my feet shrink a whole size and they fit much much better. Still never "comfortable" and not sure what else I can really do. Honestly, the kid who fit them may not really know what he is doing. The liners seem so thin that I don't see how I can improve anything. They are also SO fucking cold. Like a balmy 25 degrees and it feels like I have no liner and just a plastic boot on my bare foot. Did I "ruin" myself with nice thick power wraps for 20 years? Custom masterfit footbeds for what it's worth.

Should I heat them again at home? 130 degrees in the oven with DIY toe caps?

How do the boots fit / feel with the stock liners? The Zipfits being thin, for me, means getting into a lower volume shell and giving just enough space that I don't have hotspots. But I don't need to crank the buckles. Which seemed odd at first. An LV boot fits me with Zipfits but I cannot get it buckled with stock liners.

In a shell that fits with stock liners I think I'd crank them with the Zips and would then create hotspots.

Yes, they are cold AF. They should come with heaters pre-installed honestly.

[GoldenBC]

Today was day 13 on the Gara + Lange Shadow 130. First hour+ is just pure pain. My right boot is much better but not perfect and left boot hurts so much. After an hour or so it get better but they are either way too loose or hurt so bad. There is no sweet spot with the buckles. Go in for lunch and it's like my feet shrink a whole size and they fit much much better. Still never "comfortable" and not sure what else I can really do. Honestly, the kid who fit them may not really know what he is doing. The liners seem so thin that I don't see how I can improve anything. They are also SO fucking cold. Like a balmy 25 degrees and it feels like I have no liner and just a plastic boot on my bare foot. Did I "ruin" myself with nice thick power wraps for 20 years? Custom masterfit footbeds for what it's worth.

Should I heat them again at home? 130 degrees in the oven with DIY toe caps?

If you shell check yourself without the liner, are you super tight in any areas? Do you touch both sides in places? When you first put them on, where does it have extra pressure/hurt? Is it tight anywhere specifically? How long does it take to “hurt so bad”? What type of pain? Where does it hurt? How does it feel compared to the stock liners?

You obviously have pressure somewhere which is hurting you but also restricting blood flow and making it cold. If zipfits aren’t super tight they are reasonably warm. Not as warm as intuitions that aren’t super tight though.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Are you able to actually fit in to the heel pocket of the boot? I’d take a close look at that.

I mean it sure feels like I am in the heel pocket. Doing the whole kicking the heel into the ground etc when I first put the boots on. But without xray vision I guess I don't know for sure.

How do the boots fit / feel with the stock liners? The Zipfits being thin, for me, means getting into a lower volume shell and giving just enough space that I don't have hotspots. But I don't need to crank the buckles. Which seemed odd at first. An LV boot fits me with Zipfits but I cannot get it buckled with stock liners.

In a shell that fits with stock liners I think I'd crank them with the Zips and would then create hotspots.

Yes, they are cold AF. They should come with heaters pre-installed honestly.

I've never actually had them on with the stock liners. We measured me then decided to go with the MV Shadow in my size. Then we went straight to the zipfits. Heated them, toe caps, into the boot.

If you shell check yourself without the liner, are you super tight in any areas? Do you touch both sides in places? When you first put them on, where does it have extra pressure/hurt? Is it tight anywhere specifically? How long does it take to “hurt so bad”? What type of pain? Where does it hurt? How does it feel compared to the stock liners?

You obviously have pressure somewhere which is hurting you but also restricting blood flow and making it cold. If zipfits aren’t super tight they are reasonably warm. Not as warm as intuitions that aren’t super tight though.

I have to do a shell check again and see. I put the boots on in the lot (with warm shells/liners if possible) and I buckle the top two to try to ensure I am in the heel pocket. Can only buckle both top buckles one or two "rungs" at most ever......but honestly they are fucking tight right away in the calf. I got thick latino cyclist calves. No chicken legs. May be part of the circulation issue right there.

Also, the achilles area seems super tight. Losing lots of blood flow there and thinking I need to move material around? I keep expecting it to "pack out".

Also tons of pain in the inside arch area on only the left foot. Left big toe still hits the front of the boot until I have been skiing in them for hours. Both boots just not comfortable really at all. My custom insoles are 4ish years old. Possible my foot changed that much in that time?

I guess I just need to go back into the shop and see that they think.

[Bunion 2020]

Which shop?

I have been in my ZFs for like 8 years and they have never caused me pain and my feet stay toasty. And I have fucked up feet.

[GravityDT]

Coming from a former bootfitter back in the day - Sounds like it's a shell fit issue vs the actual liner. What other boots/lasts did they have you try on or did they sell you what they simply had in stock?

[DoubleBogey]

I think you need to remove some OMfit from the heel pocket if your Achilles are tight, probably on both sides.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Which shop?

I have been in my ZFs for like 8 years and they have never caused me pain and my feet stay toasty. And I have fucked up feet.

The small one on west Main heading towards the mall. You know what I mean. You get yours at LMS?

Coming from a former bootfitter back in the day - Sounds like it's a shell fit issue vs the actual liner. What other boots/lasts did they have you try on or did they sell you what they simply had in stock?

Tried on a Mach 1 first and the ankle/top of foot area was SOOOOO painful right away. Then they put me in the Shadow based on tape measurements of my foot.

[Just Looking]

WRG Sounds like atleast someone else at the shop may have more knowledge? or try with zipfit direct.

couple things I've learned:
heating the liner is only to help the cork move from place to place, it won't compress like intuitions (ever?), and will take forever to move from wearing. Warm the liner and move the cork in a pinching motion between the inside and outside. Dont start from the bottom of where you want to move the cork from, start from the top and work your way down, create room for movement this way. There are a lot of good zipfit videos showing the moving, and the removal of the cork if necessary.

When I put on the liner, I was really cranking the lacing really tight and the top strap super tight, like you would normally reef on the powerstrap. It was cutting off my foots circulation and making them really cold and uncomfortable. I've changed to gently snugging the lacing, and lightly closing the top strap, mostly just to contain the lace length. Made a huge difference in my foot / lower leg comfort.

Lastly, my buckles at the ankle went from the last rung on the ladder, to the first, sometimes the second. A drastic change from using the intuitions. Seemd weird initially, but works fine.

Good Luck, sucks to hear your issues.

fwiw, I originally had new shells I was going to use with the zipfits, but decided to use the old ones as I knew those shells worked, even though the new ones were an updated similar model. I havent used the new shells yet as the old ones have a new life now. Maybe try your previous shells as mentioned.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

WRG Sounds like atleast someone else at the shop may have more knowledge? or try with zipfit direct.

couple things I've learned:
heating the liner is only to help the cork move from place to place, it won't compress like intuitions (ever?), and will take forever to move from wearing. Warm the liner and move the cork in a pinching motion between the inside and outside. Dont start from the bottom of where you want to move the cork from, start from the top and work your way down, create room for movement this way. There are a lot of good zipfit videos showing the moving, and the removal of the cork if necessary.

When I put on the liner, I was really cranking the lacing really tight and the top strap super tight, like you would normally reef on the powerstrap. It was cutting off my foots circulation and making them really cold and uncomfortable. I've changed to gently snugging the lacing, and lightly closing the top strap, mostly just to contain the lace length. Made a huge difference in my foot / lower leg comfort.

Lastly, my buckles at the ankle went from the last rung on the ladder, to the first, sometimes the second. A drastic change from using the intuitions. Seemd weird initially, but works fine.

Good Luck, sucks to hear your issues.

fwiw, I originally had new shells I was going to use with the zipfits, but decided to use the old ones as I knew those shells worked, even though the new ones were an updated similar model. I havent used the new shells yet as the old ones have a new life now. Maybe try your previous shells as mentioned.

Ok good to know. I don't crank the laces or strap super tight, but I may still be over doing it. Will try them loose. I will also try warming and moving some cork around as suggested above. I never intended to get new shells. When I went in for the Zips in November we pulled open my old shells and found a good sized crack right at the forefoot/ankle/cuff overlap area. Bummer. New shells.

[SoVT Joey]

I punch my Achilles area in all my langes or I have cold foot issues. It sounds like you aren’t getting far enough into the heel pocket either if the Achilles is that tight. I don’t like tuning my liners in until I have my shell working well. It may be worth putting the stock liner in and going skiing to see if you have hot spots in them in the same place and then working off of that as a baseline. If I’m in my stock liner I have small hot spots around my Achilles and start to adjust the shell. Then I go a little more to add space for the Zipfit.


i threw away my custom insoles and switched to superfeet and that made a huge difference as well. My custom’s suddenly didn’t want to get along well with my new boots and liners for some reason and they were killing my feet. The superfeet are a little thinner then my custom was so it also gave more space along my instep which is great. The quiz on their website seems to work well for getting the correct insole.

[TAFKALVS]

It sounds like the liner and boot are conspiring to prevent your heel from getting back in the heel pocket.

Put your insoles in the shell and slide your foot in. Do your ankles touch the side of the shell? If so might need a punch or a grind in that area.

I’m not a husky Latino cyclist, but I do have thick welsh legs. I’ve never skied with my upper buckles with more than 1-2 clicks. Any more and I lose all feeling in my feet.

[Bunion 2020]

Yeah, I do use LMS and they are great although they prefer Intuitions over ZFs. That shop you use is suppose to know what the fuck they are doing, hell, they are the Doctor.

I am running Solly shells and I rarely buckle them down very tight. IMO if you need to wear boots so tight they make your feet hurt or cold you have greater problems than boots.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

OK went to the shop. They ground down part of the masterfit insoles. They were way too wide for my new shells and lifting me up in the boot. They also moved cork in the Achilles area. Huge difference. Stoked.

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Wow. Starting to see the light/hype now that they did some work and I have had a few more days on them. The fit is getting really good. Now that I am finally all the way back in the heel pocket and my achilles fits in the "channel" in the back I may want to add some cork to the top of the instep. Is that doable? Halfway between the toes and ankle on top of my foot feels like there is just a bit too much space in there.

[2FUNKY]

Wow. Starting to see the light/hype now that they did some work and I have had a few more days on them. The fit is getting really good. Now that I am finally all the way back in the heel pocket and my achilles fits in the "channel" in the back I may want to add some cork to the top of the instep. Is that doable? Halfway between the toes and ankle on top of my foot feels like there is just a bit too much space in there.

Depending on how far down the foot, you can inject more cork and move to down the to the bottom of the tongue pocket. That may help out. It doesn’t go very far into the foot area unfortunately. If that doesn’t work you can drop a thin bontex insole in to help take up the volumn or a heavy ski sock.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[SWskier]

Wow. Starting to see the light/hype now that they did some work and I have had a few more days on them. The fit is getting really good. Now that I am finally all the way back in the heel pocket and my achilles fits in the "channel" in the back I may want to add some cork to the top of the instep. Is that doable? Halfway between the toes and ankle on top of my foot feels like there is just a bit too much space in there.

I stuck some neoprene to the top of my foot. Found some bomber double sided tape that’s held up so far. As I tune it I’ll probably glue down with neoprene cement.




Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[DoubleBogey]

Wow. Starting to see the light/hype now that they did some work and I have had a few more days on them. The fit is getting really good. Now that I am finally all the way back in the heel pocket and my achilles fits in the "channel" in the back I may want to add some cork to the top of the instep. Is that doable? Halfway between the toes and ankle on top of my foot feels like there is just a bit too much space in there.

You can add cork all the way down to that blue cutout window on the tongue, and maybe a little bit past that, I’m not positive. Shove the cork tube as far down as you can from the top of the tongue. Before you do anything, put the tube of cork in the microwave for 15-20 seconds to make your life easier.

[DoubleBogey]

[GoldenBC]

There doesn’t appear to be a fixed ring of cork at the ankle like I first understood. All pockets are accessible via the top. The red lines represent a crimp that you can’t move cork across. To get cork to the Achilles, push the tube as high and far back as you can and then work it around the crimp and down the Achilles channel.

Cool to see how the tongue works. The entry port is an inch lower than the highest point you can fill. So basically you can fill it really high on the sides but there will be a 1”x1” square in the centre that has no cork in it.

[GoldenBC]

Tongue detail

[arild]

Tongue detail

Nice details! Did you cut open your own GFTs for this science experiment?

Sent fra min LE2123 via Tapatalk

[DoubleBogey]

[DoubleBogey]

I hope that GFT was already dead 🙁