25/26 gear rumors thread

[SkiLyft]

^^ that’s a hot take. Don’t watch ski racing. Has the whole field moved to double boa given the performance advantages you speak of?


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[NBABUCKS1]

i ski in a pretty low volume atomic hawx. I have no idea how i'd get my foot in that thing with a double boa and not having ability to splay the top out.

[waxoff]

I mean that’s one way to look at it

But yeah we believe boa on the cuff allows us to build a higher performance ski boot then can be achieved currently with buckles. So if you want to have the most performance possible give it a try. If you are happy with buckles we will still offer it but at the performance levels we believe they work best.

I'm open to discover this new world, plus my Lange RX are getting worn... Why not?

[XXX-er]

I been on the same boots for 15 yrs SO if I drink the BOA koolaid how long will there be BOA parts is my question ??

[DoubleBogey]

BOA isn't going anywhere. Maybe they leave ski boots, but BOA will be around.

I'm really interested in this boot but it seems like world cup'ing into it with Zipfits will be pretty damn hard.

[XXX-er]

I didnt say BOA was going anywhere i asked how it was gona get fixed ?

[tompietrowski]

BOA isn't going anywhere. Maybe they leave ski boots, but BOA will be around.

I'm really interested in this boot but it seems like world cup'ing into it with Zipfits will be pretty damn hard.

I was using foam injection liners initially with mine before we had stock liners and if you have used those you know they are even harder than zip fits to get one in the shell. So I spent the first year world cupping it with no issue.

[tompietrowski]

I didnt say BOA was going anywhere i asked how it was gona get fixed ?

What part are you wondering about fixing?

[tompietrowski]

i ski in a pretty low volume atomic hawx. I have no idea how i'd get my foot in that thing with a double boa and not having ability to splay the top out.

The top guide is releasable so it still fully opens up. We have not had anyone who has not been able to get into the boots as of yet.

[Skip Dooley]

Having tried some boa boots - it feels like solving a problem I don’t have.. Am I missing something?

Also, anyone have beta on new volkl v-werks mantra-ish ski some spancered folks have been cruising?


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[tompietrowski]

Having tried some boa boots - it feels like solving a problem I don’t have.. Am I missing something?

Also, anyone have beta on new volkl v-werks mantra-ish ski some spancered folks have been cruising?


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Well people thought rear entry boots were great and then things evolved. Same here. Buckles were and are great but that’s not to say there was never going to be something better.

[tompietrowski]

^^ that’s a hot take. Don’t watch ski racing. Has the whole field moved to double boa given the performance advantages you speak of?


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Not yet no. Race boots don’t sell at all so for a brand to update race boots tooling is a huge investment in both time and money. You can’t just update existing tooling either so it’s not an easy one for brands to do. But it’s being tested and is coming for sure. Atomic even have there own system which has been modified slightly just for racing.

[jacob_dbu]

Wow lotta double boa up in here. And LV boa boots are going to be super welcome addition. Tom - what are the Cortex fit like? Pronated vs supinated? Cuff sizing?

[teamdirt]

BOA isn't going anywhere. Maybe they leave ski boots, but BOA will be around.

I'm really interested in this boot but it seems like world cup'ing into it with Zipfits will be pretty damn hard.

Where did Boa go the 1st 20+ years it was in existence?

[Lord Thomas]

If it helps anyone sleep, I've used boa closure on my wading boots for better than a decade. Only had one break and that was on an obsolete model of boot. Called boa and it was like they got hit in the ass wit a lightning bolt. They worked with me to figure out the exact model and size of boot then expedited the replacement boa. As good of customer service as I've ever experienced. And for what it's worth, replacing the boa was easy.

Now I'm starting to think that a double boa could be handy as shit on a touring boot. Easy to make it better than the shitty buckles most companies use.

[HukuTa_KydecHuk]

Having tried some boa boots - it feels like solving a problem I don’t have.. Am I missing something?
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100% true. I've been skiing BOA boot for couple of months and honestly, should have gone with the regular buckles. It MIGHT be interesting to see how BOA works for the upper buckles, I assume it really gives you better adjustment opportunities, however, for the lower part, I'm now absolutely sure BOA is a miss.

[XavierD]

I could barely get my hoof into a single boa boot in a shop. This was a higher volume boot than I’d normally ski. It did wrap the foot well when tightened but definitely not worth a boot you can’t fully open up. Some of us do need to be able to fully open the shell of the boot to get our rigid high insteps in. Hard pass on double boa. Being able to have different levels of tension in the cuff buckles is also a plus to me, but others could disagree.

[byates1]

Boa is great until it snaps and you can't fix it.

[tompietrowski]

100% true. I've been skiing BOA boot for couple of months and honestly, should have gone with the regular buckles. It MIGHT be interesting to see how BOA works for the upper buckles, I assume it really gives you better adjustment opportunities, however, for the lower part, I'm now absolutely sure BOA is a miss.

Boa on the lower is mainly a comfort thing. So if you already had a good fit then I could see it may not feel like a big upgrade. However many many people suffer with badly fitting boots so this is why boa on the lower has been very well received so far by many people.

Boa on the cuff is different however as it really improves performance compared to buckles. I really think the cuff closure system will be what sells boa for people who are looking for the best performance from a boot rather than just getting some more comfort from the boot.

[tompietrowski]

I could barely get my hoof into a single boa boot in a shop. This was a higher volume boot than I’d normally ski. It did wrap the foot well when tightened but definitely not worth a boot you can’t fully open up. Some of us do need to be able to fully open the shell of the boot to get our rigid high insteps in. Hard pass on double boa. Being able to have different levels of tension in the cuff buckles is also a plus to me, but others could disagree.

If you are struggling to get into the boot you can switch out the stock cable for a longer one. This allows the shell to open wider. We recommend people with limited mobility or a very high instep change to a cable 5cm longer to help open the boot more.

[tompietrowski]

Wow lotta double boa up in here. And LV boa boots are going to be super welcome addition. Tom - what are the Cortex fit like? Pronated vs supinated? Cuff sizing?

The shell is model off a consumer level race boot last. We benchmarked many boots and found we really liked the heel and ankle area of the atomic redster cs and forefoot and toe box of the of the Dalbello drs 97mm. This was what we based our last on. It’s a true lv shell with a very thick wall so it will be easy to get in and grind if modifications are needed. The liner was developed to give a little more comfort than many of the race inspired boots we were benchmarking. We wanted this to be race boot performance but in a package more like everyday lv boots. Hopefully people will find they can wear cortex without much work and still get the very highest performance levels.

[Marshal Olson]

Boa on the lower is mainly a comfort thing. So if you already had a good fit then I could see it may not feel like a big upgrade. However many many people suffer with badly fitting boots so this is why boa on the lower has been very well received so far by many people.

Boa on the cuff is different however as it really improves performance compared to buckles. I really think the cuff closure system will be what sells boa for people who are looking for the best performance from a boot rather than just getting some more comfort from the boot.

Having a hard time understanding this. Would love to know more. I see boa pulling even tension across two anchor points - which I guess is what you are referring to? Personally run third buckle much more firm and top buckle a bit less tensioned to give the flex and feel I’m after. That seems unachievable with boa. How does this improvement you speak of manifest?

[turnfarmer]

Wow lotta double boa up in here. And LV boa boots are going to be super welcome addition. Tom - what are the Cortex fit like? Pronated vs supinated? Cuff sizing?

This is an interesting way to think about boot fit, will start it’s own thread.

[tompietrowski]

Having a hard time understanding this. Would love to know more. I see boa pulling even tension across two anchor points - which I guess is what you are referring to? Personally run third buckle much more firm and top buckle a bit less tensioned to give the flex and feel I’m after. That seems unachievable with boa. How does this improvement you speak of manifest?

That is what basically every tester said going into boa cuff testing. There was pretty much a universal feeling that a single cable system would not offer great performance or fit because of exactly what you just said. But during testing (at least for us) each one of our testers found they got a better and more consistent cuff wrap which resulted in better power transfer compared to buckles.

The boa cuff uses a dual pull single cable design meaning the cable is constantly self actuating through the guides. In practice this means the wrap can stay incredible constant through the movement of the cuff when the boot is flexed.

Anyone expecting to want more lower tension found this not to be an issue and as I said all were happy with the fit and we have had no testers who thought the boa cuff did not need perform better than our buckle cuffs we used to test against.

[tompietrowski]

This is an interesting way to think about boot fit, will start its own thread.

The pronated vs supinated comment was interesting as that is not how boots are made. I wondered if perhaps that was referring to built in sole canting which some race boots do employ?