Aight guys, help me out here. need SPK advice

thefilmerguy

thefilmerguy

Active member
i know that this is a hot topic as to whether SPK's are shit outside of the park or not, but i would like some useful insight into my situation.

for future reference i am a type III skier. 5'10ish, 155 pounds. currently im in Salomon Foil's which are both too soft for me, and not padded enough for my hard landings and whatnot.

first question. what is the difference between the SPK Kaos, and the SPK Pro boot? i have tried both of them on and the only difference i can FEEL, is that the Pro, has a narrower toebox, and tighter fit. i guess this may be because it is a more high performance boot? im not sure. why is the pro THAT much more expensive?

NOTE: please DONT tell me to just go get professionally bootfitted/look

at new boots etc. i work at a shop and know what constitutes a good fit

and how to do basic bootfitting and these boots FIT.

Second question. I can get a great deal on the Pros from the shop i work at and i am seriously considering purchasing them. The only thing holding me back is the constant argument whether they are decent outside of the park or not. I ski a lot more backcountry and off trail stuff and i am worried that the Pros will suck outside the park. when i am skiing outside the park, it is almost all jibbing, dropping cliffs, pow, bc booters etc.

here is what im sketched out about, the vertical stance of the SPK. is it going to really hold me back from skiing outside the park? does it kill the out of park aspect of skiing? the 95 flex is a good flex for me, much better than the 80 flex of the foils. i completely crush those boots when im charging and i think 95 is a good happy medium.

comments and insight from previous users greatly appreciated. help me out here guys!
 
excellent thread, you got all the info down, props. ok so here is my opinion on these boots. first, only difference between pros and kaos is the pro has a better liner. same flex though. i have the kaos boots, and love them for the most part. i weigh about as much as you do, and mine work pretty well everywhere. the flex is good for me, and they rule in park, obviously. in the pow, they are pretty good because you get a good feel for the ski, which i like. however, like you said, the stance is pretty vertical. thats the only thing i disklike about them. they still hold up fine everywhere for the most part, but for charging super deep or exposed terrain, they arent the best. they still work, mind you, but they could be better. all in all, they are a solid choice, if, like you said, they fit you. so thats my 2 cents, hope it helps. good luck man
 
i know that this is a hot topic as to whether SPK's are shit outside of

the park or not, but i would like some useful insight into my

situation.

for future reference i am a type III skier. 5'10ish, 155 pounds.

currently im in Salomon Foil's which are both too soft for me, and not

padded enough for my hard landings and whatnot.

first question. what is the difference between the SPK Kaos,

and the SPK Pro boot? i have tried both of them on and the only

difference i can FEEL, is that the Pro, has a narrower toebox, and

tighter fit. i guess this may be because it is a more high performance

boot? im not sure. why is the pro THAT much more expensive?

NOTE: please DONT tell me to just go get professionally bootfitted/look

at new boots etc. i work at a shop and know what constitutes a good fit

and how to do basic bootfitting and these boots FIT.

Second question. I can get a great deal on the Pros from the

shop i work at and i am seriously considering purchasing them. The

only thing holding me back is the constant argument whether they are

decent outside of the park or not. I ski a lot more backcountry and

off trail stuff and i am worried that the Pros will suck outside the

park. when i am skiing outside the park, it is almost all jibbing,

dropping cliffs, pow, bc booters etc.

here is what im sketched out about, the vertical stance of the SPK. is

it going to really hold me back from skiing outside the park? does it

kill the out of park aspect of skiing? the 95 flex is a good flex for

me, much better than the 80 flex of the foils. i completely crush those

boots when im charging and i think 95 is a good happy medium.

comments and insight from previous users greatly appreciated. help me out here guys!

Firstly; if you actually work in a shop you should be able to answer all of those questions. Secondly, if you know what constitutes a good fit you should know that the pros are not lower volume, and the only difference you are feeling is the liner. I also doubt you did a shell fit, but that is another story about your inadequates as a boot fitter not relating to the subject at hand. And Lastly of course they are shit outside the park. They are shit in the park. When talking to the Solomon rep about them, he said that he (and we) should always try and get someone in a real boot before that one. Even for park skiing. If you like the solomon fit and 'know how to get a good fit' go get the impact 9 or 10. Way better boot on so many levels.

 
first of all, way to be a douche. yes i did a shell fit. im not a fucking retard. i was confused why the pro's were so much more and wasn't aware if there was a few mm difference in last. it is even given on the salomon website that the pro's are all the way on the performance side of the spectrum, and the kaos and kreation are at comfort. i figured it would take a little bit more than a heat moldable liner for that.

second of all, we havent been given ANY information by sAlomon yet, so the only thing i know about these boots is all the bias bullshit that i get off here and the limited amount of info off their website. the shop i worked at last year didnt carry spk's either.

and i wont argue that they impact 9 or 10 isn't a better boot, that part is clear, but how can you call this boot shit both outside AND inside the park? given i havent skied it, only walked around in, but the features in SPK's are revolutional, and unless none of them do shit, im sure the boot would have benefits to skiing in the park. cushioned pad behind your calf, gel heel, pull string liner and now heat moldable on the Pro. how is that going to be shit in the park? given both of the cushions really kill your power transfer from leg to ski but you wouldn't ski gates with them.

now here is my problem. i am a 17 year old kid with $31.26 left in his bank account. if i were to get fit into say, an impact 10, it would take tons of shell blowing or grinding, footbeds, adjustments etc for it to fit right and i dont have the money for a 600 dollar boot and then have to spend time fucking with it to fit. a boot shouldnt have to be fucked with so much to have it "fit" you. the fit should be decent (not perfect) when you initially step into the boot is it not? like i said, i am in foils right now, and the liner is about as thin as the tee shirt i have on right now and i completely crush the 80 flex when i ski it.

mr pro boot fitter xavierd will you please suggest me a different boot then?
 
how about the ghost boots? anybody have any experience with them? they have most features of the Pro that would be good, but dont have that stupid upward stance deal. anyone know the flex on them badboys?
 
Pros are stiffer than the kaos. Not by that much, but they are stiffer.

The Pros have more heel cushioning and are raised up higher than the Kaos boots. If you take out the liner on the pro models you'll find a mushy silicon piece, attached to a harder silicon piece. They look like doorstops but they're for your heel. And you can seperate them and only use one depending on your preference. On the Kaos boot there is just a medium-hard foam piece for your heel. Both liners are the same, the pro model simply has more cushioning in the tounge, you hardly notice it tho. I've tried on both and in my opinion they're too similar to pay 100 dollars more for some unnoticeable tounge cushioning and a heel piece. They ride the same too as you'd imagine, but the stiffness of the SPK pros put you in a better position for riding switch i found. cant comment on how they perform in the BC but they perform in the trees and whatnot fine. hope that helped some.
 
no but time is money and i wouldn't want to drop 600 dollars on a boot, and then spend MY time customizing everything about the boot to make it fit.
 
Try Full Tilt man, I have the Konflicts and they fit very well. I liked the SPK's in the shop and they felt great but I got Full Tilts because the liners are so way better and they fit my feet amazingly. You can probably get some of last years for really cheap. This years look fuckin ill though.
 


not a HUUUGE SPK fan, personally, but i do know quite a bit about them, seeing as I work in a shop that sells quite a few of them, and have used em for season.

(I'm 6' tall, 130lbs)

First off, they fit half a size too small, sometimes.. for example.. I'm a 26.5 in every single boot out there including Nordica's short BSL, but I size down to a 26 in these boots for whatever reason... but whatever.. thats just a small issue that was more personal than anything. theres more to be addressed.

They are quite soft no matter what. Though they say they are a 95 or a 85 flex, i really highly doubt that. My Nordica Superchargers are 90 (and a fairly soft 90 at that). they feel like plug boots in comparison to the kreation, and are easily stiffer than the "95" flex SPK promodel/kaos. One thing to remember guys, flex rating is NOT standardized.. so any company can just go out and blah blah about their flex rating, when it really isnt true. I'd rate these more like a 65 for the kreation and a 75 for the kaos/promodel in comparison to the old Salomon 1080/foil boots which were rated at 85, and the new foil/impact 7 boots which are rated at 80 (basically the same boot)

I wouldnt reccomend them if you're going to go outside the park for extended periods of time. They dont help you out much in powder at all, and in fact, hinder you... seeing as the vertical stance just drives the tips into the fluff, and you tip dive like a motherfucker (least i did..) with this said, they are fantastic when going switch in the park, and of jumps. And they are able to drive the tips into the hardpack that much more directly when buttering. They are made for park, not pow.. dont expect too much.

The 106mm last in the toebox is pretty odd. I ussually need a really wide toebox to fit my foot, but these are just RIDICULOUS, seeing as the liner packs out quite a bit to begin with. Granted, I'm coming from boots with different fits and lasts (nordica enforcers and superchargers), but still.. these felt like afterski boots to me. Most other boots, including the Nordica ones I own and use personally have lasts at or around 100, but these feel like snowboard boots after a while.

they are really solid for hitting jumps with. Lots of padding for landings and they are really light. The Vertical stance also helps out a lot with jibbing, because it allows you to have a pretty centred stance on top of the feature you're hitting.

I would certainly proform these boots again in the future for park riding

LAST BUT NOT LEAST. Do not buy them without trying them on in a shop first... and if you DO decide to pick them up, buy some WINTERGREEN superfeet, because the outlast material will help keep your feet temp regulated, and the other superfeet dont shape to the toebox of the SPK as well.

any more questions about them, PM me.

 
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