Full Tilt's Hurt My Feet!!

thanks, just wasn't sure if it was possible to accurately judge someones foot to a specific boot without trying on said boot
 
Yup. before trying on any boots, I can narrow it down to 2-3 boots, and usually have a pretty damn good idea which boot is right for them. I am at about 85% on having the first boot go out the door with them.
 
i had this problem too. had some major pressure points for a few days, but now that theyre all gone i love my full tilts.
 
gonna threadjack cuz this is kind of a shitstorm but i got fitted to ft's, got a superfoot footbed, but the footbed is giving me immense amounts of pressure under the balls of my foot, this might be becuase i ski park with my boots pretty loose and in the park ski on teh balls of my foot but i got the footbed part under where it hurts grinded down but it still kinda hurts, any suggestions?
 
you do realize that the tongue is independent of the fit right?

try telling that to a world cup downhill racer, "yea sure you think you need a 150 flex race boot but what you ski doesnt matter, just get what fits your feet"

Even if you are 200lbs and usually charge with stiff boots, if you want to screw around and do low speed park stuff with lots of buttering, a 90 or 100 flex boot would be much more conducive to that type of riding than your usual 130 tight aggressive big mountain boot.

people on tgr talk about their boot quivers, and they seem to be doing quite well.
 
I think the point he is trying to make is that you need a boot that fits you perfectly before you start worrying about changing out tongues for stiffness.

By the sound of it this kid has boots which don't fit properly and therefore there is a pretty high chance that a properly fitted boot will be a better fix for the problem rather than just changing tongues to adjust boot stiffness.

Just another thought; how would a lower flex boot help with buttering? Wouldn't that just mean you need to use more energy to push through the boot flex before you made the ski do anything? (This is a legit question btw, not being a wanker)
 
I was primarily ignoring WC race from a conversation on NS but if you want to discuss how they select their boots I can shed some light on that for you too. If you think all DH racers use the same flex, you are sorely mistaken. Or SuperG or GS or SL. They each have different flexes for different courses, temps, and snow conditions, but only to a degree and within a flex range based around their weight. On the same course and temps, our DH racers that weigh 250 pounds have stiffer boots than the ones that weigh
 
Generally speaking, a stiffer boot can butter more easily than a softer boot because it is more direct, you have to work less to pressure the ski. Obviously, too stiff is a problem just like too soft is a problem. But if you had 2 boots that had the exact same fit, but different flexes and the stiffer flex was not too stiff for you, that stiffer boot would butter more easily, generally speaking.
 
Weird.. my post got cut off...

On the same course and temps, our DH racers that weigh 250 pounds have stiffer boots than the ones that weigh
 
I would personally put more weight behind a skiers natural stance, range of motion, size, muscular composition, when determining the correct flex of a boot, than just going off the fact that he wants to do butters.
 
Let's try this from the iPad now...

So what I was trying to get at was even our WC athletes select their flexes based on their weight, ankle flexibility, and what they are used to using. Not all of our DH racers are in the softest WC boots, and not all of the SL racers are in the stiffest. They select their flexes primarily based on how much they weigh, then course selection, snow hardness, temperature etc. To say that you race DH, you need the 130 and you race SL, you need the 170 is simply not how it goes.

Same goes for our freestyle athletes, like Chris Benchetler. Chris can ski both the Volt (110 flex) and the Burner 130 and he prefers the Burner 130 because he is not a small dude- he tends to over flex the Volt, even for all the surfy pow butter jobbers he does. Now, does he have the luxury of having multiple flexes of the same fit? Sure. But I bet most people on here who I give advice to do not have a quiver of alpine boots (A/T boots excluded) and will be rocking only one pair of alpine boots.

So, for most of the people on here, I think I am pretty correct in saying that if they get a boot where the flex matches their body weight, ankle flexibility, and what they are used to using then they will have a pretty awesome flex for park or all mountain or big mountain.
 
I got those pricey plastic footbeds that were custom molded to me feet. Go right into the liner of my FT's. Had the toe boxes punched out a ton, added another cuff spoiler each boot for my chicken calves. MAD comfy boots. Took a lot of horsing around, but they fit like a glove now. Real tight, but responsive. I use SmartWools hiking liner/sock, being the thinnest. I don't care about padding, just a tight, responsive fit.
 
You have probably made a mistake not measuring width of your feet.

Drop Kicks are 99mm, as I can remember. Should have opted in for Booters, since they're 102mm.

Or, there is another option - heatmold it again, but this time prepare to widen you hurting foot/feet, so when you step in the boot, it would mold to a little wider foot, than yours is normally (use few plasters at the widest part of foot, or wherever it hurts). Good thing about this is - it will hurt you 5 more minutes, until you remove you foot off the boot. Next time you step in your boots, they'll feel much better. True story.

Did that with my Seth Morrisons.

There is another option as well - heat outer shell, and widen it (use boot fitters). Problem is - expansion is one way only, you can't shrink outer shell anymore.

Hope that helps.
 
As far as I know I never said a 250lb racer needs the same boot as a 90lb racer, what I said was that racers will use stiffer boots in general. You are arguing a point I wasnt trying to make.

My point is that even if a boot fits really well on their foot, a beginner wont want a 170 for skidding down the bunny hill. One exception disproves the rule that its all about fit.

I personally love the flexibility of my boots when I am screwing around on low speed groomers but hate it when I am going as fast as I can through Chopped up snow and It flexes into my ankle so hard it buckles at the ankle rivets.

 
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