Comments on: Encore: Ski Boot Stiffness Ratings — Is the Number Scale BS?

By: jwolter7

jwolter7 — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 06:07:50 +0000

Hans go to work for Surefoot and you”ll get some of those measurements. Exact length, and width. They then measure the foot and have a formula for picking the correct shell. They’re still working on instep hight.
Jay White who had a company called Comp U Fit from Bend OR would take a shell and fill it with silicone let it set up and then cut the shell away and he had the best 3D measurements of ski boot shells I have even seen. Heel width midfoot width forefoot width, Instep hight, girth, ankle circumference, and calf circumference. He also had the best method of measuring the foot to closely match the foot date with know boot info , but it took a while.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 22:54:34 +0000

I think they are BS, just skied Refer Gully on Ice Mtn w/o the tongue on my TLT Mtn and didn’t even notice till I found them in my pack. I would have put them in if I had thought about it but that fact that I didn’t even notice and had a great ski tells me that if you are a decent skier your skill will more than make up for any deficiencies in the gear. And I am not an “expert” skier, I consider myself an “advanced beginner”

If the boot fits just ski it, being able to stay comfortable for 8 hours or so is more important than any flex rating, just another marketing angle that causes unnecessary angst.

By: Oscar

Oscar — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 22:34:14 +0000

I usually make it easy for myself and ask my local dealer for tips and tricks. Much easier to ask someone with a lot of knowledge about the different boot brands, different plastic behaviours and a general idea of how the boots are built. I suppose that might be a problem if you’re not blessed with the presence of a god-given boot guru at your local ski shop though (the best part is that he’s a tourer himself, so I never need to worry about that part either!)…

But yes, I have the same experience as you, Lou, the flex scale is largely BS. The sad part is that not very many people tend to listen to you when you try to explain that to them and try to convince them that they should see a ski shop with someone that is somewhat of a boot guru…

By: Lou

Lou — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 18:49:49 +0000

Ryan, after testing, it appears that what happens is that sometimes I make a mistake and accidentally publish something I’m working on. It then appears in the RSS feed until I schedule for a future date. For the end user, it probably remains in their RSS feed till they reload or refresh their browser. Sorry for any confusion this has caused, I’ll try to be more careful with accidentally publishing, which is pretty poor form (grin). Thanks, Lou

By: Lou

Lou — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 16:20:42 +0000

Ryan, THANKS! I think what causes that is that I sometimes actually publish something but I date it ahead in the future to keep it semi-private, so I can review with someone who doesn’t have admin access. I’m not sure if I can fix my RSS feed to prevent that. It’s like a vacuum cleaner (grin).

It sounds like it might be my methods that are off. I’ll look at not using that technique for privatizing posts.

Lou