The Strapoff is designed to make easier use of the Scarpa F1 and F1 LT power strap and provide greater range of motion when disengaged.
Author’s note: when asked to review a product called “the Strapoff,” the gods of the satirical universe smile on you, knowing that you can’t not go there. Anything less would be poetically disingenuous. But, I’m not going there, other than this author’s note.
The Strapoff, manufactured by Tahoe Trail Tools, is an 8g CNC machined 6061 aluminum buckle insert, finished in a handsome orange anodized “bling.” As an aftermarket piece you can add the Strapoff to a Scarpa F1 or F1LT 45mm velcro shin strap to facilitate a quick release buckle allowing for maximized forward range of motion. Once the Strapoff is in place, in theory, one no longer needs to adjust the 45mm velcro for either increased range of motion when skiing or cuff-tightening when descending.
The CNC machined Strapoff is an 8g CNC machined 6061 aluminum buckle insert, finished in a handsome orange anodized “bling.” It will set you back $35.00.
Long-time listeners might also recall the 2020 classic “SCARPA F1 LT LOOK AND FITTING — LOU’S TAKE,” where Lou reviews, and mods, the ever-living bejesus out of a pair of F1 LTs. In the article, Lou begs for a legit solution to solve his velcro strap fight. Lou’s, personally much enamored, but lacking in marketing charm, solution was a 16d nail electrical taped (red for style points) to a hank of cotton string, tied off to the stock buckle. A photo caption from that post illuminates what Lou found so disdainful, and what the Strap On tries to solve. Lou wrote, “One thing I intensely dislike about this sort of boot design is the need to adjust the hook-loop buckle strap every time the boots go off, and back on. What’s needed is a way to unhook the buckle while leaving the strap adjusted. 16d nail to the rescue.”
From Lou’s original post: “I was on the mod-trail and was not stopping. One thing I intensely dislike about this sort of boot design is the need to adjust the hook-loop buckle strap every time the boots go off, and back on. What’s needed is a way to unhook the buckle while leaving the strap adjusted. 16d nail to the rescue.”
Nails and duct are the extent of my material science/mechanical engineering background, but love me some garage tinkering! Good thing there are visionary folks in the world who can craft simple solutions to a unique problem, which in this case may have gone down after reading about Lou’s tinkering. Strapoffs are the elegant solution.
Studious boot nerds will recall that F1s and LTs secure with a Boa over the foot, a 45mm shin strap threaded through a levered buckle, and a 25mm power strap to top things off. The crux of entry, particularly noticeable to van-lacking Raynaud’s sufferers who lack the legroom for an in-vehicle boot transition, is the necessary glove removal to separate the 45mm velcro strap from itself before threading the strap through the buckle. This seemingly innocuous transition point can lead to much arm swinging, cursing of faster-transitioning partners, and dreams of a steep skin track to mitigate the screaming barfies.
Strapoffs mitigate this rite.
On the right, the Strapoff is disengaged, on the left, they’re locked into place.
Here’s how to incorporate the Strapoff: thread the 45mm velcro strap through the eye of the Strapoff, and seat it in the bite of the strap (see photo). The male side of the Strapoff can now be fit into the boot’s buckle, or not.
Tahoe Trails Tools markets the Strapoff as a quick release addition, with minimal weight consequence, allowing for maximum forward range of motion (ROM). Honestly, I was a bit skeptical about this claim, or its requirement. My typical pre-Strapoff MO on the up is to flip the shin strap buckle open, resulting in improved ROM, but providing a scoche of resistance while keeping my heel secure. Adding the Strapoff and then skinning unbuckled increases forward ROM, almost feeling like a nordic boot. The increased ROM was actually so much that the heel of my liner slipped inside the shell. Slightly tightening of the Boa to secure my foot easily mitigated this.
Tahoe Trail Works claims, “No more fumbling with changing the length of the Velcro buckle strap during a tour, or accepting a reduced range of motion — instead, you’ll have a ‘set & forget’ solution that only adds 8 grams per boot.” Much of that claim is true. But, as you may have guessed, there are situations when fumbling with the velcro strap might be a good thing.
A Scarpa F1 sans Strapoff, as it arrives from the Italian craftsfolks. Left, buckle engaged, right, buckle loosened for touring.
While forward ROM is great in a skin track, I did find myself wanting a bit more lateral stability when snow conditions firmed up. On steeper slope angles where weighting an edge becomes critical, and one finds themselves starting to move through the initial variables of the ski crampon cost/benefit equation, things definitely felt a little loosey-goosey laterally. Take home message, increased ROM in the skin track is a thumbs up; a day in steeper terrain or firm snow where you’re not trusting the friction of your skins, better buckle down and adjust the 45mm strap accordingly—not as tight as descend-mode, but snug enough for some lateral support.
Speaking of buckling down, transition to ski mode is straightforward: place the male edge of the insert into the boot’s buckle and throw the buckle. Locked, cocked, and ready to rock! Almost ideally perfect, but for me, it took a bit more fiddlin’.
Inevitably, the 45mm strap needs to be adjusted to find the proper snugness given the snow conditions, but this is the case with F1s, Strapoffs employed or not. Ski down, pop the buckle, apply skins, repeat.
Price for a set of Strapoffs is $35.00.
Brian wanders through the hills from his home in Lander, Wy.
18 comments
When are you going to review Tahoe trail tools other products?
Good question. We’ll pass on that for the time being.
Would be a well-timed review for April 20th!
Editor’s note be damned, there’s at least one slip up in there 🙂
Freudian, …honestly.
Hi!
I use the strap of a normal F1 on my F1lt. Because the strap is longer I grab it and adjust easily even with mittens
Dumb question:
You do all this work to prevent having to reset the hook&loop on the main strap, but there’s still that other strap right above it. How have you changed anything in use if you still reset hook&loop? That upper strap is even more of a pain in the butt because it’s under the pant’s powder cuff.
Maybe I’m using that upper strap wrong? I finally took it off my F1s. I now use TLT8s, and I’m considering taking the strap off that too. Dynafit doesn’t even show the upper strap on their product photo : https://www.dynafit.com/en-us/carbonio-tlt8
Undoing that strap under my powder cuff defeats all the fancy quickness of these main straps on this style boot.
I’ve got some strap-offs for my F1s and I have been taking to leaving the upper power strap off for a lot of touring days, especially if the runs are short / transitions are frequent. Taking the upper strap off improves my boot-pant interface a lot too. The upper strap likes to ride up onto my shin inside the liner if I have them loose enough for touring. Maybe I’m positioning my pant gaiters wrong and could improve the situation in that respect. I put the straps on for days with more serious skiing.
Ive been using voile straps on mine. They adjust quick enough with gloves. The XL on the original f1 and a regular on the LT. The holes fit in easily with the existing widget deal
Thanks for the words on this and glad you made good use of it!
Happy to provide any other *high*-technology product for testing if the time comes 🙂
Peter-totally logical question. I found the power strap (the upper ~1″ strap, above 45mm buckled “shin strap” (my term)) worked well to keep the liner and cuff of the shell synchronized through the movement of a step. You’re right the power strap does loosen throughout the day as the liner compresses, etc. Snow conditions/terrain seem to dictate whether I engage with the gaiter fight or not; loose in pow, reefed on the hardpacked.
I’ve used the strap-off on F1 and F1 LTs, and I find it’s helpful to keep the upper strap on my boots. For a transition on the down, I cinch down the upper strap, which gets the strapoff in range; I then snap the main buckle together with the strapoff and buckle it down. That puts some slack in the upper strap, which is fine.
For the transition on the up, I just reverse it: unbuckle and remove the strapoff before loosening the upper strap.
I find the whole transition is only a few seconds slower than a single throw (I used to use TLT5ps) and can be done entirely with gloves on and minimal fidgeting. Two thumbs up for the strapoff!
Ive been using voile straps on mine. They adjust quick enough with gloves. The XL on the original f1 and a regular on the LT. The holes fit in easily with the existing widget deal
Thanks for sharing this!
My daughter uses them on her Hagan (Roxa) boots. Keeps them attached almost all the time, but likes not having to dial in velcro tension every time she puts the boots on.
Complete boot Luddite here… and nothing to do with these particular models, but… When I smithed to an older 4 buckle Scott boot I was finding the uphill too strenuous with the power start over the tongue of the boot, so I routed it behind the tongue of the boot, and over the liner tongue. Increased ease of stride, range of motion, held liner to foot. And used the buckling to to retain the downward fit of the boot… looks like that may also work with the F1 if the boot shell allows it?
Have since switched to a Dynafit Mercury, and do the same with those.
damn auto correct… I switched to the Smith boot, smithing is for horses… and I used a power strap… esty!
Thanks for the shout out Brian. Fun mods for sure. I got together with Bill Bollinger soon after the “nail” mod, and he machined a handful of test units that pretty much match the Strapoff, design inspired by photos I’d seen online. I find this sort of thing to be indispensable with the F1, but our beta testers were not particularly enthused. One problem I’ve found is if one wants to set the strap quite tight, there’s sometimes not enough slack to allow hooking the buckle. As with anything like this, a quick carpet test can probably tell the tale. I’m glad to see a retail version is available. If nothing else, at the end of the day it’s golden. Lou