The boot thread

[Canuck]

Nitro really should get rid of the TLS lace thing. Its's shockingly bad for an otherwise solid company. Also the inner harness locked by a bit of hard plastic embedded in the liner was a total disaster for me. That little bit, with the big plastic TLS thing on the shell tongue stacked on top of each other = bleeding shins. Its a shame because their boots are great otherwise.

I had the El Mejor. Really nice leather shell, good liner, air bubble in the sole. Great premium medium to stiff boot. But TLS was just a bunch of strings all over the place and it came loose all the time. Maybe I was doing it wrong. But it seemed like a non-solution to a non-existent problem. The trap of a brand having to have their own version of lacing. Normal laces or BOA kind of covers all needs I think. It’s all personal taste but for me, hard plastic parts anywhere are a potential problem. You put them inside the boot, even more so. Even a great boot with BOA still has a hard plastic part exactly where you push your shin every time you make a toe side turn.

Oh I know which plastic internal piece you’re talking about. I tried on the selects that had it. But I could feel it in the shop.
I don’t think you were doing anything wrong with it coming loose, mine I seem to have to retighten after the first run or two then I’m good for the day. Not sure why that it is though.

[Muskrat]

Played arts and crafts all evening with foam sheets, scissors and duct tape...a few takeaways:
1 - Its remarkable what you can do with some well place pieces of foam to change and customize fit. Side benefit is one more project to tinker with.
2 - Feel is also important, not just fit. For example I've been in Nikes for years now, which have a very solid, very pronounced, almost sharp j bar. I'm used to that really tight clenching feeling around the back of my ankles. I think I've been trying to replicate that, even if the actual heel hold isn't much, if any, worse in practice. Now that I've realized that, I certainly would have looked out for it more in purchasing.
3 - Dialogs are much closer now. Not 100% sold, but it's going to be a short season anyway so I'll ride them out and see what happens.

Happy boot fitting.

[jota]

Played arts and crafts all evening with foam sheets, scissors and duct tape...a few takeaways:
1 - Its remarkable what you can do with some well place pieces of foam to change and customize fit. Side benefit is one more project to tinker with.
2 - Feel is also important, not just fit. For example I've been in Nikes for years now, which have a very solid, very pronounced, almost sharp j bar. I'm used to that really tight clenching feeling around the back of my ankles. I think I've been trying to replicate that, even if the actual heel hold isn't much, if any, worse in practice. Now that I've realized that, I certainly would have looked out for it more in purchasing.
3 - Dialogs are much closer now. Not 100% sold, but it's going to be a short season anyway so I'll ride them out and see what happens.

Happy boot fitting.

I also played with foam and neoprenes to correct adjustments. There are two types of ankle support. One is by squeezing the ankle. Another is fixing the instep. I always had problems with my ankles. I played and played with j-bars and neoprenes and foam… but one day I discovered the vans infuse… and they were perfect from day one. The ankle is perfect without doing anything. It doesn't move and it's not super tight. Each of us has a perfect boot to our foot… waiting for us... somewhere...

[spanyard]

If you don't already: old liners into new boots, rider them a few days, then new liners into the broken-in shells. Breaking in brand new Adidas is never too bad for me (maybe low-key discomfort for 1-2 days), but the liner trick makes it basically seamless.

I always do this with new boots, sometimes riding the old liners half a season depending on the boot.

Yep, makes life way easier if you stick with the same company one boot to next. Might work between companies, but can get wonky results depending on shell volume.

Only annoyance is I kinda sorta head track how many days I have on a particular set of boots... I can't keep straight when I need to retire liners versus boots as a whole.

Bro I keep a whole Google sheet to track my equipment usage lol

[kimchi]

Bro I keep a whole Google sheet to track my equipment usage lol

LMAO EZL Level 20.

[kimchi]

Spent this season swapping between roughly 6/10 Adidas Tactical Lexicons and 8/10 Adidas Acerra. First time I’ve ever had two boots that fit equally well of different flexes.

I liked the softer Lexicons better. Acerra more predictable ripping high speed carves and plowing through chop. But I can get way more ankle articulation out of the Lexicons and have a bit more finesse in fore-aft weight placement. Acerra feels like I’m just kind of leaning and turning more with center of gravity than feet / ankles. And I can crank the Lexicons way tighter at the top of the tongue compared to the BOA dial.

Still wish the Lexicons were a hair stiffer, but seems about 7/10 flex is my sweet spot.

[SJF_NH]

For you guys that have owned K2 TTs, how is the fit in terms of width, sizing etc? I've been in SLXs forever, aside from a season or two on Adidas Tactical ADVs. I generally don't like stiff boots so I'm thinking about giving the TTs a try. My forefoot is a little on the wide side, so the SLX in U.S. 9 fits me perfectly. The Adidas T ADV for me was pretty much the same fit in U.S. 8.5.

No shops in my area have this boot so I'll need to order without trying, anyone have any advice on the appropriate size, given my babbling above?

[benjinyc]

My ADVs have better heel hold than the TTs BUT I haven’t fiddled around with the ankle adjuster on the liner, so maybe that will make a better comparison. I’m slowly moving to the TTs more and more. Just so comfy and plush.

I’ll prob just my ADVs for split and trips out to Utah, NM, etc though because they are way more responsive/firm

[michaelangelo]

I’ve been pretty lucky on size, 9 across the board with Infuse, Tacticals, and the TT. I had earlier generations of the TT, I believe before the harness. I ran ankle donuts from Tognar in those. I think you could use your mondo sizing and compare to all the brands you wear and make a call from there and be pretty spot on.

[SJF_NH]

I had Infuses too and the size 9 fit great for me. Thanks for the intel guys, much appreciated.