Author Topic: Dodge Boots: Review  (Read 219 times)

jbotti

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Dodge Boots: Review
« on: January 17, 2011, 10:28:48 pm »
I posted the review below on the PMTS Forum. I think these boots just rock, but they are very stiff. They promote tipping and they make tipping much easier. They also give immediate feedback if you get back and all the weight is transfered immediately to the tails. Having saidthat if you are able to listen to the feedback and self correct quickly, they are incredible boots, clearly the best I have ever skied. Here is the review that I posted.

I bought some Dodge boots early in the season. I require a lot of alignment work and I need a lot of forward lean in my boots (I am 6 3" and all legs). Harald did some extensive work on the boots dialing in my alignment and forward lean. I had the boots with me in Montana for two weeks over the Holidays but it snowed almost every day and I just didn't want to mess with my boot set up in my Raptors which was working well. I was back in Montana for the past 3 days and I skied the dodges 2 of those days. They are by far the most amazing boots that I have ever skied!! Very simply, it feels like I am 50% quicker edge to edge and I am getting the skis to a much higher edge angle much earlier in the arc than I have ever done before. The pop that I am getting from the skis also feels to about 2x what I was ever getting, and I actually need to dial it back some because if I go full bore it is popping me literally way off the ground. Now here is the killer, I skied these off piste for half the day the past two days. I was a different skier. I was tipping to initiate the turns and the skis were snapping through the turns. I was shocked. Turns that I would have had to muscle some or at least wait for, I would tip and my skis would come right around. It was like magic. My brushed carved turns on groomed terrain were completely different because of the level of tipping that was happening naturally. My carved arcs on steep terrain were the tightest I have ever skied.

It may actually all be about how light they are. I feel like I have fast feet for the first time ever. I was skiing chop over bumps and it seemed easy and PMTS technique was effortless. I was shocked at times at how fast the skis came around in a perfect (Haraldesque) brushed carve turn. This is new for me.

The boots are real stiff. With a velcro power strap there is no give either. I suspect that with a booster strap you could dial in some more flex in the upper part of the boot. The only place where I would not want to ski this boot the way it was set up today (with velcro power strap) would be in hard bumps. Skied some harder off piste stuff at one point today and there is no give in these boots. Having said that everywhere I skied them today offpiste they skied great and we had a funky day. Rain at the bottom and wetter snow up top for much of the day. Lots of funky variation in the conditions. I actually love the stiffness. You get instant feedback if you get back at all because it transfers immediate pressure to the tails (again no give).

I am skiing the boot with the Nordica foam liner and these were foamed for my Raptors. I have tried sking in other liners and I just can't do it. Without the foam liner I just can't tip that much because I always feel the hard plastic of the shell and I get a abrasions on my feet rubbing up against the liner. With the foam liners these boots are close to perfect. Using the technique that Harald showed me about getting them on and off they are quite manageable (but not easy either as the foam liner doesn't allow the use of the back canal that is built into the boots).

I have never been able to tip this much and this quickly. I am carving tighter arcs that I ever thought were possible. To some degree I expected some percentage of this on groomed snow (but I really did not expect anything to this level). Where I have been totally shocked is the off piste performance. Becuse I can tip so much further and faster, terrain that seemed challenging now seems easy!! I also love the stiffness because I get instant feedback if I am back or not centered. More importantly, when you get forward and pressure the tips, wow does the ski bend. I have not taken these boots into gates, but I am pumped to do so!

I am not sure I have ever experienced a performance gain so significant in my years of skiing. I remember going to a well fit race boot and the gains were significant, but it was maybe 40-50% of the performance gain I got in one day in the Dodges.

Next time I am out I will try and get some video shot.

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