Author Topic: Zipfit Liners  (Read 1526 times)

AndrewR

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Zipfit Liners
« on: May 21, 2006, 11:43:29 am »
I recently got these to replace the packed out and heavily modified stock liners for my Lange Freeride 120s. They are amazing and have revolutionised my skiing. Foot to ski connection is like it should be with no wander as the boot rotates on the liner. They are firm but comfortable and a discovery that I am glad I have made. I would advise anyone with any liner issues (my shells are perfect - quite close fitting, and perfectly punched before all the wags wade in) to invest in a pair of these. Espresso for normal people and Plug for the racer types. It will be money well spent.

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rob

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Re: Zipfit Liners
« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2006, 11:11:05 pm »
I second this assertion. Have had the zip fits for over 2 years now and am still loving them.
If anyone does decide to purchase them, please be ready to spend several days getting them
tweaked by your dealer before they really hit the mark.

Ron

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Re: Zipfit Liners
« Reply #2 on: May 23, 2006, 08:03:09 am »
Interesting. Here's a question for you. I have the top Fuel boots that fit very well except for around the toe box (too much room and around the ankle- ( a bit loose but not overly roomy).  I only have about 25 days on them. Like you all here, I am very anal about the fit and want it to be more snug. I don't want to just fill up the boot however. Any thoughts on using these?

rob

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Re: Zipfit Liners
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2006, 05:02:47 pm »
Ron,
The only thing I can say is that the contour of my foot and ankle is incredible.
They really are like an impression of my anatomy within the boot not just a boot shell filler.
I do caution however that without a good fitter for these you may not get all that they are capable of. Many a thread has given me the impression that not all dealers are doing these things properly.
If you are going to do them, I would get them at a mountain dealer where you will ski for a number of days because you will likely have to go in for several tweeks and adjustments before they are as good as they can be.
Keep us abreast.

Ron

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Re: Zipfit Liners
« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2006, 08:12:48 am »
Thanks, I will look into them. I just have not found the perfect shell yet for my foot. It's a bit irregular. I like the upright-neutral stance of the top fuel but I wish it was even lower volume. Race boots may the best fit for me but the forward lean and rampa angle is just too much for me.

mmalloy

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Re: Zipfit Liners
« Reply #5 on: May 25, 2006, 01:35:16 pm »
I recently bought a pair of zipfit espresso liners for my salomon xwave free boots that started to get a little slop after the liners got packed out.  It's like having a brand new boot, very snug and comfortable it's well worth the investment!

Mike

AndrewR

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Re: Zipfit Liners
« Reply #6 on: June 02, 2006, 12:49:54 pm »
I agree with Rob (and others) but it is possible to fit them yourself. Any skier that is really thinking about his/ her own performance and understands what is lacking about his/ her own boot has enough common sense to work the liners themselves to help them fit. Naturally it is better to have on hand help from the experts but I got great directions over the phone (Lou at Lou's in Calgary) and with a bit of time in the microwave and some firm massaging by hand it all came into place. In short my experience went like this:
Day One - mind numbing pain, so that I could not think. Also too stupid to take original liners up mountain in a daysack. Impressed by the direct feel however. Thought they were rubbish, called Lou and asked him to send the plugs. Lou was calm and asked me to calm down and chatted me through moving the gel/ cork around. A couple of self fitting/ massage/ microwave sessions in the hotel room in the evening.
Day Two: Fairly firm (read painful but at least I could think and still ski). Skied the morning trying to achieve the magical 7-9 runs, could feel them working into shape, took them off at coffee break and gave them another tweak, skied until lunch and decided to go back to stock (heavily modified liners) before I lost the will to live like day one. Best thing about this is that I really appreciated how crap the stock liners were and how good the Zipfits were going to be.
Day Three: Skied in them all day long, no problems, awesome response to the snow, great feeling and almost discomfort free.
Day Four: Awesome, start telling everyone I meet how great they are, call Lou, tell him they are great. etc etc etc.

Day five to 14 - enjoyed the best skiing I have had thanks to the amazing feedback, comfort and control. Firm, warm, and so precise. One has to try them to believe how god they are. No chance of ever not having Zipfits in my boots ever again.

Normal skier - ie 10 - 30 days at reasonable performance levels go for Expressos, Racer/ must have race/ plug boots - get the Plugs - pretty simple really.
As an after thought and only because I always have warm feet anyway, I would like to try them with the leather lining.

Ron

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Re: Zipfit Liners
« Reply #7 on: June 06, 2006, 08:06:30 am »
my only concern is that you can't make a bigger shell fit better. so if the liner is taking up room in my boot, am I loosing out on performance. I guess I will see what boots are coming out this season and if there is something that has the majic shell fit, I may be like gary and go for it.

jbotti

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Re: Zipfit Liners
« Reply #8 on: June 06, 2006, 01:13:30 pm »
Ron, I bought a pair of Head RS 96 boots this past season. They have a very upright stance (more so I believe than the Nordica Hot Rods which have the same last as the Dobie Pro 130's). I am 6 3" and I have put some shims between the cuff and the liner in the back to increase the forward lean some. I bought them very small. There was almost no space between my heel and the shell when I shelled them for size. The toe box was too short and I had a lot of hot spots. In two sessions working with a great bootfitter we got them to be the most comfortable and best fitting boots I have ever had.

You are right about too much forward lean in that it is hard to change (although it can be done with good success). I would look into the two plug head boots the RD 96 (stiffer than a Dobie 150) and the RS 96 which is similar in stiffness to the Dobie Pro 130. Both have removeable screws in the cuff that loosen the flex.

There really is no reason to ski in boots that aren't perfectly snug. To get it right you have to start with a plug and go smaller than you ever imagined, to the degree that they seem unskiable. You can't do this with a non plug boot because there is not enough plastic to grind and punch.

I encourage you to invest the time and the energy. The rewards on the snow will be beyond your expectations. JB.

Ron

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Re: Zipfit Liners
« Reply #9 on: June 07, 2006, 01:58:00 pm »
Good advice, this is what I think Gary had said. Once the season gets closer, I will start the hunt. Where do you get the RS96's? This sounds like the ticket. As you know, I am a Head fan so why not the boots too?

jbotti

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Re: Zipfit Liners
« Reply #10 on: June 07, 2006, 05:57:21 pm »
I bought them by chance in Whistler when I was up in February. I had tried on almost every plug and for me, the biggest reason to buy the Heads was less about the upright stance but more about sizing. I was smack between sizes in the Nordica's (the 315mm boot was too big and the 305mm was reall just a little to small). Others beisdes Head and Nordica did have a noticeable amount of forward lean and I didn't wnat to mess with having to reverse that. Harald Harb told me to try the RS 96 or RD 96's. The first shop I saw them in was the one in Whistler and I ended up buying them. Diana Rogers at Harbskisytems did all the grinding and punching. In the Tahoe area there are 2 stores that carry Head equipment exclusively (and I would have bought the boots at one of those shops had I not accidently found them in Whistler). Beyond Tahoe, I reall don't know anywhere else to mention.

I will say that in both the RD and RS you can gain at least 5mm in toe length, so there is no reason not to buy these with less than a centimeter of room when you shell them. Before the work, these boots were unbearable, but that really is the only way to get a true snug fit.

I wish you much luck and success when you start this process. I'm sure you will end up with boots that fit you like a glove. JB.

Ron

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Re: Zipfit Liners
« Reply #11 on: June 08, 2006, 10:41:07 am »
Whoa!  That's my foot! I'm in a 27 mondo, 315mm shell now. The top Fuel boot seems to have a very deep pocket in the heel that when you take the shell out is kind of misleading as your heel doesn't really slide fully to the rear until you get into your attack position. I need to get to a good fitter and see what's going on. I think they can be worked with, with a little tweaking.  If they aren't just right it will bug me all season. Gary and I were talking about this yesterday. He says I will want the RS's.

WAS

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Re: Zipfit Liners
« Reply #12 on: August 11, 2006, 10:27:06 am »
A good alternative to the Zipfit is the Intuition Liners that use EVA foam.  DALEBoot uses EVA foam for their liners. This was so good that I yanked the liners out of my other boots and put another pair of these in them.  Fantastic, it increase the snugness of the fit: fore aft and left right ankle movements.  Input from the boots and adjustments you make back to the boot and ski, gives you an increadable range of control in all conditions. 

This is a heat wrap adaptive process.  They heat the liner, wrap your footbed onto your foot, then stick your footbed, foot, and sock into the liner and drop the whole mess into your boot, snug the boots up, and then they let you stand there for about 10 minutes.  One more trip back for tweaking and WOW!!!.........  I got these done at the beginning of last seasson and enjoyed every day on the slopes with them.  I have some unusual bone spurs and flat feet.  This made a huge difference for me.  Like any secondary market liner, they cost more to do up front, but they are worth every penny.

midwif

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Re: Zipfit Liners
« Reply #13 on: September 12, 2006, 04:46:49 pm »
Does anyone here have experience with zipfit liners/boot fitting with HH? I bought Head 97 boot 2 seasons ago at the all mountain camp. Diana fit me and the first day on snow I was ready (almost) to give up skiing. The pain was incredible. She kept punching the toes out each nite after camp so the stars I saw while skiing would abate. Last year at camp, I had further canting done.? However, now my boot seems a bit packed out after 50 days of skiing. I got toe bang this last season, at the end and lost the? R toe nail (ever so slowly, finally came off early JULY). Am thinking the zip fits might be the answer. My R foot is my slightly smaller one, have a narrow foot, described as very low volume at the skunkworks. Zipfit liners seem to be a possible answer. Anyone have any thoughts?
P.S. I won't fit Zipfit liners myself, too intimidated. Gotta know ones limitations.
"Play it Sam"

Barrettscv

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Re: Zipfit Liners
« Reply #14 on: September 25, 2006, 07:21:40 pm »
Zipfit make a thin liner for plug boots, This might work. Normally aftermarket boot liners fit about as tight than new OEM liners and tighter than a packed out liner. If you live or visit Utah, The ski shop at Snowbird are experts with Zipfit.

Cheers,

Michael