Footpro review the Lange Shadow 120 MV ski boots.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- The new Lange Shadow 120 MV ski boots are innovative and focus on extracting maximum performance in the most biomechanically efficient way, while also addressing typical ski boot discomfort issues. Footpro reviewed these exciting new ski boots prior to their global release. The Lange Shadow range will be available late in 2023, and based on the early reviews, they look like a winning collaboration of fit, function, and high-end performance. Nice job, Lange!
Have you had a chance to get these out yet? Very curious to hear your impressions.
Hey Bushwacked, thanks for commenting. We haven't and probably won't get a chance to ski in them in our season, which is now. The boot I used for the review was left at our shop for a few days than had to returned back to the Lange Aussie distributor. A limited number of pairs are now available for us to sell, however no DEMO stock is available yet.
That said, we are confident Lange are onto something with the new design. The flex of a ski boot being softer or stiffer, is still a strong debate in ski boot fitting. There is a massive variety of ski boot shapes available to cater for how many foot shapes there are. However, if you look at a range of men's ski boots, they are predominantly 110 - 120 flex. ??? The 'Flex' pattern of the Shadow range, and the ability to dial it into different settings for different skiers or mountain terrains is the most important characteristic in the Lange Shadow range.
Out of the box and nothing altered the Shadow 120 MV that I was trying on felt softer to flex then my new Tecnica Cochise 120 (2023 model). Having said that, those new Tecnica Cochise's are surprisingly stiff. And personally, I preferred the feel / flex of the Shadow. Slightly softer in that 'initial' flex, then springy and wanting to rebound the more I pushed into them.
The obvious missing link here is 'how they skied?' Unfortunately for us, we'll have to wait and see for ourselves and in the mean time, wait for some Northern Hemisphere gear reviewers to upload some reviews once they skied in them. Cheers, Simon
These are gimmicky, I would suggest to by the RX.
Lange has always been an innovator at the forefront of boot performance; probably one of the best, gotta put salomon right up there. I don't see much of anything here albeit a tweak in refinement; nothing to rush out of the candy store to see.
@@teddyzamba1396 - Thanks for adding your knowledge to this post. As you allude to, the design principles of a ski boot haven't changed in long time and don't radically need to. That said, refining the flex properties of a ski boot the way that Lange have in the Shadow range is pretty ballsy. Don't toss away a perfectly good pair of boots just to get a pair of Shadow's. However, if you're due for to update your ski boots this season, that's a different story. Go try a pair of these on FOR SURE! Cheers.
Virtually everything is a marketing gimmick to sell boots, who needs an asymmetric toe box, its completely worthless in the biomechanical interaction, but a nice marketing tool to someone that knows nothing but likes the looks and an easy bamboozle feature, the toes need comfort but do nothing else....if it were important don't you think it could have been done 50yrs ago...? The hinge is another marketing nothing, but it is another way to repackage the boot. I would agree to all of this; you have to sell boots and you have to find ways to bamboozle, this is a nice bamboozle. At least it is not the boa windup but another nice bamboozle.
Hi Teddy. We appreciate your opinion on this but have to disagree from the perspective of a business that fits / sells ski boots only, not skis, not snowboards or snowboard boots, just ski boots. Yes, these innovations get marketed, branded and suggest that you ‘must have’ them because it’s better than it was before. However, the one point that people who fit and sell ski boots are most excited about is these features make ski boots more comfortable, providing skiers an opportunity to test their performance limits but without wrecking their feet, or knees. From our perspective it’s as simple as that. It’s not as sexy for the ski boot brands to promote comfort features but we can assure you that making a ski boot more comfortable is where the most R&D hours go into a ski boot design. Cheers, Footpro
I know where you're coming from, but I can tell you I just skied this boot and ended up buying it for the simple reason that this particular gimmick *works*.
By your logic, all skis would still be 65mm underfoot because otherwise why woudln't htey have made wide skis in 1974? :)
If it was important we would have had it 50yrs ago. Brilliant logic if you suffer from a fixed mindset.
Even in the world of ski boots we have better plastics, computer aided design, power straps, micro-adjustable buckles, Grip-walk, touring boots, heat moldable liners, heat moldable shells, walk modes, BOA yes and now this dual pivot cuff tech from Lange.
Enjoy your pre-1974 boots bro!