What are the stiffest soft boots?

Hard to compare.  All of those seem stiff out the box, the question should be: "which boots are the stiffest after 10 or 20 days on snow?"

Boot stiffeners and straps add a lot of rigidity and help your boots last longer too.  Coming soon to an online store near you...

Posted by: @wild-cherry

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Hard to compare.  All of those seem stiff out the box, the question should be: "which boots are the stiffest after 10 or 20 days on snow?"

 

Boot stiffeners and straps add a lot of rigidity and help your boots last longer too.  Coming soon to an online store near you...

So, let's rephrase this...after 10-20 riding days, which is the stiffest boot?

Maybe we can commission a double blind long term study to determine the stiffest soft boot throughout the life of the boot?

But really, I don't know.  I'll have some feedback mid season on the longevity of the Insanos.  The Driver X wasn't really holding up well to the boot crushing tightness I like on the NX-2s.  They were deforming fast and blowing out at the stitching, wearing out faster than they had with my previous bindings.

In the meantime, you can tweak your boot fit and stiffness with custom insoles, upgraded liners, plastic stiffeners and straps.  Any of the boots mentioned above are probably fine if they fit well, so much of the stiffness and performance comes from the custom upgrades and the compatibility with your binding of choice.

Choosing a boot with a lower BSL (boot sole length) for a given size can be important, and also look at the stock forward lean.  If you set your bindings with a lot more forward lean than your boot has naturally, the boot will deform and wear out faster. 

Bottom line is that I don't know.  It's not a simple question, and other factors are as important or more important than shell stiffness out the box, which is the simplest factor to determine at the shop.  

Posted by: @wild-cherry

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Maybe we can commission a double blind long term study to determine the stiffest soft boot throughout the life of the boot?

But really, I don't know.  I'll have some feedback mid season on the longevity of the Insanos.  The Driver X wasn't really holding up well to the boot crushing tightness I like on the NX-2s.  They were deforming fast and blowing out at the stitching, wearing out faster than they had with my previous bindings.

In the meantime, you can tweak your boot fit and stiffness with custom insoles, upgraded liners, plastic stiffeners and straps.  Any of the boots mentioned above are probably fine if they fit well, so much of the stiffness and performance comes from the custom upgrades and the compatibility with your binding of choice.

Choosing a boot with a lower BSL (boot sole length) for a given size can be important, and also look at the stock forward lean.  If you set your bindings with a lot more forward lean than your boot has naturally, the boot will deform and wear out faster. 

Bottom line is that I don't know.  It's not a simple question, and other factors are as important or more important than shell stiffness out the box, which is the simplest factor to determine at the shop.  

 

Thank you again for another very thoughtful and detailed reply.

@kagurasnowsurfer - I am a big guy - size 12US and 235lbs on the board and I have ridden Nidecker Talon, Deluxxe Edge Pro and K2 Thraxis and they are all stiff and carve well - find one that fits your foot very well and you should be good. I like the K2,s best with the unique instep BOA heel hold-down adjustment. Also - you can find other inner boots that also contribute to the overall stiffness of the boot - I find that inners that are "wrap" construction versus "tongue" construction are stiffer.

Hope this helps

Posted by: @rocketman69

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@kagurasnowsurfer - I am a big guy - size 12US and 235lbs on the board and I have ridden Nidecker Talon, Deluxxe Edge Pro and K2 Thraxis and they are all stiff and carve well - find one that fits your foot very well and you should be good. I like the K2,s best with the unique instep BOA heel hold-down adjustment. Also - you can find other inner boots that also contribute to the overall stiffness of the boot - I find that inners that are "wrap" construction versus "tongue" construction are stiffer.

Hope this helps

Rocketman, you are a big man, indeed. Throw a rugby jersey on you and we'll put you in the front row of the scrum. I tried on a K2 Maysis Wide today and it was not bad. I have not tried the Thraxis yet but will look for that one and the others. Much obliged, big guy.

Ride Insano are the stiffest that I've tried.  Too stiff for freeriding really.  They have a good articulation point that lasts instead of flexing and breaking down.  After 30ish days my liner was done.  I've bought new intuition race liners to try them again this year, solely for carving.  The shell doesn't even seem to be broken in yet.

Vans Verse.  Incredibly stiff out of the box, even without the tongue inserts.  But they don't really articulate, they flex and beak down.  The insoles are probably the best on the market (rather than going after market as now do).  The liner isn't bad, but after 10 days I swapped to intuition Dream liners.  I've put at least another 20 days on them.  They allow a bit more mobility than the Insano if you want to get a little surfy... but they still have a lot more lateral drive than most boots.  I'm sure I'll get at least another 50 days out of them, though perhaps not on a super wide carving board.

K2 Thraxis are quite good.  Liner apparantly isn't what it use to be.  I only got 15 days out of mine.  Found some Intuition Pro Tour liners locally and probably got another 70 days out of them.  The Pro Tour is a softer Intuition foam though.

DC Travis Rice were my old fav for mostly freeriding.  They replaced them with the Transcend and moved the boa cross-over lower, which DOES NOT work with my high instep.

Deeluxe Deemon L3 Boa seem stiff out of the box, and they sell tongue stiffeners too.  I grabbed some old stock for $175CAD.  I really need something that's solid for freeriding, but with a stock liner that actually breathes.  The Vans Verse could've worked for that, but I kinda adapted them for carving.  Deeluxe have the Deemon Pro as well, but I've never seen them.

I've heard that Burton aren't what they use to be.  Their designer is now with Bataleon, which is under Nidecker, so I presume their boots will be quite good.

@kagurasnowsurfer The Maysis (not wide) were actually the boot that fit me best.  They were nice and snug around my chicken legs without any alteration.  I rode them for a while, but they REALLY did not last... they just got too soft for me.

I currently have the Deeluxe Deemon and the Edge Pro.

Deemon started reasonably stiff, but worked in quick. They’re may daily driver, so no big deal. They fit my feet well and are comfortable. I just ordered the tongue stiffeners to try out if I want to spice it up.

The Edge Pro is the closest to hard boots I’ve ridden. The stiff fibre tongue and heavy duty liner eliminated virtually all ankle flex, meaning bump compliance is left to the knees. They have been great for carving so far.

I’m 5’11” 200lb

Posted by: @cravingcarving

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I just ordered the tongue stiffeners to try out if I want to spice it up.

Where did you order from?  I've been looking for a place in Canada.  I'm not sure what stiffness I'd go for?  I don't plan to use these for carving, but might need a bit more...

@board-doctor I have never seen them for sale in North America, spent the last 2 years looking for them. I ended up ordering them from Europe.