Zipfits

[nay]

The spoiler of the Grand Prix was too much for my 98mm X-Max shells, although that boot is pretty narrow in the lower leg, and there’s no way in my view it would work for a super lower volume boot. There is a lot of material in the spoiler and it’s rigid.

For a 100mm last that is roomier in the lower leg, it’s probably perfect.

A little bit of caution with your ankle and OmFit - it does continue to move around in response to flexing as you ski, and it can bunch up where you don’t want it even though the theory is that doesn’t happen. I wonder if you are better off with an injection liner that is set to exactly where you anklebis going to be largely fixed in the boot.

 

[surfandski]

The spoiler of the Grand Prix was too much for my 98mm X-Max shells, although that boot is pretty narrow in the lower leg, and there’s no way in my view it would work for a super lower volume boot. There is a lot of material in the spoiler and it’s rigid.

For a 100mm last that is roomier in the lower leg, it’s probably perfect.

A little bit of caution with your ankle and OmFit - it does continue to move around in response to flexing as you ski, and it can bunch up where you don’t want it even though the theory is that doesn’t happen. I wonder if you are better off with an injection liner that is set to exactly where you anklebis going to be largely fixed in the boot.

Hey Nay. Thanks for sharing that and that's exactly what I'm trying to understand because in so many places Sven and others say that the liners are identical so is there more rigid, non-removable material in the Grand Prix or not? I know you didn't get along ideally with your Zips so I understand they aren't perfect for everyone and may be horrible for my ankle. Or they could be the most tuneable liner out there for that problem area. Did you try on the WC in addition to GP to see how they compared in the spoiler area. What's interesting is my shins, heels, feet, etc are very boney with scrawny calves (and even more so with the atrophy that will progress with the fused ankle). Other than my widish feet, the one area that doesn't coincide with the rest of my LV feet and ankles is the area all the way around my malleolus bones where more bone resides around that injured joint (my other ankle is skinny). However, isn't that the most "tuneable" part of the zipfits? When I see Sven holding up the clear example to show the 3 pockets, that is exactly where I'm HV on that bad ankle which makes me wonder if that isn't ideal for me to keep a bunch of OMfit around my healthy ankle and remove a good bit around my bad one.

I do agree that if I knew it would only take one shot at finding the best boot for my fused ankle than maybe a BD or other foam liner could be the ticket but I'm planning on going into next season with my current Langes, likely either a Dalbello Krypton or Panterra 130 and possibly a Dale boot or something other so I have more tools to experiment with. If the Zipfit doesn't work in the Lange than maybe it will in the Dalbello or another option. But if I get a foam liner for my Lange, it most likely won't work in another boot.

 

[surfandski]

This is the one area that is HV in that fused ankle and it appears material can be removed all the way around that.

Here are some of my chicken legs/feet but I know it's impossible to boot fit over the web.

 

[nay]

I don’t have a direct comparison, but in closing my shells around the spoiler distorted the shell a little bit (how different things are in the warm shop), and my lower legs are skinnier than yours. That’s also a 98mm boot for relatively skinny legs.

I’d just ask on the Bootfitters thread. I’d be shocked if they are the same across the line up top, though, because it makes no sense given shells reduce volume uniformly - what LV 98 is set up for tree trunk calves?

 

[Brad J]

Rather than start another thread I figured I'd post here to try to keep Zipfit q and a contained. I'm a little confused when it comes to choosing which Zipfit model and slightly more confused after watching all of the Zipfit videos on youtube. On Sven's website, and here in this and other threads, I've read that all Zipfits start out identical with the Gara having 1500cc of OMfit, WC having 20% more (1800cc) and GP approx 10% (2000cc). I've read several places that removing approx 10% from the GP makes the liner identical to the WC and same going from WC to Gara. However, in Sven's video on "Selecting a Zip liner" he starts with agreeing with the above saying that all liners are equal except for the amount of cork. But at :53 he says, "the Grand Prix/Diva has a little more padding in the top of the spoiler and the tongue and they have 20% more cork than the WC and Gara (not 10%), with the classic having an additional 20%." In this video he lumps the Gara and WC together saying they are the "narrow liner" mostly for narrow shells 98mm and less and the GP/Diva are the medium last liners with 20% more cork (which doesn't agree with his website info). At the end he says, taking out the Classic which is basically only for people with Florida fit boots, there are really only 2 liner volumes Gara/WC and GP/Diva. Video at the bottom: http://www.zipfit.com/lineup/

The reason I'm asking is I'm very hands on in my boot fitting process which is virtually a requirement living a good bit of the year in Florida where there are no Zipfit dealers (or good boot fitters in general) near by. Knowing that I have a tight performance fit in my Lange RS 130 wide (MV 100mm last) I figured that the WC (which before this video appeared to be the medium volume on his website) would be the ideal fit. But I also know it's not that hard to harvest some OMfit out to use for future tweaks (but much more expensive to buy at a later date) so I thought, maybe I'd get the Grand Prix and then take out 10% to make it a WC if necessary and have some OMfit for future tweaks or with other MV boots. But I'm now confused by this video because I'm wondering if there really is "more padding in the top of the spoiler and tongue" and not just more OMfit. I don't mind the hassle of removing OMfit but if there really is more padding that can't be removed, that makes me nervous given how performance fit my boots are on one ankle. Does anyone know how much additional padding we are talking about because he doesn't mention that anywhere but in this video? Another reason the GP may be my best option is my healthy ankle is much more LV than my fused one so the GP may be perfect on that one out of the box and then I may just have to play with removing the cork on my fused ankle to make it somewhere between a Gara and WC mainly just in the spots around my instep and med/lat malleolus. And finally, I located a nearly brand new pair of Limited edition GPs with leather that I can get for about a 1/4 the cost of new so it's a very cheap experiment as I can always sell these for the same, if not more, than what I paid for them.

Thanks for your help!

I have had the Gara, WC and Grand Prix and the tongue were the same, My wi\fe has the Diva and the tongue does have more padding. I would email Sven if you had more questions . I would think the Grand Prix would work well , and do the fitting as shown in the videos and all should be good

 

[surfandski]

I have had the Gara, WC and Grand Prix and the tongue were the same, My wi\fe has the Diva and the tongue does have more padding. I would email Sven if you had more questions . I would think the Grand Prix would work well , and do the fitting as shown in the videos and all should be good

That's encouraging Brad. So the tongues are the same on those 3. Any other areas that stood out as higher volume or more padding on the Grand Prix. I went ahead and bought a pair and they are on their way so I'm looking forward to comparing their volume to the stock Lange liners. Thanks!

 

[surfandski]

I have had the Gara, WC and Grand Prix and the tongue were the same, My wi\fe has the Diva and the tongue does have more padding. I would email Sven if you had more questions . I would think the Grand Prix would work well , and do the fitting as shown in the videos and all should be good

That's encouraging Brad. So the tongues are the same on those 3. Any other areas that stood out as higher volume or more padding on the Grand Prix. I went ahead and bought a pair and they are on their way so I'm looking forward to comparing their volume to the stock Lange liners. Thanks!

 

[surfandski]

Ooops, sorry about the double post. The last few times I've posted on Pug they don't post and what I typed remains in the "reply box" as if I never hit Post Reply.

 

[surfandski]

My Zipfits arrived yesterday so I'll give some quick feedback in case someone in the future is curious how the volume compared to stock liners. I got the Limited edition Grand Prix with the leather vs black material. According to the Zipfit website I thought the best choice would be WC or even Gara due to my very tight fit but I wanted to have extra OMfit. I figured for sure I'd need to remove some even on my healthy ankle but surprisingly, the Grand Prix model is slightly lower volume than the stock Lange RS 130 liners (even after being well broken in). I didn't do the full fitting process because I'll wait until my fused ankle is healed and do both at once so I just heated up the shell and liner in a heated boot bag and it was very easy to slip the liner into the shell with the foot in it. In fact, with them lightly heated in the boot bag, I'd say putting the liner on my foot and slipping the whole enchilada into the shell was a bit easier than just sliding my foot into the shell/liner like I traditionally have with the stock liners. This is very encouraging to me as it really looks like this combo of Zipfits and my Langes won't be that hard to get my fused ankle into (using a boot horn). Regarding the volume of OMfit in these Grand Prix, I'd say it's a comparable amount of material in most areas but with slightly more room above the instep and fairly significantly more room in the forefoot compared to my Langes. I have a pair of RS 130 in both 98mm and 100mm in the same length and I'd say the 98mm with a Zipfit (that hasn't been properly fit to my foot) feels about the same as the 100mm with Lange liners. Needless to say, I'm glad I didn't go with the Gara or WC but I'm sure I'll need to remove a good bit of material around my fused ankle. I opened up the ports to check out the OMfit and it looks like it will be fairly easy to harvest. Today they didn't feel stiffer than the Lange liners (no surprise given the warm temps) but hopefully they will be stiffer when it's time to ski. I only had them on for 15 minutes so it's too early to judge but I was very impressed with how comfortable they were without properly fitting them.

 

[nemesis256]

My Zipfits arrived yesterday

Here's a question...where did you buy them? I've never contacted them, but given how they're near impossible to find online, I assumed it was only possible to purchase directly from a boot fitter.

 

[surfandski]

You can contact them direct or choose one of these: http://www.zipfit.com/zipfit-dealers/

 

[Brad J]

Here's a question...where did you buy them? I've never contacted them, but given how they're near impossible to find online, I assumed it was only possible to purchase directly from a boot fitter.

You should contact Sven Comer directly , contact info is on web site , he is very helpful in choosing the right inner boot