honclfibr wrote:
"I bought these boots on Ebay..."

Anybody still with me?

Ok, great. So I bought these boots on Ebay to replace a pair of lange
X9's that I had received from my uncle about 6 years ago, after he had
skiied them quite a few years himself. I had previously been skiing on
lange XR7s, and loved the way the X9 felt; the thinner, tighter fit,
the stiffer flex, that whole feeling. So I says to myself, why should
I pay exorbitant retail prices, I know my foot size, I know lange boots
fit my foot, and I know I like a stiff race boot, I can buy boots on
ebay for the cheap!

Sooooo I go on ebay, and I buy the stiffest lange boot I can find,
which incidentally is the 130LF. I buy what I think is my size (9.5,
317mm), which turns out to be not exactly my size (the X9s were 323mm,
oops) and the boot is horribly, horribly painful. But I says to
myself, I says well I've been buckling those x9's up as tight as they
can go these last few years, and I tend to wear boots into the ground,
so maybe it was fate that I got the smaller size. Maybe I just need to
see one of them bootfitters I'm always hearing about.

So I head up to Paul Richelson's Feet First in plymouth, and paul takes
a look at my feet, and my boots, and tells me that yes, the 130LF can
be made to fit my foot but that I'm going to be in agony until some
work is done. Seems that I have a narrow heel which is the reason I've
always liked the langes, but the problem with the 317mm is that my big
toe and the opposing arch tends to, ahh, rub against the shell a bit,
and that's causing me no end to discomfort. It's jamming my toes into
a little ball of pain. But my heel is happy, which is nice, there's
just the tiny bit of lift on the X9s in 323mm.

Geez I'm really writing a novel here, I know I had a point...oh oh, I
remember now. Ok, so Paul says that the 9.5 is the right size in the
130lf for me, though he cautioned me that this is a race stiff boot
with paper thin liners and was I a ski racer or something? No, no I am
not. I ski hard and fast on the east coast ice rinks (currently
sitting on a pair of atomic GS:11's which I enjoy very much) but I am
definitely not a racer, just a recreational skiier. Ok, well so I like
my boots stiff and with a thin liner to increase control, and I'm
willing to sacrifice a bit of comfort for that. But my question to you
all is, how much comfort are we talking here? I was under the
impression that my old X9's were a race-class boot, but it seems that
this 130LF is a REALLY race class boot, and perhaps I'm just a bit
outclassed here? I have the option to either stick with the boot and
let Paul go about grinding out the toe and arch (I tried skiing two
runs in the boots as-is against his recommendation and I was in such
agony I could literally not even turn my skis) or return the boots and
try again. One other option is the person I got my boots from also has
a lange L10 in a size 10 that he'd exchange my boots for, now I know
that the 130lf is a newer, more expensive boot, but would I be better
off ignoring the $$$ signs and going with that boot, would my non-racer
ass be better off in the end? I'm 6'1, 175lbs or so if it matters,
like I said I really *like* a stiff boot but when I was in Feet First I
was sitting next to a kid about my height and weight who raced GS
competitively, and he was wearing the 120LF...hmm, did I do wrong?
Sorry for the lenghty rant, any advice is appreciated.

- Darrell

OK, so I got a pair of boots off ebay too. No shame there.
Just so's you know, both pair of boots that I'm talking
about below came mail order. The Raichle's from ebay and
the AT boots from Sierra Trading Post in Cheyenne, WY. I
went into these purchases knowing that I'd need professional
boot fitting services to make them work. SureFoot at Killington
had a great reputation and I wasn't disappointed. The combination
of great prices on the boots plus the addition of fitting
services still resulted in a total that was half the price
of new retail boots or maybe even better.

It also appears that you did most (but not all) of your homework.

Even here on the EasternIceRinks(tm) an all-out racing boot
is not everybody's cup of tea. My current boots are a pair
of Lowa Alpine Touring boots (very soft, comfy, and nice to
walk in when required AND a pair of Raichle Racing Flexons.

The Raichle's have a stiff (laterally) shell and force me into
the skier's shuffle when walking but are not especially stiff
fore to aft except for the limitation of forward lean.

The AT boots are like sneakers.

The Racing boots I had assumed would be for icy days, especially
those when I'm not working and don't have to walk around much.

I've found that even on days when EasternFirm(tm) prevails that
the AT boots work quite well. I'm not pushing terribly high end
skis with them, just nice Fischer mid-fats. In most cases I
have all the control I need.

I still feel the need for something a bit stiffer when I want
ski a little harder than normal, when I'm not working and
skiing with a rat pack, or skiing on my 6stars.

The racing boots do it for me quite well except that there are
a couple of areas where I seem to experience nerve damage if
I ski in them all day. It takes a day or so to be able to put
on ANY boot after that.

My solution will be to replace the racing boots with the same
brand of boot, but with a slightly larger shell and a liner
with more padding. I'm getting these Raichle's at such a good
price that I'm not out much money as they are not imported (or
even made) any more, but they have known weaknesses like buckles
falling off and the racing boots will give me a pair of
parts boots.

No question that Lange make great boots. My recommendation would
be to go for the slightly softer shell with more padding. I
think you will get all the support you need, especially on
modern skis and be MUCH happier in the long run.

VtSkier