Downunder foot beds ?

Does anybody have experience with these foobeds ?

http://www.realbalance.net/custom_footbeds.html
Sounds interesting on paper but I'm curious to know how they feel
while skiing.

bruno.

In article ,
bbense+rec.skiing.alpine.moderated.Aug.11.03@tele mark.slac.stanford.edu writes:
It's not clear to me from that
web page exactly what they are selling, but if it's these

http://www.runnersroost.com/downunder.html

Pretty close actually.
When the shop guy first showed it to me I thought it was a cork
superfeet: Red top and cork bottom. (I have cork superfeet that
sometimes gives me cramps on the outside of one foot)
But you can compress the downunders a bit. And it has the same groove
as the one on the runnersroost page.

I assume it is a ski specific version of the ones they show on the
runnersroost page where you have some form of custom fitting done.

bruno.

(Bruno Melli) wrote in message ...
(I have cork superfeet that
sometimes gives me cramps on the outside of one foot)


Does this occur in the area just behind the little toe? If so, I've
had pains there too on a superfeet type custom footbed that I've
resolved by thinning the cork beneath that part of the foot.
Initially I used a file to take off a bit of material and then I
"fine-tuned" with sandpaper.

On 8/30/03 8:40 AM, in article
, "Kneale Brownson"
wrote:

(Bruno Melli) wrote in message
...
(I have cork superfeet that
sometimes gives me cramps on the outside of one foot)


There is an increasing school of thought that totally inflexible footbeds
are not beneficial (Read Harald Harb on Peter Keelty's site). He has been
working with Eric Schlopy and found that some level of flexibility for the
foot is necessary for optimum balance. It is interesting to note that the
success that Schlopy enjoyed last year was after working with Harb. Their
argument is that a completely immobilized lower leg cannot exert any fine
edge tuning (it's all gross motor movements). This means that your thighs
and knees are directly controlling your edges. Two types of footbeds were
mentioned as initially too stiff - Sure Foot and Super Feet Cork. It was
recommended that these footbeds be thinned by a skilled boot technician.

bbense+rec.skiing.alpine.moderated.Sep.01.03@tele mark.slac.stanford.edu
wrote in :

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In article ,
jvwalker51 wrote:
On 8/30/03 8:40 AM, in article
m, "Kneale Brownson"
wrote:

(Bruno Melli) wrote in message
...
(I have cork superfeet that
sometimes gives me cramps on the outside of one foot)


There is an increasing school of thought that totally inflexible
footbeds are not beneficial (Read Harald Harb on Peter Keelty's site).
He has been working with Eric Schlopy and found that some level of
flexibility for the foot is necessary for optimum balance. It is
interesting to note that the success that Schlopy enjoyed last year
was after working with Harb. Their argument is that a completely
immobilized lower leg cannot exert any fine edge tuning (it's all
gross motor movements). This means that your thighs and knees are
directly controlling your edges. Two types of footbeds were mentioned
as initially too stiff - Sure Foot and Super Feet Cork. It was
recommended that these footbeds be thinned by a skilled boot
technician.


_ I'm not sure that's news. From my experience the specific model
is not really all that important, it's finding the "skilled boot
technician". The problem is that there are many more people doing
custom footbeds than there are "skilled boot technicians". The
best people will encourage you to come back with problems, since
they know it's unlikely that it will be exactly right the first
time.

_ Ankle flex is key to the kind of skiing I do, but I'm not sure
how "stiff" footbeds fit into that. I do know that when I finally
found a "skilled boot technician", the first thing he did was
grind down my SuperFeet cork insoles that I had gotten fitted
elsewhere....

_ Booker C. Bense

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.2

iQCVAwUBP1QZEmTWTAjn5N/lAQGF0QP/VjuFZpbGFNcXxdP6CxqULx8pWE5iHxx5
VtjSt2j49YeGmrKb7lHSJ7zt6eDaXb6lM7walGbF+9+YaZPnOp 7RSjnwW/xuMGrt
VwQikwl0iqLwUySzf9Lfn21ioPf/yrDncA9TxG5crrhKYtpXOcLrkFiut+DoCBfL
fE6UVXJXwko=
=+thY
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----



There are some good articles over on www.blarp.com regarding foot beds.
One of the skiers in that group is a podiatrist and he's posted good info
on foot mechanics as it relates to skiing. Botton line is that you
probably shouldn't use the same orthotics in your ski boots as you do in
shoes. "Gait plates" do not allow the arches to flex, which is fine for
walking but not for skiing.