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REVIEW: 2024 Lange Shadow 130 LV

Andy Mink

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This thread is for the general discussion of the Article 2024 Lange Shadow 130 LV. Please add to the discussion here.
 
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Brian Finch

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@Andy Mink - can you settle the BSL conversation? What does the BSL measure & what is it stamped? @Philpug & I were chatting that the 296mm 25.5 measures up at 291-292ish for the RX / RS. TIA!
 

Tony S

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Good review, Andy. I have found that the Lange recreational models, in general, are not as low volume as they are made out to be, or as I would like. So you experience aligns with mine there. Nothing against your take, but want to hear from a Lange habitué as well.

And did you ski them with the Montero AS?
 
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Andy Mink

Andy Mink

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Good review, Andy. I have found that the Lange recreational models, in general, are not as low volume as they are made out to be, or as I would like. So you experience aligns with mine there. Nothing against your take, but want to hear from a Lange habitué as well.

And did you ski them with the Montero AS?
No worries! I'd like to hear from people who skied the RX vs Shadow. I did not ski the AS with them. I was on the Dynastar M-Cross 88. Really nice skis. Also a few turns on the Lusti CWR+95.
 
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ScottB

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Haven't tried my foot in the new Shadow, so no comparison from me, sorry. I have skied Lange's most of my life (40+ years) and as someone with a narrow foot, they are not a extremely narrow LV boot in my experience. I spent a lot of years in the RS model, which is supposed to have a lower instep than the RX to make it lower volume. I can attest that feels accurate to me. But, I have never had to have any work done on my low volume Lange boots. When I switched to the Atomic Redster CS, I needed a punch on my styloid process bump, so the Atomic CS is a narrower boot, and it advertises 2mm narrow last. Head Raptor is similar to the CS, if looking for a narrow LV boot. I feel the Langes are middle of the road for LV boots, and Blister seems to confirm that as well. For me personally, I belong in a plug boot with a punch or two, and should have really been in the Lange WC race boot series, but never had a shop or bootfitter encourage me to do that. Since I am in a 29.5 shell, no shops carry that size and it would have been special order. I guess I never found a bootfitter (and I have not been to that many) that prioritized fit over sales. After all, we do live in a capitalistic society. I fully acknowledge my responsibility and role in boot decisions as well as I never pushed for it either. I did ask a couple of shops about race boots and were told they don't carry them in my size and would be special order for next years shipments. I regret not taking them up on that offer (although they would be full price, no discounting).
 

I'm listening

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The review focused mostly on fit (and that's really the most important part) but could you elaborate on how the dual pivot and the backbone ski? Lange blurb certainly sounds interesting but is it really something you notice? If so, which kind of skiing really benefits? The backbone thingey is something the the Tecnica Mach 1 has had for a few years, right?
 
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Andy Mink

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The review focused mostly on fit (and that's really the most important part) but could you elaborate on how the dual pivot and the backbone ski? Lange blurb certainly sounds interesting but is it really something you notice? If so, which kind of skiing really benefits? The backbone thingey is something the the Tecnica Mach 1 has had for a few years, right?
I've only been on the boot for two spring days so far. With the higher temps the boot was fairly soft but still provided good feedback and control in the soft and often slushy snow. It does seem like it doesn't take as much drive into the tongue to get similar performance results compared to my Fischers. In my mind? Maybe. I'm looking forward to getting the boots out on a known run on colder days for a more in depth follow up. I'm done for this season though.
 
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Andy Mink

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UPDATE:
I've been skiing in the Shadow now for about 30 days. I believe the claim that it takes less pressure to achieve similar results holds true. I have the stiffer of the two inserts in and see no reason to install the softer ones. I did cant the boots, as I have with my past boots. I have also been skiing them with Zipfit Corsa liners, not because I found anything wrong with the stock liner, as it is absolutely fine, but because I won the Zipfits in an auction and they work well. I still think the boot is a soft 130, even on cold days. I do weigh in at around 215# this season and still have a lot of dorsiflexion so I tend to squish boots. With the Zipfit it is a bit stiffer.

I still think there should have been a pull on the back of the stock liner. I have also noticed wet spots on the liners on the inside of both feet around the big toe area after skiing. This may have been happening with my other boots (Fischers and Heads) but I never noticed because I just put the boots on the drier without removing the liner. I am planning on skiing a couple of days with the stock liners to see if perhaps the Zipfits are a bit bulkier causing the toe dam to not close all the way. @Tricia is skiing in a 115 Shadow and hasn't noted this issue. My other option is to put a very thin layer of rubber under the overlap to see if it seals better. I don't need the two clog buckles any tighter for me but I did clamp them down more to see if that works but with no success. Maybe they need BOA!:roflmao::duck:
 
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Andy Mink

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Good review, Andy. I have found that the Lange recreational models, in general, are not as low volume as they are made out to be, or as I would like. So you experience aligns with mine there. Nothing against your take, but want to hear from a Lange habitué as well.

And did you ski them with the Montero AS?
Not the AS but I did with the WRT. Ahhhhh... Also with the SR88. Mehhhhh...
 

Tricia

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I have 6 days in the Lange Shadow 115 LV boot.
As noted by Andy, the Shadow has really good hold but the forefoot is *comfortable* without being too roomy. I tend to punch an area for my bunion but didn't need to do so in this particular boot, yet I don't feel like my foot is loose.

I have 6 days in the boot as of today and most of these days have been snowy off piste skiing, with a selected day of groomer zoomers to recover from several days of off piste, tree and bump skiing.
 
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Andy Mink

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Up-update:
This is my first attempt at keep moisture out. My hypothesis is the top over lap isn't compressing the little ribs on the dam, either because I'm not cranking them down enough or the ribs are hard enough they don't give. I didn't have any foam butbI do have ShoeGoo. I'll report back when I see if this works.
20240209_154849.jpg

This is off the left boot. The overlap goes left to right in the photo. The little ribs stick up maybe a millimeter.

20240209_174235.jpg

I ran ShoeGoo along the top of the main rib building it up to about 2.5 millimeters. ShoeGoo remains fairly pliable so I'm hoping it can compress and seal. The one on the left was the first one. The second one looks better. If I had three it would be perfect!
 

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Up-update:
This is my first attempt at keep moisture out. My hypothesis is the top over lap isn't compressing the little ribs on the dam, either because I'm not cranking them down enough or the ribs are hard enough they don't give. I didn't have any foam butbI do have ShoeGoo. I'll report back when I see if this works.
View attachment 224714
This is off the left boot. The overlap goes left to right in the photo. The little ribs stick up maybe a millimeter.

View attachment 224715
I ran ShoeGoo along the top of the main rib building it up to about 2.5 millimeters. ShoeGoo remains fairly pliable so I'm hoping it can compress and seal. The one on the left was the first one. The second one looks better. If I had three it would be perfect!

I also run cog buckles lightly closed with virtually no pressure on the bottom one. My LV 130 Shadows have been bone dry with the stock liners. Also have about 30 days on them.
 

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FYI I have about 10 days in on mine now and I've used them on my Montero AX's, my Laser GS's, and my WRT-ST's. I agree with Andy in that there is definitely something here with respect to the leverage and how it transfers pressure to the ski.

However, I disagree with reviewers in that the stock liner is decent. I absolutely hate it. I ran it all day yesterday and the fit is sloppy, the forefoot is too lose, I couldn't close the shell enough over my instep to get the tightness I wanted, and the shin portion of the right liner had a sharp pressure point that drove into my shin when I would apply force during the latter half of a C shaped turn. I haven't skied my Zipfit Workhorse liner in them yet (long story...) but from just testing putting them on and buckling the boot, I can tell there's going to be an immediate difference in heel hold and comfort. If I didn't have the Zipfit I wouldn't be keeping these boots. My liner is dated 230313

I haven't traditionally thought of my foot as being LV, but in the stock liner of these Lange MV's I would definitely need to drop to a LV version if I didn't have the zipfits. Also, i've noticed that on my left foot I feel as though there are pressure points on the right side of my heel and the left side of my pinky knuckle that are acting almost as if they are trying to rotate my foot clockwise in sync within the shell. I don't understand why this is happening and I'll continue to work with my fitter to fix it, but so far this has been the most problematic boot I've had to work with a fitter on. I have to be careful because I don't want to stretch the shell too much considering how loose I already find the fit. Both my Atomics and my Roxa's were significantly less finicky than this obnoxious beast.

As people have said to me earlier in this thread, perhaps the Lange last just isn't for me. That is probably true. BUT DAMN IT I LIKE THE PERFORMANCE OF THE SHELL! :nono:
 

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This is all so interesting as I have been thinking about whether or not to pick up a pair of the Shadows. I have been thinking of two questions. First, fit compared to the RX and second, how would Gara LVs fit the Shadow shell.

I recently went to Zipfit Gara LVs in my Lange RX 130LVs. When I originally bought the Langes I had to have the outsides of the boots expanded a bit for the 5th metatarsal with the stock liner. After switching to the Zipfits I found that the front of the boot was way to roomy. The Zipfits have notably less bulk in the front than the stock liner. This past week I went at my boots with a hair dryer heating the the outside punches up with about 15 minutes of applied heat to the expanded sides in hopes that in cool down the shells would relax closer to the original shape. This in fact happened. The Zipfits in the RX are now working great, best liner I have ever skied, by far.

Given all this I am thinking that if the Shadows are the "Lange" fit a switch to the new shell would hopefully be straight forward. It would be great to hear from anyone who has gone RX to Shadow.
 

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If you are coming from an RX to a Shadow, forget everything you thought for fit. the Shadow is much more generous than the RX (and especially the new RS). The line is very good but I think it is also very generous. @Jeronimo, I think if you were in the LV, you owudl be much happier with the stock liner.
As people have said to me earlier in this thread, perhaps the Lange last just isn't for me. That is probably true. BUT DAMN IT I LIKE THE PERFORMANCE OF THE SHELL! :nono:
It's not the Lange last, but the Lange Shadow last.
 
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Andy Mink

Andy Mink

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Up-update:
This is my first attempt at keep moisture out. My hypothesis is the top over lap isn't compressing the little ribs on the dam, either because I'm not cranking them down enough or the ribs are hard enough they don't give. I didn't have any foam butbI do have ShoeGoo. I'll report back when I see if this works.
View attachment 224714
This is off the left boot. The overlap goes left to right in the photo. The little ribs stick up maybe a millimeter.

View attachment 224715
I ran ShoeGoo along the top of the main rib building it up to about 2.5 millimeters. ShoeGoo remains fairly pliable so I'm hoping it can compress and seal. The one on the left was the first one. The second one looks better. If I had three it would be perfect!
#fail
 

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If you are coming from an RX to a Shadow, forget everything you thought for fit. the Shadow is much more generous than the RX (and especially the new RS). The line is very good but I think it is also very generous. @Jeronimo, I think if you were in the LV, you owudl be much happier with the stock liner.

It's not the Lange last, but the Lange Shadow last.
I think you are right.
 

Philpug

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@Philpug given your impressions of my feedback here, you think I would be unhappy in the MV Fischer RC4 Pro Boa?
I don't think you would be unhappy but the Lange RS130MV might be worth the wait too. It has a slightly narrower heel pocket than the Fischer.
 

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