Ski boot too voluminous at forefoot.

[Skisolo]

Greetings. As logistics makes visit to a boot fitter very difficult atm I have ordered a pair of Nordica Speedmachine 120 (100mm last)
I've been wearing them at home for a while and they fit very tight around the heel and a little bit too tight around the instep and fifth metatarsal. I'm reasonably sure this will pack out with use but my main concern is the large room in the forefoot.

Standing on the boots with my weight on the heels and attempting to move my feet inside the boot i can move my forefoot laterally a little bit and I can curl the toes. My old Head nexo lyt 130 had the same fit.

I'm tempted to order a pair of nordica promachine to try a less voluminous fit but i highly suspect I will need to have them altered to fit.

I'm wondering if having too much room in the toe area will effect my performance in a meaningful way? I'm an advanced'ish skier and fairly athletic.

 

[Uncle-A]

How did you deal with it in your old Head boots?

 

[Skisolo]

How did you deal with it in your old Head boots?

I didn't but ended up with a sublingual hematoma and some scuffed toes.
We've been skiing a lot more recently so I'm starting to think I need a more performance oriented fit. I found the head boots to be soft flex too.

 

[Andy Mink]

Several of the newer boots are giving more room up front, both wide and tall. If your heel is locked down you probably won't lose much performance unless your forefoot is moving a lot. You will gain the nicety of being able to move your toes though. I have some Fischers that have a bit more forefoot room than my old Raptors and really like the room.

Do you have a custom footbed? If not one can be made to help take up a little of the vertical room and by fitting your foot well will lock the heel and mid foot in place better than the stock footbed.

 

[Uncle-A]

Several of the newer boots are giving more room up front, both wide and tall. If your heel is locked down you probably won't lose much performance unless your forefoot is moving a lot. You will gain the nicety of being able to move your toes though. I have some Fischers that have a bit more forefoot room than my old Raptors and really like the room.

Do you have a custom footbed? If not one can be made to help take up a little of the vertical room and by fitting your foot well will lock the heel and mid foot in place better than the stock footbed.

Also if the footbed lifts the front of your foot the boot will be a little more narrow the higher up your foot gets.

 

[Crank]

I'm no boot expert but trying a footbed is a good first step and may be all you need.

 

[Skisolo]

Several of the newer boots are giving more room up front, both wide and tall. If your heel is locked down you probably won't lose much performance unless your forefoot is moving a lot. You will gain the nicety of being able to move your toes though. I have some Fischers that have a bit more forefoot room than my old Raptors and really like the room.

Do you have a custom footbed? If not one can be made to help take up a little of the vertical room and by fitting your foot well will lock the heel and mid foot in place better than the stock footbed.

That's comforting to hear that you don't mind the extra room even after Raptors. I've been contemplating custom footbeds so that might be the solution as I really like the boots otherwise.

 

[Mike Thomas]

You are in a brand new boot that you are 'trying on' at home, correct?

If you can move your foot laterally- enough to make you post a question about on the internet- then your boot is definitely too big. With a new boot, trying on at home, if you don't think it is too small, it's too big. I know that sounds like hyperbole but it isn't.

 

[fatbob]

You are in a brand new boot that you are 'trying on' at home, correct?

If you can move your foot laterally- enough to make you post a question about on the internet- then your boot is definitely too big. With a new boot, trying on at home, if you don't think it is too small, it's too big. I know that sounds like hyperbole but it isn't.

This

 

[LiquidFeet]

You are in a brand new boot that you are 'trying on' at home, correct?

If you can move your foot laterally- enough to make you post a question about on the internet- then your boot is definitely too big. With a new boot, trying on at home, if you don't think it is too small, it's too big. I know that sounds like hyperbole but it isn't.

This.

 

[Wendy]

Greetings. As logistics makes visit to a boot fitter very difficult atm I have ordered a pair of Nordica Speedmachine 120 (100mm last)
I've been wearing them at home for a while and they fit very tight around the heel and a little bit too tight around the instep and fifth metatarsal. I'm reasonably sure this will pack out with use but my main concern is the large room in the forefoot.

Standing on the boots with my weight on the heels and attempting to move my feet inside the boot i can move my forefoot laterally a little bit and I can curl the toes. My old Head nexo lyt 130 had the same fit.

I'm tempted to order a pair of nordica promachine to try a less voluminous fit but i highly suspect I will need to have them altered to fit.

I'm wondering if having too much room in the toe area will effect my performance in a meaningful way? I'm an advanced'ish skier and fairly athletic.

The Promachine will be snugger but still have a wide toebox. The liner and shell both can be heat molded, so can be “stretched” a bit where needed if you need a bit of extra volume. Of course, that means that a “home fit” alone isn’t going to work, and you need to find a bootfitter.

 

[LiquidFeet]

...they fit very tight around the heel and a little bit too tight around the instep and fifth metatarsal. ...large room in the forefoot ...i can move my forefoot laterally a little bit and I can curl the toes.
...too much room in the toe area

My local bootfitter charges $60 per fix. My suggestion would be to purchase a different boot that's too snug everywhere. Then have a bootfitter adjust accordingly. After the fix is done your boots will not hurt, your feet will not slide around inside, and your control over your skis will be much stronger. You probably won't miss the $$ you paid the bootfitter.

If your forefoot moves laterally, you will have difficulty side-slipping. Your foot will slide sideways and you'll lose the edge you need to control the speed of the slippage.

If most of your turns are not carved, then you'll experience reduced control over your edging in every turn when your skis point across the fall line. There will be more slippage in each turn than would be if your boots fit properly.

When you are carving, momentum will pull your feet sideways when your skis point down the hill and you'll still lose precision control over your edging. The skis will want to flatten, and they will want to slip instead of grip.

So forefoot slippage negatively affects your control over your skis no matter what you're doing with them.

If there is noticeable headroom above the foot, this causes problems with edge control as well.

The rule of thumb is buy boots too snug and have bootfitter grind or punch out areas where your foot contacts the shell. The work comes free with a purchase in the shop, whether the boot is discounted or not.

Online boot purchase prices can be very tempting. But they come with the potential of buying a boot that is too wide in the forefoot or too high over the instep or too long. It's far better to get a boot that's too snug in any of these three dimensions and just pay a fitter to do what the do so well.

 

[cem]

as someone said earlier if you can move your foot laterally in the boot enough to post on a web forum about it THE BOOT IS WRONG it is either too big or has at least too much forefoot volume, by all means try a pro machine but (and i know you said its difficult due to location ) trying a boot fitter might be the quickest and least expensive option

 

[East Coast Scott]

If I purchased my boots from a boot fitter, I expect not to be charged for alterations. That is how it is around my area anyways.

 

[cem]

If I purchased my boots from a boot fitter, I expect not to be charged for alterations. That is how it is around my area anyways.

a lot of that depends on the fitter and how they do things... 3 examples

1 fitter sells boots / footbeds and then charges for any adjustments needed on a pay as you go basis
2 fitter has a consult fee with boot purchase and adjustments are free for a period of time (this is the model i use and adjustments are free for 2 years)
3 fitter sells boots and everything is free for life..... this is the model employed by big box stores and those who feel they aren't good enough to charge, with the way margins are squeezed right now it wont be for much longer as they will most likely be out of business soon

 

[Uncle-A]

a lot of that depends on the fitter and how they do things... 3 examples

1 fitter sells boots / footbeds and then charges for any adjustments needed on a pay as you go basis
2 fitter has a consult fee with boot purchase and adjustments are free for a period of time (this is the model i use and adjustments are free for 2 years)
3 fitter sells boots and everything is free for life..... this is the model employed by big box stores and those who feel they aren't good enough to charge, with the way margins are squeezed right now it wont be for much longer as they will most likely be out of business soon

This is interesting, I would think that number one and number two are because the boot fitter is not a ski shop employee and is an independent consultant. I think that a Professional Ski Shop would not charge for fitting on the original sale and would provide free adjustments for a set time, most likely two years. It is one thing that differentiates it self from lesser ski shops. We are quick to bad mouth big box stores but when jobs in ski shops are few and far between even a good boot fitter needs to stay employed and might take a job in a big box store.

 

[cem]

i own our shop and 2 is what i use, if we don't then we are no different to the chain stores other than the experience of the staff.....now as the chain gets bigger discounts they then make more margin on the same product and it becomes a race to the bottom, used this model for 17 years and never had a problem. i am sure we could get more clients if we didnt charge that i am sure we would be busier but i wouldn't have appointments to be able to get all the people in

does it make us expensive? YES but not the most expensive in the UK, and as there are only 2 of us (and a third fitter part time) and our diary is full i am not planning to change any time soon

as for boot fitters needing jobs, yup they do, but we can't find any over here, been looking for 3 years and tried to interview2 people, one of which made a lot of claims about his experience but couldn't do the job, and the other just didn't return calls or e mails..... for the record i pay way above (about 25% above) any other store in the UK, Brexit and immigration policies mean i cant get staff from anywhere else, i have had a USA fitter and a canadian both want to work but our government sees boot fitters as "unskilled retail staff" so i cant get them a visa

 

[LiquidFeet]

At the shops here where I've bought boots in New England, I pay for the boot. It might be discounted. The adjustments that day are included in the boot price. Then I get free adjustments (mostly additional punches and grinds) for the next 6 months or year from the same bootfitter. When I bought Zipfits, the same policy applied.

 

[Uncle-A]

i own our shop and 2 is what i use, if we don't then we are no different to the chain stores other than the experience of the staff.....now as the chain gets bigger discounts they then make more margin on the same product and it becomes a race to the bottom, used this model for 17 years and never had a problem. i am sure we could get more clients if we didnt charge that i am sure we would be busier but i wouldn't have appointments to be able to get all the people in

does it make us expensive? YES but not the most expensive in the UK, and as there are only 2 of us (and a third fitter part time) and our diary is full i am not planning to change any time soon

as for boot fitters needing jobs, yup they do, but we can't find any over here, been looking for 3 years and tried to interview2 people, one of which made a lot of claims about his experience but couldn't do the job, and the other just didn't return calls or e mails..... for the record i pay way above (about 25% above) any other store in the UK, Brexit and immigration policies mean i cant get staff from anywhere else, i have had a USA fitter and a canadian both want to work but our government sees boot fitters as "unskilled retail staff" so i cant get them a visa

Your number 2 may be acceptable in the UK I don't know how that would fly in the USA. Maybe the scarcity of ski shops in the UK makes it pass but with the competition we have I think it would be a hard sell here.

 

[cem]

Your number 2 may be acceptable in the UK I don't know how that would fly in the USA. Maybe the scarcity of ski shops in the UK makes it pass but with the competition we have I think it would be a hard sell here.

we are one of a few places with that type policy, there are loads of ski shops in the uk, just not that many specialist fitters.... no idea why the good guys haven't started it in the USA, the margins on ski boots are being squeezed dramatically every year, and being honest its about the only way we can make enough to stay in business.... remember we are a boot only store, so no skis, gloves, hats, jackets etc which is where the margins are. so we have to rely solely on the boot/fitting/footbeds/liners

if you have a heating engineer install you a new boiler you normally pay for the boiler and installation, same with a service on your car, you pay parts and labour, its not really any different to that, and if more good fitters thought about it that way they would move even further ahead of the chains