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Rodbelan
Joined: 04 May 2011
Posts: 180
Location: Quebec
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 Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 6:18 pm Post subject: Stiffening up Excursion tongue |
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Hi everyone,
Is there a way to stiffen the tongue of an Excursion boot? Some sort of moldable plastic... Any experience with this? I know skiers from the pre-plastic boots era use to experiment with all kinds of materials... Thanks. |
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rsireland3
Joined: 21 Sep 2007
Posts: 17708
Location: EL/R -6.12, SL/A -8.15 in NW VT and slightly south of the Poutine Curtain
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| Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 7:14 pm Post subject: |
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I use a pair of tongues from some Garmont Gara boots. Taller and stiffer. It doesn't really add as much turning power as it takes away from what little kick 'n glide these boots offer.
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Rodbelan
Joined: 04 May 2011
Posts: 180
Location: Quebec
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| Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 7:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Well, my problem is; I've got the woman Excursion (no size 7 or MP 25 in the man's version). And the tongue is different: smaller essentially... I might just need another boot—like a 3 buckles one... |
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rsireland3
Joined: 21 Sep 2007
Posts: 17708
Location: EL/R -6.12, SL/A -8.15 in NW VT and slightly south of the Poutine Curtain
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| Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 7:32 pm Post subject: |
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i'd still look around for a pair of tongues that fit. Alpine boots, anything really.
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| rl wrote: | | Kinda like post first then smoke crack |
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Mitch
Site Admin
Joined: 05 Dec 2004
Posts: 1503
Location: Mammoth Lakes & Laguna Beach
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| Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 8:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Garmont stiffened the tongue of the Excursion as much as PP thought they could some time back. The problem with going siffer still is that it just means you can crank on more bending and twisting forces that the lower boot can't handle. Kinda like when we used to bolt alpine boot cuffs to our floppy leathers way back before plastic. With the Excursion it's all about technique. I'm not trying to be a smartmouth and I mean this sincerely, it's probably better to spend the time working on your lightweight gear turns than it is to waste time trying to find a shortcut that might or might not work. I like to spend a few hours on the hill in mine every now and then tuning up, especially before a longer tour. |
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rsireland3
Joined: 21 Sep 2007
Posts: 17708
Location: EL/R -6.12, SL/A -8.15 in NW VT and slightly south of the Poutine Curtain
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| Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 11:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Mitch wrote: | | Garmont stiffened the tongue of the Excursion as much as PP thought they could some time back. The problem with going siffer still is that it just means you can crank on more bending and twisting forces that the lower boot can't handle. Kinda like when we used to bolt alpine boot cuffs to our floppy leathers way back before plastic. With the Excursion it's all about technique. I'm not trying to be a smartmouth and I mean this sincerely, it's probably better to spend the time working on your lightweight gear turns than it is to waste time trying to find a shortcut that might or might not work. I like to spend a few hours on the hill in mine every now and then tuning up, especially before a longer tour. |
Sorta what I was trying to say in a way, but more eloquent. The part I left out is that I stopped using the gara tongues. And I even had all kinds of crazy thoughts like putting the gara cuffs on them, etc. The Gara tongue made the flats more difficult. In the end I decided I liked the boots for what they were and stopped trying to use them for stuff beyond my skill level.
The one thing that I wonder about is that the OP mentioned he was in women's boots b/c of the size. So are the women's lowers softer? Just the tongue is smaller? Maybe in this case the larger/stiffer tongue IS what he needs so that it has the performance of the men's boots? I'm speculating here. My Excursions are the last year of the thermo liner, not any of the newer ones.
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Hoka Hey
Joined: 04 Mar 2005
Posts: 850
Location: Wyoming
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| Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 11:29 pm Post subject: |
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| I had that problem. Ditched 'em and went to some T2s. Way better for my tastes. |
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Mitch
Site Admin
Joined: 05 Dec 2004
Posts: 1503
Location: Mammoth Lakes & Laguna Beach
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| Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 12:35 am Post subject: |
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| rsireland3 wrote: | | Maybe in this case the larger/stiffer tongue IS what he needs so that it has the performance of the men's boots? |
Good point. I think the tongue of the woman's boot is probably shorter to make room for the longer calf muscle of women. |
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Mitch
Site Admin
Joined: 05 Dec 2004
Posts: 1503
Location: Mammoth Lakes & Laguna Beach
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| Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 12:37 am Post subject: |
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| Hoka Hey wrote: | | I had that problem. Ditched 'em and went to some T2s. Way better for my tastes. |
Or maybe way better for your 'purposes'... we are talking about two completely different kinds of boots. |
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Mr. T
Joined: 18 Aug 2006
Posts: 2079
Location: Bellingham
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| Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 1:11 am Post subject: |
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| Rod, remember that the soft tongue piece allows a super soft ankle flex, and that ankle flex is the key to really good xc and downhill technique. |
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J
Joined: 07 Dec 2004
Posts: 3023
Location: Cdv-PWS
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| Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 1:19 am Post subject: |
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| Find a Dynafi Tlt-5 user that isn't going to use the stiffer 2nd tongue that comes in the set. |
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Rodbelan
Joined: 04 May 2011
Posts: 180
Location: Quebec
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| Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 10:46 am Post subject: |
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| Mr. T wrote: | | Rod, remember that the soft tongue piece allows a super soft ankle flex, and that ankle flex is the key to really good xc and downhill technique. |
Well yeah, but I feel like I am skiing with untied boots sometimes... I do not feel the tongue pressure most of the time... I am (or feel like I am) a better skier with with Merrell Fuzion, with which I do not feel like my back foot palm is unstable... Hard to explain I guess... |
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Dirk
Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 5340
Location: Vermont
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| Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 10:52 am Post subject: |
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| Part of the problem may be fit. Excursions have (or used to have, anyway) a high volume fit relative to the length of the foot. You may just be swimming in them. |
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Rodbelan
Joined: 04 May 2011
Posts: 180
Location: Quebec
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| Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:05 am Post subject: |
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| Dirk wrote: | | Part of the problem may be fit. Excursions have (or used to have, anyway) a high volume fit relative to the length of the foot. You may just be swimming in them. |
Yeah lots of volume in the toe box, even if it is a woman's boot and that my feet is sort of wide. Bad thing is I tried the T4 and it's a good fit but I had to deal with toe pinching once the bellow is compressed... I am not left with a thousand solutions... that is why I was looking into Crispi CXX2... |
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Hoka Hey
Joined: 04 Mar 2005
Posts: 850
Location: Wyoming
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| Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:16 am Post subject: |
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| Mitch wrote: | | Hoka Hey wrote: | | I had that problem. Ditched 'em and went to some T2s. Way better for my tastes. |
Or maybe way better for your 'purposes'... we are talking about two completely different kinds of boots. |
Good correction, but it does seem the experiences are similar. Kick and glide wasn't significantly degraded but downhill performance was significantly improved. This was after I installed switchbacks.
My excursions deformed quite a bit when buckled tightly and pressure was applied. Would a stiffer tongue exacerbate that? |
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