Bicester Bootfitters Build Britains Best Balanced Boots? - Update

A snowHead

I know that in every thread written about alpine boots, the resident gurus tell us that the first and paramount priority in picking a boot is fit.

I know I’ve told “newbies” this, but I must confess that I’ve always bought mine cos they were in the sales and that I was pretty sure that the fit was about right. So this time I thought I’d go the whole hog and go see CEM and Andi McCann of Alpine McCannix at the Solutions For Feet shop in Bicester.

In my mind I was thinking about some quasi back country offerings like Shaman, Bandit, Banshee etc.

I went down there yesterday. Firstly I never realised how far south Bicester was; dangerously close to London IMV. But I managed to get back before my Visa expired.

Colin’s shop has a nice relaxed feel about it, not yer boutique ski shop staffed by doods, just the essentials for doing the job right and with people who knew what they were about.

First off is foot inspection; length, width, how far can you pull yer forefoot up, any injuries to bear in mind etc. Then a quick chat about the type of skiing you do and a stab at ability (or lack of it).

Based on this Colin picks a boot for you. Sadly colour, preconceptions of style or personal preference are not part of the selection criteria. It’s down to fit.

Barefoot shell check (sans liner) follows; looking at length, width and waggle room.

I wanted to use my existing footbeds and liners if possible. Colin was surprisingly impressed with the footbeds (although he still ground them down a little), but we didn’t think the new shell had enough room for the existing zipfits; so new and thinner ones were stuffed in for a “cold” fitting. Everything seemed good at this point; so it was over to Andi for a bit o balancing.

First up he checks the delta angle of the boot on his adjustable base plate gizmo thing. Barefoot I then jump onto the same platform, stand on my footbeds only, and start one legged, free standing flexes while he adjusts the platform side to side. Believe me, you can tell a big difference and not surprisingly the settings that felt most stable were the ones that prevented my knee from falling to either the inside or the outside as I flexed. With these readings he created shims that he glued on to the bootboard. The boards, and beds are put back in (no liner) and Andi finished this section by a visual inspection of me in the boot; the cuff looks to align nicely with my legs.

So, all ingredients sorted the whole lot is reconstructed and cooked at medium heat until Colin remembers that they’re still in the oven.

Then, after getting my feet covered in pads and stuffed in plastic bags, Colin makes me put the boots back on hot, just to check how sweaty I can get. After a bit of flexing and extending and several requests to get ‘em off my feet and a bit of pleading, I’m released.

Placcy bags and pads off, allow boots to cool a little more and it’s feet into boots again. Earlier Colin had spotted that my short fat stumpy legs also sported girt big calfs. A quick measurement around the top of the boot shows that my muscular bulk in this area pushes me forward about 2cm. To compensate, Colin pulls the boot apart again and heats then stretches the top of the cuff. Once cooled, rebuilt and on my feet I feel like I'm standing much taller than before - these little tweaks have a big impact.

Then onto Andi’s moving platform again. First he checks “bootfall” as I rock from side to side (all OK), then he adjusts the forward and backward angle of the platform to watch the effect this has on my stance. It seems that in these boots, with the shims and footbeds in, that I need to be standing on a flat surface to stay centred, although I could probably take a forward lead of 1*.

Sadly, the heel piece on my bindings is 6mm higher than my toe piece. Happily there is a removable plate under the heel piece that is about 5.5mm high, so we just remove that and Bob’s yer weird babysitter.

So that’s the services of two highly competent and qualified people for the best part of four hours (including butty break, checking You Tube, general skiing banter and p1ss taking) for not a lot of money in the circumstances.

My only complaint is that they’re too far south.

If you want boots, I don’t know of anywhere else I’d recommend more highly.

A snowHead

What were the shells Marc? Great write up BTW.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Looking forward to the report after a week's skiing in anger.

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Mosha Marc, Great report, will definitely go there as soon as I can afford it or think I need new boots (which will probably be the case anyway if I do go there!). snowHead

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

parlor, I must fess up.

Colin had a good look at my feet; narrowish forefoot but doesn't narrow much more as it meets the ankle, and said "Mmmmm......Head I think"

My thought's were; "HEAD! No way!"

But you pay for advice, so I kept it shut. Ended up with their Raptor Ltd RS. It's the softest of their race line boots. I could have gone a bit stiffer with the RD, but it's for bumps and slackcountry, and the zipfits stiffen it up a little, so was happy to keep flex around 110.

Tried them on again at home, natch, and was suprised how maliable the material is compared to my old Xwaves.

If I need to stifen them up a bit I'll chuch the old booster strap on and wear it under the front cuff, but happy to give them a good tryout first.

beequin, there will be a few fridge evenings before then, so will keep you posted.

Iski, it's definately the type of place you go to buy boots, not to browse.

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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Mosha Marc, we going to see these boots next year then...? Laughing

After all it is free

Nice report, Mosha Marc, and excellent thread title. I suppose you had all that long trek home to work it out! Toofy Grin

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

I like CEM's shop 'cause I know everything in it is hand picked because IT DOES THE JOB! It's such a nice break from the average to know that all the hard work has been done in assessing all the products on the market and what lies before you is the pick of the crop so that all you have to do is choose with confidence. Toofy Grin

Ooh, and if he doesn't have it, he doesn't try to flog you something that he does have just to make the sale - rather he sticks to his guns that what he's recommending is what's right for you and gives you the space to go shopping for it from whichever source.

Mosha Marc, I agree ...

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

I'm not trying to rain on a parade here but I am curious.
But first a HUGE thumbs up for CEM's expertise. I came to skiing from snowboarding and my first ski boots were (and are) a truly serendipitous perfect fit. But my tele boots were made on an alien last and needed some professional cooking to make them wearable . . .

However this balance thing I've some doubts about. As individuals our physiology is different but that difference, for about 85 percentile of us, is tiny and is subject to our morphology . . . the way we've developed muscle structure, fitness and fat distribution . . .

The question I have is: do 'balance' systems compensate for poor fitness, posture and added avoirdupois rather than addressing true body structural disadvantages and in doing so, enhance and or reinforce correctable or self inflicted limitations to skiing performance.

There are participants who do need additional aid to enable safe and pain free skiing . . but how many are relying on a 'crutch' in order to short-cut the effort required to develop the fitness required to learn to use their ski tools properly?

Would we be better employed to gain fitness and spacial balance rather than use artificial means to compensate for our lack of preparation for our sport?

snow reports

Masque, I'll start by saying I've been sold on the "balance" theory for about five years. To me it's just following up on customising the product to the individual.

From a biking and golfing background, this wasn't a new idea.

Everything done to the boots had a reason, and the goal was to get me balanced/stacked/call it what you want, as I stand on my skis. If I'm not, then I have to waste more energy/effort etc trying to keep myself in that position as I ski. If I'm there already, then I start with an advantage.

I don't think fitness comes into it (unless lack of it has given me an odd shape). Posture must be an issue, but humans adapt their posture depending on surrounding circumstances. The mods are trying to alter the posture to a more balanced posture whilst stood on skis, whatever your starting point.

If you do have real structural issues, then the mods will simply vary to take that into account.

In short, we are all different builds and shapes; so customising your setup to take that into account will help - whatever the cause of the difference. I'd say that better fitness and balance would simply help even more.

You know it makes sense.

Masque, Its not a crutch, good gear properly set up makes it easier thats all. Its not anything more than that. If your technique is crap its crap and all the allignment in the world wont fix it but it will make good technique easier to execute.
Its like the difference in driving a car with the tracking out or set up properly. Yet no one would consider having your wheels tracked as a shortcut to good driving that could be over come by better driving or improved arm strength.
You will need greater fitness to ski with a bad stance but improving fitness may not be the best solution. If your stuck in the back seat all the time your thighs are going to get a serious work out fighting it. I now understand what my ski instructor in my second week of skiing was saying when he said you must be very fit. He didnt finish the statement but I think he may have meant ....to ski so aggressively with such a bad stance all day everyday Embarassed

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I've had lateral shims added to the baseboard of my boots (both feet at 3º outwards) and noticed a small difference when carving on piste, especially when engaging the edge of my inside ski. I also think my ankle flexes more easily, although I'm not sure why this might be the case (or if it's wishful thinking on my part).

I've recently raised the toe binding on my slalom skis by 4mm, making them almost flat (heel binding is now 1mm higher). This made a huge difference to how balanced I felt on the ski. It really was remarkable, and I'm still trying to get used to it. I've not yet reached a conclusion on whether this change is for the better, the worse or just different, although I'm beginning to think it is for the better.

I started this process from a position of skepticism. I couldn't understand or believe how a few degrees here, a few millimetres there, could made a noticeable difference. But it did for me, especially making the toe and heel of my boot more or less at the same height above the ski. It's not changed me into Bode Miller overnight, but it did make a noticeable change which I think is for the better (or at least I hope it will be when I finally get used to the new set up).

A snowHead

rob@rar, I suspect the fore aft alignment may have some effect on your increased ankle movement. Did you get heel lifts too? These were put in my boots (3 degrees) to open my ankle. It immediately made a difference to my ability to move my ankles.

A snowHead

I just wanted to say that I like the notion in the thread title of 'building' the boots, rather than just fitting them. Whenever I read a thread like this the idea that the boot is built around the foot rather just being taken off the shelf seems to work well as a concept.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Masque, i was a sceptic as well but alignment made a big difference to my skiing, remember we are constrained in very stiff boots and if setup well outside of neutral you will always be fighting to regain balance.

i am however outside the statistical norms and have big feet and long levers so it seems to be more critical to me.

I do agree with you that Balance can be trained and working on it as well as fitness gives great benefit to ones skiing.

In terms of fitness 2 years ago before being fit and aligned i went into 2 weeks of basi courses very fit and with weight down to as good as it has been in decades and was shattered at end. this year post balancing did 3 weeks of high intensity BASI skiing going in nowhere near as fit and finishing much fresher....

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Just a quick update.

After prancing round the house like a tart in 'em; I took out the laces and velcro straps from the zipfit liners as the boot seemed mighty tight with them in. I also moved my old booster strap onto them.

Then in November I did a half day Warren Smith course at Castleford. Boots were really comfortable from the off and caused me no problems at all. In fact they bedded in a little further, so I popped the laces and velcro straps back in straight away afterwards.

I'm now back from their first "proper" outing, 6 1/2 days in La Tania. Again the fit was very tight for the first couple of days, but bedded out still further and by the third day I didn't really need to undo them at all during the day. They now feel like I've had them for years.

Performance wise they seem great. Now I'm used to them I stand taller on the skis (so says Phil Smith), can feel more easily where my weight is (forward, centered or back) and for the first time can really feel what the edge is doing on firm snow. There's no movement of my feet within the boot at all and despite them being easier to flex/softer than my old X-Wave 10's there doesn't seem to be any downside to that.

One word of warning on snug fitting boots though, by day two I noticed (by dint of extream pain and a change in colour) that I'd somehow smacked my left big toe against the front of the boot. Possibly whilst walking round with the boots undone, or doing the first couple of runs with only the bottom clips fastened, becuase when properly clipped I can't feel the front of the boot.

As a last word, whilst I was standing round waiting for my mate to get some footbeds done I got an "Ah, Rator Ltd! nice boot, I 'ave zem myself" from the fitter - even though the shop he worked in didn't sell Head boots.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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Bicester Bootfitters Build Britains Best Balanced Boots? - Update

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