Splitboard.com Forums

I cut down the cuff a little to improve medial and lateral flex. Start with just a littler, ride, and repeat until you get what you want. I ride with the cuff buckle on the rear foot just snugged up, but not tight at all, and for the front foot, one notch tighter. I like to get the medial flex to where I can press my knees together so they touch.
I also make a couple of small doughnut shapes out of bootfitting foam which I carry in my pockets. For steep sidehilling, I can close the top buckles with these doughnuts blocking the pin from locking the cuff: so I can tour a with the cuff a little tighter.
One other tip with hard boots: to make them flex more consistently, give them a liberal spray of silicone the night before-this keeps the cuff, tongue, and lower shell plastic from binding and smooths out the movement.

Have you seen the knotted rope mod that some of the skimo guys are using with TLT5s? They tie a small piece of accessory chord through the hole in the upper buckle so that it can be left hanging and you just have a pull tab on the buckle or you can flip it over so that the knot ends up between the buckle and the shell so that it pulls the cuff tight without engaging the locking tab.

I greased mine with Slickoleum around the cuff and it works well but maybe I'll try silicone the next time it get to the hardware store.

Got any pics? I'm trying to picture this and understand the mod.

Thx!

Using Voile plates now, going to try and demo the Phantoms at the splitfest. They look pretty sweet!

Take a look at the following link to TGR forums. They actually have a longer thread about this boot than we do!
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php/200054-Dynafit-TLT-5-Boot?p=3559535#post3559535

so I rode a solid tester line that had some chunder, variable stuff on un-modified TLT5s (aside from removing the strap and tongue reinforcer). Did not like the forced forward lean in addition to med/lat movement, the forward flex was less noticeable but I can definitely see that being problematic in more featured terrain.

I may not be the best candidate for a HB setup as most lines I ride are 1k vert or so and there are a lot of trees, gullies, tight exits, etc that really require maneuverability. BUT, after filing the plate to give more rear flex (almost vertical.. very slight front lean bias) and what seems like standard forward flex I'm thinking the HB people are correct in saying you don't have to sacrifice ride feel or ability in order to obtain the uphill benefits of a HB.

here's my flex plate, butchered to all hell but it now feels very comparable to my 32 Team Twos, which have been my favorite snowboard boots ever.



Appreciate the help from ppl in this thread, very confident in the progress.

One question - for the super lightweight AT boots like Scarpa Aliens ad DyNAs, I've read the CF creates issues with increasing flex.. are these not viable solutions or alternatives to the TLT5s? Looking at shaving 3lbs off my TLT5s is a droolworthy proposition. I'd probably wait a season or two but curious what you guys think. A friend of a friend I toured with earlier this year had the Aliens and seemed happy with the ride (it was a faceshot blower day in Cardiac bowl though ).

Provo: I think most splitters have to ride the kind of terrain you describe, especially on less than perfect days, and on outtracks, etc. I totally agree that if a boot does not have adequate forward, medial, and lateral flex, dealing with whoops, bumps, trees and other obstacles in variable snow conditions can be difficult. The key is to mod the boot until you have enough flex to steer the board from the foot and ankle, while keeping the upper body and hips quiet. I slot the forward lean bar in the TLT5 even further than you have, I also cut down the cuff, more on the medial side than on the lateral side, so that I end up with softer flex to the medial side. Start small cutting down the cuff, small amounts of height reduction can increase flex quite a bit. Start by cutting down no more than a 1/4" or so, and then ride test, and repeat, until you get the flex you are comfortable with. Also, before cutting a lot, think about the consequences (more lateral and medial flex will affect tour mode performance) and make sure the boot is not going to have issues, like edges of plastic getting hooked on each other in extreme flex situations. If you think about what you are doing before you do it it should all work out fine. I basically mod the boots 'til they flex pretty much the same a s a "perfect" pair of soft boots.
Carbon fiber is used in AT boots to achieve high degrees of lateral and medial stiffness without increasing weight. I think if the goal is to have a boot with supreme riding performance, then carbon fiber cuffs would be a bad idea-I very much doubt that it would be possible to get the carbon cuff boots to flex well enough laterally and medially for great riding performance.

Thanks - for cuff trimming you're talking about trimming the green cuff, black cuff or white inside cuff/shell? Stupid question but that's the last thing I think is necessary to get these things riding perfect.

I am talking about the green outer cuff. On some boots, cutting down the inner shell (white on the TLT5) can work as well. I encourage experimentation. But, consider all the ways the different layers of plastic interact with deep flex; you want to avoid situations where the plastic layers could bind on each other. So, think before you cut, and run the boot through deep flex.

Thanks again. Was out of town for a bit and got a chance to ride the new flex in the boots. 2k run in tight trees on mank and crust. NIght and day difference from before the flex mod, planning to give the front foot more backward flex.. maybe leave the back foot as is for now.

Good progress though, it didn't feel like I was wearing a hard boot.

is it true that there is no tlt-5 next year?

only tlt-6 and its all changed up and stiffer?

been hearing this through the grapevine

true, except I don't think it is really any stiffer. it is wider though.

this could very well have been discussed before but I've been leaving the back boot ankle strap firm and leaving the top open. It's a little different having the front foot locked in with a lot of support and the back heel locked down with a very flexy fore/aft/medial flex, but I've really enjoyed the freedom of movement. As long as you have a solid heel lock with the ankle buckle, your back foot can initiate turns and provide a more nimble feel. The TLTs are getting close to what I consider the ideal flex/support setting.

cheers