Forums DIY and Mods ever cut the upper part of a Lowa Strukura plastic tongue?? Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total) Author Posts November 12, 2005 at 5:58 am #567189 Tap 126 Posts yo yo bros (you know who you are 😈 ) so the 2 piece plastic tongue on the Lowa Struktura extends about 1.5 inches above the upper plastic cuff, just past the upper bail. Methinks the extra height isn’t necessary and could be dremeled off and rounded out, so it just barely comes past the upper plastic cuff. I’m thinking with a loosely done inner cuff, the upper bail on the first notch but not locked down, and no strap, I’ll get a little more flexibility fore/aft and maybe left/right. Anyone ever have any experience with this? I don’t see any drawbacks…. November 14, 2005 at 7:36 pm #584470 Tap 126 Posts i am feeling absolutely no love here 🙁 November 14, 2005 at 8:59 pm #584471 Jon Dahl 384 Posts No, never done it on those boots, but I did cut down the cuffs and tongue on my SB123’s. The strap becomes much more important for tuning felt stiffness, so don’t throw it away, if you cut, you will use it. November 15, 2005 at 3:25 pm #584472 Tap 126 Posts thanks John March 11, 2008 at 2:35 pm #584473 Tap 126 Posts boosting this to the top because I went riding this weekend and the idea to cut the tongue on the AT boot came to mind again…..maybe even cutting the back of the upper cuff? Bueller? Bueller? You can see in the top picture…AT boots are a great system for skinning but juuuust a bit too stiff up high and down low, where you want your feet to be able to roll so your knee can pronate in to “squeeze the orange” between your knees. How about a cant for the rear? Looks like that would help too. March 11, 2008 at 4:59 pm #584474 Jon Dahl 384 Posts A few thoughts. First thing I would do- get the Voile cants for the factory board, both feet. Set your stance for comfort from there. Second- if you cut the tongue, you need to leave about a half inch above the cuff for boot flex performance. If you are comfortable with the tongue there and the strap loose/off, you might consider cutting the back of the boot where you pictured. Do this one step at a time, it is easier to buy tongues than fix shell uppers…. 💡 March 12, 2008 at 12:32 am #584475 Mumbles 753 Posts Tap, i have a pair of lowa structura evo’s and I have not trimmed down the tongue, but I have trimmed down the inner aspects of the inner cuff. When I got them they seemed almost crimpped inward, and made some hot spots, so I followed the shape and trimmed about 1″ off the inner portion on each boot. Now they still allow the tongue to overlap the gap and the outer cuff to seal it all in, so no snow in and a bit less rigidity on the lateral flex aspect. Comfy in my opinion. Not exactly your project idea, but trimming for comfort none the less. March 12, 2008 at 3:40 pm #584476 Unruly Baker 333 Posts Here is what I have found to work well for me. You may have too much boot, it might be a good idea to look for an old Scarpa Laser, Scarpa Matrix, Garmont 3-buckle (Dynamite,etc..) or one of the 3-buckle Dynafit boots. Any somewhat low 3 buckle boot will be nice. I am using the Garmont Dynamite. I run a 23″ wide stance, + 18 front and 0 back. I run the Voile 4 degree cants with sst socket head screws and extra Voile rubber gaskets (one set between the cants and the board and one set between the cants and the pucks, this keeps the pucks from sliding on the cants). I keep my power strap on but not very tight. My upper buckle is on the first notch, also not very tight. My boots have cant adjust screws on the outside of each ankle I loosen them so the boot can float through the cant range (my cant adjust screws will not back all the way out, they have a stop/burr preventing them from coming all the way out easily). I skin and ride in walk mode. When I ride down I tighten the 2 buckles over the top of my foot, pulls my heel back just like my soft binders, keeping the power strap and upper buckle loose combined with the loosened cant adjustment screws gives me good fore/aft flex. I am pretty happy with this set-up. I run Will’s Spark binders and Drivers when I know the skin track and riding will be soft (Late Dec-Feb). But I run hardboots and plates early and late season. My hardboot set up rides very similar to the Spark/Driver combo, the drivers are so damn stiff, I learned to barely lace the uppers on those too. I just really like the way my hardboot set-up skins on long tours with variable conditions. But I still think the Sparks/Driver combo rides better, but for me not a ton better than my hardboot set-up. When I switch to softboots and Sparks I remove the cants. Will’s binders are an improvment over the voile plates and soft binders for skinning in terms of weight and performance, but they still don’t skin as well as hardboots on hard slick traverses, for me anyway, could be technique though. Holler if you have more questions. UB Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total) You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
