metoo

I'm a total novice. I only care to ride down the hill/mountain. I may progress into some small jumps and such, but no freestyle. I bought a pair of Thirtytwo STW boots last year which have a flex rating of 4 on their scale of 1 to 10(stiffest). I used them one a rental Burton rocker board. I now have a GNU Rider's Choice that I haven't ridden yet. I'm thinking about getting Thirtytwo Focus boots (rated at 8) for 3 reasons: 1) they are all black, whereas my STWs are grey black, and, white. 2) The dual Boa system. 3) The heel kit. I never could get my heel as secure as I would like in the STW. On the plus side for the STW, they were fairly comfortable to wear for a long period of time. Even after riding, I would have them on for another 3 hours or so.

Will I lose this comfort and walkability with the Focus? Am I giving up considerable control and feel with the STW's? Basically, I need to know which is better for me. In this case, I'm only looking at these 2 boots and no others will be considered, so let's stay focussed. The pun was not intended.

arrrmaty

You'll feel like you've lost a lot of control of your board when you go from softer flex to stiff flex. Going from a 4 to a 6 is pretty significant. If you haven't tried them on and tried flexing your ankles and testing the motion with the stiffer boots, you ought to try them on in the store for awhile before you buy them. And put your soft boots on before you go try the stiff flex so you'll be able to tell the difference. Typically softer boots are more freestyle and park riding while stiffer flex boots are for all mountain and high speed riding. Good luck

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lonerider

Stiffer boots (when they fit you) give you more responsiveness... if you are in control of your body... than that means more control of the board. However, where you are a novice (often "intermediates" as well) you tend to flail your limbs everywhere... and in that case the extra responsiveness may not be what you are looking for. Fit is always more important than flex... once you have a good fit, you can play with flex to your preferences (which as a novice will change over time).

Now, I will add in the obligatory, but very important "You should try other brands if your heel is lifting in this brand's boots..." a heel kit is just a band-aid to the bigger problem that the boot isn't shaped like your foot. If you foot is moving around in your boot (i.e. heel lift) that makes it much harder to control the board (imagine if the steering wheel of your car was made out of cardboard... you can see how that floppiness would make it hard to carefully steer the car through an obstacle course. A stiffer boot that fits will is very comfortable. If it feels like it is digging into your foot... the boot doesn't fit well. If the boot feels like there are large empty spaces... the boot doesn't fit well. If you heels lift when you bend your knees into a squat... the boot doesn't fit well.

Snowboard boots are made for snowboarding... that involves going high speeds on a piece of wood attached to your feet, hence it needs to have some stiffness to support you. Snowboard boots are not meant for strutting around at the base of the village pretending to be a snowboarder. I would recommend you buy boots that are good for snowboarding and less based on appearance (color) and "walkability" like Lil Wayne here...

poutanen

+1!!!!

I like very stiff boots, because I want to feel everything happening under my foot. That said, to the OP, the best boots you can buy are the ones that fit you the best... If a traditional lace boot with a flex rating of 4 fits you better than some 8 rated dual boa boots, you will ride better in them.

Try on everything! When they fit right you'll know it. I can leave my boots barely snug and there's very little foot movement.

metoo

Thanks for the advice. Good information.

The main reasons I'm only concerning myself with these two boots in particular, is that I own the grey/white/black 32's and they are comfortable, so I know my size is in 32's and I generally buy things off the internet. Again, I know "look" is not the most important thing, but I hate not matching and these boot really limit my jacket choices. I only settled for them, because the black ones were out of stock and I needed boots urgently at the time and these fit great....in the store. The dual Boa boots compared to the single that I have, pull your heal to the boot better. The Focus can be had for good price right now. There may be a less stiff all black boot with dual or even single Boa [I'm not giving up on the Boa...Laces? NEVER] that will properly fit me better than the Focus, but the chances are low that I will find them in Houston, TX and at a price I'm willing to pay. That said, if a boot as stiff as the Focus is going to negatively effect my ride appreciably in my novice state, I'll just stick with what I've got for now. Again, thanks for the info.

RockSteady

Dude your on the right track, go with those thirtytwo's the double boa is the shit and half and that 8 is perfect. I only rock a nice stiff boot, power, response, feel, everything is better to me...I use to think I preferred a soft park boot for the park but after a little experimenting I figured out a top of the line stiffer boot, is just better for everything even jibs, 7-9 is a good zone for me (1-10) I'm in the DC status right now, love them, nice lockdown tight stiffness. Walkability, that's what the boa is awesome for, you just pull the dial out and the whole boot loosens for an easy walk. If your talking on mountain and side country hiking a stiff boot is money.

RockSteady

DUDE YOU ARE AWESOME, your post made my night, so funny and so true

metoo

Everything he's got on makes me cry and laugh at the same time.

metoo

Well, I found the Focus locally in a 1/2 size bigger, so it wasn't a perfect comparison. They were obviously stiffer and heel lift was slightly less even though the size was bigger and not molded to my foot. Some still say its a good all-mountain boot. Others classify it as a freeride boot. I'm still very new at snowboarding and probably won't be hitting speeds over 25mph for a while. I'm concentraing more on carving and speed control. Question now is, fit aside, will this be a poor choice of boot for me based on what I just mentioned?

lonerider

Fit is the MOST important aspect of a pair of boot. As a novice having a more "supportive" (stiffer) boot is just going to teach you learn to have finesse in your foot/leg movements when learning how to snowboard. Nothing wrong with that.