Our testers have heaped praise onto Lange over the past several years for not changing things unnecessarily on the RX all-mountain boot line, so now that the new Shadow boots have arrived, testers were keen to give them a thorough go-through to see if they passed the don't-screw-it-all-up test. More specifically, they wanted to see if Lange's gamble on a performance-oriented shell redesign paid off.
One tester called the Shadow line's structural re-imagining the anti-BOA for its focus on performance-centric engineering, leaving this year's big, fit-related story to the spooler. Indeed, the Shadow's four-point cuff-to-lower Dual Pivot attachment design and gliding rear spine Suspension Blade are major driveline changes to a platform that has always prided itself on how well it skis. The story that accompanies this tech is interesting: the four points of connection are made lower on the shell to better match the natural hinge point of the ankle joint, and the lower anchors are not rigidly fixed but restrained with small elastomer bushings intended to reduce plastic shape distortion during flexion. The upper and lower mounts work in concert like a rocker-arm, leveraging a mechanical fore-aft advantage against the ski. The tongue-in-groove-style Suspension Blade attaches the lower to upper in a gliding rear spine fashion with a goal of reducing more bending plastic distortion and loss of energy. This sort of active rear spine redesign has been accomplished elsewhere previously (K2 & Tecnica) but not with a gliding track. The nutshell from the Lange marketing department: does more with less effort.
Testers unanimously reported that the story line was not a fiction. They said the boot functioned exactly as billed, with a noticeably smooth and progressive flex feel that seemed shorter in travel and firmer in quality than predecessor RX boots. They said that the smaller "throw" of the forward flex range didn't feel abrupt, just more effective at generating pressure to the front of the ski with less input effort. They also claimed that the boot was quicker and more solid on edge than RX. Testers gave the Shadow 130 LV's Quickness and Steering score a perfect 5.
That Lange succeeded in building a very different wheel that rolled even better than the last one wasn't a big surprise for our testers who have seen positive change after positive change from the brand in recent years, but those had been relatively minor changes. This is a big move in terms of the boot's structural foundation and a risk that seems to have paid off.
The big surprise in the Shadow boots (LV, MV, men's, women's--all) has been that these performance gains happen in concert with the most comfortable narrow and medium width boots Lange has ever made, according to testers, across the board. Many testers thought this 130 LV was too comfortable, meaning roomier than it should be, but while testers may have given it some demerit for missing the narrow fit target, they consistently mentioned that the extra space didn't seem to affect how the boot skied--it just didn't feel as tight as they thought it should. The cushioned, well-draped liner material hugs the foot exceptionally well, but with a bit of stretch at wide and bony points enabled by so-called Auxetic hexagonal perforations in the liner's exterior material. Testers said that the tongue's fit and feel was perfect against the shin and enhanced the shell's new flex properties nicely and they all appreciated the liner's new asymmetrical, no-seams toebox.
POST-TEST UPDATE: Lange informed us that based on widespread feedback of a too-roomy fit in the Shadow boots (both men's and women's in LV and MV models), they've made a running change to the production liners to address that. We like to think we were helpful in getting the message across and are excited to try the new versions this season.
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