Testers claim that the 100mm last Nordica Speedmachine 3 115 W BOA DD is the ultimate manifestation of middle-of-the-road shape and snugness of fit. It’s designed to suit the average shape and volume foot and leg but offers enough hold on the rearfoot that pressure-sensitive, narrow-footed folks will still ski well and it offers enough width and instep height that high-volume skiers who are tolerant of compression can pack themselves in there and enjoy the elevated performance that comes with that. It’s a wide variety of feet and legs that find comfort in the Speedmachine 3, testers agree.
Regardless of where a skier’s tolerance for tightness puts them on the perceived comfort spectrum, a boot shell that mirrors anatomical curves and a liner that cushions the foot’s wide and bony spots from that hard environment are essential. Testers say that’s where the Speedmachine 3 excels—once the foot drops into place within the boot’s confines, all is well, all is held and there’s enough breathing room for areas that need it (toebox, forefoot, instep, calf).
Testers say that getting into those confines was a bit of a challenge with the tested 115-flex, DD version (which means Dual Dial, aka BOA on both the cuff and lower shell). First, stiffer flexes will always be more difficult on than softer flexes in a given model. Second, testers agree that BOA on the cuff will always be a bit more difficult than BOA on the lower shell in a given model. So, the mack-daddy (or mack-mommy, rather) model we tested is naturally going to be trickier than the 105-flex DD that’s also available. Even easier-on would be the 105-flex with buckles up top and BOA on the bottom. Skiers have lots of options in the Speedmachine 3 range.
That said, even with a comment like, aneurism-inducing entry, that same tester gave our test boot perfect 10’s across the board. The takeaway--if you want a 115-flex you may deal with a little bit of struggle before you’re rewarded with the snuggle that is the amazing medium width fit of the Speedmachine 3.
Additionally, testers say a large part of the reward structure here is how well the medium-width Nordica skis—always has and still does, and they say that the 115-flex skis as well as any boot in the entire test.
The 3 in the name means 3Force Frame shell construction, which is the same lightweight and rigid sub-structure co-molded into the polyurethane lower boot found in the narrower Promachine 3 and wider Sportmachine 3. The Speedmachine received that construction update first, and it was so well-received that the other widths in the range followed suit. This might mean that the Speed’s up for another update, so testers suggest going and getting the one that’s available right now—it may never be better.
