Garmont Megaride - Dalbello Krypton Tongue Mod

There are a number of online resources available if you want to mod your AT boots with alpine tongues:

Lou Dawson’s site has instructions mainly geared toward the Scarpa Laser.

Who has the burliest Dynafit Setup has good info. And pde’s post with pics of his modified Megarides is pretty damn good.

Garmont megaride tongue swap (Raichle mod TR) is also informative.

I have a pair of Dalbello Krypton Pros, which I’m skiing with the stiff tongues. The softer tongues were available, and I wanted my 06/07 Megarides to have more beef.

In this round, I added the Krypton tongues, Intuition liners swapped in from my tele boots, and 2-ply Booster straps. In the near term, I’d like to add a rear spoiler.

The only necessary tools were a drill and a Dremel. A screwdriver helps too.

Part 1: Garmont -> Dalbello Tongue Mod

My issue with the stock tongue wasn’t that it is too soft (it isn’t that bad IMO) but it is too low and cuts into my shin. But some more stiffness never hurts (rimshot).

The easiest way to pop off the stock tongue is using a screwdriver and levering it out.

http://static.flickr.com/115/305326128_f9593ce7b7.jpg

Note the difference in height, as well as “wrap-around”. Also note how the Dalbello tongue extends farther forward.

http://static.flickr.com/110/305320736_83f7d35bc8.jpg

The Dalbello has a clip under the front of the tongue, secured with a big ole rivet and that green tab seen above. You can just install the Dalbello tongue using that clip, popping it right under the tab on the boot. This works, but due to the longer Dalbello tongue, it makes buckling a little weird, and the tolerance sucks between tongue and boot along the top of foot. I thought snow would pile in there.

Here’s a view of the clip:
http://static.flickr.com/115/305326445_b6f92f9b9e.jpg

I just drilled out the rivet to remove the whole assembly. Pretty easy.
http://static.flickr.com/118/305327122_8b78bbc617.jpg

Next I measured the stock tongue and Dalbello tongue, and estimated how big a slot to Dremel out to allow the Dalbello tongue to pop on. A Sharpie came in handy to sketch it out.

http://static.flickr.com/110/305321087_f90a52cda8.jpg

First I used my drill to plunge a few holes. This saves on expensive dremel bits. Then I Dremeled out the interior of the line. I needed to come closer to the nose of the tongue with the slot than originally thought, and a deeper slot gave better float when buckling the boot.

Part 2: Liners and Boosters

Not much to say here. The new lace-up liners stock in the Megarides are OK. I personally don’t notice a difference with the older versions. They are lower in the front than I like.

The Intuitions are slightly taller all the way around than the stock liners. The overlap in the front adds rigidity. And the liner itself is stiffer.

http://static.flickr.com/115/305321399_61a61a07e9.jpg

Installing the Boosters is a no brainer.

Final Product

They feel much better. The shin gouge is gone. I have more power available in forward pressuring the boot. No perceptible difference in weight or walkability. Seems like a win-win-win: easy mod, improved downhill performance, no obvious deterioration in touring ability.

Like I said, I really want to extend a rear spoiler, as there is about an inch of unsupported liner in the back. There is also a minor funky bulge on the inside of the upper two buckles, and trimming some tongue might help. I’ll post a picture if/when I get around to doing it.

http://static.flickr.com/106/305321748_1b5a995801.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/113/305327412_d2f543b24d.jpg

looks cool. nicely done.

if you want a rear spoiler I have LOTS that I remove for new boots.
PM me

Nice work. Also one power strap around the liner and one around the shell helps too.
and a shim between the two folds of the intuition liner helps to stiffen too.

Awesome... how can I score the same tongue?

sure, PM me your shipping info..

just noticed the engineering books in the background... good to see they're being put to good use

Running the same tongues in my 04 megarides, plus spoilers that came with Salomon Courses in the back. Still have the pre-lace-up liner and power strap. the front buckle is a tight fit over the tongue, and there's some trimming that needs to be done to clear the bottom of the cuff. Other than that it's an easy swap and works well.

You can make the liner taller during the molding process so the height on the spoilers and the tongue is not an issue.

Are the dalbello medium tongues considerably stiffer than the noodle stock garmont tongues?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Summit

Are the dalbello medium tongues considerably stiffer than the noodle stock garmont tongues?

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They're noticeably stiffer than my 06/07 megaride tongues, but not by a ton.

FWIW, I think my 06/07 megaride tongues are stiffer than last year's Adrenalin tongues. But the Adrenalins were stiffer laterally.

The margin of improved forward stiffness going with dalbello tongues may depend on what year's garmont you're replacing.

I just put stiff Krypton tongues on my megarides. I havent skied in them yet, but here are a few observations. They are pretty stiff but seem like they will flex OK while skinning (I previously had some Denali XT tongues that were so stiff they basically did not flex, they skied well but killed my shins while skinning). I also have some Flexon tongues for them. I was originally going to go with the softer Krypton tongue, but they were actually much softer than the Flexon tongues, and not really all that much stiffer than the newer Megaride tongues. The Krypton tongues fit much nicer on my Megarides than the Flexon tongues did. I bought the Flexons from Larry in Boulder, and only used them twice. I will likely be selling them soon.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hugh Jass

The margin of improved forward stiffness going with dalbello tongues may depend on what year's garmont you're replacing.

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04/05 g-rides

i think those tounges are your size....

Thanks for the great how to post.
I picked up some stiff Krypton tongues from the nice boys at the sport stalker in steamboat this weekend.
Will be upgrading the GRide tonight

Thanks to Hugh and others I modified a new pair of Flexon tongues to beef up my megas. Haven't skied them yet but they feel much stiffer than with the stock tongues and the way they wrap a bit at the top might make them ski better than the stiff Lowa Evo tongues I used last spring.

I made the hole pretty big which will allow the tongue to move when the front buckles are undone.

http://www.telemarktips.com/Photopos...sanouk_005.jpg
http://www.telemarktips.com/Photopos...sanouk_006.jpg

^^^

Nice!

Edited original posts to recommend drilling a few holes before getting in there with a dremel. Forgot to mention that. To dremel-n00bs, it may not be obvious.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wilcox510

I bought the Flexons from Larry in Boulder, and only used them twice. I will likely be selling them soon.

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Larry is out of the 8-9s, anyone else know where I can find some tongue?

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=73690

spoilers avail

Added some rear spoilers, supplied by mntlion.

Drilled out a hole on either side of the central original spoiler screw. Decided to keep the original spoiler in there for extra forward lean. Threw in a couple washers and bolts, whizzed off the bolt ends with a dremel and bada bing bada boom. Done.

Definitely helps with more wedge for forward lean. And I can definitely feel the added support. The addition of these gives full support at the back of my Intuitions, while the Krypton tongues come up to the top in the front. I'm satisfied.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/143/4...c0dacc4698.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/184/4...34117f8034.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/155/4...30f3a58b4f.jpg

Man, your boots are in such nice shape. Mine look hammered in comparison.

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...2&d=1171592577