Intuition Liner Help

[wilcox510]

So, for clarifications sake... The Intuition folks are now putting the un-heated liner inside the shell, then you heat it with the tubes, then you put the insoles in, and then your feet? Did they put the insoles in before your feet, or put the insoles inside liners socks, on your feet then put your foot/insoles in together?

[upallnight]

What a revelation! The best thing I've ever done. I thought the G-fits were fine. Turns out that Intuition liners are the best fit, and significantly stiffened my Megaride to the extent that I put back my soft touring tongue and took off the flexon tongues with which I had modified the boot.

I have found religion and it is Intuition

nice, lee!

glad to know there is now *1* person who will believe me. no one ever seems to buy this (until they try it).

intuition + raichle tongue + megaride = fun on the way up & down.

hope you get a tone of great days out of those new liners.

[wilcox510]

Go to http://svst.com/ , then go to the boot repair page. Most of the way down there is a picture of one type of "blower" style molding thingamajig, they call theirs the "heat riser". Some of the have two tubes for each boot. Careful using a heat gun, these blowers are about 225-250 degrees, most heat guns are way hotter than that. What kind of flexible tubing are you going to put on the end of a heat gun that won't melt or burn?

[gretch6364]

Just to clarify since I just got a brand new pair of intuitions last night (07 version with the black stiffening material on the back outside part of the liner and some type of swirly design on the inside). They put the liner in the boot and put it on a boot molding machine (hot air blowing in from tubes). They said they need to get the liner above 200 degree F. I was instructed to put on double toe caps and my insoles under my ski sock (I used my normal thin ski sock that I use when I ski). The then puled the liner out of the boot and I put the liner on then slid my foot into the boot and cranked down. They had two people to help me get in the boot.

They used some big plastic shim thing to get my heel in and to keep out wrinkles and once I got in I flexed a little and they made sure the heel had no wrinkles.

They cam out really well, but damn it hurt when they were molding them and I had the toe caps on. My shell fit is pretty tight. They did not crank the boots down any more than I normally would with my stock liner, which had about 35 days on it.

The intuition is alot bigger than my stock liner and I lost one notch all the way around on the buckles. I view this as a good thing.

I have not skied on them yet, but Larry in Boulder is the one who did them, and I trust him. He is one of the best in the business IMO.

If you are going to DYI, I would just make sure to get them above 200 degrees.

[gretch6364]

One other thing, so now my bottom bucks are in the first catch instead of the second and my top bucks are in the 2nd catch instead of the third....so the bottom of my boots are pretty much at max big, but I think that is indicutive of a good tight shell fit.

[The Dad]

Not news, but intuitions are frickin awesome. I've had foot issues for years and my boots now fit how I've always imagined they should. If in Tahoe, consider Buck at Java Summit Sports. He'll fit you with a low volume custom footbed that, in combination with the liner, makes your skis feel like they are attached to your feet. Don't buy into the "you don't need a footbed" bullshit from intuition.

Thanks for the referral. PM me your name so I can give you credit.

Oh, and Douche Thy Box.

[Singel]

I was in a shop that deals with intuitions today and the guy said it is generally best to go a size larger in the liners than your shell size to avoid packing out too much issues (and that that is the recommendation from intuition). I know 1 guy said something about it in the thread, anyone else have experience/recommendations about it?

My main fitting issue seems to be that I have a really high instep. My current boots (Head Mojo 26.0) initially seemed painfully too tight, however after lots of work done that has been reasonably succesful in mitigating instep pain, they are now too sloppy and seem to be a little too big (but the insteps still aren't ideal). Research has lead me to believe that Solly X Wave's are considered to be the best boot for a high instep (any others that are even better?), so I picked up some cheap Crossmax 10's in a 25 that need new liners. So my current thoughts are throwing intuitions in them and going from there, but I'm also a little skeptical of the width and instep room since the shell fit seems pretty tight too.

Looking for thoughts/advice on whether to go with 25 or 26 liners?

The other big questions is regarding footbeds. Currently I just use stock green footbeds (seem decent for my foot, though I've also found instep relief by using the cheap piece of shit insoles that came with the Head's because they seem to reduce the pressure on top as compared with superfeet. So the possibility of using intuitions without insoles sounds intriguing to me, because I imagine that to offer the most space between the top of my foot and the bottom buckles. I know that custom footbeds would be ideal, but the current expense that makes the most sense are the liners, and I'd hate to spend more money on something that might reduce the instep relief benefits from the intuitions. Not sure if it's totally crazy to mold them without footbeds based on this.

I'm somewhat just thinking out loud here, but any thoughts/advice are very much appreciated! I know I just need the expertise of a good bootfitter, but it's inconvenient as hell for me to go to Banff to see Mntlion (who did some real good work for me last year). I just don't wanna throw a bunch of $$ at someone in Calgry and get stuck with a gong show of shittier solutions

[robnow]

^^^^^^^
Singel

I'm not a fit expert by any means so others can chime in here.

A custom footbed will only make the instep situation worse compared to the stock footbeds. Your foot sits flat on the stock ones due to lack of arch support but most likely you have somewhat of an arch and customs will keep that arch up, thus raising the instep of your foot further in the boot.

Your thoughts on the intuitions w/o footbeds sounds logical. I have no experience with them though.

My insteps are higher too and the only boots I've been on are Nordicas(Hot Rods last couple seasons) but can only compare with Langes/Rossis, Technicas, haven't tried Salomons in a while. I don't know why they aren't being talked about on the forum much but the new Shamans have the most amazing fit(for me anyway). Blows anything that I've ever been on and so I got a pair. They have them at MBC but are the priciest boots out.

In Calgary, Warren at Mountain Bike City is great for fitting and they do Intuitions. If you are thinking of a new boot, try there or Fresh(talk to Steve but I'm not sure if there are any good fitters there). Where ever you go, just make sure you talk to the most experienced and DON'T talk to anyone else. Just ask and don't feel bad about dissing anyone. There just aren't any great fitters in our city.

If Mntlion did a good job just go see him. Banff is so close that its not inconvenient. I've got a shopping day planned there end of the week, you can come with me if you want.

[Singel]

The only inconvenient thing about Banff is if I need to make subsequent visits for a little more tweaking. Most days I need to be back home to Calgary for something in the evening and would have to cut ski time to get there with enough time. I think I may try to stick with it though, and thanks for the advice.

[Duffman]

Is this true that Intuition recommends going a size up from your shell size? I didn't hear this before.

[zion zig zag]

Is this true that Intuition recommends going a size up from your shell size? I didn't hear this before.

I'd like to know too.

[hoarhey]

My two cents.

They asked about my shell size: 26.0 Mondo for me (Tecnica Icon)
Then they asked my shoe size: 9.5
They suggested a size 8.0 liner Alpine Powerwrap.
This was after giving them the length in cm of my current Tecnica liner.

Since 9.5 street shoe in a 26.0 boot is performance fit - thanks Jeremy at Sports loft - they also recommended to try the plug boot liner, which is 3 mm thinner than the alpine powerwrap.

I talked to another girl at Intuition and she said they try up to 3 different sizes of liners with people.

So 2 of the 3 people I talked to at Intuition said to first go with same size as the shell.

[pow314]

I wish I had that problem just once..lol I have a narrow foot, and I really like a performance fit. I've never owned a boot I didn't have to pad the crap out of after 20 days, even the old foam injected liners broke down too much. I tried on some Garmonts recently, and the salesman was telling me to grin and bear the pain, that it would get better.. but they weren't even a little bit tight. Wear them around the house a couple days, ski them two, and you will have the perfect fit.. tight is right.

Just wish I could find a shell fit that snug.(though you said you had two fingers).. I would imagine you were close in the forefoot, and maybe the ankle as well.. nice!!!

[GBB]

When I emailed Alison, I gave her my shell size which is a 27.5 Tecnica. She recommended for me to get the size 10.0 liner.

On another note, I think the answer to this question is no, but can you use the same pair of liners in two different boots?

[upallnight]

On another note, I think the answer to this question is no, but can you use the same pair of liners in two different boots?

of course you can. the quality may be affected a bit, and will vary with the degree the 2 boots have similar volume/shape.

[Kski]

Just to clarify since I just got a brand new pair of intuitions last night (07 version with the black stiffening material on the back outside part of the liner and some type of swirly design on the inside). They put the liner in the boot and put it on a boot molding machine (hot air blowing in from tubes). They said they need to get the liner above 200 degree F. I was instructed to put on double toe caps and my insoles under my ski sock (I used my normal thin ski sock that I use when I ski). The then puled the liner out of the boot and I put the liner on then slid my foot into the boot and cranked down. They had two people to help me get in the boot.

They used some big plastic shim thing to get my heel in and to keep out wrinkles and once I got in I flexed a little and they made sure the heel had no wrinkles.

They cam out really well, but damn it hurt when they were molding them and I had the toe caps on. My shell fit is pretty tight. They did not crank the boots down any more than I normally would with my stock liner, which had about 35 days on it.

The intuition is alot bigger than my stock liner and I lost one notch all the way around on the buckles. I view this as a good thing.

I have not skied on them yet, but Larry in Boulder is the one who did them, and I trust him. He is one of the best in the business IMO.

If you are going to DYI, I would just make sure to get them above 200 degrees.

If they heated them in the shell with the hot air thing, why in the world would they then remove the hot liners from the shells and have you put them on, and then put your foot/liner back into the shell. My understanding is that the advantage to baking them in the shell is to avoid having to finagle them back into the shell when hot????

[booner]

My experience with intuitions has been very similar...got new boots, new footbeds, and intuitions. Prior to this I skied with stockish footbeds(I've always used hockey skate footbeds...they are thin like a stock ski boot bed, but way more rigid and supportive)...anywho my feet fucking hurt in the new setup...put in the old hockey footbeds(way thinner than the new ones, and presto...waaaay comfy.

[buckethead]

have a related question re: intuition power wrap, so will bump this old thread:

was about to pull the trigger on a pair of power wraps for my size 10.5 flexon shells - i just received these and don't have the stock liner.

had already popped in the packed-out and breaking-apart liners from my old boots, just to get a sense of the volume/feel of the boot.

snug but good fit...not too much grab at the heel, as that's where the liner had lost material.

so upon talking to intuition learned that i need to go either 10 or 11 as the liners don't come in half sizes (this is the first time i'm using anything but an original stock liner)...

as the fit is already snug, i'm assuming that i'm better off baking myself generous toebox in a size 10 than trying to stuff that much more material into the shell with the 11.

not having used these boots or an intuition liner before, is there something i'm not taking into account - or is my logic sound?

[HarbSki]

Cork footbeds are ridgid under the arch, so it is very possible that the boot is wide enough for your foot, but the footbed is just dumping your foot toward the outside of the shell. Stand with your barefoot in the shell with your foot centered, if your foot touches anywhere, than you might need a shop to blow out the shell, if you don't touch in the shell, the boot might be a little too wide to have an effective intuition fit.

[farmer]

^^Thanks for the tips. I'm sure that he'll consider that half a decade after it was asked.