A really nice member of the Dodge Ski Boots “family” called today concerned about some work done on his boots. Seems he’d previously done some sole canting and then decided to do even more.
For the original sole canting, the shop removed the Dodge sole plates, added canting plates, re-installed the Dodge sole plates and then routered the toe and heel lugs for proper binding compatibility. Okay so far.
The result of an “unknowledgeable” shop worker trying to sole cant a boot. Dangerous. And it destroyed the boot.
But, when the customer wanted to do more canting, the shop really messed things up. Whoever worked on the boots ran the boots through a sole planer without removing the sole plates! He ground down the sole plates and the screws holding them onto the boot! (I’d hate to see the blade on the sole planer after cutting through the metal screws.)
Then to make matters worse, the worker screwed on lifter plates to “compensate” for removing the material he’d planed off. But those plates don’t fit properly and are bowed. Bad news there as the surface will not permit proper binding function. Plus, the lifter added to the heel is short and won’t permit the binding brake to function properly.
Bad enough? Wait, there’s more!
The worker then routered the toe and heel lugs and, in doing so, removed so much material that the boot toe lugs are waaaay too thin. It’s a good bet they’ll break off with the first backward lean.
The shop worker added a lifter that doesn’t allow the ski brake to properly operate. And routered the heel lug below a safe thickness.
Conclusion? The worker in the shop not only destroyed a pair of boots, but he created a very dangerous situation for the skier. To me, that’s an idiot!
What do you do if you want to do alignment on a DODGE Ski Boot?
In the above case, all that was needed was a simple bushing change on the cuff. A 2 minute process with no work needed on the soles.
With “rubber” boots, the cuff moves to conform to your leg so, in most situations and in general, moving the cuff alone has little benefit to lateral alignment. Thus the need to grind the soles.
With a DODGE Boot though, even a slight re-alignment of the cuff will have a very significant and noticeable effect, Even a 0.5 degree change in the cuff is noticeable by even the most inexperienced beginner. For this reason, we have found it unnecessary to grind the soles as we can do proper alignment with the cuff alone.
If you are a Dodge Boot customer, we want you to have the best possible experience skiing on Dodge Boots. So, we’ll take care of your alignment for the life of the boot. No charge! And no worries about who’s working on your boots.