Atomic Hawx Ultra XTD BOA strap replacement

[CautiouSkier]

Hi everyone, hope you guys are doing great!

I'm looking to replace my old Hawx ultra 110s with the new Hawx Xtd 110 BOA as I plan to get into a bit of touring. I went to the shop to try them out along with the 130 Xtd BOA but found the 130 was to stiff for me to flex properly, but the 110s just lacks a bit of flex. From what I know, the ultra 120 Xtd BOA will only be coming out in september/october so I'm thinking maybe to go with the 110s, the bootfitter also told me the stiffness of the 110s shell and the 120s is pretty similar and I could get an booster strap to add a bit stiffness. And earlier today as I was browsing for the replacement strap, the Hawx professional dual strap came across as an alternate, so I'm wondering if the professional dual strap will be compatible with the boot and if I order them, should I go with the 23/24 model or 24/25 model. From what I read in Matt's (@onenerdykid) comments, the next year's version has two holes in them which seems to be more compatible with the boots since the original strap has two holes in them. This is probably a dumb question but I haven't found any tutorials for the installation of this particular strap...

Thanks in advance!

 

[onenerdykid]

Booster straps don't make boots stiffer - they actually make the boot slightly softer, but increase the responsiveness in the cuff by tightening the liner tongue to the shin more effectively.

Static (non-elastic) straps make the boot slightly stiffer, but they never turn the wrong flex into the right flex.

Our Professional Straps do a bit of both depending on how you set them up - they can be soft & elastic or firm & responsive. You can put a Professional Dual Strap on the boot, but it tends to hang down over the top buckle. For 24/25, we have a new Professional strap made specifically for Hawx & Hawx XTD boots and you'll see them on 24/25 Hawx Ultra 130 RS and Prime 130 RS boots. They will be available aftermarket, but I can imagine they will be hard to find...

Just remember that no strap will turn a boot that is too soft into a boot that is the right flex. You might be best off waiting for the Ultra XTD 120 BOA arriving in autumn...

 

[Tony Storaro]

Booster straps don't make boots stiffer - they actually make the boot slightly softer, but increase the responsiveness in the cuff by tightening the liner tongue to the shin more effectively.

More effectively? You need to try Atomic Dual Professional straps mate, you might be surprised.

 

[onenerdykid]

More effectively? You need to try Atomic Dual Professional straps mate, you might be surprised.

I said Booster straps, not Atomic Professional Dual Strap

 

[Tony Storaro]

I said Booster straps, not Atomic Professional Dual Strap

Seriously-isn’t there an option to soften the Ultra XTD as we have in CS or the construction doesn’t allow?

 

[CautiouSkier]

Booster straps don't make boots stiffer - they actually make the boot slightly softer, but increase the responsiveness in the cuff by tightening the liner tongue to the shin more effectively.

Static (non-elastic) straps make the boot slightly stiffer, but they never turn the wrong flex into the right flex.

Our Professional Straps do a bit of both depending on how you set them up - they can be soft & elastic or firm & responsive. You can put a Professional Dual Strap on the boot, but it tends to hang down over the top buckle. For 24/25, we have a new Professional strap made specifically for Hawx & Hawx XTD boots and you'll see them on 24/25 Hawx Ultra 130 RS and Prime 130 RS boots. They will be available aftermarket, but I can imagine they will be hard to find...

Just remember that no strap will turn a boot that is too soft into a boot that is the right flex. You might be best off waiting for the Ultra XTD 120 BOA arriving in autumn...

Thank you for this very thorough explanation! I think I will go back to the shop to try them out and try to play with the upper cuff buckles and see if that helps. I honesty feel that the 110s will be alright, considering if I take the 120s I'm afraid that I wouldn't be able to flex properly and can't really soften them like some hawx ultras. Plus I can get a really great deal on these as we're at the end of the season. As for the dual strap, I may not fully understand the difference between the 23/24 version and 24/25 version, are you saying that the 23/24 tends to hang over the top buckle and the 24/25 won't?

Thanks in advance

 

[onenerdykid]

Seriously-isn’t there an option to soften the Ultra XTD as we have in CS or the construction doesn’t allow?

You want to minimize cutting any thin ski boot. They just aren't built for it. It's 500g lighter than a CS, that comes with its own list of pros and cons.

 

[onenerdykid]

Thank you for this very thorough explanation! I think I will go back to the shop to try them out and try to play with the upper cuff buckles and see if that helps. I honesty feel that the 110s will be alright, considering if I take the 120s I'm afraid that I wouldn't be able to flex properly and can't really soften them like some hawx ultras. Plus I can get a really great deal on these as we're at the end of the season. As for the dual strap, I may not fully understand the difference between the 23/24 version and 24/25 version, are you saying that the 23/24 tends to hang over the top buckle and the 24/25 won't?

Thanks in advance

You can't really soften Hawx Ultras that much either. Hawx Ultra and Hawx Ultra XTD are the same thickness, which is not that thick. Boot fitters can't treat non-race boots like race boots, so the flex you buy is pretty much the flex you get.

Professional Dual Straps are 55mm tall and it will hang down over the top buckle. The strap will "work" but people complain about it coming down over the top buckle. Dual straps are split so the top half sits on the liner tongue and the bottom half sits on the cuff.

The new 45mm Professional Dual strap is 10mm less tall and fits on Hawx boots more correctly. It's not a "Dual" strap - it's more like a traditional Booster strap or any other strap on the market in so far as it will sit either on the cuff or on the liner tongue (IMO directly on the cuff is better). The benefit of this over a Booster strap is that still it has the ability to fine tune how much suspension vs. responsiveness is in the strap by adjusting how tight/loose the outer Velcro strap is done up.