Rear Heel Lift

[PSM]

How many out there are running some sort of heel lift in their rear boot? I'm skiing on a Wiley rear and Reflex front and am struggling with balance on the ski (and my offside) and don't know if the lift is hurting or helping me. I had an 3/16" shim back there and recently took it out to experiment.

 

Not sure what to do now -- thanks for the input. I did read the article posted on the site about this topic a while ago, which was helpful, now I'm just curious what people out there are doing.

[danbirch]

My understanding is that a rear heel lift will add pressure to your REAR foot in the water.  You might try adding a front foot lift to add pressure to your front foot.

[RichardDoane]

After breaking my ankles years ago, my rear foot ankle flex was kind of limited, so I used a tapered cedar shake to give about 1/2" of lift. Once the ankle recovered I didn't need it anymore.

[Thomas Wayne]

I'd be concerned that a front foot lift might tend to move the ski underneath (or even "behind") the skier in a way that would be counterproductive to efficient skiing.

 TW

 

[Horton]

3/16"? That is not much. Genreally I think we are all more balanced with two feet flat on the ground (ski). There are skiers that think a heel life Heel Lift gets them on thier toes. I think this is a mistake.

[eleeski]

I put 1/2' of heel lift under the rear boot only. This was to take care of ankle and arthritic issues and it seemed to help. Perhaps there was a slight performance gain.

I used to put a heel lift in my trick ski binding. The Reflex binding has a bit of heel lift by design. Flattening the trick boot out made only a minor difference in performance.

Personally, it is a minor issue - as long as the rear foot is not lower than the front. But I have loose ankles so I have to adjust my balance no matter what.

Eric

Horton - proofread your splling. Life should not be Heel.

[Horton]

Ok Eric. When you learn that your home made gear helps no one I will learn to spell

[ForrestGump]

I have a rear 3/8 heal lift. It puts my back knee at a bend angle that keeps it from becomming irritated.

[Horton]

your legs are so straight that you need help keeping a bend? Wow

[ForrestGump]

Nah, it's just that there is a point in the travel that hurts under load. that little bit of a heel lift keeps me out of that point.

[Horton]

how close ar e your bindings. Seems closer may also help

[Tuney]

When the RTP was moved closer to the front binding on my ski my rear heel issues were pretty much solved. I had a lot of trouble keeping my heel down and now both feet are pretty well always completely on the ski - it was a drastic improvement. So as Horton suggested check your binding placement and maybe see if you can get them a little closer together.

[Deanoski]

I run a reflex front animal rear   I use a 1mm hell lift 10mm long in my front boot it help my fore aft balance, try it !!

the reflex boot seam to be a litte heel low if you put a level in the shell the ball of the foot is higher a 1mm lift makes it level. 

 ski short

Deano

[Horton]

Just as long as it is not radical I think it is fine.

[RichardDoane]

I know someone who puts a folded piece of duct tape (10 layers) under their heel to counter act for the Reflex front boot's low heel position.  Anyone else do such a thing ?

[swerveit]

I have double reflex and “lifts†under both heals....(previously only had it under the rear) basically I lifted the release mech About 1cm it started of because I didn’t have much flex through my rear ankle so by lifting it, it allowed more flex. I saw a photo of me crossing the wakes, the back leg was bent but front was straight…. (Wasn’t a good look).

The movement came back in after a year and at the start of this season I came up with a theory and lifted the front heal up about the same… Theory being that when wearing snow ski bindings it forces me to bend my knee/ankle.. took a little time to get used to it now its fantastic! What works for me doesn’t work for the next guy..

[PSM]

Thanks for the replies and info.  The original reasons for the heel lift were (a) to encourage knee bend, (b) make my rear knee closer to my front, and © improve balance on the ski.  After seeing recent photos of my skiing I can tell my knee bend issue is resolved (sans heel lifts), and I'm not sure 3/16" really did much other for the other two items.

One thing I can point out from experience is that removing the lift did take a little tip out of the ski, for which I offset by adding 0.003" of length in the fin.

[eleeski]

I'm a bit confused. My Reflex plate has a Silveretta clip to hold the heel down. The hardware to attach the Silveretta clip lifts the heel by about 5mm (1/4"). Some hardware comes with a 2mm (1/8") plastic cover. Either way, that setup lifts the heel measurably.

The easiest way to tighten the release force (after the spring is tightened to the max) is to install a shim under the heel. I can't feel the difference when I do this. Small lifts don't make much difference.

What may be a bigger factor is the forward cant of the hardshells (or lack therof). A heel lift under the shell may help the cant angle. I put a foam pad behind my liner from the top of the heel to the boot top to give some more forward tilt to my leg. Perhaps the more upright stance is part of the difficulty in the transition from rubber boots to hardshells.

Eric

[Marco]

Your Reflexes must be older.  The newer ones eliminated the piece that spans between the hinges so the heel of the boot sits directly on the ski.    Remi said they made the change on the advice of AM.