Just got an email with this cell-phone photo from deep inside the Head factory raceroom in Kennelbach, Austria. New carbonified boots from Head coming down the line? (Hard to tell from the grainy photo, but in the smaller original version of the picture, yes, that black stuff looks like carbon fiber)
We haven't seen anyone using them yet, but maybe sales of white Krylon have ticked up lately without us noticing. The anonymous emailer notes rumors that Head is working with Dodge Boots, and then points out that there were two pairs of Dodge boots on the shelf right alongside these prototypes.
Hard to tell exactly what role the carbon pieces play here, although it looks to be just some inserts in the original plastic mold and not, as we had hoped, a carbon skeleton with a truth window. Some people have noticed that the Dodge Boots might be a little too responsive, so perhaps this could be a way to balance out the flab of a plastic boot with the snap of a full carbon setup? Or maybe Head is just about to take a trip to gimmick town? Wouldn't be their first time, but we're hoping for better.
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whoa, the dodge boot revolution has reached the august shores of austria? Yow! That's a vote of confidence for good old fashioned yankee ingenuity!
ReplyDeleteI can tell you unequivocally that DODGE Ski Boots are NOT working with Head (or any other ski boot manufacturer) on ANY project. We have offered to HEAD (and others) to make boots for them and/or license to them our technology, but we have absolutely no relationship with them.
ReplyDeleteAs far as DODGE Boots being TOO responsive, we have certainly addressed this area and you will find our current boot being used by Warner Nickerson(and a few un-named others) has done a very good job of solving this objection.
We have a pretty good idea of what HEAD is doing with their attempts at integrating pieces of carbon fiber into a traditonally-constructed TPU boot and applaud them for their efforts. But we also know that surrounding a stiff material like carbon fiber with a soft, rubbery material like TPU can only make the boot as good as its weakest link, (ie the rubbery TPU.)
On the other hand, we also are aware of another company's efforts to use "carbon" in their boot by, what we believe to be a small amount of ground up carbon fiber mixed into the rubbery TPU normally injected into a traditional mold. Their graphics are quite good, making it look like the boot is made of carbon fiber, when it appears the reality is something quite different. (Oh, by the way, did you know if you ground up charcoal briquets and mixed it into TPU you could say you had a carbon boot? Check out the TV program "Rocket City Rednecks" to learn more.)
Thanks for covering these things.
Great comment, Bill. Thanks for the response!
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