I know this is a bit on the side, but does anyone know of any testing/measuring of boot flex having been done? Is there an industry standard? How does the flex rating of different brands compare?
A setup similar to Endres for testing ski flex should be easy enough to build.
Clamp down the boot. (Using a binding mounted to a fixed object might do the trick)
Insert rod/hinged arm of a fixed length into boot. (1 meter might be ideal)
Using a weight or motor and a Newtonmeter, measure deflection of boot in Nm/mm or Nm/degree of deflection.
Load the boot gradually until it becomes significantly harder to flex it (Stiffness increasing rapidly/boot approaching critical failure)
Repeat for sideways flex.
Compare.
The challenge goes out to the resident engineers.
Ski boot flex testing
Moderators: Head Monkey, kelvin, bigKam, skidesmond, chrismp
Found something here: http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CombinedQuery ... g=ski+boot
They all seem to relate to ski/binding/boot however, rather than just boot flex. My guess would be that they are related to DIN-standards for bindings and requirements on release characteristics rather than related to boot flex.
Seems there is no universally agreed standard anyway, as some manufacturers use different values than others. (e.g. Dalbello)
They all seem to relate to ski/binding/boot however, rather than just boot flex. My guess would be that they are related to DIN-standards for bindings and requirements on release characteristics rather than related to boot flex.
Seems there is no universally agreed standard anyway, as some manufacturers use different values than others. (e.g. Dalbello)