Footbeds

[BigE]

I recently had a pair of footbeds made. They were made unweighted, using a Sidas bed and prosthetic material under it. The prosthetic material fills the entire arch back, and has some give to it. The boots feel "full". Tipping movements have no slop ( unless it is above 0 celsius and the liners loosen ).

Does this "full" feeling come with Harb Systems footbeds as well? Just trying to see if the fitter is on the right track.

Cheers!

[ChrisC]

It depends on your feet. My footbeds were much better when I removed the posting.

I had some Sidas footbeds made at a local ski shop with some posting that made them quite rigid, which I didn't need because my feet are already quite rigid. Skiing with them was terrible because I had no feel for the amount of tipping. My foot felt like a club.

I took them back to the shop and after much discussion they agreed that the posting wasn't necessary for me. The next question was how to grind off the posting, but fortunately the glue wasn't very strong and the posting just peeled off.

If I'd known the posting would peel off I would have done it myself and avoided wasting my time at the shop.

I had the footbeds checked at the Green/Blue camp in February and was told that my footbeds were fine without the posting.

[speedcontrol]

As far as I know the Harb System footbed doesn't have this extremely high arch that gives the " full " feeling of the boot.Also if you put it on an even surfice and press the arch with your thumb,the arch will slightly collapse.(softer flex) If this is the case with your footbed you might be on a right track.Anyway I don't believe anyone will give a detailed description of the Hrab System footbed over the Internet.You know why.

[geoffda]

I recently had a pair of footbeds made. They were made unweighted, using a Sidas bed and prosthetic material under it. The prosthetic material fills the entire arch back, and has some give to it. The boots feel "full". Tipping movements have no slop ( unless it is above 0 celsius and the liners loosen ).

Does this "full" feeling come with Harb Systems footbeds as well? Just trying to see if the fitter is on the right track.

Cheers!

Realistically, there is no way to answer this without being able to measure your feet and see your foot beds. Unweighted might be adequate if you have a normal foot, but for other foot types, or issues like fore-foot varus or valgus it probably wouldn't be the best choice. The purpose of a footbed for skiing is to support skiing movements. In order to create a footbed that will do that, the creator must first understand what movements they are specifically trying to enable. HSS footbeds are designed to provide optimal support for inversion and eversion of the feet and to ensure that these movements transfer optimal leverage to the side of the boot. They are designed to promote balance and enable the kinetic chain to work properly. The people that make them have a deep understanding of the biomechanics of the feet, ankles and legs (not to mention skiing) in order to make this happen.

If by "full feeling" you are talking about fit, well fit is fit. If need be, you can always add material underneath a footbed (such as a boot shim) to occupy space, but that has nothing to do with the quality of the footbed itself.

If you want to know about whether your footbed is "on the right track", ask the person that made it to explain what they expect their footbed to accomplish with respect to your skiing. Have them describe how your feet work for skiing without a footbed and then have them explain why their footbed makes things more optimal. Also, what measurements did they take and why? If they didn't look at your calcaneal angle, then I wouldn't consider your footbed to be "on the right track", though if you feet are normal it might be adequate. If they give you plausible answers, then ask them how you can verify that their footbed does what they say it does.

[Max_501]

Anyway I don't believe anyone will give a detailed description of the Hrab System footbed over the Internet.You know why.

Detailed descriptions are already on the forum.

[speedcontrol]

Sorry,I didn't do very careful search on the entire forum, but I remember when I called Cris in the shop 2 years ago,he said we could only discusse within an alignment session on the spot (which is perfectly understandable), that's why I wouldn't believe the OP can rely on any useful assistance from a distance. (a general guidance may be and everything's in book 1 of course)

[h.harb]

I think this topic has been covered until I am nauseous on this forum. I recently posted that you can't evaluate it yourself, unless you have extensive training and can measure your own feet and relate it to your skiing movements, why do I have to continue to make this point? How many here are qualified to do that?