Allen T

I hated these at first. I have a low volume ankle/heel and they were border line unskiable the first day, even cranked all the way down. Then I added an instep buckle (from a Hoji), and now I love them, best light boot I have ever skied, they are just so supportive and skiable. FYI in addition to adding the instep, I also drilled out the lower rivet on the lower buckle. I swung it forward and riveted it there. That moved it out of the way of the instep buckle and also made it a little tighter. Anyways, ...

Really like them the pockets are even thoughtfully designed to work well while wearing a harness. My only knock is that the pockets are too wide and phone/beacon are always ending up sideways. Seconding the guy who said size down. Small fits me perfectly, I'm basically a medium in everything else. Great pants in a nice light color, props to skimo for stocking them in normal sizes in the spring.

Just a quick update. I searched through McMaster-Carr for something better and this is what I found. Part #'s 98002A910 and 98002A709. They are basically a beefier stainless version of the Chicago rivet. The heads are a little too rounded to work right out of the box so I ground them down (Photo: original left, modified center, Chicago right). The barrel is a little wider than the Chicago rivet, but it's a perfect fit for a Dynafit buckle. I think these are going to be significantly more robust and with the...

Sorry guys, the Chicago rivets just aren't strong enough for boot buckles. I just started using them (like 2 weeks ago) and have already broken three (on two different pairs of boots). Two from buckle tension alone and a third when I bumped a rock with the buckle. They are fine for power straps, but I think that's about it. If there is a beefier version that could work, I was so hopeful for these, but alas they just don't cut it in their current form.

Sounds like the hole pattern is the same as the non-brake version, are the pins in the same place as well? Just seeing if a direct swap with the brakeless version would work. Thanks!