In the next couple of days, La Sportiva will unveil their new skimo race product line to the World – Syborg skis and Syborg boots – that should be available in store by the fall of 2014.
Following a similar strategy like Dynafit and Scarpa, the La Sportiva Syborg skis and boots will be affordable versions of their top skimo race line, the RSR skis and the Stratos Cube boots.
Syborg skimo boot specs and price
According to La Sportiva: “The Syborg boot draws on the innovation and technology of La Sportiva’s award-winning Stratos series to create an everyday training boot for serious racers or a race day boot for amateurs.”
- Cuff material: Carbon Reinforced Polymer (Grilamid®/Carbon)
- Shell: Grilamid®
- Sole: LazerGrip2™
- Sizes availability: 23.5 – 30 (including half sizes)
- Range of Motion: 75° (35° back/40° front)
- Forward Lean: 4 positions (14°, 16°, 18°, 20°)
- Inner Boot: EZ Thermo Race™
- Buckle Closures: 2 + Power Strap (optional)
- Last Width: 100.4 mm
Syborg skis specs and price
Just like with the new boots, the Syborg skis are designed to directly compete with the Dynafit’s PDG line – their suggested retail price should be set at $699 once they hit the stores.
The Syborg ski features Light Karuba Paulownia Wood core and the focus is on strength and durability, with additional laminate layers, a thicker more durable top sheet material and longer lasting 1.8 mm steel edges.
Dimensions-wise these skis are a copy of La Sportiva’s top model, the RSR, but weighing 100 grams more:
- 160 cm version (97-65-77) will weigh around 800 grams
- 153 cm version (same side cut) will be around 780 grams
More specs:
- Construction Type: CF TORSION BOX – 100% Camber
- Top Sheet: 0.3 mm Double Polyamide (ISO ICP8210)
- Core: Vertical Laminated Light Karuba Paulownia Wood
- Laminate Layer 1: Carbon Fiber/Glass Twill
- Reinforcement Plates: Glass Fiber – under binding mounting points
- Base Material: Prewaxed P-Tex 5000
- Edge Material: 1.8 mm steel + rubber laminate
- Features: Notch in tip for race skin attachment, flat tail
To see how these two new products will compare against all other light skis and boots visit these pages:
- lightest ski mountaineering boots – http://www.skintrack.com/boots-comparison/
- lightest skis – http://www.skintrack.com/skis-comparison/
Stano Faban says
Alastair, sorry to hear about your injury.
You are raising a good point – straps/buckles to keep our feet inside the race boot should be able to distribute force to larger area of the foot than just a thin strip across our ankles. While personally, I have not experienced anything as sever as you I can definitely understand how it could happen.
My new PG Black boots have a rubber velcro strap and the quick laces to keep the liner (foot) inside the shell – this seems to much better force distribution.
Also, I think that thicker liners (at least the part over the top of the foot) could help to prevent such injury.
Alastair Olby says
Yeah, my zips gave in too. I skied with duck tape keeping the snow out for the rest of the season. Both the lower straps also snapped off (I barely even tighten them and for me they ski fine without them). La Sportiva kindly repaired the boots in the summer. The cuff now has a fair bit of lateral play in it but they’ve done over 200,000m vertical. What’s amazing is how well the soles have stood up to wear and tear.
Normal crampons get in the way of the walk/ski mechanism so if you’re going to use crampons with Syborgs, get ones where the lever is at the toe rather than heel.
I have found one important limitation to the Syborg’s design (and indeed probably other ‘soft top one lower buckle’ boots): skiing in some crappy semi breakable crust I got slung in the back seat all of a sudden. The effort I had to make to recentralise over the skis put so much pressure on my foot where the buckle is, it tore tendons and ligaments in the mid-foot (Lisfranc and Chopart joints badly sprained). I didn’t realise it at the time but when I took the boot off, oh boy, it was off to hospital. 6 – 8 weeks recovery forecast, am now at 3 and it doesn’t seem any better. It’s pure conjecture. but I’m not sure this would have happened in a boa style boot, or heavier TLT6 style boot where the load is spread more evenly. Keep in mind there are trade-offs with this style of boot, excellent though it undoubtedly is.
Stano Faban says
Translation of Bernd’s comment in German according to Google:
“I find the syborg a genius shoe only the zipper is now the 2nd defect, is simply too weak now I must probably wait ½ year for the repair, which I do not like”
>> Thank you Bernd for stopping on our site and sharing your experience with the Syborg boot. Even the best boots/gear have their weak parts 😉
Bernd says
ich finde den syborg einen genialen Schuh nur der Reißverschluss ist nun schon das 2te mal Defekt, ist einfach zu schwach nun muß ich wohl ½jahr auf die Reparatur warten, was ich nicht gut finde,
Stano Faban says
@Alastair Olby:
Thank you for sharing your experience with Syborg and comparison to Alien 1.0. I only played with Syborgs in my hands but they felt really good to me. I will seek them out for a demo when I get a chance.
Alastair Olby says
I’ve been on the Syborgs for a couple of weeks now, and am really impressed. I’m comparing them with Alien 1.0s which I’ve been using for 3 and a half years (toe inserts now worn through to the plastic after very heavy use). In walk mode the range of movement is superb, as expected, but the biggest surprise I got was how well they ski on the down. Lateral stiffness is excellent, and they quickly lure me into railing turns, with a real feeling of precision with edge control. Great fun.
The fit is slipper-like for my moderately wide feet apart from slight tight spots over the instep after a couple of hours in them, due to the form of the inners. This may well bed in with a bit of time, but is no big deal. I was concerned I might miss the boa system, but find I don’t need to tighten the lower buckle over the instep at all, the fit is so snug. Heel hold is fantastic, much better than the Aliens, but that may be because the Alien 1.0 only comes in ‘whole’ sizes: I take a 27.5 Syborgs, but have to go for a 28 in the Alien.
The soles have very good grip, but will probably wear faster than the Aliens in the black rubber areas. I’m not too worried about this though as the tread depth is about double that of the Alien.
Highly recommended: if it fits you the Syborg is an excellent training or first race boot.
Stano Faban says
Hello Jordi,
Can’t give you an exact answer because I have not skied those 3 boots personally but from talking to various people that have skied them, and with having a close look at them myself, I believe there is no clear choice. All these 3 boots are in the same price range and built to the same quality.
The PDG probably is the most narrow of the 3, so if you a have wide foot then go for Syborg or Alien. Also, if you climb or walk a lot on rock in ski boots then the PDG sole is not as strong as Alien (don’t know about Syborg). Otherwise, they all should ski and walk very similarly.
Cuff locking mechanism is quite different on all 3 and so a personal preference is key. I would have no problem using either as I think they are all good.
Hope this helps more than confuses 🙂
Stano
Jordi says
Good morning! And between the Dyna PDG, the Syborg and the Alien….? Which one would you choose? Pros and cons??
Many thanks 🙂
brian harder says
Sorry, I meant “early rise” not rocker.
brian harder says
I was just looking at the tech fittings of the Syborg. Looks like they’ve avoided the true Dynafit versions in favor of their own. I had a pair of Spitfires last year but they ate one of my ankles so I sold them. The fittings were a little “stickier” than the Dynafit ones. Also, sole rocker, which looks similar here, made crampon fitting problematic. The cuff locking mechanism remains pretty slick, though. It’ll be interesting to see how they stack up. Nice price point. Wish they’d add some rocker to the skis like Hagan, Trab and Atomic.
brian harder says
Wow, Stano. I’m surprised to hear you think the bellows will be back. Can’t imagine it. Obviously, we all raced in F1’s for years. But when I made the transition to the TLT 5 and then the EVO, I never missed a thing. I would predict that the manufacturers will avoid this feature. IMO, it’s just too much design fiddling for little benefit. We can mark each others’ words and report back in a year or two.
jbo says
I skied the Syborg ski today, thought it handled well. Stiffer in the tail than the RSR. The Spitfire/Sideral is currently the way to go for long feet, they run up to 31.5.
Stano Faban says
Adam, this has been a long time issue for more than few. The only way I see to solve this is to use the lightest non-race specific boot and put in really light liner. I was going to suggest TLT 6 Performance for that but seems like it only comes in as 30,5 max. But you should be able to get it punched by half a size easily. Another solution might be asking Pierre Gignoux to build you a custom size, which he might be able (willing) to do more than the big companies. Wish you good luck with this.
Adam says
is there any chance that someone will release bigger sizes any time soon???, not much just 31-32, I’m a decent and fit racer but have to use old 1.45 kg scarpa boots as all carbon ones are up to 29-30 sizes max, please don’t tell me that I have to shorten my toes 🙂
Stano says
“fit, performance and durability” – you nailed it Tony!
A bit off topic:
I still think that eventually someone will go back to the Scarpa F1 style boots and perhaps they will come up with a vertical race specific boot. To me, a soft below is much better for skinning than a stiff sole, much more natural. And I do have an idea how it could be done while keeping the weight down too 😉
Tony says
Well there they are. I’m really glad to see the additional competition out there. I hope these prove to have the right balance of fit, performance, and durability a lot of us are looking for.