This commentary is a repost of last season’s report, the associated FIND buttons connect to 2017 starting inventory.
Oh, the difference a couple of silly millimeters make. Several seasons back, Lange increased the instep height on their classic race boot and instantly earned thousands of new adherents who wouldn’t have worn a blue Lange race boot on a bet. The new green machine, the RX 130, took another clever tack, purloining a page from the women’s dress market. Men who didn’t really belong in a race boot could rock the RX 130, boosting their ability and their self-esteem in one blow.
Befitting its runaway popularity, the RX 130 heads a large family of spin-offs. The flagship model is available in both the standard, medium 100mm last and a low-volume (LV) 97mm alternative. The same range of choices is found in the softer-flexing RX 100. While the RX 130 doesn’t deliver the undiluted precision of its RS brother, it’s still a single-piece, polyether lower shell and a PU cuff assembled with exactly the same stance angles that has made the RS the most imitated design in skiing.
For 2016 the RX family received a new liner incorporating a Custom Tongue that’s hollowed out over the instep to create a protective dome over the bones and blood paths of the mid-foot. The new RX’s are so comfortable right out of the box you won’t believe you’re in a Lange.