Bootfitter's Notes: 2015 Lange RS 140 Ski Boot Review
For three years the Lange RS 140 has been firmly at the top of the heap. Sporting great fit and function the Lange RS 140 has routinely received top marks from boot testers as a great skiing boot with a great fit as well.
What is it about the RS 140 that makes it so good? Good stance and balance? Great fit? Good responsive plastic? Yes, yes, yes, and definitely yes. Lange obviously hasn’t wanted to mess up a good thing, and thank goodness for that. The RS 140 rolled out three years ago and nothing on the shell has changed, save the graphic. For 2015 Lange has given the boot an all new race liner to give the RS 140 even more control and precision. The lace-up race liner is truly high quality and is the main fit difference between the RS 130 and the RS 140 reviewed here.
The performance characteristics of the RS 140 are off the charts. The turn is lightning quick and smooth; the plastic is dynamic, it responds and moves with the leg courteously and concisely. It was a top pick of the boot test for me. I love to go fast and the RS 140 is no slouch in that department, although many times with stiff “expert boots” (and skis for that matter) they don’t like to make a slow speed turn, not true with the RS 140, it can make a turn and flexes well at all speed and radius, making it a jack of all trades, not just a speed junkie.
Make not mistake the RS 140 is not for the faint of heart. If you want this boot we expect you to be a good skier looking for a snug fit. A boot of this caliber will have a break in period that will not be comfortable. After a few days the boot should feel okay and if it does not you will probably need some additional boot fitting from a professional trained boot fitter.
To be sure many will shy away from the RS 140, because of the number rating corresponding to the flex. Lange boots tend to be a bit softer in their ratings than say Nordica or Tecnica, if you can ski a 130 in those brands odds are you’ll be fine in the RS 140
Another caveat to mention is if you are in the market for this boot you do have possibly a tough choice ahead: Lange also makes the RX 130 L.V. (Low Volume) which come out of the exact same mold. It has a little more comfortable liner but features vibram rubber soles unlike the RS reviewed here which have solid polyurethane soles. Questions to ask oneself are: how much am I hiking, how important are on-piste turns to me? If hiking for the fresh stuff is important to you you’d probably want to go with the RX 130 L.V., if you are a stickler for making a great on piste turn or strive to emulate the guys and gals on the World Cup pick up an RS.
To emphasize, it’s hard to exaggerate how good the RS 140 is. Lange absolutely crushed it out of the ball park with practically all their boots. We at the Start Haus were in a round-table discussion with the folks who run Lange Europe and they were asking a group of American boot fitters what we think Lange should be striving for in the future and the answer I think speaks for itself. “Whatever you do, don’t louse this thing up and tweak them too much, the boots are too good.”