realskiers

Well one thing is for sure, Race Boots for WC racers is a losing proposition. They give away the boots for free, they spend a hige amount of time and money redesigning the boots for the racers and I really don't know how profitable their race boot sales are for the big name companies. Unless someone can take the dodge design and mass produce it and sell it to non WC racers it is not an interesting proposition (of course everyone that even casually races will want them if they are substantially improving times which appears to be the case). Having said that, I think ultimatley carbon fiber is the wave of the future for some level of the boot market, but that is definitely years away.

I have to agree with Phil on K2. I think this is the last place that would look to play. They are increasingly a pure recreational ski company. They want to be affiliated with the next generation skier and boarder. They left the WC several years ago, and I doubt they are ever coming back. WC skiers have lost their appeal with the young skier today. It's all about hucking and doing flips today, not about using your edges.

I know little about rear entry boots, but I think you are right about one thing Jim, that CF may produce some form of recrational boot that is lighter and better for the masses. I guess cost is the real question here. They obviously can make cheap plastic boots that sell for $550 with great margin in it for the boot co's. It's unclear if you ever get there with CF. But no one would have bet that CF would dominate the road bike market so fast. And there are now qaulity frames in the $1000 range. This has taken around 15 years since the intro of the first CF frames. I know very few recerational cyclist that when looking at new bikes are not buying CF.
My buddy Thor emailed Jim Schaffner about the Dodge boot. Jim invited Thor to come up and demo them. As soon as there is snow we will have another opinion on these.