Why we chose the Roxa R3 130 Ti: Lightweight, powerful, innovative
Flex: 130
Last: 99 – 101
Cuff Range: 52°
Forward Lean: 16°
Binding Compatibility: GripWalk & tech bindings
Weight (per boot): 1,520g
Price: £530
MORE INFO
It’s fair to say that Italian-based Roxa ski boots have risen in popularity in recent years. With skiers like Glen Plake, Aurélien Ducroz and Matthias Giraud on their books, the company has a few legendary freeriders buckling into their boots. Much of their popularity is down to their knowledge and experience in creating a solid three piece cabrio boot. Take this beauty for example, it’s called the R3 130 Ti and it’s brilliant.
Build
Just to make things clear for those who might not be aware, a three piece design features, you guessed it, three sections of shell pieces that work together to produce the stiffness and support you require when arcing turns.
They’re different to a more traditional two piece boot as much of the stiffness from the boot comes from the tongue unit (whereas it comes from the wraparound cuff on a two piece). This gives three piece boots a unique flex pattern. If you’ve ever heard riders bigging up the flex of their Full Tilt kicks then you’ll understand that this all comes from the progressive three piece design Full Tilt make use of.
This Grilamid shell features a pretty innovative two piece hinged tongue design. This means the tongue can easily hinge backwards to provide an improved stride (up to 52 degrees). When you’re snapped back into ski mode, this design means that the tongue can maintain contact with your leg right across the tongue; providing excellent shock absorption (on top of the already great shock absorption a three piece boot offers).