Rarely is a blockbuster sequel as good as the original (see Jurassic World). But that is definitely not the case with the all-new Mach1 130 LV (see The Godfather: Part II, Toy Story 2). The Low Volume fraternal twin to year-older Mach1 130 MV (medium volume) thrashed his older brother a bit in a friendly match, and then crushed the competition, tying for highest score in the category with one other boot out of a field of over 30 models. Nice encore, Tecnica.
The only problem we had with the LV was right out of The Parent Trap script. From the outside it looks exactly like its slightly chunkier bro—same hue, same buckles, same cool hook-and-cam powerstrap. Did Tecnica run out of colors? The only difference is the M and L designations.
And what do you get for the L of it? The LV means business. It fits snug like a 98mm lasted boot should. This means that while the liner and shell design mirrors the curves of the average foot (with a touch of extra space in the squared off toebox, 6th toe area and ankle bones) the LV is tight enough that you feel your bony bits protest a little bit. Good! That's how a narrow-class boot should feel, dammit!
The good news is you can make any discomfort easily disappear. The punchable, grindable Custom Adaptive Shape (CAS) liner and punch-prepped dimple-zones of the shell are uniquely designed to adapt to common fit issues with traditional bootfitting tools. The shell looks a little like Seal's face but those pock-marks serve a purpose beyond fulfilling a Heidi Klum fantasy. The dimples make stretches more defined and permanent. The exterior of the liner is also built to be heat stretched and ground. Many of our testers are professional bootfitters and they were unanimously impressed by the ability to make space specifically where needed while leaving the rest of the fit alone.
All that fit technology means little if a 130 flex narrow can't buy a turn—but we can attest that it skis as well or better than any other boot we tested. One tester said it skied like a grizzly eating a wolf—we suppose that says it all. But another mentioned it was a perfect balance of power and flex. And one just said it made skiing fun--and then he stole it. No, really, he did and we're still trying to get it back.
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