The Zay 125 got a lot of attention for how it looked and how it closed—which are by the boot's nature inextricably tied together. It has no lower buckles, but rather a thin cable which encircles the lower boot along two grooves at typical buckle positions. These loops are routed beneath the boot, along the sole and out the back to a single, multi-hinged buckle that tensions them.
The brand new Zay boot also got a fair amount of attention for how tricky the boot was for many testers to get on—the early generation liner tended to crumple down into the throat of the boot, blocking entry, and the cables at times failed to release enough tension to allow an easy slide in. Once on and properly adjusted for tightness using the barrel-nut cable adjusters on the rear buckle, two traditional upper buckles and a snowboard-style ratcheting powerstrap, testers were reminded that this is a serious fit in a serious category.
The rearfoot (heel, ankles, instep and mid-body of the lower) is tight! As tight as anything in the category, testers said, with a particularly snug fit on the navicular and styloid process area. And then the fit opens up to the forefoot and very roomy toebox. The upper boot was snug in a manner characteristic of other performance 98 mm boots. Testers had some hot spots—mostly attributed to the prototype liner—especially at the inside ankle bone.
But damn did the boot ski well, the test team said--as strong as the best performers in this hard-carving group. Agility and precision marks were well above standard too.
Kudos
Caveats