hhaah. its insaine how uneducated kids are these days.
the forward flex of a boot controls how much pressure you can drive the ski with. AKA, softer boots are gonna not ski as well, but have more suspension for landing jumps, skiing switch, etc etc. the forward lean also drasticly affects this. the SPK has a very upright stance, which is great for park riding, but not so hot for all mountain stuff. also, the idea of paddin the shit outta a boot is stupid. the more padding you put into a boot, the less responsive it is. in freeskiing, this actually matters. with a low volume boot like a salomon falcon, dalbello krypton, or technica diablo, your input into the boot directly transfers into the ski. its very noticable with setting spins, switch ups, butters, and just carving in general. the only place its Crucial to have alot of padding, is in the footbed, and a decent amount in the tongue.
the other thing to note, is boots can be customized. it will void your warrenty, but pretty much any boot can be made as stiff or soft as you want, with as much forward lean as you want. if you cant figure it out, find someone who can. some boots have the ability to adjust all this stuff without cutting or grinding anything. the Krypton series is designed with no rivits, and is totally rebuildable. another one of my favorites is the OLD line transfer boot, which had an awesome mechanism on the back which not only allowed you to set forward lean, but also flex, on the fly. i very well may try and mount that system on my kryptons, cause it was SO sick.
anyway, go for fit. do not buy into the latest fad cause Newschoolers said its cool. if you find a boot that fits, but the flex is too stiff or it doesnt have enough forward lean, dont worry. it can all be fixed later on.
