Review: Intuition Tour Boot Liner
What we liked
Warmth and comfort
Heat mouldable
Options for padding thickness and tongue-type
What we didn’t
Possible need to change internal footbed
The Verdict
THE SHORT READ…
Intuition have been making excellent liners season after season, the Pro Tour and the Dreamliner have been a staple of the touring market for years. But now Intuition have streamlined their offerings, having made one near-perfect tour-specific liner called (wait for it……) ‘The Tour’.
Once heat molded, the Tour will see you through many a season, and will fit as snug as a bug in a rug.
THE LONG READ …
It’s a little hard to write a lot about the Tour, as they simply do exactly what they’re supposed to. They mold to your feet, especially when fitted professionally, they keep your feet warm, and they will fit snuggly around your foot - allowing you to skin uphill without chafing, and ride down without giving your feet a second thought.
I use the excellent Key Equipment Disruptive but last season I had problems with sizing, cold feet, and blisters, when using the standard liners supplied (which are fine for some, but just didn’t work for me),
I have to take some responsibility for this though, as I bought the boots online and went for a size too big. So after the wonderful Tal, at Key Equipment, sent me a smaller pair of ex-demo boots, without liners, I thought it was time for a liner upgrade.
I measured the gap behind my heel in the hard boot - without a liner - and Intuition advised I go for a mid-volume Tour - the 12mm.
The liners slipped straight into my boots, without too much effort, but when I put my feet into the boot it hurt like hell everywhere. There was no way I was going to simply going to wear them in, so it was off to the boot-fitters for me.
The first thing we did was change the footbed, the supplied one isn’t up to much, it’s flat and without much support, so it’s well worth investing in an orthopedic footbed.
The Key Equipment is a narrow boot, and I have quite a wide 6th toe (the area on the outside of each foot below the little toe), so we started with heating the liners only, which worked perfectly on my left foot, but the right was still a little squished. So after a day on the hill, we padded out the side of my right foot, reheated the Tour and outer boot. Once on, the dude at the boot fitters heat-gunned the side of the boot, allowing it to stretch a little. I kept the boots on for a good 30 mins, walking around the shop with the buckles fully done up, the result was an excellent fit.
I’m just back from a week of touring in the far east of Turkey, very close to the Iranian border, and my feet never got cold, I had no chafing at all, the boot and liner combo worked perfectly in tricky conditions as I had to use boot crampons many times, and ski crampons a lot too, and the liners stood up to it all.
The tour comes in both “tongue” and “wrap” options, with both available in, 9mm -12mm and 15mm densities. I went for the “tongue” as I like the snugness the pull lace system gives around the shin.
They weigh 424g each and boast a non-slip outsole, perfect if using as slippers in a hut, a rear flex zone which helps when skinning up, 3mm stiff cuff and tongue reinforcement which is nice on the way down, and webbing loops making it very easy to pull your boots on, even in a cold van.
SUMMARY…
It’s taken me two seasons to nail down my hardboots, and the Intuition Tour have certainly played a massive part in getting my fit just right, finally. I’ve not tried them in a soft boot but I can’t see why they wouldn’t work in that set up too. If your set-up isn’t 100% and/or you get cold feet, I suggest you look no further than the the Intuition Tour, as I’m one hell of a happy customer.