so you really notice the difference in stiffness then? i always thought the two forefoot buckles on the maestrale were completely redundant due to the cuff design, and I don't notice that much change in responsiveness with powerstrap tension, so i thought the rush might ski quite similarly. must be due to differences in plastic material or thickness I guess?

Hi Exile and welcome to the forums. It's not a massive difference in stiffness but it is something we noticed. I can crank the two maestrale forefoot buckles down and, when I do the same on the Rush, it doesn't feel as tight. I woulkdn't say the forefront buckles are redundant, no. I say the Rush def. skis similarly to the Maestrale but the combo of slightly less "robust" instep buckle and power strap make for a less stiff boot. I didn't notice any difference in thickness of the plastic but I looked around the 'net a little and discovered that this too might be a factor.

Andrew/Admin02

That's interesting, thanks Andrew. I didn't get a change to try these before I bought Maestrales, so I'm glad to gear they are noticeably less beefy because it means I made the right choice! Though I'm actually thinking about modding my maestrales to just have one of the lower buckles. I find that once one is tight, the other does nothing, and it's almost impossible to adjust such that they have equal tension. Plus the instep buckle does part of the job holding the tongue down in the forefoot anyway. If I didn't have the newer model with riveted buckles I would have taken one off already! Won't make much difference in weight, but one less step in your transition can't hurt.

I agree with you about the buckles. Hey....maybe I should work on that Maestrale mod myself! Thanks for your input Exile and enjoy the remainder of your season.