Not sure why but my foot has gained some volume. Boots that have been fine are too tight this year. My trainer thinks its because of all the plyos and balance work I have been doing which require much more use of feet muscles. Not sure if he is right but I found myself in need of more room in my boots. In Montana where it is cold and dry things have been bearable but in Tahoe its been quite uncomfortable. I decided to grab a head RS 140 shell and see if that would work mainly for Tahoe. I tried them first with my Nordica foam liners that were foamed for my Raptor B3 boots but they were really painful. Next after conferring with Diana I re-baked some Intuition Pro Tongue liners and put them in the RS 140s. Wow, similar to my first experience with them, this is an amazing liner. 2 years ago I had some minor issues with the way they molded and I need to re-bake them and I just got lazy and went back to skiing my foam liners. This bake went perfectly and at least for me right now these liners are the best of any I have had (and I never thought anything could be better than the Nordica Foam liner). The tightness of fit around the ankle and just above it, the stiffness of that fit and the support it provides for the foot and ankle is above any other liner. It definitely hardens the ride and stiffens the whole set up. But I can easily do things in this liner that required focus and work to pull of in my other one. On hard/groomed snow the power to arc and bend a ski is just unparalleled. So I kept skiing them off piste looking for a reason why they might be too stiff or too unforgiving and I actually felt like I was skiing much better (need video to fully verify). My right foot/ankle is set wrong after a break many years ago and it is off set 13 degrees out so I have a host of issues with that side. The added support appears to have made both sides pretty close to equal and some of the compensation that I was doing on that side appears to have gone away.
Fit wise its is also rather roomy in the forefoot versus foam liners that are very tight in the forefoot. I have also been told that it is one of the warmest liners out there. I also don't think its the right liner for everyone but for me it is perfect and I am putting them in my 130s and in my 150s. Having said that the Rs 140s with this liner appear to be my new boot. Plenty of room for my feet and more performance than I was getting out of either my B2s (150s which i hard;y ever ski because of how hard they are to get on and off) or my B3s (130s). Hard to beat that combo!!
Let me also say that I have many years of skiing in a bunch of different Head boots and I know my size and i know the lasts pretty well. I would not recommend that most people do what I did (grab a shell and see if I can make it work). My assumption about the RS last just being wider was wrong as it is much tighter in the ankle bone area and I have huge ankle bones and I needed a punch which I have never needed in my B2s or B3s. I also have an ideal foot for ski boots (thin low volume feet and large ankle bones that prevent heel lift and a very low instep) which makes it easier for me to fit into a lot of race plugs easily. My wife has a very high instep and issues like that are a a huge problem in ski boots. Even with my ideal foot/feet and my knowledge of Head boots I was still taking a risk and I might have ended up with a boot that never fit or that I might have hated. My reward for taking the risk was that I now have a great set up.
For those looking for new liners and want a stiffer, higher performance set up, try the Pro Tongues. There is a reason that HH and Diana now only ski in these.