wulf

That is my favorite video of Sigi Grabner. He transformed his racing style to super slick freecarving

Male 185cm 90cm inside leg Stance 52cm centered on the inserts front 50 deg, rear 45 deg (on 21cm wide F2 Vantage 162) UPZ boots Toe & Heel lift F2 standard (no idea what degrees they have) no canting I am using this recomendation for a "natural stance" - fits perfect for me Riding this stance since ages

@mtracz GMB has very good BW programs. Elements is movement based and adresses basic strength & mobilty IS is more typical BW strength training routine oriented https://gmb.io/

Even better ... Sigi Grabner Raw Ride

Look at the data. Whenever you see a tapered shape (tail width less than nose width) you have a kind of Multi-Radii approach. Most SL-ish design have around 260mm nose, 200mm waist and 240 tail width. Ending up in fall-line oriented racing design. That's true for F2, Kessler, SG, Donek, Oxess, ... If you are after a more radial shape go for board design that has no taper like the F2 Silberpfeils or the bit wider Vantage version. Tighter sidecuts, no taper, easier to control speed, less angulation needed, more fun carve oriented. Still performing on a high level. Albeit not for racing.

@ziolino66 no way will you have fun on your local hill with that thing. You'll get hard times controlling speed and your line on narrow runs. I'd go with a sidecut of 10m max or even lower. BX boards are made for SPEED. Yes you can carve them. Need space as well as significant angulation to force them into a halfway tight radius. Here in EU I am usually riding in "similar" conditions. Narrow, crowded slopes. Messed up from the crowdes. I am riding a non-taper SL-ish board with 9,5m sidecut. Nice combo of performance & playfulness. If I'd go wider I'd choose an even smaller sidecut combined with enough stiffness for HB. What about a Nidecker Spectre/Concept or Blade? Combining stiffness with tight sidecut. Or have someone from the NA builders design something for you.

That's potentially an alarming signal. I've had that "creaking noise" one time. One season later the front bail of the binding cracked while charging hard. For me this noise is a strong signal that something in the binding is damaged.

Indeed not so easy. You barely see anything at the very beginning. Later when the crack already has a bit propagated the method @Corey mentioned (tensioning the binding with a boot clamped) should give some hints. I had that only happening once. I could hear some "clicking" sound while riding while applying pressure. At that time I could not sort that out. 1 season later the rear bail of the rear binding gave up.

@st_lupo that's a typical picture of a longterm dynamic fatigue failure. The crack started some time ago (8 o'clock region) propagated slowly due to dynamic load until the remaining cross section could not bear the load anymore (2 o'clock region). That's when it cracked. Known failure mode with metals. Same with @dhamann case Regularly check ALL parts of the binding. Replace when in doubt.

I've just checked that product & the applications videos. Can't believe that this will last for "months" on an alpine board on man-made snow. If it would I'd buy that immediately...

What is it you are using instead of wax?

For safety reason I'd REPLACE these bindings with new ones. Plastic Material is aging over time and can get brittle. Causing potentially a nightmare. Imagine charging hard and one binding is failing ...

Yep. SG stated that they are using that "eco" epoxy. I experienced also severe issues with their base material. Not holding any wax, drying out at the edge within a few runs and severe abrasion starting as a result. Unfortunately they were not very helpful solving that thing. So I decided to step away from SG. I've been suprised to see quite some WC boys & girls changing from SG to F2. Usually riders stick to their longterm partners unless they are "forced" to move. There might be something going on...

You do have a good feeling for the edge and a almost "clean" carve already. Which is a perfect start. The rest will come with practice. Loosening the body, tilting the board a bit more. Initiating the turn with Power from the ground up (toes, ankles, knees, hips). Nice board by the way! The new Nidecker Blade Plus I guess...?

Indeed some of the racers are literally "counter-rotating" their upper bodies. Which seems to be strange and counter-productive. However what really counts is the lower body. And ALL racers are initiating their turns from the bottom up und applying HUGE pressure on the edge. Regardless what the upper body is doing. If you watch currrent WC racing in EU you do notice significant differences in style and upper body positions. Predominantly derived from different body compositions of the riders (hight, weight, relative length of the limbs, ...) Interestingly smaller guys (Galmarini, Payer, Coratti, ...) usually do need to "work" more than the taller guys (Karl, Fischnaller, ...) to manipulate their lines