Mike Blanz

Yeah, Jim just drove up to Silverthorne to bend a bunch of bails every so often.

Yep, and the bale bender is custom so is still in Fin's shop to date.

Jim had a family business out east and was going to have them mfg'd there...so Fin sold the equipment (sans the bail bender) to someone in Denver. Jim's idea never went thru so they essentially placed orders for manufacture in Denver and likely paid raw material $ and labor/tooling piece $ and then assemble and ship to end user. Same situation moving forward.

I used to use Deeluxe's AF600 boot (my weight is about 150lbs). With the stock mechanism on 4 on the front on 3 on the rear. Had 2 problems with the boot. 1) too soft when it was very warm outside 2) when I would make my first runs on a mountain my foot would ache super bad as I found it was the lower shell stiffness was just too low and the boot would actually bend quite a bit in the binding (TD1,2,3). Solution: T700 boot. MUCH stiffer boot. Never once have I had a problem with foot pain and it's been at least 5 years. But a new problem occurred immediately. My AF600 actually had a failure in March one year in Aspen so I drove over to Bomber in Silverthorne and bought the T700's. Fin didnt have the BTS's in stock. Took the boots back to Aspen and even though it was 60F at the base and 45F at the summit I basically could not bend the boot on toeside with the stock mechanism locked on 4/3 front/rear. Too stiff. When the BTS's came I put all blue's in the front boot and yellow (soft) in the rear boot toeside. Exact flex I want and the shell doesnt deform. Also, the failure of the first boot will not happen (the AF600 is so soft when it's warm out that the hinge pivot rivot joint deformed enough to fail the rivot). BTS also has a more even flex when in warm AND cold conditions as it doesnt rely on flexing the plastic so much...the spring does the work of the flex (mostly). Even with the stiffest springs (red) the boot will be softer than the stock mechanism. I have alot of forward lean in the rear boot and it still works for split boarding too :). Made it to the top of A-basin in my AF700's with Fin in January with no issues with the boot.

46 Started on a Burton Elite 140 in '87 with a 4 inch fin in the middle and concave swallowtail. "seat buckle bindings" Did not carve. We went straight down and made one turn at the end. But mine had edges. My brothers was red in color and just had p-tex to the edge. His had t-nuts thru the board for the bindings too. '88 was a Sims freestyle board. Modified bindings to have the inner tongue from rear entry ski boots to give the binding firmer forward flex...actually raced that thing. In '89 my board was a symmetrical K2 164cm race board on snowpros with Raichle Flexon Comp ski boots and raced that...others were on Hot Logicals but I worked in a shop that sold K2..then on to tons of burton boards over the next 10 years racing here and there.

I've found going to a softer board makes the difference. 6 days at the session charging had all day with a stock Proteus (built for 180lb rider) and my 150lb weight left me barely able to walk down stairs on day 6. But last week I pushed every turn for 7 days in a row in Colorado with a Proteus built for 150lbs and had very little leg damage on day 7..in fact I had no issues on high speed carves at Vail on Saturday.....

My son is using a Pilot 140cm since he was 9. It was a little firm for him at that age but now at age 12 he's able to bend it just fine. He's 115lbs maybe and 5' 0". No issues at all with the construction of the board. Top notch...he's been skiing since 1 and riding softboots since 5. Way back I used to race a 157cm board in SL with a 9m radius on toeside and 8.33 in heel. And I'm 150lbs 5' 11"....the pilot has a SL like radius and I think men still race about 157-163cm so would think the 152cm would be best for her if it is a SL radius....something in an 10m-11m radius in a 158cm would be a more GS like carve for that height/weight.

Nice! PM just sent

My son (12 this season) will need new (larger) boots next year for carving and is in the Raichle 125 right now.

What's even more amazing about her Super-G run is she was on Shiffrin's skis. I'm pretty certain I've never started a snowboard race or mountain bike race using someone else's equipment. ......, and there sure is no way I could get my foot in someone else's short track boot since I can barely get my foot in mine!....either way, wow, that's a lot of talent from that young lady.

Need set of thermoflex liners for my son in MP25.0

Carp, I'm interested in the M25 DC131 liners for my son. Lemme know if they are still available. Thanks, Mike

Thanks for the response, yes very interested. A couple of years ago I bought the 123's he has now from Jorg Egli and got the Intuition liners from Fin. Would buy liners from Jim/Angie if you have 123's in MP25 that you'd want to sell.

Thanks guys, his MP23 intuition TF liners were too small but we were able to "stretch" them by heat molding them for this season. So I think he'll probably be needing 25.0 for next season and heat molding them to fit. I know the 124 will be too stiff for him as he ran the 123's in powder mode this year

For my son who will be 11 next year. Prefer thermoflex liners.

Best wishes with the new venture! I know where we'll be dining the next time we're in the Pagosa Springs area.... I'm quite certain we'll be seeing you at future sessions..hopefully many more.....until then, keep smiling! (love the photo)...

Jorg Egli or his business partner Ray (go to the pureboarding.com website) can get you brand new Raicle boots in small sizes. They bought up the remaining stock of the Raichle boots when Raichle became Deeluxe. We got a set of MP23 SB123's for my son last year.

I rode the triple sidecut model. It seemed that Bruce was trying to get a board which would initiate a turn easier from the tip. On firm snow or ice it could be advantageous to have a metal board with a tighter radius tip. I was real impressed with how tight I could turn it if I powered up the nose..and I'm talking about riding on the firmest snow (which for Aspen is the bottom of Highlands typically). I also like to finish my turns to the variable radius boards are not to my liking these days..back in the day when I raced that would have been great...but I like energy off the tail not a slow release and uber acceleration.

So I've been riding Donek's for 15 years now. I did ride a Coiler Balance a year ago at SES14. I mentioned to Bruce that I'd like to ride something as close to my Proteus (177cm, 18 width, stock flex, 12m radius) but with a softer flex more suited to my 145-150lbs. Well Bruce was right. It had everything my Proteus does but I was able to crank it around on the one steep/firm/scraped section at the bottom of Highlands at the end of the day (Mike T followed me down the run and I put everything I had into Bruce's demo). I dont know if it had the torsion-plus but if you like the pop of a glass board that rides on firm snow like a metal board, then I'd recommend the Balance too.

1987. 28th year. Burton Elite 140. Mine had edges and a fin in the middle. My brother's didnt have edges..just ptex. Soft boots for the first few years. Started hardbooting in '90 at Christmas Mtn in Wisconsin with a K2 164 SLX board, sno-pros and Raichle Flexon Equipe ski boots. My brother had the same setup..then the PJ's came out..and boots evolved too.. Would say that the first proper equipment was in 2000 though...AF600's, Bomber TD1, Donek GS boards.

When I bought my Track 700's from Bomber I took them the next day to Aspen and couldnt bend the boot with the stock mechanism in the rear (and it was 45 deg at the top and 60 at the bottom)..I only weigh 145 lbs. Easy fix however (which I was expecting)...BTS...I put Blue and blue on the front boot and yellow (toe) and blue (heel) on the rear. Boots are a dream. No distortion on the lower boot (I used to taco the spine of the boot on AF600's) and the boots flex perfectly no matter if it is -5F or 60 F...I make minor adjustments in the buckle tension in weather extremes. Ridden with a Boiler Plate lower TD3 step-in on a Donek.

I used to have shin bang on a boot that didnt have a booster strap. Once adding a Booster strap (completely external routing to an AF600 without BTS) I had no issues whatsoever. As Fin mentions above, the BTS also helps alot. My current boots are Track 700's with BTS and it comes with a strap. Since my shin bang only ever occurred on my rear boot, I run blue and blue springs on my front BTS...on my rear boot I run a yellow toeside and a blue heelside. It a function of my technique..but..between having the BTS, and a yellow spring on the toe in the rear, and a booster-like strap (the goal of the booster is to take up any slack between the tongue and your shin so you dont whack it), I only get mild bruising at the end of the very first day of the year.

My son decided at the end of last year he wanted to start carving. He's been skiing since 1 and riding soft boots since age 5. These shots are of day 2 on hardboots (age 9). Board Specs: 2015 Donek Pilot (140cm board (room to grow), 180mm waist, 7-9m radius, 14.25" stance, 54 deg parallel angles). Boots: Raichle SB123 with Track 700 5-position mechanism (run completely in the non-locked..flip down..soft setting), Thermoflex liners Bindings: 1999 Burton Performance step-in plate (fits MP23.0). Old binding I had that was hardly used. Has nice thick bails and toe blocks. Rare for Burton. 6 deg rear cant plate. Many thanks to Sean at Donek for putting the deck together (he loves it), Fin and Michelle for the thermoflex liners and board bag, and Jorg Egli for the New Old Stock of Raichle boots from Germany (boots fit great). Note that my son's pine wood derby car last year was a Donek Proteus and this year it was a Bomber Board Bag...he's really into this. Plan to have him with me at SES'17. This year..just me at SES.. Middle shot is me..

43yrs w/25 hardbooting and 2yrs not My 9 yr old just started hardbooting this season after 4yrs on soft...will get pictures up soon of his setup

Need a carving board for my 8 yr old son whose going to run plates. Planning on building a custom but certainly would consider a used board. Somewhere between 125 and 140cm.