Buell
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Posts posted by Buell
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Move up to blue BTS springs. I have had a similar issue and am pretty sure the undulation comes from too soft of springs for your riding. If your springs are too soft, there is nothing to stop the top and bottom springs from developing a back and forth bounce between them.
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couple of us are going to be at snowbasin riding sat, sun and monday--never been there before. where should we carve on that mountain?
Depends on your ability. If you ride up the Strawberry Gondola you can see runs you will want to ride.
There are a couple of main routes down from Needles Gondola, including one that passes right under the gondola most of the way. Wildcat Bowl is a great run.
John Paul lift has the steep Wildflower bowl.
If it gets too crowded, you can carve off the slow Porcupine Chair or seek out Willow Springs off the Becker Chair.
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Thanks for the reply. My concern with the Basin is the stupid snowmakers that seem to run down the middle of every groomed run. Do they take those down in the season when they have enough snow? or do they stay up perpetually? That is probably my big concern with the Basin.
How many guys go up to Powder regularly anyway? more than the Basin?
Yep, pretty crappy for a carver. I have never seen them taken down.
I don't really know how many carvers are at SB. I think there are several, but I don't ride there very much and haven't seen them.
At PM, there are about 4-6 regular hardbooters of different abilities. We get traveling hardbooters as well. Often besides Rebecca and myself, there will be one or two others around. Rebecca and I also ride splitboards though, so we are not always carving on good groomer days. Today was fun carving, even with the flat light.
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Donek also makes a board for lighter riders. In both a rec and race version. Price is right too. It is called the Pilot. http://www.donek.com/pilotam_pilot.html
I would spend more money and get a better board.
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I wondering what the light weights our there are riding. What sizes and styles? Are you buying boards off the shelf or are you having them custom built to your weight?
I weigh in at a whopping 125lb. I'm currently riding a 159 Prior 4wd and it has proven to be a great all mountain board. It has been my first and only carving setup for the past couple years. With a 8.5m SCR I'm kinda longing for a board I can get a deep carve with that won't give me wiplash, give me visions of high siding, or being launched into the woods at speeds that can be obtained on a moderate blue.
I live in DC so the local trails are not extremely wide or long, but I take at least one yearly trip out west for something a little more real.
My thoughts as a 145 pound aggressive rider who lives with another 135 pound carver who is less aggressive.
Yes, it is different. Advice from heavier freeriders on technique and equipment often does not really translate that well to lighter riders.
How different carving equipment rides depends a tremendous amount on your weight. You simply cannot flex boards and boots the same amount as a rider who weighs more. Aggressiveness will also play a part. IF you are less aggressive, you will need shorter and softer boards, more aggressive, stiffer and possibly longer boards. I am only 10 pounds heavier, but cannot ride Rebecca's boards. She can ride on mine, but only on easier, wider slopes because she cannot properly bend them (although they do feel very stable for her).
You will probably need a board with a custom flex. A board you can bend is a pleasure to ride. You will be able to ride many boards that are too stiff for you, but when you get on one you can bend, you will know. Occasionally you will find a stock board for your weight (like you, I could bend the stock 169 Prior 4WD), but there will be very few. At 125 it will be really hard to locate a stock board. Shorter boards are not necessarily better for a light rider without the proper flex. In fact the stiffest board I have owned was a 163 Donek FCII. It beat the crap out of me (I sold it). We had a custom flex Prior built for Rebecca but were not very satisfied with the quality control. Bruce at Coiler has proven to be very good at getting the correct flex for a lightweight.
I started with bigger boards (BOL bias) and have been getting a shorter board each of the last three years. I am now on a 165 custom flex Coiler that has about a 10m average sidecut. Rebecca is similar and is now on a 155 custom flex Coiler. Bigger boards are just overkill for lighter riders and we really feel the size and weight much differently than heavier riders.
You will probably want softer bindings. Rebecca and I started on TD2s and the day we tried F2s, we sold all out TD2s and bought F2s. I have tested the Sidewinders and the lateral flex is nice, they are still too stiff in other directions for me. All light riders should at least try a softer binding. Durability of equipment is not much of an issue for lightweights unless you are riding really hard or taking some really hard crashes.
There are not many options with boots. Find ones that fit your feet and make sure you have a spring system to adjust their flex. Yellow spring BTS was super helpful to my early riding. I switched to blue and now I am about to test red.
You will need to develop a technique (bend your knees) that allows you to absorb bumps and grooming imperfections better than heavier riders. Bigger riders can often cut through bumps that will bounce a light weight out of a turn.
Enjoy, Buell
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Kwik Draw is the steepest groomed run at PM and Winchester is also fun, but really tight with Aspen trunks. Sidewinder on the Timberline lift is another fun run. White Pine off Hidden Lakes is good as well, though it has some long flat sections. As you know, all the steeper sections / runs are pretty short. SB is much better for long runs and steep pitches. There is a $33 day pass to only ride the Sundown Lift, otherwise you have the $45 mid week locals pass.
The snow is softer at PM than SB.
Crowds are pretty much non existent when carving at PM. Especially on the slow lifts. Even the runs on Hidden Lakes are empty. SB will have a lot more riders and a lot more high speed skiers, some are really good, some are not.
We typically ride daily at PM with occasional days at SB. Let us know if you are coming up.
Buell
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D.T.,
Sidewall says: T163 Flipper 09RS1-7.5+4.5W
The board is named Flipper.
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"I didn't know you were such a freak, dude."
"Oh, I am a nut case, are you kidding me?"
That is great!
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seems to me this intened as a joke toward the Soft Bindings For Freecarving thread.
I hope so anyway.
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David
Maybe so, I just found this post in there:
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I suggest a Custom X wide with CO2 bindings and Driver X boots with RAF inserts. Now, crank the front foot up to a whopping 26 degrees (max for this binding) and set your back foot to neg 5 degrees. You have to ride switch as well.Hmmmm.
Nice one!
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Your problem is that very few of us are that narrow. Many of us hard boot riders feel there is a time and place for soft boots and we enjoy riding them.
Good luck.
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:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:
That is an action packed schedule. All of that in only 12 hours!
Good work! Looks a little crowded though! ;)
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I was afraid of that grock. Too much snow can really clog up the transportation system.
As you can tell, I think the 172 Tanker is just an amazing board. I doubt many riders who carve hardboots on groomers would be disappointed in it how it rides powder. Heavier riders or people who ride lots of tight trees excepted. It is relatively expensive.
The cheapest good powder board option will likely be the Fish. For a slightly more expensive option, keep an eye on the K2 Gyrator. New ones will go on sale pretty soon and be relatively cheap. Rebecca and I love ours (162 and 168 respectively).
They are lightweight, insanely nimble (great at trees), and carve an amazing powder turn (tighter than the Tankers). They are designed specifically for powder, like the Fish, where as the Tanker design makes it a much better all around board (that happens to ride powder better than any board I have ridden). They are not as aggressive as the Tankers nor do they have as high of a top speed but they will go pretty fast. Due to having so much rocker, they are only able to carve on soft, powder day groomers. I much prefer them to the Fish and they are a lot more fun in the crud and chopped up powder.
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Don't keep us hanging. Which are your top two?
The rockered 172 Tanker is my top powder board and if I want a tighter turning, less aggressive board, I ride the 168 K2 Gyrator. They are quite different. I can elaborate if you want.
I rode a 162 Venture Storm split (rockered with flat between the bindings) yesterday for the first time. That was back to back with my Spearhead 166 split. I liked it a lot. It is not going to replace my Tanker, but a 166 split version will likely replace my Spearhead split next season (I need to look closer at the new Jones split though).
The Spearhead is a great powder board, these are just better.
If you have a long attention span, I put my impressions of the Tanker here.
How did the powder riding go grock? Could you make it up to the mountains with all the snow?
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This site is to promote HARDBOOT SNOWBOARDING WITH HARDBOOTS AND PLATE BINDINGS. Also please read the title that says All-mountain Hardboot boards. Your review has nothing about hardboot riding. This is a softboot deck that most people on this site would not be interested in. I am sure that it is a good board. I would prefer to read about alpine all mountain reveiws instead.I spent most of the morning soft boot carving on my Never Summer Legacy 166 (great board btw), so I set up the Sideways the same way to get a quick soft boot carving comparison. I couldn’t believe the difference. Being a much stiffer board in both flex and twist it simply held phenomenally in the somewhat icy conditions.
It appears to have freestyle in the name, but the above statement from swissracer makes it sound like it is less freestyle and more freeride. It sounds like it could carve well with hardboots for some riders. I don't care to, but plenty of riders on BOL put plates on freeride boards and it could be relevant information for some people. Maybe swissracer could test it out with hardboots and edit the review.
Coda is also building carving boards and it doesn't seem like it would be an issue to post a review about a Donek Incline, a Donek Razor, or a Prior MFR. Tankers and Steepwaters also seem to be used and well accepted by hardbooters but they are primarily designed as softboot boards. What is a hardboot board varies from rider to rider so some leeway should probably be offered. You do not have to read the review.
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Notice also that you can extend the blue wings out from the silver disc to create a larger area for your binding if needed.
The ones I had, the wings hooked under the center disk and you did not have the option to move them out.
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Unfortunately, I think it is a paid position. As in you pay for the ones you want to ride. ;)
Looking forward to seeing more of your product Victory! Can you post any photos of finished boards?
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I guess we need one of each to try them out.
Here are the stats from Oxess. A 159 has a 139 cm contact length. That is a significant contact length to overall length. The 151 is comparable to our 152 for contact length. I don't see a 168, but they might exist. I would not want anything over the 159 with these specs myself.
<table style="border-collapse: collapse;" id="AutoNumber1" border="1" bordercolor="#bcbcbc" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td align="left" width="19%"> BX151</td> <td align="center" width="10%"> boardercross</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 1.51 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 1.32 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 10 - 9 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 245 mm</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 520 mm</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" width="19%"> BX159</td> <td align="center" width="10%"> boardercross</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 1.59 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 1.39 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 11 - 9.5 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 254 mm</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 540 mm</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" width="19%"> BX151 Competition</td> <td align="center" width="10%"> boardercross</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 1.59 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 1.32 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 11 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 242 mm</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 520 mm</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" width="19%"> BX155 Competition</td> <td align="center" width="10%"> boardercross</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 1.55 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 1.36 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 11 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 245 mm</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 540 mm</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" width="19%"> BX159 Competition</td> <td align="center" width="10%"> boardercross</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 1.59 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 1.39 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 12 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 258 mm</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 540 mm</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" width="19%"> BX163 / 12 Competition</td> <td align="center" width="10%"> boardercross</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 1.63 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 1.43 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 12 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 261 mm</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 550 mm</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" width="19%"> BX163 / 14.5 Competition</td> <td align="center" width="10%"> boardercross</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 1.63 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 1.43 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 14.5 m</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 258 mm</td> <td align="center" width="11%"> 550 mm</td></tr></tbody></table>
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The "wings" angle with the bindings to give solid support under your toe and heel.
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those are a bit short, need to make a 167 atleastThe focus on these boards is the contact length rather than the total length of the board...they ride much longer then they are.
DiveBomber, please try not to make assumptions. Things are changing, don't get obsessed with overall length.
Contact length is much more relevant than overall length. Rebecca and I have a custom metal 152 cm softy carver that has the same effective edge (132 cm) of a 172 Freeride / BX board with a normal nose and tail.
It sounds like Victory's boards are using a similar concept and I would expect a 167 BX of his design would be one very big board.
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What's wrong with you guys? This kind of thing should be encouraged, not trashed.
This is an instructional video for soft boots, for begginers, and it serves that purpose very well. It meets riding standards (for that level) of CASI and I belive AASI. His stance is good, turn anticipation by small rotation is there, angulation is there, initiation in the lower body is there, he's in control all the time, even when he foolishly goes close to another rider.
He doesn't ride very high edge angle and so what? Would you expect a begginer to drag his knee/hip right away? No? Ok, then you don't ride that way when demonstrating...
+1 Well said BlueB
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I have been around riders who say they are better after a drink or two.
No one else agreed.
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That makes for one good buzz!
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The Fish really wasn't on my radar of boards that I wanted to try. But a forecast of a Nor-easter calling for 18-24+ inches this weekend, that my best option for a non-carving soft boot board is my Rad Air Reto Lamm LSD, and that I found one at a good price, I'm leaning towards picking one up to see how it rides.
I know that the Fish won't be one for most east coast conditions, it sounds like it will still be fun to ride from time to time when we do have some fresh snow, even here in the Mid Atlantic.
It will blow away the stiff nosed Reto Lamm and, I expect, for the price work out really well for you when the conditions are right.
Enjoy!
Buell
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Even I know that's not carving and I have only been hard-booting for only 11 outings.
He is absolutely carving. It is low angle and on softboots, but he is definitely carving. Look at his track when the angle of the camera is right, they are carved tracks. The tracks don't lie.
True though, the title is misleading. There was nothing in the video about how to carve.
Heelside issues?
in Carving Central
Posted
If you want a smoother ride and better handling board through all kinds of conditions, yes, you are right.