Jrobb

Should work ok for a while. All depending on how the highback was designed and how flexy it is. That and finding a way to attach the strap to the highback (not hard but could provide some kind of design hurdle). Then again, it could last for years. J

I'll be staying with family in Bozeman. How far is Big Sky from there? J Edit: I'm an idiot, it's pretty close. back on track, reccomendations for either? May do a day at both.

Any advice on good beginner/intermediate carving runs at Bridger? I'll be there the 26th or 27th with the little lady. First day out woo hoo!! J

I have some Dialogues that did fine for about 3yrs. I too came from some old school Morrows (circa 1994) that were the absolute worst boots I have ever used but I used them till '03. I think Sorrel's were stiffer:cool: . My dialogues ('04 bought in '05) fit super comfy and I only managed to run up to 35F-27R in them before not being able to get things right. I usually rode with a PLS at 27F 18R and could carve decently but I alwas ran into boot out. My 12.5's on 25.2 waist boards (Osin 4807 and A-Frame 170) just never fit right. If you want a real forward stance, the Dialogues may or may not do you right. I'm 215lbs in riding gear so take that into account also. J

I started hbing last season with boots and bindings only. Popped them on my A-Frame 170 that had the intended use of being my all purpose board. It is however too stiff to eat pow for breakfast in my soft boots (Pro800's and Salomon Dialogues). But once I put my Sazukas with the BTS on it and a pair of Snowpro FAST bindings, this thing woke up in the pow. Much more control and power. I don't have to lean back so much as power is transmitted instantly. I do ride lower angles on it...35R 40F or so. Switch, straight, and small jumps (baby steps here) are all fine. This season I picked up and older Renntiger and should finally get out on that next week. Anyway, having ridden softies for the 14yrs prior and having big feet(12's), I like the hb's ability to let me ride a narrower board and still use a modest angle with enough power hitting the edges. I routinely go from groom/scraped to pow on back to back runs and during runs so I like to just stick with what works best for me...Hb's. J

I have and love my Dragon DX http://www.dragonalliance.com/products/snow_goggles/dx.html with http://www.dragonalliance.com/products/snow_goggles/snow_accessories.html Blue anodized lens for midday with clouds amber for overcast midday and/or snowing and the gold anodized for bright bluebird days. J ps. sorry it's flash, hover over product to change it. I can't stand Flash sites.

Not like steak knife. This page: http://www.lib-tech.com/magneTraction/index.html# top right look along the edge fo the red board near they dude doing a back flip. Wavy is a better description. more like this J

I didn't see this mentioned previus but the Magnetraction takes advantage of the fact that at no time when we are riding are we ever on a perfectly flat surface...not even skidder "groom" (scraped down to ice). It's still got waves, dips, depressions. Our straight (for all intents and purposes) edge cant make contact with all of the snow surface 100% effectively 100% of the time unless we were riding on an iceskating rink (and even then that would be questionable.) The Magnetraction has a wavy period of 4-6" not like a serrated knife at 20teeth per inch. These waves allow the edge to get into the waves, dips, and depressions better than our edge. BUT!...only for a very brief instant, likely 1/10th of a second so is only intermittently beneficial. Besides the only way to effectively compare is use two boards identical, one with and one without using the same rider on the same exact line...starting to sound impossible. There may be benefits (most likely the confidence building )however momentary but we know our current edges and proper technique make Magnetraction not necesary. J

yes but the material differences are blatantly obvious. Paper vs. Glass fiber( or carbon or Kevlar whatev.) The design however is the same. The matrix (hardened resin) IS the folds of the paper. Implemented differently, it is designed and expected to flex in some way or else it can be built to be extremely stiff...again depends on materials and layup (design). Think of the steel frame of a truck. If it wer simply flat not too strong, but formed to the shape of a "[" you increase the strength. Take it further and enclose the "[" shape like [] and you get a fully boxed structure...even stronger. The flex is built into the material and the design has to account for that, but the material has to be able to deflect some otherwise you end up with too stiff that breaks when flexed. In the offroad crowd some Toyota Tacoma owners would enclose their "[" shaped frames to "box them" If the entire frame was done and not accounted for how the vehicle flexed when offroading, the frame would not bend along the length of the reinforcement but at one point not reinforced and since it was concentrated there, ultimately break there. With cap I think adhesion is the main factor. You have tension, compression, and shear at the bond area...good luck. As opposed to mainly shear and compression or shear and tension. (generalized more or less J

Dayum...that's cheep. But there's probably lead in them. J

I actually get a bit nervous the first chair of the first run. I look at other people riding and try to visualize how I will do that and I hit a mental block and for a second or two it seems like I had never ridden before and can't "think" of how I will turn and stop...kind of feels like a mental version of getting the wind knocked out of you. You know you can breathe and are ok but you just can't breathe. Once I unload, and strap in my muscles take over and things are fine till about half way down my mind catches up and "reloads". After that I'm good to go. Same thing if I've been not riding for a few weeks (3-4wks). Wierd but like clockwork it happens every year...going on 17 yrs now. This year is gonna be worse. First time riding in MT and first time out for the year. I'll be at Bridger just after Christmas. Woo hoo. J

My screws measure .75" from tip of thread to top of countersink. Measureed without the washer. With washer, it's .50" from bottom of washer to end of threads. \ __/-------------- ```` ```` ```` ^ ```` .75" between dotted lines ```` ```` ```` ````------------- I vaguely remember having to start mine similar to how Bola described when I first got mine. 4yrs later it's still a tad tricky on some decks. J

I've not gotten any further myself. Later this season, I'll probably attempt it when I have some extra dough laying around...late Jan maybe. At the least I'll buy the parts and try some test fitting. If that doesn't get me anywhere, I'll sellem to someone who can use em. J

Ditto that, I'll take some measurements once I get home around 10:30p J

I don't think mine were padded at all, the disk is supposed to clamp the base to the board. If the disk bottomed out (with a pad) prior to that it would be loose. I'll check when I get home. J

My XL's are set 1 notch back from the smallest setting and I have a 12.5 us boot. (and this may be a tad small in itself) The straps have a lot ov adjustment. Mainly the sizes are just preset at the factory. The heel cup adjustment is tricky. Mine are from the 04 year I think. Still solid. If you have trouble with adjustments, shoot me an email and I'll send some pics. J

1-------Not necessarily. You can run higher angles to eliminate toe/heel drag and still maintain controleasier than in softboots. It's mainly a matter of preference and riding conditions. Board size you may want to look for 165-170 ish...if your resort is crowded and narrow, err on the smaller size to turn quicker. 2-------Most all bindings you'll find are compatible with your size foot (probably a mondo size 28-29 (hard boots are sized by the modo point scale). You will most likely look for Large size bindings if there are different sizes available for a particular model. 3--------You'll get varying responses on the style of board to try, but I'd not spend more than about 200-250 on a first board untill you know what you like to ride. Probably something in the 20-22 cm wais range to allow lower angles for a more comfortable entry into hardbooting. You may even find others in your area who will let you try out equip. "We" are a fairly accomodating bunch of gear-heads. and welcome. You'll get this sooner or later but do fill out your profile so others nearby can help you easier. J ps. Feel free to consult the "Bible" of carving Here as well.

of course, you're in it to save money...they're in it to keep getting yours. J

Hmmm. i think there's a RackNRoad off 680 in Walnut Creek or maybe P-Hill. My gf's a AAA member, I'll see what they have. I don't mind drilling to fit. BTW, I'm looking for say 1400 sizes and up. There's a few on Craigslist for under 400 and a few others under 300. How big's yours and how much gear can you put in? J

that makes three of us...'cept for the walk mode part. J

Can you still see them after removing the wax? Again, it's not that bad...in fact probably not bad at all. Like Vapor stated, the inserts have a heat sinking ability and cool the wax quicker than the board will cool it. One thing I noticed and maybe someone can confirm but on carving boards or boards made to use hardboots primarily, the inserts are of larger diameter (the insert base, not the screw size) than insert bases of regular softboot boards. My Renntiger had insert bases that I saw when waxing were between the size of a nickel and a quarter compared to my other boards more like dime sized. So damage from overtorquing inserts on carving boards there's less to worry about pulling inserts out if they in fact have larger bases. Only worry would be to strip the threads which are the same size for softboot and hb boards. J

Not sure if this really qualifies for off topic, but... I need to get a roof box for a tripto MT this Christmas. ONly thing I'm not sure of (and I'll be buying used) my racks are mounted to my truck's shell (nto OEM to the shell, so they can't be moved). As they carry sailboards primarily the spacing is quite long...about 135cm little ofer 4ft. Are the mount options on boxes in general widely adaptable, or are they geared more to a sliding factory rack deal? I know this is a shot in the dark but I'm sure many of you have boxes and what with all the ingenuity floating about here I'm sure you mounted them yourself too. My cross bars are set and can't be moved. I know I can drill new holes and use brackets if I need to, but I'm just trying to get my facts straight. tanks J

Tune just like you would for Hb's. I rarely detune my boards. I like all the edge grip I can handle. If things hook here and there, I feel it's just a little lazy technique. I started altering my edge angles in place of detuning and it's worked fine for me. Where you'd detune, just add +1 or +2deg of bevel to the base, but still keep it sharp. J

++ what others had touched on. Not everyone learns the same way. Though slightly related, when I first started teaching Windsurfing in the late '90's my employer had us all teach along a certain path. THis seemed good as no matter which instructor you learned from, you were getting basically the same lesson. However, having taught 10yr olds through mid 60's I can say with impunity at some point you have to throw the "standardized method " out the door and get creative. My lessons went from fu-fu clock representations, and pizza-pie descriptions to (when encountering Engineers and the like) pulling out the heavy physics part of how the thing worked. For the most part most of your lessons will fall near the same path, but don't be afraid when that doesn't work, you need to reach further and think like they think to help them understand. I've always felt the single hardest part of being a teacher or instructor is understanding how a pupil relates to their world, and then how you can explain yours to them in the same way. My single hardest lesson to date was a woman who produced instructional videos for children. I could not for the life of me appease her ( I wasn't spending enough time with her, I was crowding her, go away and come back to me later) I heard it all and at the end of the day she decided I was a bad teacher and wanted our female instructor to teach her. I never had any complaints and my boss saw she was wacked, but be prepared for all kinds... J

that's great. Not a thing about their board. But they have a good web marketing fanclub I see...The flash graphic don't even have a Mash board. And what's the guy on skis there for? A+ for effort guys.. On a slightly related note, anyone get the recent REI catalogues? Stirkes me as funny how REI had most of the snowboarding pics with riders on Rome boards yet the page advertising the boards was chock full of Burton gear. Funny because the guys who started Rome were ex Burton R&D and Marketing guys from a few years back. Dunno, just struck me as odd. J