Bullwings

I'll try to help you out as best I can based on what I've read on these forums. also, on that note, try using the search function -- there's a lot of info here to be found, it's just difficult sifting through all of it sometimes. so, to summarized what i've read: -At 150 pounds, you probably shouldn't have to worry about binding failures -at your skill level, you probably won't be flexing and over stressing those bindings -in short, you probably don't need the full aluminum construction found in bomber td2 or catek os2 -F2 bindings or other non-full alum will do. be wary of some models of burton plate bindings (some are more reliable than others). raichle x-bones is anotehr good candidate, and i can't think of any others -along the lines of F2 vs burton, i'd go with F2 bindings instead since you'll have much better part support should you need to do maintenance down the line i'm pretty new to this myself, but this was essentially the kind of info that was given to me, and the info i've seen given to others. i just put the $$$ down for some new TD2s, but i don't really have very many obligations i'm responsible for or have to answer to (god forbid i had a noose on my neck, ball & chain, and whip crackin). anyone with more experience can feel free to chime in and correct me if i'm providing bogus/incorrect info.

I'd agree with that. Also, I still see myself as a skidder that has a ton to learn and would rather have that for my title too.

snowboard tracks are a lot easier for me to spot, since you can find where they carve up hill. that's the one thing that really lets me know that i'm carving sometimes since i know you can't go back up hill if you're skidding. do skiers ever carve up hill? seems like the SCR wouldn't be suited to it, and it doesn't seem like it would work like it does on a snowboard.

if you have the money, why not? Jay Leno has over 100+ cars, and a few years back, he almost killed himself at an oval nascar track trying to set a high speed record in one of his cars... instead, a professional driver did it after he failed... part of it is collectors item nostalgia or something, i would say. until coming here, i thought having more than 2 boards was completely unnecessary (1 to do the majority of your riding in, and 1 for early season rock boarding). now, i'd say 3-4 boards would be ideal for me. 1 - all mountain, 1 - on piste groomed carver, 1 - powder dedicated, and maybe 1 - beater rock board. anything more than that i don't think i could justify. one of my uncles has over 60 guns in his house and 4000 rounds of ammunition - you'd think he was gonna start his own militia and start a rebellion or something. i think a lot of it is that it's just fun to collect them.

my brother is an osteopathic dr. and my sister is in her 3rd year of DO school. i had both of them look at it (granted, no x-ray or MRI) and they said it was fine. in fact, the thing hardly even swelled up, and the pain has been on the outer side. i've just been using an air-cast and icing it regularly, and taking 600mg of motrin 3x a day. i'll probably pm skatha for some details anyway, just to make sure and be on the safe side. thanks for the heads up and looking out for your fellow carver

I bought a bunch of tools this season have been doing my own edge tuning regularly for the first time this season. i pretty much went with all of the Beast tools. you should also pick up their instructional DVD if you have no clue what you're doing. for edge tuning and mainly for regular maintenance, i bought the following: Side of Beast Pro w/ 1* and 2* guides Base Beast in 0.5* 0.75* 1* and 1.5* Swix 20 tooth/cm file 200 grit DMT diamond stone 400 grit DMT "..." 600 grit DMT 1200 grit DMT gummi stone Beast Juice i hardly ever use the file or the 200 grit stones though (i think they might take off too much material). i pretty much just do the 400 --> 600 --> 1200 in that order to polish up my edges and remove any burs i might have gotten. so far i've been doing this every other day out. oh and, i only polish the side edge unless the burs are really bad, then i'll do the base. so far though, i've been avoiding the base as much as possible since i don't want to make the base of my board all convex. i pretty much did what everyone else said and practiced on some beater boards. i have about 5 freeride boards sitting around -- 3 or 4 of which will never be ridden again for various reasons -- none having to do with my edge tuning...

i went up to summit on tuesday, the conditions were so so IMO. snow was kind of granular. it was kind of hard for me to do "C" carves or is it "U," to control my speed on that snow. for my 5 days out so far, i'd say i prefered the grooming and snow at mt. high, but preferred the length of the runs at summit. i ended up spraining my ankle at summit too . i'm sure i'll be back though, since i still had a lot of fun. after about 5 days of riding, my boots packed out a bit and the fit wasn't as great. i ate while on my toe side and kind of messed up my ankle too. it's feeling a lot better now, but i decided to take the rest of this week off and really let it heal up. i don't want to put myself out for the rest of the season by injuring it more. on an up note, i went back to the surefoot in santa monica and they re-fitted my boots for free (awesome service). they added a bunch of padding and really tightened up my heel. they also put more padding around my ankles and lower calf to make up for my lack in volume. Neil: i'd agree with you on that one. i went up with a buddy recently and he said i was turning a few heads (some - not a lot) carving down at one of the other local mts. it just goes to show you how ignorant the masses here are about carving on a snowboard seeing as how i've only logged 5 days on hardboots so far (i.e. i know i still suck).

is that at snow summit?? that is laughable, even for me, and that's saying a lot...

mine came in yesterday and i used them for the first time today. all i have to say is AWESOME. adjusting the forward lean mechanism is nice. i just start turning the top nut to compress the spring and my boot starts leaning forward, or at least i think it is. someone correct me if i'm wrong and tuning completely incorrectly. well, either way, compressing the top spring and showing more of the threading on the shaft seemed to feel better for me.

i think this is the model you're talking about = impreza sport wagon or you do the wrx sport wagon if you wanted more power, although that would be a turbo... that'll have lots of room, and if you actually want to take it to the mountains, you'll want the AWD. if you stuck to city roads only, then yeah, you could do the Protegé5. it's FWD, which is by far the worst layout for a car where handling is concerned (probably better than rwd in the snow only since you won't oversteer and lose the tail). also, given the right tires on the impreza with awd, there are times where you can get away with not having to put chains on, although you'll still want to carry them with you. also, your biggest reliability issue with subaru (turbo) is not present in this model. you won't ever have to worry about your turbo going out (a concern for ALL turbo cars down the road), which is expensive to replace. mainly because you plan to use it for mountain trips. i'd lean toward the subaru with AWD just based on application.

maybe you should watch your own. keep flexing those internet muscles, maybe it'll give you some in real life... also, this one is clearly a matter of opinion and there is no "right" or "wrong" as there might be with technique. so just chill out. not everyone is gonna see it your way.

cool. if i lived in colorado i'd be all over this... sadly, that is not the case. also, why isn't this stickied to the top of the page?? sticky sticky sticky

i'm no expert or genius here but, i'd rather focus on my riding than thinking about this jargon... doesn't matter what i know in my head, it's all about what my body knows when it's on top of a board (any board for that matter) going down a slope. and back to the topic on hand: I use my 161 ATV. there aren't very many powder days here over 8 inches (or even 6) that could make me justify getting a pow dedicated only board. however, if ever i moved to colorado, montana, or vancouver, i'd like to try out a rossi undertaker or a prior kyber.

stupid question here, so feel free to give a stupid answer so, what would happen if you did that in hardboots? and a less stupid question, but probably stupid anyway: would an ATV be considered a "round tail"? ps: i'm just currious. i don't ever plan on racing, I just like watching SBX and seeing the occasional plate rider.

nothing big, but I folded the nose on a snowboard for the first time ever. This is my first season on HBs and we've had mostly hard packed man-made stuff here. No more than 2 inches of fresh usually. Well, yesterday had about 5-6 inches of natural and an additional combo of man-made (they never stop making snow out here if the conditions are met, even if it's currently snowing). I was using the same technique as on the harder packed stuff and really loading my nose at initiation and then evening it out through the carve. well, on one toe side carve, i got low enough to touch my elbow to the ground and next thing i know i'm doing a backflip. no major injury though, so it's all good. in fact it was kind of nice experiencing what "folding the nose" on your snowboard is like, and i made it out with little to no injury - at least not related to that incident.

the shin bang is on my rear foot actually. also, my skin itself isn't rubbing up against anything. i got some of those thin surefoot socks that come up to my knees. I got the boots fitted at surefoot too. Anyway, i ordered some of those eliminator things and one booster strap. I'm hoping all of that helps. This season has been awesome so far for my first time on HBs. I'm really starting to pick things up, and more of the stuff in the tech articles here and at carver's almanac is starting to make sense. I would hate to have to cut my time due to shin bang. I'm already cutting a bit of my time since I'm having stiff lower back problems due to an injury from last season. does ice really help? if so, i'll ice up my shin first thing when i get home from work. oh yeah and i checked my Suzukas and there are no pre-made notches or holes for drilling to re-adjust the placement of the straps. if there are, then i'm blind. post a pic please if that's the case. it'll be a last resort thing if the booster strap and eliminator things don't work

yeah, the fresh stuff was nice even if it was only around 5 inches. it was a little bit more on some runs, since resorts out here never miss an opportunity to blow snow -- even when it's currently snowing... as for the drilling holes, can i do that with the Sazukas too? it was about the track 325's, which are the new models that have actual buckles and not just that plastic ratchet stuff. thanks for the info though, i'll have to check out my boots and see if there are some pre-made holes. in the future i'll remember to be more careful with the freshies - can't exactly call it pow... oh yea, and i decided to just pick up one booster strap and give it a try. i figure it can't hurt. if i don't like it, then i'll just not use it.

Will a booster strap really help this? Some of hte other threads have suggested tightening the top straps more -- i can't do this. I'm using Sazukas and i'm on the very last notch of the ratchet on both of my top straps (i have girly legs). They feel pretty tight, but I can't be sure. Should i just get a booster strap? What about that foam stuff? On a side note, not related to the shin bang -- I folded the nose on my ATV today for the first time ever. At least I think I did - didn't think i could at 150#. I really loaded the nose on a toe side carve and got pretty low (could have touched my elbow to the snow - lowest i've gotten yet), and next thing I know I'm doing a backflip of some sort. Anyway, booster strap or foam insert stuff or both?

give it some time and a few more days out. this is my first season on hardboots and my boots were pretty painful the first day and gave me shin bang. they also hurt when i wasn't actually riding the board. they were killer while sitting on the lift. since then i've been out a few times and they're starting to pack out a bit. they're feeling better and don't hurt anywhere near as much as when i first wore them. i still have some shin bang. i'm thinking of getting a booster strap. my legs are pretty puny. i'm on the last notch of the top strap on my sazukas. also, if neither of you have, make sure you get those boots professionally fitted. the walking 5 miles in your boots... that's nuts. i don't even walk 5 miles in my regular shoes. maybe some more experienced people can chime in, or just read up on the upz boot thread -- pretty much talks about the same thing.

in the past i liked cord, but couldn't really figure out what everyone was raving about when i first started posting here. however, i've been out on my HBs and plates a few times this season, and i now know what everyone is talking about. i'm getting a stiffy just staring at that picture...

i know this one is pretty basic, but avoid wearing anything made of cotton. cotton absorbs something around 250% of its base weight in water/persperation... not a good combo for the snow and trying to keep yourself warm and dry.

you could have always bought a pair of new thermoflex liners to replace the old sweaty ones...

yeah, that was totally my bad, i sort of threw gasoline on the fire without realizing it until it exploded in my face...

around a toilet with your head in it would be a good guess

i did it, and it was awesome. and it definitely works. you can put some deep lines in the snow with it even on softies, and if you have sloppy technique (like me) you can make it skid very easily. but then, i tried plates for the very first time last week, and mounted them to the same board. even as a rookie on plates, there was no comparison. it was like day and night. the board did everythign better (as far as carving is concerned) on plates with HBs. with the 23.5cm waist, it's definitely very accomodating for softies, and i have size 12 boots. hope that helps. oh and try the search function, or just go back 2 or 3 pages, there's a number of softboot threads, and the ATV almost always comes up in them.