Bullwings

the Starting Gate had the Pro version of the FR1s with the nice nidecker straps and carbon high back for only $10 more ($310) than what performancedownhill is charging for the regular ones ($299)... I'd definitely wait, especially since there's no snow.

cateks aren't the only option, but they're definitely an option that you can't go wrong with. the name of the game is stiff... the stiffer the better, and when carving is concerned it doesn't seem like you can get too stiff with soft boots (someone correct me if i'm wrong). they should be selling FR2s soon. i know amazon has some regular FR1s through Performancedownhill if you get impatient... because, you know, there's so much snow outside right now. haha

cool, awesome rack. yeah, my snowboard goes indoors too, no garage time here. I don't want the summer hot/cold temperature cycles of day/night to warp and damage my board. no rack though. i just rest my board on top of an unused bed in the house.

No malice intended here either, but I assumed you were a guy too, especially with size 32 boots. Relative to the people around me on average, both men and women, I have big feet (mondo 29, 12 US). I've never met a woman with feet bigger than mine, well, at least not since i hit puberty...

I've been eyeing that board (rossi undertaker) since last year, but it was a hardboot only board and i was riding softboots at the time (although with a waist width of 23.5cm, i could probably get soft boots on it since i did that with an ATV and that's 23cm i think). i'm probably not gonna get one though since i can't really justify getting a pow-board out in southern california. i figure an ATV is at least decent to ride in powder, although it'll never be as good as a swallow tail. i'll try to get my hands on a straight up carving board like a prior wcr or a donek fc instead (once i get the hang of hard boots) since i realistically have only one board in my quiver right now (my other two are some really old freeride no-name boards that i don't ever plan on using again).

i think he might be referring to the undertaker and how it performs as a carving board. The board looks like it can carve, but that swallow tail tells you that it was definitely designed for powder. so, i guess the board isn't very good for carving according to his own experience with it... how is it in powder though?

I'm kinda currious about the Rossignol Undertaker and how it performs as a carving board and as a powder board.

awesome. in that case, i think i'll order my bts kit early too. i was thinking of waiting till november to order them, but i wanna make sure i get a set, so i'll order a set when i get home tonight. heh, ordering all this gear just intensifies the itch and anticipation for winter that much more...

cool, thanks. in that case, i'll just wait patiently. i got the order confirmation in my email, so i'll just hang on to that if november rolls around and i get impatient.

i agree. i don't think brand/style are as important as fit. If a helmet is too loose, it's almost as bad as not wearing a helmet since your head will travel the distance/space within the helmet and impact on the helmet itself as if it had hit the surface of the hard packed snow. don't think there's a such thing as a helmet fitter either to make your melon fit into it better.

I was just wondering, how long does it usually take for bomber to process orders? i'm not in a hurry for my gear or anything (won't be any snow for 3 months, so i could get it in november and i wouldn't mind...). i'm just wondering since i ordered something about a week ago and haven't seen any statements on my credit card (which is what worries me). usually when i order things online, even if it takes 2-3 weeks to get to me, i see billing charges within a week if not earlier. just hoping i'm not a dope and forgot to put credit card info... although i don't think it's impossible to process orders w/o that info.

i'm a new switch over and i used the ATV last season on softboots. it's an amazing board for learning how to carve (very forgiving and still able to make it skid when you need and want to), especially if you're new to carving and want to stay on softboots. I road angles of around 35/25 and started adjusting up more to 40/30. i have size 11.5-12 feet (mondo 29). you'd have no problem with how wide the atv is. since you're a size 7 you might even be able to get away with the 4wd on soft boots i'm thinking or some other narrower all-mountain boards. i know for sure you can do the prior atv on softboots. might want to consider some catek freerides. they're supposedly one of the best softboot carving bindings. i wouldn't know offhand personally, but just looking at them (it's like looking at a ferrari. you don't have to drive it to know that it'll perform. you can tell just by looking at it). but, anyway, i decided i'm gonna try hardboots and didn't get any.

get a skateboarding helmet (it has less venting than biking helments) hahah. Really though in all seriousness protective gear from other sports (mainly body armor and so on) can easily be crossed over to snowboarding without any disadvantages, such as loss of mobility, and for a significant amount less. helmets tend to have a bit more design features in them specific to each sport (like venting). I have a snowboarding specific helmet and it actually has a significant amount of venting (it feels like it's raining after i fall and all the snow gets lodged in the vents and then starts melting into my head). If i really need to keep warm while wearing a helment, i have to wear one of those thin full-head/face covering masks so that only your eyes are exposed. i'm just saying that i think it would definitely benefit you to shop around across sports for protective gear. Anything that's "snowboarding" specific tends to get a nice mark up price on it. Motocross armor/downhill mtn. biking armor would probably be just as effective as "snowboarding" armor. I wonder what hockey would look like in football gear (with gloves) and what football would look like in hockey gear... and autoracing in board shorts and surfing in a full flame resistant jump suit..

save yourself some money and go to a motorcycle shop. You can buy spine protection armor for less than half that price. one of my friends has a brother that races motorcycles and he just uses his bro's "motorcycle" spine protector, which does exactly the same thing. samething goes for helmets. you can probably get non "snowboarding" specific helmets for a good deal less (e.g. full face downhill mtn. biking helmets like posted in that one other thread). every company out there is looking to cash in on the snowboarding crazy/fad (since 95% of snowboarders are a fad...). they take some generic piece of protection equipment and jack up the price saying it's for snowboarding. Besides, vertebrae (especially those in the lumbar region) are pretty tough to fracture. I landed pretty hard on my back one time that i felt electric shock like tingling in my toes and finger tips every morning for about a week and back pain for about 2-3 months. I got my back x-rayed, and guess what, no fractures. What i'd be more sold on is, something to protect my neck... that's something that you can more realistically screw up (*starts thinking about getting titanium linkages imbedded into his neck*). Well, that's just my 2 cents on the subject, but if it makes you feel better and inspires more confidence while you're riding and you have the extra $$$ to blow, then by all means, go and grab one.

oldvolvo, my bro lives out in the fontana area, i'll probably be staying at his place every now and then before i hit up the slopes locally this season. Mtn. high had something around the same thing that Bear mtn. had right after their season passes went on sale ($299 anytime pass for the first 5000 buyers. i got mine). I just hope el nino really does things for us this year since i want to go to the east side of mtn. high where they'll have more non-park oriented runs open. The way i see it, i'll have to practice carving on mostly black diamonds while i'm out there since hardly anyone is on those runs. All the newbies are on the easy/bunny slopes, while anyone else with a shred of snowboarding skill is trying to be the next shaun white out in the park. either way this will be my first season with a season pass and on hard boots, so it'll definitely be an interesting one. i'm stoked and can't wait. i'll just have to go to surefoot out in santa monica when they re-open in october so i can get the thermoliners for my boots molded and my boot fitted properly.

wow, everyone is reporting sightings of snow fall and such. me, i'm still seeing 90F+ (32-33C i think) weather... I'd be lucky to even see rain this time of year.

I can definitely say that my helmet has saved me on more than one occasion. The way i see it, either way i'm gonna need something for my head (be it a beenie, or something to keep me warm) so it might as well be a helmet. It's not me on the slopes that i'm worried about, it's all the other people...

my helmet looks exactly like that one (it's a giro too) except without the full face part. i think it's an actual designated SB helmet too, not that it matters.

I was wondering if any of you have used a GPS unit of some sort to track distance covered, average speed, top speed and stuff like that? And, if you have what kind of gps unit is it and do you recommend it? It's just stuff that i'm currious about on the slopes. I think it's a lot easier to sort of guage and estimate how far you gone/ground you've covered when you're running/biking since there's more of a guage if it's a route you might drive by in your car, but i have no clue to guage distance at all while snowboarding.