Terryw

Awesome! Today was the first time to try out the new setup since our video conference. Conditions were typical spring conditions in so cal, hard ice ice in the morning , followed by slush in the afternoon. Even with the poor conditions, I was the most comfortable I have been on a carving board. I was able to get much lower and keep better control of my edges. Amazing what a good setup can do for you. Worth the time, worth the money, definitely.

I know it is warm, but I need to test my Gilmour setup . I did the video conference workshop with John a few days ago, and I am dying to to try it all out. Anyone else even contemplating this week?

I had the same question about points of reference. D-sub pointed out that there is a mark on most boots that supposedly marks the center of the boot. On my Suzuka boots, this is a thin line on both sides of the sole of the boot. I spent some time trying to figure out the center line of the TD-2's. It appears to me that the center line runs even with the bottom of the notches on the TD-2 logo. I thought it would bisect the logo evenly, but it seems as though it is actually just short of 1/8" lower. Not sure just how important the exact center of everything is, since our bodies are not completely symmetrical anyway. It is just a beginning frame of reference. On narrow carving decks, the bias is more subtle. A little goes a long way.

Planning on being there 22 - 29. My wife is a skier, and loves Brighton. So that is where we usually end up.

It is just a method of asymmetrically setting your bindings. Your front foot is shifted more to heel side, and your back foot is shifted more to toe side. It has helped me. I like it.

Went up to the resort today. We had decent conditions to test out the bias. I think I like it. I was much smother in linking turns. Toe side initiations also improved. My only problem with this setup is that it causes me to use steeper angles than I would otherwise use. A 1/4" toe bias on the rear binding forces me to use a minimum of 62 degrees to eliminate toe overhang. That seems a little steep to me for a 20cm waist. I also end up with a slight heel offset (heel is moved slightly away from the heel side edge) on the rear binding, and a toe offset on the front binding. Every thing seems to be working, so I am not complaining. It just looks a little strange to me to not have both heels and toes lined up over their respective edges. What I know for sure is that experimenting with bias has helped me to transition to a much smoother and more relaxed ride.

I will second that it was terrible conditions. We will try again next week and see how it works out.

That is the way I read and understand it to be. I know it is the opposite of what I originally learned when I first started learning about snow boarding. I will be trying it out today. I believe Bullwings will also be experimenting with this setup on his Tanker with soft boots at our local resort today.

Thanks John. I read the posts from the search. I think that the idea of a longer lever makes a lot of sense. My only concern is that offsetting the bindings this way would cause the board to twist. I would love to see some pictures of your setup. I am also interested in your offer to fine tune setups for 40.00. I will play with your "Gilmour Bias" later this week.

I just wanted to share my experience this last week with adjusting boot bias and the dramatic improvement in my toe side initiation. I have been struggling with toe side initiation for a while. I felt fine on the heel side, but felt like I was "going over the falls" when ever I really tried to aggressively initiate a toe side turn. It just never felt comfortable. I tried changing setback, mellower angles, wider stance width..... etc. I then had an experienced rider ride my set up (Oldvolvolsrule). He went to much higher angles to avoid boot out and was able to rip on my setup. We swapped boards for a while, and I immediately felt more comfortable on his board. I was puzzled as to what the problem could be. Since Ovr had no trouble on my rig, I assumed that it was just my technique and I would have to grow into my new setup. But my immediate improvement on his board made me suspicious that there really might be something in my setup, even though he didn't seem to have any trouble with it. So I am thinking about this as I am getting off of a chair lift with a little bit of a long off ramp. I noticed that when ever I got off of this chair lift standing flat on the board, I consistently tended to slide out to the heel side. So then I tried to just ride flat on the board to see what it would do. Lo and behold if I didn't force it to the toe side, it would always slide out to the heel side. A little light finally went off in my head. If I am in a neutral balanced position directly over the board and I seem to favor one side, then my weight is obviously not as evenly distributed as I thought it was. So I tried a new experiment. Even though my boots appeared to be centered on the bindings, I started to increase the bias towards the toe side edge for both bindings. The change to the binding was small. Visually, everything looked the same, but there was an immediate improvement to my toe side! Eureka! I continued to adjust the bias until I could stand flat on the board and slide straight without constant correction. This has led to what I would call a breakthrough day for me. Suddenly I could stop fighting my board, and just enjoy the ride. Toe side initiation now felt much better. It occurred to me that this was why Ovr could ride my rig. When he increased the angles, he decreased the the effect of the bias and his technique could more than compensate for it. I have done a search for boot bias here on Bomber, and I have learned that there is a mark on most boots that identifies the center of the boot. After my on hill balancing of my setup, I looked at the mark on the bottom of my Suzuka boots. That line now appears to be just about dead center over the bindings. In retrospect it probably should have occurred to me sooner that I was not centered on my board. But since I rarely spend any time just riding flat on the board, I did not notice this heel side bias. For future reference, does anybody know just where the centerline is for the TD-2 Bindings? It looks to me as though it does not quite bisect the logo evenly.

Have you tried to carve in your soft setup? Have you read all of the tec articles here on Bomber? If you can carve in a soft setup, then I would say it is an easy transition to the hard setup. However there is a tremendous difference between learning the basics of a new discipline and the mastery of it. I see that from your posts you are trying to hook up with other carvers. That is the best thing you could do. The next best thing to do is read everything here in the tec articles, and then read everything at the carvers almanac. These two resources will answer many of your questions.

Where did you get the spin bindings? Those look like great fun.

Conditions were excellent all day! Very good time at Summit.

Like your ideas Andrea ! Looks like Aaron and I will be up at Summit tomorrow. Maybe we will see you Wolfman.

It is funny you should mention BTS. I am using the Suzuka with all yellow springs. I was just thinking that part of my problem might be related to not having enough pre load on the springs. I will have to carank them up a little and see if that makes some difference. Of course at 200 pounds I might have to go to the blue springs. I need more days on the slopes just to dial in the setup. Can't wait to have every thing working together..... So many things to consider, cant, stance width, lift, angles, boot bias, boot stiffness, spring stiffness .....aaaaahhhhhhhh! Stop the madness!!!!

Aaron, don't despair! As of 12:15 today, Summit reports 1-2 inches of new snow have now accumulated with more to follow. Monday looks promising. What do you think?

I appreciate the responses. This board is a titanal. I still have limited experience in carving. I have had a hard setup for a while, but until last year, I was just frustrated at a lack of progress. Then I found Bomber, made some friends, and finally figured out what I should be doing to progress. I am sure some of my problems initiating turns are related to poor tecnique. I am just trying to decide how much of my problem is me and how much is my set up on my board ;). So, from the posts, the consensus is that on the titanal AM, I will probably get the best over all response by centering on the inserts rather than centering on the effective edge. I guess I will just keep palying with it till I get it right .

I have been trying to find my sweet spot on my new Titanal 177 AM. Per Bruces instructions I started out with the middle inserts. He said if I had any trouble initiating turns to start moving them foward. Well I have been out three times so far this season and have shifted my bindings foward each time. Every time I do this it gets a little easier to turn. I have ended up with my front bindings just about all the way foward. I was worried that I might be too far foward for the board, so I finally got out the tape measure to see just what my setback was. I was surprised to find that even as far foward as I was set, with my 19.5" stance width, I was still about 1/4" setback. I am curious to see where other Coiler AM riders ended up with setback. The typical conditons I ride in are mostly man made hardpack that passes for snow here in sunny so cal. Even though it feels a little better to me with minimal setback, should I try to get comfortable with more setback?

Welcome to Bomber Robert! Had a great time with all of you guys. Hope we can do this again soon. By the way, "Erin" spells his name "Aaron". But he is far too polite to correct anybody .

Love that Ruskola Red!

Have had no luck with the small radios. Way too many people in so cal playing with them. Cell phone works best on our local hill.

Just talked with ovr. We plan on meeting at 6:30 in the Burger King parking lot by Wall Mart at the bottom of Hwy 330. He tells me that Gdboytyler has plans to be up at Summit for the 1st too. Looks good for a gathering . See you all up the hill!

Merry Christmass to you all from sunny Southern California! It is 9:00, and allready 60 degrees with a slight breeze. I think I will work on my tan today. My pass won't let me carve over Christmass break, so I might as well enjoy the sun.

If you are not sitting back on the board, and you still can't get out of a carve, you might try shifting your bindings slightly foward. This will help you to initiate turns. Of course, tecnique might be the problem :rolleyes:, and only time and effort will fix that!

Fill out your profile so we know where you are riding. Most people on this board would be happy to take a look at your setup and give a few tips to help you on your learning curve if we happen to be at the same place at the same time. Check the Ride Board section of this site for other carvers riding in your area. Failing that, have you read Jack's info on setting up your plate bingings? http://www.bomberonline.com//articles/setup.cfm A wider stance might help you feel more balanced on your board. Are your TD-2's set up correctly? You usually want to start with a little lift on the toes of your front foot and a little lift at the heel of the rear boot to start. This would allow a slightly wider stance with comfort. Do you know if you have canted your bindings? If you are experiencing boot out, than it is time to start shifting to higher angles. Mostly , you just need to ride. Hook up with an experienced rider to eliminate any of the obvious set up problems, then go ride.