V*L*A*D

I recommend coarse base-structure, esp. good, cross-hatched rilling

If that shell is PE (polyethylene, and I think it likely is...) epoxy won't bond with it. This is why epoxy base repairs rarely work without sawdust or cloth between the P-tex (polyethylene) and the epoxy;)

Hey- i'm here all week, try the veal, tip your waitress.....

Absolutely brilliant post. thank you, Jay

Excellent question- Yes, they will. Just keep the rivets at the litle oblong cuff-angle adjusters

purchase (they're cheap) or borrow (friendly neighborhood body shop) a rivet-gun and river them into the cuff angle of your choice. I always riveted my race boots (cuff angle, not forward lean or range) so as to avoid such issues. cuff angle, incidentally, and "cant" are two totally different things, regardless of what some manufacturers stamp on the adjusters on thier boots- ...actual "canting" is a strictly underfoot process that cuff angle cannot change. If you have no luck finding a rivet gun, you can borrow mine, i have couple cheapies laying around.... jay

roll 'em in a nice plastic bag, and toss 'em in your hardboot shells for the summer. ...remove the boot-liners and keep those with your winter clothes, away from possible vermin. I used to actually just snap my bindings (sans board) TO my boot shells, with the fasteners duct-taped in a little roll inside the shells, then I'd hang them like that from a string looped through the rear bail:biggthump .

That's good news, as your asymmetry, then, isn't too hideous. If it were, you'd likely see the compensatory rotation and cant. Your asymmetry is similar to mine, with the longer L. leg (I blame society, or at least that badly fractured R. leg when i was 14). my own, very unprofessional opinion is that you'll do fine without trying to correct this via artificial means. sometimes 'lifting' such a minor irregularity creates greater problems for the associated soft tissues through constant adjustment. You can always simply purchase a set of Dr. Scholl's insoles and wear one, or both (one flipped over) in your right shoe for a few days, and see if this alleviates any attendant issues. Not radical enough to do real damage, but enough to give you an idea of your candidacy for lifting. not sure if you wear custom footbeds, but a set does wonders for small asymmetries. I like superfeet corks, i was trained in setting them up, and I've found that cheap-ass pseudo-birckenstocks from Target ("tar-Jhay"), w/the straps and outsoles removed, and heated in a toaster oven at low for 20 minutes, can do great things, as well... but then, that's just me-:D

yes, leaving the bindings on promotes binding "suck", due to the unlike expansion and contraction of your deck and your bindings... but who cares? You might, when you consider that, in keeping the inserts filled, the metals then expand only outward, against the board's core. this creates tiny spaces in the insert-core interface. It is a great idea to remove bindings, though, if only to preserve the thread interface of the fasteners, which nearly always will have unlike metallic coatings (if even only slightly so) which will create a state of electrolytic oxidation. Hey- removing the bindings for the summer can't hurt, right? hit your threads with a light coating of WD40 while you're at it. WD40 has no petroleum ingredients which mught degrade certain materials on your deck. the moniker "WD", incidentally, came from the government contractor who developed it, long ago, for Water Displacement be kind to your slumbering deck.

Johan- One of the two mitigating factors which crossed me over to 'boarding, from ski racing, in the 80s, was my stack of knee injuries (9 surgeries...what a moron), and my asym leg length. With skis, it's an immense issue, as one ski will always turn more easily than the other, thereby making one turn easier than the other. being as both legs stay on one board in 'boarding, I felt less constrained by this anomaly. Uneven leg length is far more common than most realize (I've encountered it more often than not in coaching and bootfitting)- a halfway decent coach can see it in a skier in about 4 turns. In many cases (certainly my own) it's the result of femoral fractures in still-developing legs. The hand-in-hand issue with this, and the chicken-and-egg vary widely, is hip canting and hip rotation. stand up, away from the keyboard for a minute, close your eyes, bounce on your knees and ankles for a moment, shake out your arms, and let them hang by your sides, at rest. now, open your eyes (umm...AFTER you've read all this) and look at your hands, keeping them hanging limp... is one in front of your hips and one behind? This suggests a rotational issue with your hips, which is likely related to a leg length difference (although not neccesarily so). this syndrome is far-too-common in aboarders, for obvious reasons. it's also one of the reasons I encourage serious riders to spend their Summers away from the snowboard...It's good to allow the discs to decompress some, and also to allow the varioius muscles of the lower back to relax over time. (Qui Gong tui na massage is outstanding in acceleration of this relaxation..) anyway- look into stretching exercises for your lower back, with that leg-length asymmetry. The argument for and against using a 'riser' under the 'short' leg is compelling on both ends. I'm all for it, esp. if you intend to accomodate the assyemetry in your off-board life, as well. I was so-driven to consider leg-length surgery at one point (whereby the femur of one leg has a section removed and it's reattached, so as to allow it to refuse)...but my difference is pretty slight. Look at the soles of your street shoes and check the wear pattern , much as you would on your car's tires. similar show patterns reveal pathologies similar to those of tires....alignment IS alignment, esp. wherever rubber meets the road. let me know what your wear patterns look like on highly-used shoes. -Jay (yes, M*A*S*H)

..sounds like phil worked with a better school, and this fact may even be the result of his own tenure, there. I, too, wish that I were wrong on this point for the majority of the time. unfortunately, my observations show otherwise. hey- I remove my board at times, too- in the situations to which phil alludes. A bad instructor is NOT, generally, better than a well-intentioned friend. That's the slogan of the industry "union" (;) ). I've seen first-timers come away from far too many lessons with horrific new habits, unfortunately. further- asking locals who the best instructor choices are will typically only tell you which instructors buy more rounds for their pals at the bar, or which instructors ride rails with the most style....great attributes, both, but they don't ensure a solid lesson. precious few locals have much insight into what makes a good beginner lesson- most locals are concerned with terrain, snow conditions and avoiding the crowds. few hang out and watch the beginner hill. I've no doubt that Phil is among the very good ones out there; unfortunately, this prediction doesn't neccesarily place him in the majority. I wish that it did.

genius.jack:biggthump

I disagree- There are, frankly, more really bad snowboard instrcutors out there than good ones, these days. Observe a few classes, find the one in which the instructor does not take his/her board off for most of the beginner class, and book a private lesson with that professional. when you see the instructor who assembles a group of students, sitting on the snow, and proceeds to lecture them, run, do not walk, far away.

Actually, I spell it that way most of the time, as well. Not sure why- there has to be some recurrent precedent somewhere. Better than spelling it "skies".....;)

...I'm still wondering what's up with the fat "skiis" with the twin is...