leeho730

You can buy Ibex from bomberonline.com and Snowpro from the following two venders: www.upzboots.com www.donek.com Donek sells a starter "package" which include rec pilot and snowpro for $615 if you are also looking for an inexpensive starter board....

I'll probably never marry... you guys are scaring the s#!t out of me

You might want to consider Swoard Dual... It's essentially wide (waist width>24cm) freeride-shaped alpine board that is versatile enough to be used with both softboots and hardboots, probably the closest thing to Ride Timeless. Only prob is, you're limited to either 158 or 168 in terms of length. I use 158, I love it. But you can't go wrong with Donek and Prior either.

Those look like 2002 deeluxe indy boots (AF700) with RAB mechanism. The label "2002 Salt Lake City" was to commemorate 2002 winter olympics held in salt lake city in 2002. You got that for $150? Damn good deal! My suggestion is to replace RAB with BTS ASAP

Hi, Nice to see another Aussie carver! I live in Kalgoorlie, WA. 2. What is the model of the deeluxe boots? The new one costs +450 dollars so that sounds like a bargain to me.

32 forecast - stiffer than focus boa; discontinued after 07-08 season. K2 T1 - stiff, highly adjustable inner, go for the ones made before 07-08 season. Salomon malamute - I somehow managed to soften them really badly after one season.

What I wish to do is to modify base plate of TD3 so that I can mount TD3 on the plate without using cant disks and e-rings, so that the overall binding height will be kept as low as possible. Doable, it's going to cost...

I've used level , flexmeter, dakine, and wristguards from other brands that I forgot... I quite like level biomex guard because the biomex guard is prob the least cumbersome to wear and just as effective. At the monent I'm using biomex guard on marmot glove and it feels quite comfy. I've also used flexmeter as well (both medium and large). I do not doubt its effectiveness, but it was simply too thick. If you want to choose the good wristguard, choose the one that is not too rigid..

I guess I'll have to lose extra 3lb next winter...

It's probably a good idea to buy a new liner. In my opinion, unless the secondhand boots are in really good condition, using an old liner is like using a secondhand underwear. The liner would have been soaked in sweat which contains urea (as in urine). I wouldn't go there myself. Boards do get softer after use but unless you try it yourself it's kinda hard (if not impossible) to assess it online. Of course you should be weary of older boards especially if the price's too good to be true... You might also want to look at the condition of the edge as well since some snowboarders, like me, sharpen the edge everyday so the edge can wear out relatively quickly. I believe it will be pretty safe if you buy from here. It seems to me that majority of the users here sell their boards not because they're so worn out but because they simply have too many stuffs in their garage and/or their spouses force them to sell ;) I've seen some really good bagains but since I live in Australia... Hope this helps :-D

Shame, Nissan patrol short-wheel base might have fitted the bill perfectly. Full 4WD, but not so overwhelmingly big and could fit into just about any garage. Fits 4 people quite comfortably (well, at least according to my cousin and his partner). With 4.2 diesel turbo I could overtake many cars on the mountain road to the ski field. Tow towing capacity is rated 7,700lbs (or 3,500kg metric). Built like a brick, I know quite a few people who ran their patrol without any problem in the past 10 years. For example, my friend has been running his old Patrol (manufactured in 1990) for over 200,000 miles and only had to change the suspension once. And he tows boats. Bloody solid. The 'supposedly' modern 3.0L diesel engines seem to be plaqued with problems. Good old days... People don't seem to make stuffs to last long these days (well, except for Bomber, of course ;)). Based on your options.... I would probably go for Toyota. One of my client is a mechanic for emergency breakdown services and according to him, Toyota cars seemed to be the most reliable ones in his 30-plus years of experience in the industry. I wouldn't touch Jeep unless it's Wrangler. Hoda Ridgeline would be interesting, too. How about Mitsubishi Triton? 6,600 lbs towing capacity, the only pickup truck with electric stability control (well, at least in Australia). Mitsubishi is not known for good suspension (you might have to change every 60 or 70,000 miles) but otherwise quite good.

What do you mean by, 'Aussie run'? Just curious, that's all. :)

Interesting... I wanted to do the OPPOSITE! The toe buckle of new Track boots would often get in the way of toe clips (I wear size 25), so I was looking for old Deeluxe parts. Do you know any vender that may have stocks for old Deeluxe boot parts?

Yes it will.... after 50,000 years. Unbeknown to many people, we are in fact living in an ice age, which means that global temperature will keep rising for the next 50,000 years until another ice age hits. And we are accelerating the rise in temperature, which isn't helping. Global warming is inevitable. Sooner or later there will be no snow except in very high altitude. All we do is to slow the acceleration caused by human, nothing more. I'm just glad that I was born in the current ice age, and will probably die before ski fields start closing ;) And yes I agree it's the cultural thing. We Aussies are the second biggest offender of carbon dioxide emission per capita, after US. One of the reasons is because even a mum who hardly goes off-road drives big 4WDs in a city. Duh!

Perhaps the most relevant research that can answer your question is done by Flørenes et al in the Scandanivian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, June 18 2010. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20561277) Basically, the study suggests that among FIS athletes, snowboarding, Alpine and freestyle skiing (up to 1/3 of athletes suffer from injury) are the most dangerous sports, and puts Nordic skiing as the discipline with lowest-risk of having injury. The injury rate among snowboarders, alpine skiers and and freestyle skiers were similar, although alpine skiers seem to suffer less injury than the other two groups. It is not certain the difference in injury rate among those three groups are statistically significant. There are other studies done but I have limited access to journal articles...

Thank you! I was really close to letting go of my FR2 and OS2... Now I can get some spare parts for fr2

Hi patrolla, Where do you snowboard? I live in Western Australia and I've recently ordered donek fc metal 163 which seems to have the dimention you are looking for (20cm waist width, versatility; sidecut radius is slightly wider, though). The only problem is, I'm 145lbs so it might be too soft for you. I'll be in NZ between 25th to 31th July or give me a buzz and I'll see if I can travel to the eastern states so that you can demo the board. You can also try sidewinder if you're interested ;)

I've been using both samsung led lcd tv (series 9) and sony led lcd tv (xbr), both 46 inch. Sony led seems a bit washed up whereas samsung seems to have better black. They're both great but if I have to choose one I'd go for samsung ones, they're less expensive than sony tvs and have better black. ... then, you have plasma tvs which are almost half the price of led lcd tvs, and led lcd tvs are developing so fast that last year's technology seems almost obsolete! It depends, if you want absolute best go for led lcd but if you plan to change tv every 3 or 4 years then plasma tv is a good alternative to led lcd tvs. Hope this helps :-)

Hi, I am considering buying my first metal board, and donek fc metal is my first choice (I also like to buy virus ufc, but it's too pricy at the moment). I am 5'7" 145lbs and I want to have a board that can do all: an all-round carver that can do tight sl turn to long gs turn and can be used in some narrow trails. I was initially thinking about buying 163 but Sean also mentioned 167 and I've heard 171 is also an excellent ride. Which size do you think will fit my spec and purpose? Any help will be appreciated, and would love to hear some feedback from riders with similar weight. Thanks!

I'll definitely buy a set as well. Or if this doesn't go into production, then I'm more than willing to buy the prototype...

1) style: all-mountain recreational carving or eurocarving 2) flex (eg. SW, BTS) 3) metal 4) artificial core (but wood has been performing well, so why fix when it ain't broken?) Note: what I mean by "all-mountain recreational carving" is the emergence of freecarve boards with width >20cm such as UFC or widening of some of freecarve boards eg. Donek FC, Prior WCR or FLC etc...

I wish I could share your optimism. I, too, would like to believe that global warming, AKA climate change, is not happening... Wouldn't it be wonderful? We will be able to snowboard in the next 50 years like we can today! I can also keep driving my favorite 4WD (nissan patrol 4 litre diesel) and feel completely good about it! But, unfortunately, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), based on scientific research, conclude that global warming is happening mainly because of human activity (http://unfccc.int/files/press/backgrounders/application/pdf/press_factsh_science.pdf). For more information, please visit http://unfccc.int/press/items/2794.php. But basically they're saying than the temperature will go up by 3 degrees by the end of this century if we don't do a friggin' thing about it. Don't wanna think about what that will do to a ski field... :( ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There is no known definition of "real scientist." Skepticism, as you have mentioned, is probably based on 'falsifiability' model of scientific method, but it too has received criticism. Actually it gets quite complex. Hell, you become philosophical about it, you will be surprised to find that no one has so far been able to clearly define what is science and what is non-science. Maybe the current theory of "global warming" is a paradigm; if enough evidence against the global warming theory is gathered, paradigm shift will happen, causing the current theory to go away. AFAIK, however, there has been insufficient data to cause such paradigm shift, and it is likely to set in as a scientific 'fact,' such as Copernican heliocentrism (note 1). All I know is that those so-called "scientists" are able to deal with observable data far better than the rest of us. They're the ones who gathered the data about nuclear fission that made atomic bomb possible. They're the one who made all the the weapon systems that made US the greatest military force in history. In short, they know more about the fact than us. And if someone does not heed them, for example regarding global warming, she does so at her own peril, IMHO. ;) Note 1: well, we now know that the Sun is definitely not the centre of the universe, but it was much more closer to the fact than the previous theory that the Earth was the centre of the universe... (note 2) Note 2: well, in truth, scientific 'fact' changes with each paradigm shift, i.e. there is no absolute truth. For example, in 16th century, scientific fact suggested that the sun was the centre of the universe, which we now know it's just plain BS. However, I believe the current paradigm, the global warming theory, is closer to the truth than the other one....

Well... US $1000 per year has given me 2nd best health insurance plan in the company I use. Funny, the company claims that they are 'not-for-profit' health insurance society... It incluses almost everything (dental, prescription, a pair of glasses, even massage therapy) except for cosmetic surgeries and a private room in a hospital. The plan also covers pre-existing conditions, although there is one year waiting period for them. Interestingly, they didn't even ask my pre-existing conditions when I applied... And the excess is capped to AU $200 per year for the hospital and surgeries. And I can choose whichever private hospital I want to go to. But people still complain that health insurance is too expensive here, so that some would rather save money and pay for treatments only. We also have universal health care (Medicare) so that life-threatening conditions can be treated in public hospitals for free. So...

It's metal...

+1 About swoard... I believe width helps with toeside turn where a rider lay down during a turn. Also makes the whole carving experience a bit relaxed. Good for beginners as well. But I do agree about the slow edge-to-edge transition. And on not-so-good conditions, the board seems to struggle a bit, but that's just my thought. I've been using swoard as my main board but I'm also considering another board to nail some narrow steep sections. Perhaps donek fc (163 or 171) with softened flex will fit the bill?