leeho730

My guess is that it's alpine board with rounded nose and tail and perhaps with different flex pattern.... Swoard goes AM! But we will have to wait until Nov...

I really like their products (I have OS2 FR2), but their customer service (or lack thereof) scares me. I had some dealings with Catek in the past, FR2 took more than a month to ship. Scott was super helpful at some point (not charging freight fee etc) though... Perhaps Catek should start selling their products at BOL! (just kidding... )

Would love to see him! I'm heading there next week with my alpine setup (swoard).

Oh, not this one?

I think I've seen it somewhere. It was pretty weird, utilizing some kind of hydraulic pressure between two large baseplates. Am I correct? The overall binding height looked pretty low as well. I'm wondering how heavy the whole machinery is going to be...

I can do limited EC turns on Prior ATV, but narrow sidecut (9m) is a BIG disadvantage. Too much speed was bled during the turn. Donek also has EC-minded snowboard called blade. You can go for 170 and follow weight guideline for 168 Swoard. And it's US $700.

Yes. For now. Then maybe I'll try to carve and link some seriously tight G-force style turns on steep narrow icy trails. I saw someone doing it, and gosh that was impressive!

Ah. Maybe she was one of the two female carvers (I suspect one was from Europe, though) I saw this season in North Island. Carvers are rare in NZ, female carvers even more. Please ask her if she remembers a small carver who were clad in grey-black from head to toe, riding red alpine snowboard and doing eurocarving in Turoa this season. If she remembers, then please send her my best wishes. :) I might need shoulder reconstruction.... :( Won't take long to get it approved (in a matter of weeks) but it sucks to leave work for a few weeks.

I'm sorry to hear that. You could try to contact Michael Moore to make those companies cover for your injury. Or... Next time, come to New Zealand! We have universal accident insurance scheme (which might change since right-wing conservative party took power and they wish to privatise it) so if you break a leg while carving in New Zealand ski field we WILL cover for your surgery and hospital care. ;) Excesses are relatively small (I paid NZ$40 each time I saw a doctor when I dislocated my shoulder twice) doctors usually don't refuse treatments (they've got no reason to refuse, after all). Getting cast? I have dislocated my ankle when I was 16 while playing basketball and the xray and cast was done on the same day, despite that fact that my family did NOT have health insurance at that time. Only had to pay around NZ$100, I remember. The only problem is, our ski fields aren't good for carving... :(

A small tip: Using small sandblaster that some dentists use, such as MicroEtcher (below), helps adhesion when used with 90- or 100-micron aluminium oxide powder. Can improve bonding between metal and resin immensely (twice or more), and takes only a few seconds. Also removes any loose debris and is not aggressive like typical industrial sandblaster so it won't pucture thin metal layer or topsheet. Ideal for small applications such as the case above or fixing small delam... Problem? You need to buy an air-compressor, not to mention acquiring microetcher handpiece which can cost more than $1000. Therefore, you will need a dentist who has it, is either a skier or a carver and is a good friend of yours... I was lucky! ;)

I suppose it depends on the boots you're considering and your foot shape. I'm 25.6 wearing size 25 for T700. Due to my foot shape (width E coupled with big wide toes) it's the smallest size I can go. Probably not feasible in your case but I'm sure someone knows better than me... :o

Dunno about it... my boards are swoard and atv with angles 48 and 45 at the rear respectively, and the centering the boots to the binding (more specifically, baseplate of Td2) didn't work for me.

I've seen racing the other day featuring some FIS rankers and many of them were using Kessler (no surprise here) and F2 race ti. Head stratos was another fav. I was about to buy race ti until I've heard that Patrice Fivat broke 3 heel bails in a single season Why can't they make ti bail! Arrrgh! For me, availability of spare parts (and ti bail, not to mention excellent customer service) was the main reason I chose TD2. Patrice Fivat over extremecarving.com broke 3 bails in a season. You might want to make sure that you can get some spare bails before you buy. Catek is selling them but they haven't got spare parts for F2 bindings yet and Scott is not sure when he'll get some.

Masahiko, you can try centering boots to the board instead ;) What I've found was that trying to center the boots to the TD2 baseplate was actually quite inaccurate...

I haven't tried standard ones. I've got FR2 and OS2 with D3 elastomers on both bindings and I'm satisfied with them. Therefore, for me it was worth it.

I can confirm that it is possible to do toe side EC turn with soft boot setup... with ATV and FR2.

Thanks! I'll shave off 3~3.5mm from catek plate then... :)

Hi, I'd like to know the thickness of TD2 base plate... was searching the forum but no answer. Thanks!

Tried both method. Putting kingpin first will sometimes make kingpin spin, not to mention official instruction did not prevent kingpin from loosening, which was this: "Place the Binding Plate into the Tilt Cups. Use the 6mm Hex Key to tighten the King Pin to the Disc. Use the 4mm Hex Key to adjust the Binding Plate to the desired tilt by turning the Tilt Screws so that they each just barely contact the Tilt Cups. Then turn each Tilt Screw an equal number of turns clockwise so that the Binding Plate and Power Plate/Disc are securely fastened together." Basically, Catek's instruction suggests that we tighten kingpin first, then adjust tilt/cant using tilt screws. Didn't work for me...:( Then following carver's almanac's instruction (and tilt calculator), kingpin became noticably more stable and resistant to being loosened :) For me, I start to tighten Kingpin only after tilt screws are set so that they have desired lift/cant and that the baseplate 'float' over the power plate, then rotate them 1/2 turns (to prevent 'mark' on the topsheet), then tighten kingpin, then rotate them 1/2 further. Believe me, we live in the world where many people do things other than manufacturer's instruction to improve things. Overclocking, modding etc. For example, one of the adhesives I'm using states on the manufacturer's instruction that it should be dried by air blowing for 15 seconds... but air drying it for 40 seconds achieves much better adhesion. Another adhesive needs to be applied 2 times, but applying it 4 times noticably improves adhesion. Both manufacturers are some of the biggest and most respected companies in the world! In the end, whatever works better! ;)

I found this advice from Carver's Almanac helpful: "The order in which screws are tightened is important: First, set the position of the quick cant screws to the desired settings to achieve the cant/lift that you want. Then, tighten the kingpin. Then, tighten each cant screw an additional 1/2 turn to add tension to the kingpin so that it doesn't rattle loose. To remove, first loosen the cant screws, then the kingpin." http://www.alpinecarving.com/binding_model.html Now I check kingpins once a day, and in most cases I don't have to tighten at all. "- Don't tighten the kingpin first--you run the risk of putting a nice cutout on your topsheet. The cutout will be precisely the diameter of the kingpin.." I also agree with that :(

Yeah, I have FR2 pro limited. Best softboot carving binding, period. I also modded them with burton capstrap and they're really comfy. I use 49/45 with 2/2 cant/lift at rear binding on Prior ATV, 47.5cm stance width. Almost feels like I'm carving on hardboot setup, but is only good for on piste. And I just received an email from Scott. He apologized for late reply and said he would ship them as soon as possible. Good! :)

If you are referring to this: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Real-Black-Carbon-Fibre-Sheet-60x30cm-2x2-twill-3M-Boat_W0QQitemZ230306500475QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CarsParts_Vehicles_BoatEquipment_Accessories_SM?hash=item230306500475&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1299%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318 "This sheet is only 0.3mm thick, so it can easily be cut with normal scissors, or a sharp craft knife." I'm not entirely sure 0.3mm thick carbon sheet would impact much on torsional stiffness, but I guess someone knows better. I suspect this carbon sheet is mainly for cosmetic only. This looks better: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Carbon-Fibre-Sheet-1-8x350x150-mm-100-Carbon-Fiber_W0QQitemZ220265614669QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_ToysGames_RadioControlled_JN?hash=item220265614669&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1299%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318 It's got 1.8mm thickness and made for strength, not to mention the seller has thicker ones (up to 6mm), but it's short and rather narrow, I recon. And the seller doesn't seem to sell any sheet bigger than 370x170mm. Just my 2 cents.:)

Yeah, same. Scott contacted me 2 weeks ago regarding extra sole block for OS2 (and I authorized him to use my credit card for those plus shipping), then no contact ever since. Funny thing is, I was trying to post a thread on their own forum, but they wouldn't allow me to log in! I tried to create new user name, but I got "Sorry, but this username has been disallowed" message, no matter the username (I tried to create an accounts using different user names as well). I also tried to retreive the password but it only gave me "Fatal Error" message. So Catek is not allowing users to post on their forum. I do not know what's going on, but it doesn't look good....

Yeah, I'm a bit worried about buying from CATEK. People at Bomber Online, particularly Michelle, have been super helpful and was pleasure to deal with :) CATEK? Ordered OS2 in August, no response to several emails and voice mails, then all of a sudden they're all shipping in Nov I also bought FR2 limited last year and the buckle went away in 10 days. Submitted User filled Contact Us form requesting replacement buckle this August but no reply yet. I was about to cancel the order for OS2, I mean, I was waiting for 2 months so I was being quite frustrated and worried at the same time, then CATEK's shipping, then WHAM! TD3 came out! Bugger! I don't know... I guess August is not the best time since it's not a ski season yet... but hey, Bomber Online has being very helpful in October with prompt reply. I'm switching to Bomber now, knowing that if I need part I can rely on them...

Sorry, John, I've decided to spend the season in North Island this winter. I'm still going to Queenstown but I'll be gone by Wednesday the 13th. I can still give you a tour of Wanaka, sort out accomodation and transport to ski field but will not be able to snowboard with you. :( You're still more than welcome to come down to NZ and ski in North Island; I'll pick you up from the airport (as long as it's Wellington ;)), sort out your accomodation according to your need (backpacker or hotel), and give you a tour of North Island ski fields (www.mtruapehu.com). They're as big as Treble Cone, and Turoa has got some really good wide slope, although they tend to get chopped up pretty quickly during the weekend. But I'm more than happy to buy the snowboard from you if you come to NZ. Please let me know when you're going to come. Otherwise I'll wait for 3 years and buy a new snowboard from you. My email address is leeho730@yahoo.com, should you wish to contact me. Thanks :) For me hardboots have been superior for carving at high speed, though... ;) I also tried ATV on powder day at the backcountry. The board sank a bit and wasn't as floaty as wide freeride boards (waist >25cm), but still fun.