Puddy Tat

My apologies if you misinterpreted what I was saying. I was not flaming softboots. I did mention that I was carving in size 12 softboots, my only issue was that everytime I really laid into a heelside carve, the heel cup would lift the board edge completely out of the snow resulting in the back of my melon impacting the snow. Rather takes the fun out of it. I, like b0ardski, suggested ec might want to move his bindings to more alpine angles. Then later I said if he is enjoying this he might want to consider a full-on alpine set-up as a second board. The 132 cm SB board that I wrote I was using for "screwing around" on was intended to mean light carving, boxes, and other jibby stuff. That board actually carves suprisingly well for being 132cm. It feels somewhat like riding a wakeboard. By the modifications that you make to your softboot set-up (third strap, and locking of the highback), I would hazard a guess that you actually find a softboot set-up not supportive enough for the type of carving you want to do. If your email was turned on I would have replied to you there as I don't really want to derail this thread any further than it has been. Drop me an email if you want to continue this discussion. Cheers, Dave

Like boardski said above, changing the stance angles to a more alpine set-up will help to put your body in a position which makes the toeside and heelside turns feel more symetrical. This helps you get away from breaking at the waist like you are in the first picture you posted 4 or 5 messages back. You'll note from the picture of Jack Michaud in the first message in this post that his upper body is actually bending away from the snow at the waist. While in your picture you are bending towards the snow at the waist (breaking). When you bring your hips away from the snow the angle at which you apply pressure to the snow changes. This actually reduces the downward force you are generating (relative to the boards base). Interestingly enough I thought I looked amazing at carving until a buddy of mine took some pictures this year. I still thought I looked great until I looked closer a couple of days later and started noticing all the small body errors I was making. I was also breaking at the waist though not to the extent you are here. Correcting that alone helped make a huge difference in my carving towards the end of the season. You obviously like the carving sensation, or you'd be posting pics of yourself on rails, jibs, and other features so you might want to consider a second board purely as an AM carving set-up. Once you get comfortable with it I think you'd be suprised how much more often you go to that stick rather than the softboots. I personally find that a really stiff SB set-up actually removes all the reasons that most boarders prefer SB over HB. They certainly aren't any easier to walk in than HB anyway. You'll find that having two-differently performing boards is actually a nice thing to have. It starts giving you more tuned performance based on how you feel like riding that day. Cheers, Dave

I agree with the above two posts. You've pretty much taken a softboot set-up as far as it will go. I've got size 12 softboots and I boot out heelside anytime I start really laying into carves and forget what I am riding. Happened at least twice last year on two different softboot set-ups. Looking at the overhang of your bindings I would guess that you probably have similar issues on heelside turns, which is possibly why the four pictures posted are all toeside turns. I was going to have a really wide board custom built to compensate for my bigfoot sized feet but I've had such a good time carving on hardboots over the last season that I'm going to mount TD3 step-ins on the board I use as an AM board ('94 CK Slopestyle 171cm) instead. If I break it I'll buy an actual AM alpine board to replace it. I'll still have a softboot board (Nidecker Nano 132 cm), but I'll essentially only be using that set-up for screwing around on. Cheers, Dave

Once again I realize I am truly an amateur at this. I can't even destroy these gloves given three months... I need a board with a larger SCR so I can lay it out longer. :rolleyes:

I've got a pair of those in the full gauntlet version. They are awesome! Got them a touch large and throw a set of liners in when the temps get really chilly. They hold up really well. I recieved them in January and they don't even look used at the end of the season. Ok back to trying not to jack this thread.:D

Closest one is actually the somewhat informal one-day Nakiska Expression Session organized by Riceball. Though it appears to be more of a get together than a sponsered event of any kind. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Check out Alberta Carving Club on Facebook for more info and carvers as well. It was held January 23rd or something like that this year. Missed it myself but I'd like to head down next year. Of course no demos etc... just riding.... maybe if enough people show up at this over the next couple of years somebody who makes boards would come out with some demos. Cheers, Dave. <-- 173cm Coiler Sctubby on order

I'm finished for this season, with 34 days of riding. I can't justify a day trip to the mountains on HB with my kids being 4 and 7. If you are still in the area look me up next season. Congrats on graduating I know what you mean about school eating up your life. Cheers Dave

Thanks for the help. And I apologize for not getting back to respond. Was working 16hr days at the beginning of the week and catching up on sleep at the end of the week. A pair of flow bindings sound like a good option for the Nidecker Nano. I'm liking Nidecker ACT1 bindings, and a Sasquatch in the mid 160 range would seem to be a good option to put under that binding. Anybody got any info on how they ride. I hear good things on here about Donek's alpine gear, but would be interested in info on how that board freerides. Thanks Dave

Added above. Interesting enough, I noticed that the softboots have almost the same overall length as my hardboots, meaning that the softboot and binding is close to 2.5 cm longer than the hardboot. The softboot in the binding measures ~34.5 cm.

I'm looking for all-mountain softboot binding and board suggestions. I've got three boards 1. Dedicated carver (currently an O2 F-67 , with TD3 Step-ins, UPZ RTRs, 58/58 angles) (173 cm Schtubby on order for Fall '09) 2. All-mountain (Burton Kelly Slopestyle 171cm, Nidecker ACT 1 bindings, Burton Freestyle Softboot 12/-6 angles) 3. Screwing around (Nidecker Nano 132cm, Nidecker Campus bindings, Burton Freestyle Softboot, 12/-6 angles) edit: I've got a US size 11 to 11 1/2 foot the UPZ RTRs are a Mondo 28; my Burton Freestyles are a size 12 (which are the smallest I could fit into). The overall boot length of the freestyle is ~32cm (this is slightly longer than the actual sole of the boot). When I want to have a dedicated carving day I go to the hardboots, however when I'm in the softies I like screwing around and getting all jibby with it even though I admittedly suck at freestyle. The problem is that even in the duck stance I ride in softboots its still fun to layout carves on groomers but everytime I start really enjoying the carving as soon as I push the board past about 45 degrees on heelside the heel cup of the binding lifts the board edge out of the snow. This proceeds to dump me on my butt and impact test my helmet. This is generally followed by a round of me cursing about how much softies suck. In 30+ days of riding this season this has happen twice so far this season; once on the Kelly board and once on the Nano board. In spite of laying it out on the carving board I have yet to have this problem in HB (of course there is no boot overhang). To bring my feet and bindings within the board edges I have to push the bindings angles past 45 degrees, which becomes useless for screwing around and getting all jibby. In the near future I'm going to replace my all-mountain board, and right now I'm seriously torn on whether to go with a wider alpine board and hardboot set-up or find the widest all-mountain softboot board I can find. I like the carving, and I like screwing around but I am getting really tired of slamming myself everytime I start to enjoy the carving in softies. This whole thing pisses me off because I'm held back by an equipment limitation rather than a technique limitation. It's like I have to remember not to carve just because I'm riding softies. First Question So what binding has the highest heelcup, and least increased bulk from the heel of the boot, but still allows enough lateral flex to have some fun. Second Question What's the widest all-mountain softboot board around 163-167cm length? And what is the waist width?

Ok while I don't yet have a Schtubby (but I do have one on order for the fall) I do have an O2 F-67 (circa '94). If I get aggressive with it the nose folds like a pair of twos in a poker game. A friend with an O2 Limited 173cm 12m SCR says his "rolls over and plays dead" on the steeps. Both boards are too soft to hold a carve at higher speeds or if handled agressively.

SOLD Bought for $270.00 at end of 07/08 season (2 days of riding) . Used mostly for freeriding with uppers completely loose. Put another 12-15 days on them this season. I'm selling them because I realized that why have a softboot that wants to be a hardboot when you've already got hardboots that you go to whenever you really want a carving day. The end state is that I only put on softboots when I'm screwing around. So I bought a pair of Burton Freestyles to replace these. I'll chuck in two spare laces for the boots and the new insoles from the Freestyles I just purchased to replace the Driver X's. $135.00 and you pay for the shipping. I'll ship them in the box from my freestyles. Drop me an email if you are interested. Dave

Yeah I just did this to my UPZ RTRs in the 10-24 hardware after receiving my Fintec heels and TD3s. Annoying thing are that the 10-24 t-nuts have a slightly larger topcap than an M5 t-nut. Hence it is much harder to get into the two front holes in each boot. Much cursing, swearing, and holding of the tongue (mine not the boots) in just the right position was required. I agree with the comment about watching the torque, I initially used a 10-24 washer and with the tnut in place it ate through the toe piece like it was going through butter, fortunately it was one of the ones towards the rear of the module. A 6mm washer seems to have a diameter closer to that of the hole though. I secured all the screws with blue loktite. Tried them out last weekend. Ok Ok the binding I was riding on was a '94 O2 (fritsche) binding with 6 deg inward canting, but I was amazed at the difference. I spent a couple of hours riding around with a silly grin on my face giggling like a school girl. I my TD3s. Now its all lift no cant As an aside I discovered that there must be angels as the heel bail on my front foot of the old O2 binding had slid out of its hold and jumped forward a centimeter into another notch on the binding without my noticing. The last time I had a really close look at that binding was the beginning of the season, . I've been on that board three or four times since then:eek:.

Same here. Though I slid an orthotic (sp?) molded specifically for my foot into the UPZs. They are amazing. As well I did some serious damage to an ankle in a fall bouldering 4 years ago, now the bone on my right inner ankle sticks out about 3 to 5 mm more than the left. A stiff boot (including hockey skates, and stiff hiking boots) will cause so much pressure on this point that I can't wear them. After being in the UPZ boot for about an hour on the first day the Flo liners molded themselves around the pressure point, and the pain in that location went away. I haven't had any pain there from the UPZ boots since. Dave

I had thought it was better to bevel the edge than detune. At least that way when you go to the edge there is something to grab. I'm riding mostly icy snow in around Edmonton, so I prefer to have as much bite as possible. I think I've got 1* bevel on the carving board, about 5* on the freeriding stuff. Dave

I wondered about these rockered boards. As tufty showed with his two attached pics we completely decamber our boards when we ride. Someone made a rocker in watersports comment as well. I spent one day wakeboarding last summer, and found carving around on the on water pretty easy. With the rocker inherent in the wakeboard all that was required to do to turn was to apply pressure onto the edge by leaning into it. While snowboarding I never ride a duck stance as it causes me a ridiculous amount of knee pain, however on the wakeboard I rode all day in duck with zero knee pain. I'm guessing this is due to the way I rotate my weight forward while carving a snowboard, that isn't required to carve a wakeboard. The recent resurgence of rockering started on park boards where duck stances dominate. I wonder if a rockered board is just easier to turn in a duck stance? Similar to the wakeboard can you now just pressure the edge to make it turn? Dave

Look familiar? I used to think it was rather stylish looking until I saw the beautiful "Alice in Wonderland" layout done on a Coiler in another thread. Its still got the original Oxygen (fritsche) bindings. I'm currently riding a set of UPZ RTRs, and I'm more than a little concerned that the board is going to be a little soft when I drop the TD3s and Fin-tec heels on it this year. Oh well only one season of babying it before I upgrade. I have these bindings maxed out for forward angle at 65/65. With any less angle and I can feel the heel of the boot dragging in the snow about 6" up the boot itself. I realize from the picture that it looks like the bindings are angled too high, but this isn't the case. It just turns out that it the the minimum I can ride with my boot size, and also the maximum the bindings provide. Thanks again to everyone who reassured me about the Coilers. I imagine Bruce would say thanks too.

I've seen posts that mention the stubby, and I like the look of it with the twin-tip hammerhead looking nose and tail. But there has been no mention of it on the Coiler site. Is it a dedicated hardpack carver, or an AM board. I'm not even sure what lengths Bruce builds it in. I'm really just looking for a dedicated carver that I can bury my shoulders onto the groom with on every corner. Because of the lack of info on the stubby I was leaning towards the RC 180. One of the reasons I leaned towards Coiler for the new board was the positive, vocal, and enthusiastic support people here give the brand. The second reason was that I'm ~200 lbs and if I aggressively shift my weight forward onto the nose of my Oxygen f-67 when I initiate a turn it will fold, in spite it being a 'freecarve' board. Apparently that's why the base is labelled "Caution! Ejector Seat" I am really looking forward to having a board for next season that is built for my weight and riding style. I'd do it this year but I've already ordered the TD3s and Fin-tec heels from YYZCanuck as this years upgrade. Dave

Thanks. I'll stick with the Coiler RC 180 I was thinking of. Thor, I wasn't actually in the ski shop, the guy lives in my neighbourhood. I happened to meet him and have the conversation at a Halloween Party our community was putting on a couple of weeks ago. This had just been bugging me for the past week or so. Cheers

I'm currently riding a '93 Oxygen F-67. I'm looking at getting a new board for the 09/10 season. I had pretty much settled on a Coiler RC 180, because of the high opinions everyone here seems to have of Coilers in general. However, a couple of weeks ago I had the owner of a local ski shop tell me that a bunch of guys in the Edmonton area had Coilers but they didn't hold up (no info on dates). He was suggesting the same group of people were now riding Voelkls. I strongly suspect he was feeding me a line of BS as he wasn't going to get a sale if I buy a Coiler, while he can order me a Voelkl RT through his shop. I was just wondering has anyone here ever had any durability issues with Coilers, or if these are old issues that Bruce has now solved. I know at one time Coiler had long lead times so I was going to look at ordering one of these in March/April to have it delivered for the 09/10 season. Any comments would be appreciated.

Gear. I've been updating both my hard and soft set ups over the past couple of years to the tune of about a grand a season. Last year boots, this year bindings. With the recent unveiling of the TD3s I'm glad everyone was sold out of TD2s when I started looking for end of season sales last April.

Pat, Looking at my post again it appears I was flaming the image you created. That wasn't my intent. The "that was painful" comment was directed at my extremely bad pun. Apologies, Dave

Nice photoshop job on the kitty by the way. Sent it to one of my jibber friends with the subject line "Cool cats ride alpine boards". Shouldn't the cat have been riding an orRennge Tiger board though. OK that was painful. I'll be leaving now. Cheers

I ride HB on my off days from work when my young kids (oldest is seven) are in school, and SB on a Nidecker nano on the weekends when I'm riding with the family. Cheers

You're killing me with the board porn here. This latest pic of the really shapely looking Coiler is actually standing beside a bed! Look at it, it's practically begging to be laid... deeply over into a turn that is.:rolleyes: Everytime I look at this picture I want to call Coiler and order my own 180 RC. Only problem being as I wouldn't get to ride it because my wife would break my legs, as I promised her I wouldn't buy a new carving board until the 09/10 season. Cheers