SunSurfer

Not tricky, you're just 17 years older and less flexible. Options: a) PSRs strap fix b) hamstring stretches c) buy yourself a pair of Intec equipped bindings. Do b & c and your back will thank you.

The qualification times for each rider and both courses is interesting data. Haven't done formal stat's on it but it fails an intra-ocular traumatic test for Red course being clearly faster at time of qualifying. That said, this race format sure raises the stakes in setting a qualifying time! It appeared that often the faster of any two riders in qualification chose the Red course for head to head racing. So why would they choose Red? Better light? more shade to keep the snow cooler and firmer? ????

Wintersteiger AG

Jim, those pic's are very significant in what they mean for riders wanting precise lift and cant while TD3s remain unavailable.

Look at it the other way. You accept the course favours the red course. The Korean on blue is essentially a match for Kosir on red in spite of that bias. So Kosir is robbed when the race is awarded to the Korean?

Put down that device/fondlepad in your hands. Go take a cold shower and a bromide! ;-)

Super G podium was even greater contrast, the speed suits minimise the masking effect of the clothing. This silhouette came from the Guardian website https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2018/feb/17/winter-olympics-day-eight-in-pictures#img-10 Women have a much greater range of lower limb angles, in part due to the shape of the female pelvis, and the femoral bicondylar (carrying) angle.

Institut für Forschung und Entwicklung von Sportgeräten (FES) plate - at this point design features are unclear, but looks a lot like an Allflex with an extra mechanism at the front. German team only available, until a sports spy dicovers the secret sauce! Plate material unclear ?alloy ?carbon. Used by the Germans for a 2 & 3 finish at the 2018 Olympic Women's PGS, and from the 2017-18 FIS World Cup

Hinges at the end of the plate get the stack height lower. Integrating hinge and slide into one mechanism tends to raise the stack height. FES appeear to have put the hinge and slide into series, rather than the slide underneath the hinge. This photo of Ramona Hofmeister (bronze mediallist) from the FIS SmugMug site at an earlier race shows the plate better. No obvious Allflex branding, but shape and central screw holes look a near match. Material??? Note the binding offset from each end of the plate, allows for the extra length mechanism at the front. Further pondering: If the constraint mechanism remains in the middle of the board but you allow more hinge movement just in the front half you get a flexier front half and in the rear you still have flex to a point then a locked flex/SCR combination.

I think you are too cynical Erik. :) The housing certainly conceals the mechanism from prying eyes, like ours. The women got the prototypes, the guys got the aerodynamic version. Now there's a surprise. Allflex already has a pivot at the front end of their plate. No. FES have decided that the semi-rigid alloy plate with hinges at each end concept can be improved. And like the Canadians at Vancouver with the Apex plate, they're trying to keep their powder dry.

My suspicion is that FES probably have a better idea than AllFlex does about what the AllFlex plate actually does.

See my first post after the one with pictures above, great minds......

Found a couple more photos of this new front end. Seems to be a german team thing.

Snowmatic also exhibited "troll" behaviour. I put him on my ignore list.

Daveo, Allflex plate plus something extra from the largest image I can find. Spot the semi-circular notch on the inside edge of the front boxes. Suggests this is a mechanism for getting more board bend while using an Allflex, to accommodate the front hinge effectively sliding forwards. Makes me wonder if they have disconnected the arms that lie under the plate, and removed the constraint that Allflex normally produces.

Look for photos of the 3 female medallists holding their boards. I think you'll conclude the plate you thought was different is an Allflex variant. Notable that of the 6 medallists, only the Korean was on Kessler. Two F2s, two Oxess, and an SG. But all looked like they were on Allflex plates.

Check out the F2 Snow website. F2 have a branded version of the Allflex plates in their catalogue this year.

Unlike soft boots a hard boot setup has minimal lateral flex at ankle level. Finding a setup where your knees can bend naturally with minimal lateral pressure is likely to be at least part of the solution. Lots of different ways of achieving that.

I didn't know of the Tognar product and the 0.5 degree increments to 3 degrees. For someone wanting to build accurate lift and canting for F2 bindings this would be really useful. Thanks.

False dichotomy. Both. Thought I suspect that EL has an uncommon mix of factors. Wealthy parents bankrolled her until sponsors came on board. She liked both sports from very early on. She is an amazing athlete, though the same could probably be said for anyone winning gold on skis or snowboard. And just to stir the pot. It helps the cross training if you learn how to alpine snowboard like a skier, not like a butt hanging out tailside snowboarder. >:)

^ no diving board effect if you make sure the axles are outside where you put your weight.

The person who supplied me with the pdfs had bought the plate recently and had talked to JJA about their setup. The pdfs may well be from when the plate first came out, at which time I think JJA was riding Deeluxe boots. I appreciate that Jasey has far more experience riding both the Apex plate and then his own design than probably anyone on the BOL Forum. I think his comments are intriguing because they don't match my own understanding about how a sliding axle isolation plate affects the movement/flexing of the board beneath it. I think that the use of offset axles throws a whole lot of unpredictability and axle wear into the equation and is counter-productive. JJA is clearly of a different view. Make up your own mind.

1/ Find slopes to practice on that are NOT too narrow and steep for your ability. 2/ Lose the canting on both feet which is throwing you forward and onto your heelside. No canting is likely leave you more balanced to turn to either side.

I've ended up with copies of the Jasey Jay Anderson board & plate setup instructions. They make intriguing reading, for a number of reasons. (JJA's preferred stance for a start, and he's 177cm tall) Some might argue with his analysis of what happens when you adjust plate mounting points, others might debate what "stiffness" means (in terms of snowboards, you've got filthy minds!). Personally, if you take a child's ruler, hold one end down on a firm surface, and bend and release the other end the fact that it makes a different sound when the protruding length is shorter is not because the ruler has become more stiff. If anyone has photos of the underside of a JJA plate, or any evidence that the mechanism limits the amount to which a board can flex underneath it I'd be interested to see it. Board-Setup.pdf Interface-Guidelines..pdf