SunSurfer

Take your TD3s, measure the distance between the toe and heel blocks, and create 3 degree lift wedges that create the additional slope. I did this to turn a 3 degree disc into 6 degrees to create enough toe lift when I bought my UPZ boots. You'll need some longer M6 screws to mount them. You need really long screws to mount a 9 degree heel wedge on F2s (tried it)! Then the angle between the top surface of the heel block and the screw head also becomes an issue. 9 degree discs, axis 30-45 degrees offset from binding plate axis depending upon preference, would also allow skwalleurs to run appropriate lift and outward canting. The design feature that sets TD's apart from pretty much everything else on the market is the ability to precisely and incrementally adjust lift and canting. Understanding, publicising and marketing that design feature to high visibility racers/riders is a key to increasing market penetration. Just like Kessler make stock and custom boards, Bomber could make custom cant discs (for a price).

2 questions. How do Skwal riders manage to carve turns with no leverage? If your rear binding is at 58 degrees and 1.6 outward cant Jack, what is your front binding at?

The TrenchGear 3D app https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/trenchgear3d/id898156375?mt=8 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.AlpineCarving.TG3D&hl=en and the TD2 Tweak-o-Matic on the Carvers Almanac http://www.alpinecarving.com/tmtd2/ are tools to help riders understand how the changing the relationships between binding base disk, cant disk and binding plate alter cant and lift. I find the diagrams help me think about some of the other, non-intuitive & non-linear, changes that occur when a rider changes in physique, stance distance or binding angle. The diagrams are a tool for me. They seem to apply to a wide range of riding styles. A rider's chosen stance is the sum of its' parts. Geometry is only a part. In search of Corey's simplicity I had, indeed, chosen the mechanic's simplest stance (and also my own stance in the video) from among the vast array of starting points. The choice Jack Michaud made is an alternative starting point on the search for carving turn Nirvana. __________________________________ When I write about "riding out of the sides of my boots" I'm trying to find words to describe the sensation I experience when I carve, and to try to distinguish it from the style of riding where my instructor has asked me to try to ride more across the board, emphasising pressure on the heels and toes. What you've written in that paragraph comes closer to the kinaesthetic experience I have in carving a turn. I feel, and balance against the force on the edge through my feet, especially the forefoot of both feet. But I am also aware of the pressure of the boot cuffs on the sides of my calves, especially the boot on the outside of the turn. My knees and ankles are shock absorbing and also helping to hold the fore/aft balance to keep my centre of mass from getting too far forward or back, keeping it in the "sweet spot". I came to alpine snowboarding from skiing, and when I very occasionally go back I can now find the same sensations on my skis, and then they carve! Thanks for the signposts on my explorations.

1/ Jack, you're assuming the only way to carve a snowboard is by the heel and toe method of levering the board angle. Please explain to the rider below why what he's doing is so difficult, if not impossible. The board waist is 25cm, the bindings are at around 60 degrees, and the heels and toes are nowhere near the edge! The other outcome of the old wisdom is to immediately add in the complexity of varying canting requirements as the binding angles change with board width. Corey asked for simplicity. 2/ Shoulder width? Just how do we measure that? I just stood in a doorway, closed the door till the door and the frame butted up against the outside of my shoulders. Stepped away and measured the gap. 49cm, close to where I started out at 50cm in 2008, 10% roughly from where I ride now at 54cm. You have advocated longer stance widths for stability in these forums. Unfortunately, not all human beings were made in the same mould / mold, nor are we all as photogenic and well proportioned as Leonardo's model. In the shoulder department, some of us look like Michael Phelps, some like Mo Farah. The triangle we balance on, with our feet at corners, and our centre of mass at the apex, is clearly aligned with the length of our legs and centre of hip movement. If I rode doing a handstand, with my forearms, wrists & hands in the boots, shoulder width would be (only a little) more appropriate. I'd argue that arm length would then be a better measure.

One of the observations that set me on this path was the number of riders on Bomber who confess to riding bindings set at around 60 degrees with lift but no cant. I'm in that crowd. If you look at the binding angle vs. secant (binding angle) curve at binding angles around 55-60 degrees the reasonable stance widths for an alpine snowboarder are all pretty close to the line suggesting minimal or no cant required. So to simply set up a complete alpine newbie's boots, bindings and board, I'd suggest. Pick bail bindings, unless it an old codger like me, who's too stiff to easily engage the toe bail. It makes the canting less critical. 1/ Fit boot and adjust boot cuff canting. Measure zero cant distance, but just tuck it away in the memory for now. 2/ Likely stance widths for current use, for riders of normal lower limb joint mobility, are going to be around 0.52 to 0.58 of the distance from top greater trochanter to foot sole in socks. (I've just measured mine with my boots on and its 9cm more than in socks!) I currently ride 54cm stance / 95cm gt. troch to floor in socks = 0.57. I used to comfortably ride 50cm (0.53) with the same binding angles and no cant. 3/ Set the bindings with lift only at 60 degrees. 6 degrees lift rear, could be 3 or 6 in front (6 if UPZs). Split the splay angle around 60 if you want it. Stance should be centred on the designed inserts. 4/ Go ride! A lot of people are clearly able to happily carve with roughly this setup. The geometry predicts is shouldn't be too far off a reasonable position for function and comfort. Once the newbie is hooked, there'll be plenty of time to obsess over the finer details! Isn't that what we do here?

Nils, reflecting more on your question about the extreme carvers using "flat" bindings, i.e. no cant and no lift. There is no obvious reason why the geometry described in my article should not apply to extreme carvers. 1/ All types of board riders (inc. skwal riders & monoskiers) constrain the position of their feet, by fixing them in place on the one riding surface. 2/ Once a position has been established where the boot soles are naturally flat (feet side by side, at the zero cant distance), any movement away from that position requires some limb movement. 3/ The amount of limb movement can be minimised by appropriate lift and canting, leaving the maximum reserve of joint motion for the rider to use in controlling their board. Not using lift and/or canting requires extra joint movement, and may introduce unnatural postures and significant muscle tension in the baseline riding position. 4/ Riders can increase the range of motion they have available by a) using more flexible boots or softer springs in the boot flex control system b) using more flexible bindings e.g bail vs. Intec, Bomber Sidewinder vs. standard, looser or firmer adjustment of the binding itself. 5/ My article describes a relatively simple way of predicting approximately what lift and cant would be appropriate for any snow "board" stance and riding style. Like Erik Beckmann above "I'd suspect that more subtle application of cant and lift may eventually find application for EC." Alan McKenzie

BTS Instructions v2.pdf

1. Starting to come to grips with the board edge penetrating the snow, the snow pushing against the edge of the base, and the rider balancing all the forces at play, while maintaining the correct relationship between the resultant forces and edge angle that holds the edge in the groove/trench in the snow. Time to read and think.....

Nils, I've not tried to extreme carve. At 58, I value having intact shoulders and I suspect the learning curve would put them at risk. I'm intrigued by the differing patterns of upper body rotation of the differing styles of riding, and extreme carving is distinctive in this area. The fore and aft weighting of the board in the turn and the compression between turns before the legs extend are also quite distinct for extreme carving. I suspect that a lot of riding is done by imitation of those who have gone before. If a particular teacher has a particular set up and style, their students are taught to imitate it. Joerg Egli and Pureboarding comes to mind as an example. A set-up works if it allows the range of body movement, board bend and edge control that a particular style requires. My article is an attempt at analysing stance and binding design in order to find a set-up where the rider will have the greatest reserve of body movement, after accommodating their stance, that they can then use to ride. I wanted to challenge dogma and tradition, and encourage thought and development of the sport. Plates increase to torsional rigidity of the mid section of the board, and keep the rider's feet on a flatter surface. Those qualities may well be counter-productive for the body positions required for extreme carving. Maybe you need to write the next chapter Nils. :-)

Rewritten, additional diagrams and figures after another year pondering the inter-relationships between stance distance, rider physique, binding angles, cant and lift. There is a way of putting it all together in a rational way! 2017-Dec-09 A Geometry for Hardboot Stance and Binding Setup.pdf Dec 31st 2018 - Finally put it together as a YouTube video.

Clue in the request to donate to the American Heart Association at the end of the obituary.

"Unusual wide UPM"????? How far apart are the outermost inserts? I have an interest in longer than usual plates. Of note, a Coiler NSR GS board I had with an extra lines of outer inserts, failed just at the front outer set while riding with a long plate that utilised them. The post mortem I had with Bruce Varsava concluded that the farther out you go the thinner (weaker) the core is.

Personally, I think Corey should eschew obfuscation, because otherwise he will obnubilate his meaning. >:)

Not all of the world is corrupt, nor cynical. There will be many different points of view about the meaning and value of Olympic competition. I don't have a .ru website address, and hold an entirely different view of the ban of Russian athletes. Terekhov, best wishes and enjoy your riding.

Reports of a new database contains details of thousands of Russian athletes in WADAs hands. Vic Wild, like any Russian athlete at Sochi, would have to be under a cloud of suspicion.

Those look like absolutely standard 4x4 binding inserts. Your bindings should be fine. You can work out the screw shaft length required by taking an M6 screw of say 20mm length. Screw it gently into the inserts all the way till it JUST stops. DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN. Measure how much of the shaft (do not include the head of the screw) is above the surface of the board. 20mm minus that distance is the length of shaft you need. I'm assuming you have the standard alloy plates that come with F2 bindings, like the one below. The thickness of the alloy and the rubber gasket under the binding will prevent you bottoming out in the insert when you crank the screws up tight with the binding in place. I have often needed to create custom length screws to get the correct size. (This disc has had some modifications to allow Burton 3 point inserts to also be used)

And she is an equal example, with Vic Wild, of a "skier style" alpine snowboard racer. Watch her heelside turns, shoulders across the board with both arms out in front, not one flailing around in the slipstream, and her knee on the outside of the turn driving down and across the board. This is a screen capture from her winning the FIS World Championship PGS 2017 (video below). A side by side comparison of Ledecka and Kummer heelsides, look at how the knees are being driven. Kummer, the front heel is being pressured, and the rear knee well separated and at a higher angle than the front. Ledecka, knees closer together, the knee on the outside of the turn pressing down onto the edge. The differences are relatively subtle to the eye, but they represent completely distinct ways of applying edge pressure.

Wow! Great news!

I broke a 2012 build Coiler NSR GS board I'd owned from new. Used for free carving, no nose bends, no catastrophic crashes. The board broke at the level of the front extra inserts I had asked Bruce to place 4cm outside the normal UPM inserts for use with a custom built, extra long interaxle distance, isolation plate. The plate worked well, allowed me to carve hard in the afternoon conditions & soaked up the bumps beautifully, but as Bruce noted when we had a post mortem discussion about the board to replace it, every extra binding insert creates a weak point in the core.

I work in an industry that recognises "never" events, things that shouldn't ever happen. We know they shouldn't happen but, human beings being fallible and having moments of inattention and brain failure, every so often they happen. My snowboard releasing and flying off downhill is unlikely to hurt me. I wear my leash out of respect for other people on the mountain. Every time I clip on, or release, I'm reminded to be extra careful in lots of different ways, like making sure I'm properly Intec'd in, so that the "never" event of my snowboard hurtling downhill out of control indeed never happens.

Smoother style, cleaner carves, steeper slopes. And next time I'm in Aspen, take a run or two in memory of Scott Siegel.

Blown away by the news. Scott was good company, a good and gentle man.

Wrong plot, not Pulp Fiction, lordmetroland. More Marvin, the Paranoid Android. "Do you want me to sit in a corner and rust or just fall apart where I'm standing?"

Phil, Invision Community hosts this website & forum. (see bottom of the page) If you look at this page from their website https://invisioncommunity.com/buy there are a series of FAQs including what can happens if you close your account with them. The owner can get a download of the data, which I assume includes the Forum data. That could have whatever value "we", as the Bomber community, might negotiate with the bankruptcy trustee/receiver settling Bomber affairs.