Kex

finally hit the slopes today and i must say it was a great day out there today. i was a little dissapointed cliffhanger was closed, but o well. went with softboots because i spent the morning teaching a friend how to snowboard before taking off and getting some serious runs in at around noon. switched between the two chairs a few times looking for carvelines without much luck. when did you call it quits? a little after 2 i saw someone with an alpine board taking off, he had a black board with a yellow nose. any chance that was you?

Do you know how fast you were going? uhh, 65? 63. But officer, isn't the speed limit 65? It is.

thump, didnt make it out today, let me know how conditions were, i should be out tomorrow

just one. was riding back home from campus (less than a mile's bikeride). my bikes rear brake line snapped and i had to use my front brakes at the bottom of a steep hill. the wheel locked up and threw me over the handlebars. i (apparently) hit my head and I wasn't wearing a helmet, because it was such a short ride to campus. needless to say I always wear one now though.

ive had similar trouble with my boots, so im interested as well. I bought some deeluxe indys according to my size (mp26) with heat moldable liners and have found them unusable. my feet are crushed width-wise, and when i lock down the straps, it puts pressure on my arches. I was able to slightly alleviate the pain by removing the footbeds to give myself a little more room(allowed be to ride for a little over an hour at a time before pain was unbearable and a break was required), but it didnt solve the problem. when i molded them, i did it with the footbeds, a little extra padding on high pressure areas, and medium thickness socks. I dont know if its just because im used to a looser fit with my softboots, but the 26s just havent worked for me. I havent tried getting them remolded or punched out because im thinking it night be a better idea to just sell these and size up instead of going through all the expenses and effort(college student = little time or money:()

i hope no one minds, but i thought i would bump this old thread back to the top in hopes of hearing any other reviews of the board. I obtained an elan ballistic 171 last spring and only had the opportunity to ride it for a single day. I know what I thought of it from my limited trial, but as a fairly novice hardbooter, I'd like to hear some more opinions about the board from more experienced riders who have tried it. From what Ive read so far, it seems like a good board i could get some good experience on, though it seems like the learning curve of this board might be steep at the same time. tomorrow will be my first day on the slopes this season, and im excited to get back to hardbooting.

hey thump, im up in the poconos for the week and thought id see if anyone else from bomber would be in the area. I have a place near camelback, so I'll probably be there a few times this week. Not sure if I'll be on my hard or soft boots, i like to go back and forth, but I thought id say hi and introduce myself, and I'll be keeping an eye out for any hardbooters and telltale trenches in the snow on the slopes. hope to see you out there! -Kevin

not a terrible idea, but a few things to overcome: first, magnets slide fairly easily as im sure you know, so you would need some sort of boot shaped rim around the magnet on the board to hold your foot in place, or something equivalent. second, if the magnet hold is strong enough to be functional, how do you get your foot off? unless we are talking some sort of electromagnet. lastly, in sure it would come off in a nasty crash, so it would need some sort of runaway prevention. a leash would work, but a large bladed weight flying through the air while tethered to me doesnt sound fun imo. the other option is to go the way of the ski and put on retractable brakes. seems like a lot of trouble to put brakes and boot rim things on your board, magnets on your board and feet, for something that does the same job as regular bindings. oh, one last problem: steel floors/staircases + magnetic boots = funny

wow gecko, thanks for all the answers, definitely clears a lot up. I really appreciate you taking the time to write all that. a nice reminder of why i love BOL so much Thanks for the link xx, i was wondering what sites might be reliable information sources. When I was first picking up hardbooting I spent a lot of time at the carvers almanac (www.alpinecarving.com) soaking up all the info they have there, and I think that really helped me get a grasp on all the subtleties of the sport and feel like i was buying gear as an informed buyer.

I'm a snowboarder, have been since I was 6 or so. I got interested in hardbooting and finally got the chance to try it last year. Bought my first alpine board this year and have had a lot of fun on it this season. Honestly, Ive never been into skateboarding, but I think that is mainly because the only skateboarding that I've seen people do is freestyle. freestyle just isn't my style, which is part of the reason I got into alpine snowboarding in the first place. I figure if im not catching huge air and doing tricks, why be on a freestyle snowboard? Anyway, recently ive seen an increase in people on longboards riding around campus, and I have to say, it looks pretty sick. Ive never really seen people carve turns on skateboards before recently, and I have to say, watching them(and people on youtube videos) carve turns and feel the G's at high speeds has been giving me the urge to try it. Since I have pretty much no knowledge of skateboarding, I figured I would turn to bomber, like I did for hardbooting. So if any of you longboarding genius' out there could give me some pointers and such, I really have no idea what I am looking for. just browsing the site ive already seen some things that I have no knowledge of. terms like "loaded", "WB", truck width, that kind of stuff. I don't really know how length, different types of wheels, or the shape of the deck effect the ride. Ive seen some crazy shaped decks and dont know what the differences are, I've seen some people riding decks that seem to flex to the point they are going to touch the ground in between the wheels while they are riding, which seems strange. does flex on a skateboard deck work the same way as it does for snowboarding(the more flex, the smaller the turn radius at a given speed)? Anyway, i know ive asked a lot of questions and havent been very specific, but i think im catching the bug and dont even know where to start, so any info would be great! If it matters, I'm 5'11" and 190 lbs thanks!

then I take it you believe that risers increase "leverage" too? If so, you both need to go take a physics course. anyway, I'm done trying to defend or explain myself or correct physics. Please continue to flame, I wont reply again. I'll just laugh like I have been doing this whole time. It never ceases to amaze me what people will believe

I'm not trying to disrespect him, my hats off to him for being coach of the year, thats an accomplishment to be proud of. It does not however make him an expert in physics. Sorry that I'm trying to explain how forces and torque work to a snowboard coach, I guess I should be flamed for trying to do that. Anyway, as I said, I'm done trying to teach those that dont want to be taught, and I'm not going to try anymore. apparently being coach of the year means you are always right and dont have to even try to listen to what others say gasp! someone with an opinion on a forum!

what he says supports exactly what I'm saying "The initiating of movement from a flat base feels just as hard to start as without them" this means there is no more leverage... and what he follows with, supports what I said about raising your center of gravity. So... thanks for telling me to read something that supports what I said. I've ridden the same board with and without risers and there is no difference in leverage. So I believe that in fact, you have it backwards. I get it and you dont. As for what you said about my posting, its something I already know: I spend waaay too much time trying to educate people that dont want to be educated, and dont listen to reason. Sorry about that, I wont try to teach you anymore. I wish you the best!

leverage for what? you have not mentioned what you are trying to lever. also, after considering your analogy to highbacks, I think it is false anyway. with highbacks, the force of you trying to pivot on your heels is what is transferred to them. that puts the fulcrum at heel level, not edge level, meaning the riser does not help at all. On the other hand, a longer highback would help, but then its easier to get caught on a lift while hopping on, which brings up a new problem. As I said earlier, risers will raise your center of gravity, making it easier to fall over and therefore get low, but there is no "leverage: increas

I guess i dont know what you are trying to say then. I assumed people were talking about using a larger lever to increase the power transferred to their edges. Along those lines I am saying that risers will not help you. you are just saying "leverage" without specifying what you are levering. care to tell me what it is these risers are helping you to "lever"? if you are just talking about ease of getting on edge, then yes, risers help you, but only because they raise your center of gravity higher off the ground.