Kex

wow, seems like half of them have swoards. with everyone having the same board, how do they find the right one when they come back to the slopes after lunch?

I'd be interested, havent gotten the chance to ride with any fellow carvers since ive started, and blue isnt too far from me. When are these things(both MAC and BMES)?

I don't feel that I'm concrete in my stance. As I said before, I'm trying to keep an open mind, and all I have asked for for quite some time is a techinical explanation, i.e. the physics behind it, that makes a freshly waxed(not talking about sharpened anymore) board perform better(and by perform I dont mean finish faster in a race, I mean help you to carve better). But you are correct, i have been a little defensive in my stance, I'll ease off. I have been officially hardboot "carving" for less than one year(first time on hardboots was early march of last year), but I've been been snowboarding for 14 or 15 years. Also, i have never back to back compared an untuned board to a freshly tuned board, other than the aforementioned casual board switch between my dad and I. This is why I am asking for a technical explanation behind it. I've heard from enough of you to realize I'm most likely wrong, but I want to know exactly why it is that a fresh wax helps.

Why is everyone talking about racing? no sh*t you are going to wax if you race, the whole point of racing is going fast. Did you even read what I was asking?

I guess you didn't even bother to read when I said I wanted an explanation. Do I really believe what I'm saying? no, i just spent 20 minutes writing a reply for sh*ts and giggles -_- I'm sorry, but it's just hard for me to believe that a fresh wax is as important as you all say it is, in a sport where 90% of the time less than 20% of your base is touching the snow. Maybe if we were all people who bombed down the hill flat on our bases, but that's not what I do, and I assume its not what you do either. please dont post any more spam like this. If I'm far off, tell me whats off, don't just leave comments for no reason. your post in no way contributed to this topic

I'm sorry if you think I am trying to be a troll. It is not my intention. I am merely trying to get an actual reason as to why waxing is important. As far as I can see, going faster is the only reason to wax. I'm not asking for opinions or unfounded statements, I'm asking for a technical explanation as to why its important. I do ride on more than PA conditions... I do yearly trips out west, usually to Sun valley, and typically visit Vermont once or twice in addition to some PA riding, so I have experience on all snow types and all conditions. I may not have as many years or boarding days per year under my belt as many of you, but that's why I'm asking you guys. I do have 14-15 years of boarding experience, which makes up almost 3/4 of my life, as well as being an engineering student, so I do feel that I know enough about the sport and physics to make a reasonable opinion. Speaking of physics, that explanation given makes no sense at all. You are correct in saying that on a steep hill, your normal force is low, but that actually means the wax has less of an effect on you. In this situation, gravity put its usual amount of force on you, but because of the extreme angle, it causes you go accelerate down the hill at a faster rate. A board with old wax on it will have a higher coefficient of friction(u) than new wax, but F(friction) = uF(normal). Since your normal force is lessened considerably, so is your force of friction, meaning the "smoothness" of the base has less effect. With your board "grabbing" more, its the same as i was talking about above. It is the result of your board having a higher coefficient of friction due to old wax. It does not mean you have to put more effort into making the board do what you want. As carvers, we turn and control the board through angulation. And angulation, as you know, is raising a side of the board up vertically to make the edge bite. The direction of this motion is completely independent of the friction in your base. Also, friction is a constant force. It will not cause your base to suddenly grab the snow once you are going mach 2. It will be a constant slowing factor from when you first start moving until when you next stop. "Safe is when you have more control, NOT when the snow has more control." I completely agree with this statement, however I dont believe a new wax gives you more control. I'll relate it to walking down a sidewalk. With your argument, a new wax is better. This is equivalent to saying a lower coefficient of friction is better. Ice has a very low coefficient of friction, its what causes us to slip on it. Are you saying that you have more control over yourself on an icy sidewalk than on a clean one? The fact is you dont have more control on an icy sidewalk. Its actually better to be on a snowy sidewalk than an icy one, because we can grip snow with the treads on our shoes. This is the same reason we prefer hero snow to boilerplate. We can grip the snow with our edges better than we can grip ice. friction is our friend. Anyway, if anyone can give me an actual explanation as to why my logic is flawed, I would love to hear it. I feel I am open minded, and my views on edge sharpening have been changed. Obviously, considering that so many people are telling me that it is important, I cannot completely disregard their opinions, but what I am looking for is not unfounded claims, just an explanation

I'm going to have to disagree on this one. My dad has been riding the same Nitro board for 15 or 16 years. He has never tuned this board once. Never been waxed, never been sharpened. He claims its because he doesn't want to go faster. My board on the other hand, is waxed about yearly. Just for fun, my brother, dad, and I occasionally like to switch our boards around to try something new. I notice no loss in agility or the ability to initiate my turns when I am on his board... and I'll remind you - we are talking about the difference between a relatively fresh tune, and a 15 year old board that has never been tuned. I can see no way in which waxing helps to increase your agility... Especially from a carving standpoint where you turn by changing your angulation, not by skidding your board back and fourth. Perhaps you can give me a techinical description on how it increases your agility? I agree it makes your board sluggish, in fact that was my main point on why it was safer, because it causes you to ride slower. Somehow I think using tires at 50% as an analogy for old wax is a little bit of an exaggeration...

The reason for this is also being addressed similarly in another topic. Why do some people wear neoprene knee braces? For the most party, they don't help to support the knee unless they also have a metal structure built in. Its a psychological effect. if it makes you feel more confident on your knee, you wear it. With edges, if it makes you feel more confident about getting high on edge, you tune. I'm not saying there isn't a purpose to tuning. I believe I acknowledged how I can see a tuned edge helping in icy conditions when I posted the topic. But in hero snow, I think tuning your edges serves no purpose. Thats why I was asking for other peoples POV's I'm sorry but I cannot think of a single situation where it is safer to have a waxed board than a non-waxed board. Maybe I'm just not understanding what you meant with this comment, so please explain this more in depth. As I see it, a non-waxed board will go slower, which is safer. period. Edges, I can see coming into play with safety, but not wax.

first find you MP size. http://www.bomberonline.com/store/boots/Sizing_boots.pdf also when deciding on boots and anything else, this site will help: http://www.alpinecarving.com/index.html it shouldn't be too hard to find used boots, check the for sale forum once you know your size and use the search option to find old posts that may not have sold

Is this some new policy when traveling with boards? I've never had to pay anything to bring mine on a trip with me, but the last time I flew with a board was march of last year. It is only if its over 50 lbs, or is it some new rip-off the airport is doing?

my RABs have been bought, and are currently en route. Thanks noschoolrider, and also thanks to all who replied/emailed.

Thats pretty cool, Zola's is a nice place to grab a good beer. fairly expensive though, at least for a college student:freak3:.Nice to see someone else that knows state college on these forums! I've ridden at tussey a few times in the past couple yrs, though never on a carving board before this year. I was actually there Monday and it was pretty much a skating rink, but it was good training. I figure if you can carve the ice on Tussey, you can carve anything. I'm planning to go tomorrow(we just got 2 inches today, hooray!), since I don't have class on thursdays

Well I hear people say its better to go smaller than larger because you can make a smaller boot bigger but you cant make a big boot smaller. I disagree with this because: Ultimately, if a boot is a little too big, its still useable, you just wont get 100% out of it performance-wise. If its too small, you wont even be able to get it on your foot, or if you can, you will most likely experience mild to severe discomfort, in which case you still wont get 100% out of your boot. I'm sure others will disagree, but it seems the most painless route is to go with the larger of the two boots. just my $.02 Edit: it seems to me that the people who have gone down in boot size are experienced carvers who have tried multiple brands and sizes of boots, are devoted to the sport and are willing to spend the time and money to get their boots to fit absolutely perfectly

Ok, thanks for the comments, starting to see that it does actually matter. I get the importance for carving on ice, I can imagine that an unsharpened board carving on boilerplate is sort of like being on an ice rink on dull ice skates. Any input on how helpful an edge tune is on the skidding side of things?(i know this isnt a skidding forum, but i'll ask anyway). Also, how often do those of you that tune your own boards tune your edges?

wow breaking the helmet too... something seriously wrong with how their baggage handlers work. IMO it should come out of the handlers paycheck

just ride demos all week and leave the board at home?

I was talking with my brother this past weekend while boarding, and he seems convinced that having a freshly sharpened board is extremely important(hes mainly a skidder, so I'd like some input from this POV as well). I disagree. My rationale is that snow isn't exactly hard to cut, so having an extremely sharp board isn't exactly a huge deal. Whether your board is a steak knife or a butter knife, either one will cut into snow without difficulty. I can understand how it is a little different when you are dealing with ice, and we are east coast riders, so we deal with a lot of ice, but even so, it seems to me that whether your board can slice your finger open or not, its still a very small amount of surface area(by which I mean the length of the edge) that you are talking about. Since I don't have a huge amount of experience in the tuning department, and I am basically going off of my own messed up logic. I figured I would ask you all. I know that many of you tune your own boards, so I figured it would be best to hear your opinions on the matter. So: How important is tuning your edges(both for skidding and carving)? Is it more important to sharper your edges for icy conditions than perfect cord? How often should it be done? Thanks!

I would go for a 27 if I were you. I have 26.7 and 26.8 feet and my mp 26's feet quite tight on my feet. As I mentioned before I have been having bootfitting trouble, mainly because my feet are a little too wide for my indys, but aside from that, when I do a shell test (search for it it you dont know what it is), I have about 1 cm of free space behind my heel with my toes slightly touching the front of the shell. The recommended is 1-2 cm. I would imagine since the 225s and 325s are also made by deeluxe, the fit would be similar(correct me if im wrong on this). This means that your feet, which are slightly less than a centimeter larger than mine, would basically have no free space behind the heel with a shell test. What that means for you is that when you use a liner, whether stock or heat moldable, you will not have any room for the sheer volume of the liner, and your toes will be smashed. There are ways around this, such as punching out your shell, but I see no reason for a beginner to have to or want to do this. If you are a professional racer and want the tightest possible fit you can have, thats one thing. But when you are trying to learn to carve, I dont think its neccesary. Maybe its just me, I'm used to having looser shoes, but even my 26s seem really tight, even when setting aside the discomfort I am feeling.

dang, you all are waaay too accident prone. Either that or you have bones made of glass!(im speaking of course to those that couldn't count their injuries on a single hand) 14 years of snowboarding and not a single broken bone. Heck, no broken bones in my entire life!(knock on wood many times) Must be the power of youth!(21 now). reminds me of that movie "Unbreakable" where I'm Bruce Willis and you're all Samuel L. Jackson. But, to not sound like a complete a$$ with my rubbing it in, hope you're back on your feet in no time!(and that goes to all of you who are currently injured) P.S. - Thats not to say I've never gotten into any accidents either! I've gotten into two serious bike accidents this past fall alone! The first happened when my rear brake line snapped and caused me to flip over the handlebars when i was forced to use the front brake. That one resulted in a concussion and some nice road rash. The second one involved challenging a car for the rights to a crosswalk... as you would expect, the car won, and I somehow I got away with just a severe AC shoulder separation. The doctor was amazed that my collar bone didn't break. On the other hand, I left a nice dent in the car's passenger-side door!

Though I'm sure some disagree, Ive heard from some people that its best to go for a stiff boot that will force you to use proper technique. I went with this path and bought deeluxe indys, because I liked the idea of learning correct technique, and I also wanted a boot that would last me for a long time. I cant say if it would have been easier to learn in a softer boot, but I havent had any trouble learning in mine. I have had trouble getting mine to fit properly, so I would say thats more important. Make sure that whatever boot you pick will fit you well if you have the opportunity to try some on. My indys seem to be a little bit too narrow for my foot, so eventually I will probably get them punched out a little. Even if you will end up buying a used pair for monetary reasons, try and find a store that sells hardboots just to get a feel for the differences between brands. If you cant, ask around here or use the search. Fit comes before performance in my book, because if you cant stand wearing them, and you are miserable while they are on your feet, it doesnt matter how well they carve!

meanwhile I forgot to do my EE homework, doh!

I think you will pick it up extremely fast. Ive been snowboarding for 10+ years and tried hardbooting for the first time last year. I was able to carve some C's very quickly. I would just suggest refreshing yourself on some of the tech articles right before going out on the slopes. I thought "the norm" was pretty helpful in just getting the basic idea of a carved turn down, and was past that within an hour or two, im guessing because of all of my previous experience. If you can carve C's in your soft boots, you should be able to in hardboots. And if you can't, its not that big of a deal either. imho, when you are firrst switching to hardboots, it is not a huge difference, it just makes getting on edge much easier. So I wouldn't be worried if I were you. I think it will be like learning another skill in a field you are familiar with. I could relate it to math and say its like learning integrals after covering derivitives, as opposed to switching to a completely new concept like matrices. I hope I'm not scaring you away with the math talk though! Good luck!

do you have specs for it? specifically SCR, width, weight class, and camber? thanks

my quick way of downsizing photos is to view in a zoom out where I can see the whole picture or target of photo, then hitting print screen and making a new photo of it. works better than just resizing in paint.

hey, still interested in the td1's if they are large enough to fit a size 26 boot(deeluxe). let me know if they are. thanks! Kevin