Christian

Don't know why this "kool" guy is so upset!? On that "shop" he pointed to, no imprint, no address, no about us, no phone and even no contact email. That smells a lot like scam. Can't understand why anyone is willing to spend any money in shops like this. In europe this would not be possible and closed in very few days.... @kool aid man (oh yeaaaahh) please stop shouting! That makes you only more suspect. just my 2 cents Christian

I broke the baseplate of a Catek binding, but no issues yet with my Bomber Sidewinder.

I went from step-ins (intec) back to standard, because of more convenience (for me) and simplicity. Mostly I'm also faster clipping in than my friends using intecs. Christian

I think we will decide every evening where we are going next day. But I'll post here when we know for that specific day. Christian

I think this is Andrej with www.sense4.me. I'm not sure, but the logo on the boot looks like his company. Andrej is a very kind guy and produces some very good boards and skis!

I think he was just thinking about selling his original .900 and get for that around 2-3k (current ebay-prices). Then he could easily buy one of your new .951. There would be even enough money left for ordering a new board.

Great! Love it when someone is riding those small slalomboards. They are also my favorite tool on the mountain.

PLEASE, don't remove the color from the tail! I ordered a board before I saw the graphics. And then I voted for this one. Still the best and with a great meaning: Joe's interpretation of the original graphic : Once upon a time there was this little boy, looking over his flower, naive, intimated, excited. As time went on, he nurtured it, like we do with so many things we are passion about. He has a deep connection with this flower, and as it grew, so did he never leaving it behind. He now lives in this flower, protecting his passion/ his spirit/ his drive & despite growing up and life trying to get in his way, He marks his territory with a new beginning, ready to grow, but humble to his roots. Christian

Just a short note: A few years back Fin had this heel piece as a replacement part for all catek owners in his shop. I bought it here. I think it was in 2009. Sold it together with my broken catek a year or so later. Christian

Hi Nils, really really nice looking board! About the flat nose issue I told you ;-) Unfortunately I can't see your pics a little bit bigger :-( When I click on those images I get the error message "You do not have permission to view this image". Hmm, anyone else have this problem? Christian

Hi Nils, Markus at http://www.wildschnee.de has the Dyno Binding online. Christian

Hi Nils, Seb built me a Phenix SPX 173. I use it with Spark Dyno DH bindings, Ranger toepieces, Maruelli crampon holders und Dynafit TLT6 boots. This board is a real beauty. And it tours and rides very very good. Though it is not made for, but even on hardpack it has great edgehold. There is only one problem I have found so far. There is only a little rise in the ski tips. So especially when I need to do my own track it is sometimes a little bit harder to keep the tips out of the snow. The top of the skis get covered with snow a little bit faster. If Seb is building you a longer swallow then keep in mind, if you are doing switchback turns it gets harder with longer skis. Here are two pics of my board:

Hi everybody, I'm finally back home in germany. Now is the time to say thanks to everybody I met in Aspen for the SES and the days after. I was staying for my second time with Joerg and his friends from switzerland. The few days (I had 12) blew my mind away! It was so amazing. I arrived in the morning of saturday after the real big dump of snow. I was lucky enough to get not stuck in Chicago. My flight was redirected from Aspen to Denver. So I had to drive another few hours in the middle of the night, but fortunately I met a great guy who was heading the same way as I. He was driving the whole way. To be honest, after 25 hours from my start in germany, I wasn't able to drive by myself! So even if you are not reading this, but thank you Skip! Even after only 2 hours sleep, I was eager to hit the slopes. My luggage (everything besides my boots) was a few hours behind me in Denver, but because of the generous help of Dale (Donek Snowboards) I could ride the first day. Thank you Dale for the pants! Also thank you Sean for letting me try your boards and a big sorry, because I damaged one! Hollywood Joe, it was great doing a few runs with you. The evening with Heinz (Oxess), the other guy from Germany and you was also great fun. I hope you had a few good days in Jackson Hole as well! I hope no one is angry with me, but unfortunetaly there were quite a few Mikes and Dans, so I was asking sometimes more than once for your names. But it was great riding with all of you! Thanks for the awesome time! I promise, I'll come back! Christian from Germany

I was really sceptical about that. When flexing it with my hands, it felt like a normal snowboard. But I thought, when riding on piste the torsional flex would be to much. Yesterday I did my first few runs on that beauty. In the beginning the stance and angle felt very awkward. But run after run (I wanted to test the riding performance of the board, so I used the ski lift) it got better and better. After a while it was very easy to carve this board. It was absolutly stable enough. I really can't say I noticed any additional unneeded flexing. And blasting through some left over pow stashes was pure fun. So after this short test, I can say the board performs fantastically on piste. Keep in mind, this is no alpine board. So my Coiler is definitely better in doing some speed carves, but for soft snow conditions, when you can't carve very well, this board is perfect (and of course for big pow days, there is nothing better. But I think there is no arguing about that.) The board was build by Seb (shaper and owner of Phenix www.phenix-snowboards.com). He knows exactly what he is doing. The board couldn't come out better. I'm really pleased with it. Christian

Unfortunately not. This board was a gift of a friend. I ever wanted a splitboard and a swallowtail. Now I have both. Yes it split into 3 pieces. The middle part goes to the backpack. Christian

My newest ride: Christian

@hans: I'm currently searching for some bibs. Those taiga are looking great! Hans, do you know (or anyone else) if I can order those somewhere in europe? Christian

@KingCrimson: maybe you are right, then its completely my fault. But I don't use a lot of lift/cant (3 lift front, 4 lift back, a very little inward cant on the front) @all: Here are some more pictures. As you can see, the heel receiver is on its innermost position. I know it was completely my mistake to mount the heel on the last holes of the plate, but at that time I thought the ice breaker works better there (I now know thats not true). On one of those pictures you'll see that my boot is only slightly of centered. Hmm but maybe that is still to much. Christian

Just a quick update: For pics, please wait a few hours, I'll take some today when I'm home again. I did not ride with a lose kingpin. Always when I mount the binding, the first thing I do is to tighten the kingpin. For that I use an "L"-allen key. Then I tighten all four cant-screws another 1/4 turn. The only thing I never did is using these black plastic rings on the kingpin. I know it is recommended to use these, but it worked all the time without. I had never a loose binding. I know it was at my own risk when I mounted the bomber heel, and I don't ask Jeff for another binding or something similar but the least thing I expect is a small message from the manufacturer telling me what possibly went wrong. Christian

Yes thats no original catek heel receiver, but the bomber heels. At some time Fin sold those especially as a replacement for the catek binding. And no the heel receiver is not bent (in a way it should not be bent). It sat flat on the binding plate. Its exactly the same like the one for the td3 but with a little bit different slots placement. Yes I mounted the heels in the last holes on the plate, because there was no sign telling me not to use those holes. I know the last holes put the maximum stress on that binding, but the holes are there not only for good looking. By the way, my weight is 72kg (158lbs) and my boot size is M26.5 Christian

Hi, I managed to destroy my Catek OS2. It happened 2 weeks ago. In the meantime I wrote 3 emails to the manufacturer without getting an answer. So I think its time to publish it at BOL. I recognised the damage after my liftride up the mountain. My front foot felt a little bit strange and was really lose. It was to cold and windy to check it so I was going very slow down to some better place. After I removed the stepin receiver of the front binding I could see that the thick aluminium plate was completely broken at the last two holes on the left side. At home I examined the binding further and found another big crack at the right side and one at one of the tilting screws. So it was only a matter of 4 or 5 hard turns before a really bad accident. The binding was from 2007 and I had about 20 days per season on it. I'm not as aggressive as some other riders, so I can't imagine why it happend. So my warning to all Catek owners: Check your binding for such cracks! Christian PS: Fin, if you read that: Now I'm ready for some TD3 Sidewinder SI! Some pics:

I think that is the idea behind the "Twin Roto Concept". You can read more on their webpage http://tooltonic.com/twinRotoConcept.asp. In my opinion they produce the absolutly best edge sharpening tools available.

Hans, your are right, but why do you have every year a few more boards? You have Tinkler, Coiler, some Virusboards and I think a few more. I know the answer: Because you like to try different toys (and you have the money). So its the same (more or less) reason for me. I like to tweak my setup, I like to try new stuff. So I thought I can buy new boots (my AF600 are 8 years old). But maybe I should try a new Strolz-Liner. Can you (or anyone else) recommend a good strolz bootfitter in the european alps?Preferably in south-tirol (because I think I'm going there next week). Do you think my heel hold will be much better in some strolz-liners? (in my AF600 I can lift my heel maybe 1-2cm) Christian

I don't have very good heel hold in my Raichle AF600. That's why I want to buy a new UPZ RC 10 (the one from Virus). Currently I ride an M26 Raichle/Deeluxe with Thermoflex Liners. My left foot is 26.3cm long and my right 25.8cm. So my question is, what UPZ size should I take? (I think the M26, but I'm not completely sure) Thanks for your help Christian

I love my Catek OS2 . They are so simple to adjust and install. And I love to tweak here and there a little bit on my setup. How boring is that, if you install everything and then just go riding?? :rolleyes: I never had any problem with loosening. I do it mostly this way: - when everything is still loose, adjust the tilt screws to your desired cant and lift so the plate sits on a nice firm platform - now I tighten the king pin - finally I rotate all 4 tilt screws again half a turn It works everytime.