ohiomoto

You're saying that the Nidecker GS that ursle suggested is newer/better than a Hot? How old it too old for the price range I'm looking at? I appriciate the advice.

That one looks interesting. I'm wondering if that's getting a little too big? I guess I should add that my local hill is less than 250 vertical feet. I need something big enough for me, but want to make more than a few turns per run. Seriously, I have had my board forever, but I'm not all that experienced so I'm just making sure. Also, I was hoping to stay closer to $150 if possible, but I realize that sometimes it's better to spend a little more if the deal is right. (My wife will disagree with that last statement. :) )

It's probably closer to 1/4 inch. I'm not too worried about the heal lift right now. I've been running 3 degrees in the back. Maybe I'll need 6 degrees, I don't know. It's a wear item anyway. Over time it would have worn down anyway. You have to remember that I've been ridding in ski boots for the past 14-15 years. Just having a hard boot is a big improvement. I'll sort it out over time.

I'm 6'3", weigh 225lbs running UPZ RTRs on TD1s. I have a K2 Skinny 167 that I have been riding for years, but I spend most of my time on skis. I can carve the piss out my skis and would like to start pushing my self to do the same on an alpine board. I don't think the Skinny can take it and feel like I need a bigger/stiffer board. I came across a Hot Blast that is 5-6 years old, but that looks to be in good condition. It is approximately 180cm. Would this be a good board for me to advance my skills on? I'm mainly riding groomers. What is a fair price for a board like this? Thanks, Tim

Well yeah! They're stepins! :)I think the question was geared more towards the standard bindings. Thanks for the input. I tried that with no luck. Maybe it was because the boot was brand new and there was no wear on the heal yet.

I can't confirm this, but a little bird told me this: I also found this on The Carvers Almanac: He makes no mention of problems with TD2s or TD3s. I would love to hear from others on how well the standard TD2, TD3 or Catek bindings work with UPZ boots.

Snowboard boots don't meet the DIN standards. The rubber soles/pads on snowboard boots are not compatible with ski bindings. UPZ makes DIN soles which are hard plastic and meet DIN standards.

I have been riding on ski boots since the mid 90's. First with a pair of race stock Sanmarco TR2 (150 flex index) and then with a pair of TR3s (130 index). I found both boots pretty stiff and awkward. I had to ride with the upper buckles pretty much as loose as I could and not have them fall off. Maybe I should have spent more time working with cants but I think those boots kept me from getting hooked on snowboarding. (That and the advent of shaped skis...double carving is fun too!) Anything other than a perfectly groomed hill was no fun for me. In all honesty, I think my newer Nordica Doberman boots (also a 130 flex) would work much better because they have a much nicer forward flex to them than the older boots. I just got my first set of hard boots. I'm hoping that they will make riding more enjoyable and I'm looking forward to taking it more seriously.

After years of riding (and suffering) with ski boots I finally stepped up to the plate and bought a pair dedicated hard boots. I picked up a pair of UPZ RTRs and was excited to try them out. What I didn't realize that UPZ boots don't work very well with the TD1s. THE PROBLEM: I took a good look at everything and it appeared that the channel on heal of the boot was too high for the bail on the TD1s. This causes the bail to be angled upward slightly while trying to engage. The bail (right where it bends) hits the sides of the heal before the top of the bail engages. As the boot slides back, the bail gets knocked down. My first thought was that I might be able to bend the bail so that it would be properly lined up with the channel. The problem is that it would probably still be too short/low and it might weaken the bail if I bent it too much. My second though was to lengthen the bail by threading the lugs out further, but I had read that it's not a good idea to have the threads exposed. So I emailed Dan Yoja at UPZ to see if he had any info. I had read that some people used a dremel tool to open up the channel. (It also looked like it would be possible to grind down the shell on either side of the heal so that the sides of the bail could pass by and allow the back of the bail to reach it's destination.) He felt that most people worked with the bails and recommended that I contact Bomber to see if they had any ideas. The response from Bomber was that they don't recommend UPZ boots with their bindings due to possible failure and they don't have any parts available that fit the boot. They did mention that they have a binding that will fit the UPZ boots better than the TD1, but they can't recommend it. They were very helpful and offered a lot of useful advice on boots. They gave me the heads up on the possible safety issue. I found Tex's thread and will be T-nutting the toe pieces just to be safe! My options were to buy a new binding that will fit the boot (not in the budget), sell the RTRs and buy another boot that will fit the binding (I would hate to take a bath on a new boot), or figure out a way to solve the problem without compromising the safety of the boot or binding. MY SOLUTION: Sand down base of the replaceable rubber sole (just he heal!) It lowered the back of the boot enough so that the bail will fit in the channel. Back to back: I didn't have to modify the boot's shell or the binding and the sole can be easily replaced if I change bindings or want to sell the boots. It also seemed like the safest thing to do in this situation. I'm not sure how many TD1s are still out there, but hopefully this will be helpful if someone else makes the same mistake I did.

Interested in trading for a pair of Orange UPZ RTRs in the same size? I have one ride on them. I can't get them to work with my TD1s and a new of bindings doesn't fit the budget right now. You can email me at ohiomoto at gmail dot com if interested. Thanks, Tim

WOW! Way to hijack a thread. A classified add no less! It's cool that you are helping people out, but... I'll go back to lurking now. Good luck with your sale utahcarver.