snowboardfast

Glad to hear you are riding in August. You might give Bola a call at all board sports in Boulder 303-415-1600 because when I rode with him at Loveland in May he was talking about going to Chile or somewhere there in August too. Sorry I did'nt contact you about riding this last season. I had a big set back in January because I dislocated my shoulder simply by moving my right arm while riding. Had to have surgery in Febuary and was able to start riding again in May. May as well wreck both shouders- I wrecked my left one in 2003 on the same month-January and surgery in Febuary as well. Did the same damage to both-torn labrium. Am bike riding and long boarding this summer. have a good trip!

I rode several boards back in the day with this mounting system. in fact I remember when the 4x4 pattern first came out. With the ski screw mounting system you had to have the board drilled and the bindings mounted by a shop and every time you wanted to change things it had to be redrilled. Back in those days I would have a board mounted and just ride it. 2 of my boards are in the Bomber mueseum-a Hooger Booger 164 asym and a Mistral 159 asym. the boards have an aluminum plate under the topsheet that the bindings were mounted to with ski screws. You had to have special tools and screws to mount the bindings to the board.I never tried to do this myself. Thank goodness this is no longer the way things are done!

I would have to agree with Bobdea- ski boots are not a good choice. I have spent a lot of time riding in them in past years. This year will be season 29 and I have ridden lots of different plate bindings and boots and am having fun riding Deluxe Suszuka boots with BTS. I think you will wear out a board faster riding in ski boots as well due to the fact that they put more force into the board. Years ago some alpine boards were really stiff -I.e some of the boards made by Wayne at Cruise and Bruise sports in Idaho Springs Colorado. you would need ski boots and Catek plates to be able to drive them hard enough to carve well. These boards were made more for all out agressive racing and not so much for free carving. I feel that ski boots give a rough ride unless the snow is perfectly groomed. I also like riding mellower angles now due to the fact that I am starting to like wider boards-Donek G force blade and Dupraz D1. I used to ride 60 degree angles on both feet with ski boots. Now I am riding 50 front and 45 rear. I think BTS helps to smooth things out even more and allows more adjustment to your boots. Don' be afraid to try some of these new things. Alpine decks are getting softer so that the ride quality is better and they are more fun to ride. I don't know if I will go back to riding narrower boards or not as I don't race and like a more comfortable ride.

Yes I will be buying some new heels as soon as a get some extra money. That heel would probably be a problem if you were to replace the cog as other parts would start to break.

If you break internal parts on an intec heel can they be replaced or do you have to buy a whole new heel? I was riding today and broke the cog that engages the springs and pins when you pull on the cable to disengage the boot from the binding. It broke right in the center making the cable inoperable . I thought I had broke the cable but when I took the heel apart the cable was fine which didn't suprise me as it would take a lot of force to break the cable.The rest of the heel looks fine but I am not upset if I have to replace the whole thing as I have gotten a lot of use from it. I think that this part should be made out of metal instead of plastic because it can get a lot of force on it when you pull on the cable even if you are careful. I think I would always be more likely to break this part instead of the cable as the cable is very strong. This is the first time I have had anything break with this system.

My winter training so far has been riding and shoveling snow a lot. The snow shoveling works your body pretty good. We keep getting more snow in Denver than the mountains are getting although we are having a pretty good season so far. In December we got two feet of snow in one storm and Vail got 1 inch. Shoveling that much snow is a good work out. I feel like I am in shape for shoveling! I also bike ride and longboard during the off season. I ride my bike to work all year round but snow shoveling is being done until the roads are safe to ride on. I think the longboard works your legs out almost the same as snowboarding. When I longboard I ride down the hill and then I ride up the hill too so that I am working all the time. The hill I ride isn't real steep but I can get some turns in and skate up the hill as well. I should probably lift weights as well.

I just got 1 too. Same board 180 medium flex only I have the red race carve graphics. Lots of fun. Is not as turny as my other alpine boards but is fun. I have ridden it 2 days so far. I am 5'10" and 195. I like it better now that I tuned it with a 1degree base bevel and 1 degree side-was catching edges a little bit with the factory tune of o degrees base and no edge bevel. If you get 1 ride it with the boot and binding set up you are used to .I tried it at first with both bindings flat and it felt weird. Am riding td 1's yellow bumpers with 3 degrees front and 6 degrees rear. Angles 50 front 45 rear. Can't fully ec yet but that is my problem and not the board. The board is fun to ride even if you don't ec. I also am riding a wide stance-21 inches it just feels good on this board and keeps my knees apart . More fun to ride than the standard skinny race boards and carves as hard as you want. I may not go back to riding my 19 cm waisted boards. This 1 is 23 I think.

If the Donek 167 is stiffer than your other 2 boards you are going to have to be more agressive with the Donek to turn it. Maybe the Donek is too stiff for you? If you are lightweight a stiffer board will be harder to ride . You will need a softer board for it to work for you . in other words the longer board could be harder to ride because it is both longer and stiffer.

I had the same problems with a pair of Burton boots when running high angles. i could twist them sideways when carving hard. That is why I went to ski boots at the time.Since you have big feet you are forced to ride high angles and I could see why your gear isn't working right due to your size and weight. Also that Donek board is probably real stiff and you need a stiff setup to drive it properly through a turn. Ski boots worked for me at that time because I was running high angles and only needed to flex them foward not sideways. You might try Technica ski boots with some Catek bindings. When Mark fawcett was racing he was running Catek World cup plates with Technica ski boots due to the fact that he was breaking hardshell snowboarding boots. The Catek bindings allow you to adjust for the lack of flex in the ski boot by being able to put in more heel lift and toe lift to help get you in the proper postion when carving. This will help prevent shin bang because of not being able to flex the rear boot enough. The other problem you might have is the sole of your ski boot might be so long that you can't fit it in the binding. You might contact Catek to see what they say about this. You could buy a pair of World cup plates fairly cheap to try this out. Make sure you get the long plate version. I hope this helps. Good luck and don't give up !

I used to ride with Bomber and Catek bindings with Technica ski boots. 60 degree angles on both feet. No more-same reasons as above too stiff, rough ride . Snowboard boots will allow shallower angles which makes it eaiser to maintain balance and proper body postion while carving. You can generate plenty of edge pressure once you get used to them and don't try to overdrive the boots. I am 5'10'' and weigh 190 and am using Deluxe Susuka boots and find them stiff enough most of the time.I think the Indy boot might be somewhat better if I was riding absoulute ice but living in Colorado we don't see that much ice. With ski boots it is hard to flex foward enough when carving. You can use Catek bindings and adjust the lift to compensate for this but you still will have a rough ride when things get choppy. Another thing you can do is use step in bindings and intec heels which will make things somewhat stiffer particularly in lateral flex. I like stepins better because i feel like I can twist the boot around too much with standard bails.

A lot of people are saying that the metal boards are real easy to ride due to the construction and softer flex. Are you a heavy rider? You might be too heavy for the pilot 167. As you get better you will be able to carve well on almost any board. I haven't rode on either board so I can't comment on how they would perform for me. I would like to demo a Prior metal just to try it. It would have to be absoutlutely incredible for me to spend 950.00 for a board. I am sure they ride well. I'll bet the Donek works well too.The other problem I have heard about the metal boards is they don't last as long. I am sure that problem will be solved in a few more years. You might want to write a reveiw on both boards on the bomber website for us to read.Keep riding- you will figure out how to make that Donek carve without chattering.

If I were you I would move out west so that you could have more consistent conditions and a longer season. In colorado you could get invovled with racing with team summit or i think there is a team and or racing program at copper Mountain and Steamboat as well. There is contact info about this on the Bomber site. I don't know the details as I don't race and don't plan on doing so. You would have to contact these places or other people that race to get the details. You are lucky that you can live anywhere because your work can be done anywhere. You could even ride year round by going to South America during the summer. If you come out to Colorado to ride post on the ride board so maybe you can go ride with some of us out here.

Why are people that ride ec boards such as Swoard running flat-0 degrees on both feet? Is it prefrence or does it work much better this way for ec?

The main reason I stopped riding soft boots is foot pain. In hard boots I am very comfortable all day. Soft boots my feet hurt all the time when I am riding. I rode new year's day in soft boots this year for about 2 hours and the bottom of my feet hurt bad even with custom insoles and a good quality pair of boots. I was riding eaiser and not trying to overdrive the equipment and was able to carve well but my feet hurt too much. I have been riding for 28 years and can ride almost any setup and have fun. I don't know how to overcome this problem- my solution is to ride hard boots. I would agree that you can carve well in soft but you can also ride all mountain in hard boots with the right board. Soft boot riding allows you to use 1 board for everthing and is cheaper equipment wise. I enjoy riding different boards and am lucky enought to afford to have several to ride. I think that The soft stuff available now is very good. I think that part of the reason that people do'nt want to ride hard boots is most hard boot riding that they see is on groomed snow only and not all over the mountain. This gives them the impression that hard boots are only good for one thing. I like to ride all over the place and enjoy riding my Dupraz with hard boots everywhere. I am not putting anyone down- ride what you like to ride and have fun. I enjoy snowboarding with anyone who likes to ride whether they ride plates or not.

I only post if I think I am going to really help someone with something.I sure have learned a lot of useful info on this site and I thank everyone who has helped. Also this site has allowed me to ride with some folks who I would not have met otherwise. You would think that I would know a lot of things about carving since I have been doing it since about 1989 but I am still learning and having fun. I guess you could say that I am learning to be a journeyman carver. My next goal is to learn how to ec carve. I will be getting a Donek ec board soon and will write a reveiw on it. I also will be writing a review on the Dupraz D1 soon as no one has done so yet on this site. Probably because there aren't too many people that own one. I would agree that we need to be positive and not flame people to death - this is suposed to be fun and enjoyable.Happy new year and think snow!

Would a person say that a wider stance would give you the ability to have better edge hold and more stability? I played with stance width today on my Renn tiger 173- went from 19.5" to I think 22" and back down to 20.5" I like 20.5" and will leave it that way for a while. I felt like my knees were coming together too much with 19.5". I was able to carve well with all these stances anyway but am going to stay with 20.5 for a while. I also backed my angles down to get more leverage. How do the pros get their stance perfect and know that it is? I can ride lots of different setups well due to the fact that I have been riding plates for a long time. I know that people will say that it is personal preference but is this really the best way to do it? I know that on my bicycle I had it fitted at a shop to get everything set up at the proper angles. I know that snowboarding is different. A wider stance should give you more pressure along the edge of the board. Even my degrees of lift don't seem to make that much difference. I have ridden Bombers with o on the front and I think 6 on the rear and now I am riding 3 on the front and 6 on the rear and I can carve just as well. On my Catek bindings I just eyeball the settings close to the Bombers and it seems to work just fine. It doesn't feel awkward when switching boards.

Check with Bomber. I believe Fin has some replacement parts for the Raichile boots.

I hope you enjoy the powder. That is your advantage living up there instead of Denver. We have close to 18 inches on the ground here and it is still snowing making it very hard to drive up. I stayed home today because I figured it was too risky to drive up.I also have work off tommorow due to bad roads. I think I will try to go cross country skiing thursday as the roads will still be bad. Should be fun and will be a good workout with no driving involved. Will be able to ski right out my front door and make first tracks. I hope I70 will be good Sunday and Monday as I plan on going up. Oh well there is still a ton of season left in Colorado!

I had thesame problem with thermoflex liners- a littlte too tight at first and now okay but somewhat too loose due to packing out. I was thinking about getting an intution liner later on down the road but wil reconsider due to the cost-210.00. I will have to talk to my boot fitter again before I decide to do this. He says the intution liner will hold up better than the thermoflex because it is better quality and not so thin. I looked at the liner and thought it would be better than the themoflex. Did you mold these yourself or have a shop do it? I tried to remold my thermoflex myself and it didn't seem to change it much at all. I think maybe because I don't have the special oven and once it is packed out you can't change it much by remolding because the material is compressed and stretched.

Dupraz D1 179-rode it today at Loveland on the ridge and all over. The best board for me to ride in powder ever. Carves well on the groomers too. I don't see how any other board could beat it. Will be buying another one when this one is shot. Had to get it repaired as I hit a buried rock today- oh well if you are riding all mountain you are going to hit things from time to time. That is the price you pay for riding powder but well worth it. The Dupraz is a super versatile board that rips in powder!

You could ride a Donek Axess or a prior 4x4 or the new extreme carvng board that Donek makes the g force blade. If you want an asym board you can get one from the pure boarding guys from Switzerland but it won't be cheap. That board is called#1They also make a board called #2 which is not asym. It comes in a 164 cm lenght. The Donek g force blade comes in a 170 or a 180 and different stifnesses. You might give Donek a call and ask about wider boards. He also makes the freecarve series in a wider model. I don't know where you could find a Hot Logical I demoed one back in the day and couldn't afford to buy it at the time. I'm sure you remember that this board had ski screw mounting and no inserts which is a problem with today's bindings. If you really have to have an asym I'm sure you could get one custom built if you wanted to spend the money. Another board you might consider is a Burton Alp which is wider than a standard race board. You can find these on Ebay or the Bomber clasifieds from time to time for not much money. The alp is available in a 164 cm size.

I would like to buy the Axis 177 if it is still available. You can contact me at mcurtis20@hotmail.com or call 303-783-2867 home or 303-722-6081 work 9-6 m-f 10-5 Saturday mountain time.

The person that said my bindings might be at fault was refering to the fact that I might be getting some heel pain due to the fact that there is not enough dampening in the binding. I still think it is a boot fit issue and I am going to try the polyurethane heels as well.The td 2's are a less harsh binding to ride than td1. At least that is what I am told.Boot fit first than binding.Again thanks for the tips. Will give report when the issue is fixed.

Good luck in finding a used Swoard. I posted last year looking for one and no replies. So did another rider this year looking for one. You might try contacting Sean with Donek snowboards as he is making a board similar to a Swoard even though it is'nt listed on the website. The ones I saw were shown on the new carving site put up by some riders that live in Greece. It showed a 170 and a 180. I would imagine that no one wants to sell their board after paying 900.00 for it. Also they must ride well as the board got good reveiws on this site. I am still interested in a wider board and am wondering how much difference there would be between the board I just mentioned and the Axcess other than a square vs a rounded tail? I know the swoard is supposed to be very stiff torsinally. You might contact Patrice or Nils through the Swoard website to see if they are coming to ses this year and are bringing boards to demo. Sorry to go on but I am interested too and maybe someday these boards will be more readily available.

I saw that article . It better work good as it costs 400.00. I wil be ready to ride in 2 weeks also am going to get some fitting done this week I hope. I plan on going riding this Thurs and Sunday If my feet don't hurt too much. Dec 4-10? I could ride Wensday and Sunday that week Dec 6 and Dec 10. let me know which days you will be available. Ice that shin so that you don't get a bone spur. You might want to try 6 degrees in the rear leg if you are still getting shin bang.