Beckmann AG

Ramp in a 23 shell is greater than 6.

That could work, and would more or less eliminate the need to cut/trim the sole nubs. Maybe print a plastic cover for the existing binding blocks? ->Implemented a fix for better toe flip contact this evening. Involved welding, so it's probably beyond the range of most enthusiasts... The heel could be addressed with a custom bail, or fitting a slimmer bail from a different binding. Suppose you could also carve out a better bail groove with a small ball-end grinder. Part of the problem there is the larger diameter bails just don't settling into the heel. Like trying to palm a basketball wearing a catcher's mitt. The shells may be stiff, but they're not intended to see the side/combined loads inherent to snowboarding, so the stiffer plastic may crack. Or may not. Time will tell.

^ That one's a keeper. Mostly.

Not from what I've seen so far. At least not at steeper angles. The tech toe is somewhat smaller than on a 'normal' boot, and if you need to punch the shell for toe clearance, it gets smaller still. The heel ledge is also scaled down, as the intent is to use a tech binding (with pin engagement) and the ledge is probably intended mostly for crampon use. Combine that with a good amount of sole rocker, and a nicely knobby Vibram type sole, and you're going to have a reasonable amount of lateral 'give', especially if you use the boot cuff as a lever. There's a lot of potential there, but also a fair number of considerations depending on intended use, and also binding/board choice. Flex goes well beyond spring mechanisms, as there's so much less plastic involved in both shell and cuff. Will try to remember to take a measure tomorrow.

More forward will often lead to skid. Especially on a heelside, and especially on steeper terrain, where timing is often compromised by perception/psychological factors. Geometric center is not always the same thing as 'functional center' and it sounds like your move toward the tail is partly a search for the latter. A little of both. Move your clamps back one setting and see what happens. Interesting things take place when a failing joint is replaced with something functional, and the pain is gone or significantly diminished.

"Turning Man"?

Which is the refurbished leg?

The UPZ 'flow' liner is a variation of the typical alpine ski boot liner. I've used (and modified) many of those, as well as Zipfits, Conform'able, and thermo-foam liners in/for a variety of applications. I'm not a 'fan' of the liners, but recognize their utility in a properly sized shell. Similarly, I'm not a 'fan' of thermofoam liners for performance applications, but appreciate their utility in effecting comfort and warmth, especially when a wide variety of feet need to fit in a very limited range of boot shells.

The worn out Wells-Index vertical mill I bought from the gun factory around '93.

For more (tunable) flex in the short term, replace the velcro power strap with a single-band Booster. The outer plastic tongue can be removed as well. One, or both of those modifications should provide more 'give' with the rear latch locked, without losing much support. Might not work as well as the HSP on the Ke$$ler, but should be interesting on a powder board.

I don't use UPZ's, nor do I use UPZ liners.

->Because they're so damn good at it. It's all to easy to bypass the question asked, and answer the question we assume we're being asked. Movement analysis goes awry when viewers look for assumed answers/outcomes, rather than simply taking stock of what's being presented. "When geese fly in formation, why is the formation uneven?"

You're 'falling' into the turn faster than the board can stand you back up. In practice, the tilt of the board may lead the bend in the board by a very small increment, but when the tilt gets too far ahead of the bend, you'll bounce off the snow. In order for the board to bend, it needs some form of resistance. If you're 'falling' away from the topsheet, there's not much resistance, therefore no bend until you stop falling long enough for the board to catch up. This But first, so as to avoid twiddling hardware: Stand on your footbeds in the empty shells with your feet parallel to each other, approximately hip width. Look down, and note the gaps on either side between boot cuffs and leg. Cuffs should be at least buckled on the loosest setting. If the gaps in this situation are similar to the gaps in your photos above, tip your rear boot cuff inward, then replace the liners and see how that feels. Canting the binding inward can compromise ankle mobility, whereas moving the cuff will primarily change the leverage ratio from toeside to heelside. Granted, these variables overlap a little, but moving the cuff will take less time for the sake of this exercise. If this feels intuitively better, without adversely affecting solid footing, then move your rear binding forward one increment, advance the forward lean of the front boot slightly, and check again. If your stance is too narrow on hill, you'll feel 'twitchy' and both of your legs will become overly tired for no apparent reason. (As opposed to having one quadriceps group on fire). Returning to the rear foot dorsiflexion limit: How much rear knee flex does it take to go from 'solid' to 'gap under the heel'? ->almost none ->a few degrees -> a noticeable amount ->from here to eternity. Further, do you have the same situation on the front foot? Further still, do your hamstrings tend to get tight during normal activities?

You're welcome, thanks, and will add 'pirate poker' to the resumé. Any guess on the hippos? It’s not so much that your heelside/toeside transition is slow; it’s that your toeside/heelside is abrupt. How you manipulate a board at slow speed will indicate what will take place at higher speed, so the first few seconds of film should be sufficient. Time notations are approximate. @ .05, you anchor , rotate torso, then release. This suggests you aren’t comfortable rolling off edge with lower extremities, and foreshadows use of midsection to establish board tilt on heelside. @ .06, you’re mostly over the front foot, and beginning to rotate torso to exit that traverse. (ideally, you’d be close to the center of the board, so as to release the turn off the tail, meanwhile reducing edge angle.) @7, board is flat, but shoulders are leading into the turn. ideally, you’d be closer to upright, neutral, and centered as the board goes flat. As a real-time waypoint, try to make sure you have a small moment in time when you're standing directly atop the board, with the board flat to the snow. Then proceed from there. @ 9, you’re lined up and ready to go. However, time has passed while you were getting stacked, meanwhile you’ve traveled some distance and added momentum to the system. Not too much of an issue in this context, but a liability when it gets steeper and you move faster. Left hand snow strike around 9.5 suggests you moved too much mass too quickly into the turn. Most likely head and shoulders leading, given that there’s not much rebound available yet. Rapid rebound being the other cause of hand slap. nice arc until 11. @ 11, COM rises. This is not an actual issue for the terrain you're on, and the general theme, but this will affect how long it takes for the board to begin turning once you roll it up to the heelside. (what goes up stays up until it comes down, meanwhile, board won’t bend). Not an issue if you want the turn to start after the fall line, otherwise... If you soften your knees and ankles slightly at the same time, you'll be able to load the board sooner as it rolls to edge. Shortly after, you over-rotate clockwise, straighten your right leg, and sit to the heelside. If that leg was somewhat flexed, you could conceivably generate some board tilt by rolling that knee into the turn, and without the 'sit' move. Similarly, over rotation without some compensation toward the rear foot heel will leave you parked to the front foot. By 12, the board has moved out from under you (yoyo going down), and you’re about as kinked up as you’ll get. When the board comes back(yoyo climbing up), increasing pressure, you’re not very well stacked up to deal with the increasing load. Right hand strike suggests you tilted too fast, or the board rebounded too quickly from the previous turn, as mentioned before. Around 13, the board is turning underneath your torso. With your weight to the front end, and no means of adding tilt, you've no means of sustain, and the turn ends. Almost looks like a slight absorption move at turn exit. That will come in handy at some point. And then a respectable toeside entry, less top heavy than the previous, possibly on account of added momentum smoothing the transition. -- Regarding the dorsiflexion/stance width thing: Stand relaxed on the board in the empty shells on your footbeds (no liners) and see how even the contact is on the soles of both feet, then move around a little and see what it takes to disrupt that contact. If everything feels ok except for the rear foot heel, stack a few business cards underneath and see if that changes anything toward 'more solid, more of the time'. Then install your feet to the liners and and shells, and see if the plastic is getting in the way. I suspect that if you increase external heel lift, you'll be way over flexed on the rear knee.

Wealth, from the moths drawn to the porch light. Used to be that most anyone could take up skiing, and the relatively low cost and ease of access ensured a broad base of participants. A few dollars from many was enough to keep the lights on and the engines running. Wintersports are much less accessible now, not only in terms of cost, but in terms of how long it takes to get to reliable snow. This means fewer participants, which means the 'entry feel' has to continue to rise in order to pay the operating costs, and those costs need to rise in order to meet the expectations created by higher ticket prices. Sooner or later it won't be worth it, not from the customer side, nor from the operating side. Meanwhile, those on the inside continue to take what they can take for as long as it's there to take. One of the towns supporting the resort I frequent has put a lot of energy into developing the local mountain bike trail system. This is bringing quite a few more people to the valley in the off-season, and for the 'fat biking' in the winter. Last I heard, the mountain wasn't interested in contributing much to the process. Hopefully the surge in backcountry will make a difference in the perception of what wintersport could be, and perhaps that will influence participation and affect public mindset as to resource management.

"You might think so, but they're awfully fond of the 'C'. " "Why don't we see more hippos hiding in trees?" Czeus, You're perceptive, and have some good things going on. The toeside turn is respectably loose and stacked, other than right at the very beginning (leading with the head and shoulders). The toeside turn is more solid than the heelside, and you also have the means of sustaining that arc longer than the heelside. The obvious glitch on the toeside is a byproduct of what's going on to the heelside. The heelside ends early, in part due to weight distribution, in part due to your putting yourself in a corner with the straight leg/ all hip mode of tilting the board to that edge. Straight leg provides very little means of tilting the board, which leaves you with hip/sitting. (A rider's rear leg is typically more flexed than the front, but not that much). Thus peg leg. Also note that the pirate is only on one leg, and has an atypically wide stance. Front heel weight bias and torso rotation is often a byproduct of a stance that is too wide. Which simply means the rider cannot weight both feet easily at turn initiation. Weight defaults to the front foot, the board hooks around too quickly (essentially turning underneath the torso), and the turn ends prematurely. In your case, having limited dorsiflexion, you will not be able to ride a fashionably wide stance, and will need to look to less conventional means of stance configuration, to ensure that you can bear weight in the right places when needed. So, you might want to sneak the rear foot forward slightly, and see how that goes. Meanwhile add just a touch of forward lean to the front boot so as to avoid looking like a tipsy pirate. Might also want to raise the rear heel in increments. Just take it one variable at a time, so as to keep track of cause and effect. Either way, you're in striking range of something better and more consistent. Beyond that, if you want to type out what you see in your clip (what you actually see, not the interpretation of what you see) , I'll then tell you what I see, and what I think it means.

"What letter is favored above all by pirates"?

VelveetAlloy®?

For the most part, maintain the bend of the board centered or slightly back of center, rather than front of center. That should allow you to run at a higher edge angle in softer snow without plowing/stalling. Also makes it a little easier to release the brakes when needed.

The point is to use articulation of your feet to induce lean angle, and then use the rest of your body and available inputs to make use of that lean angle.

The ski business is just like mining. Which is to say, extraction of a finite resource. When the ore runs out, or becomes too costly to process/market, etc., the larger companies will abandon their holdings and move on to the next opportunity.

Saw that yesterday. Looks like a breath of fresh air. If I didn't already have too many fish in the fire, I'd be interested. ->Whoever started the 'less camber is better' thing should be slapped with a soggy diaper, then baptized in dumpster wine.

Learning is fun, isn't it? Thanks for the progress report.

Nope. It's not. If you're frequently gasping and loading up on the lactic acid, then your board is riding you.