bigwavedave

Received the Mcmaster springs mentioned above and they fit fine. I'm mounted up with green (soft), I like my boots flexy. (I have the .951's, not WC) Rode in -10°F today and the plastic didn't stiffen up like my UPZ's did in that weather. After 4 hrs in them today, I pretty much agree with what everyone has said. I'm keeping them. Thanks @jburrill I spot molded the heel of the liner to get a better heel pocket. Now they feel one with my feet. Very comfy. My only complaints are that getting in & out is painful as the plastic cuts into the dorsum of my foot (high instep?), plus it takes me a bit of fidgeting to get that liner tongue seated properly under the plastic shell. I suppose a wrap liner would be the fix, or maybe putting the liner on first--ZipFit style. I like the stiffer lateral flex, higher cuffs, easy walking rubber soles that don't seem to clog with snow, and seem to be a friendlier interface on the metal toe & heel blocks of sidewinders. I don't feel the need for any aftermarket bts--they have a nice smooth flex, more ROM than the stock UPZ's. (they are harder to drive in though, especially a stick)

Started out at -10°F warmed up to 5 above. Beautiful sunny day, Finally! Very firm and grippy groom, and no hint of the ice base! No plates required todayan 8rw day Maybe 10 other folks on the hill besides me and Russ for the first couple of hours. We couldn't destroy all the groomers by ourselves--we tried, but we could use some help! Later in the afternoon, got invited to do a "safety sweep" of the plush, freshly groomed snow in the BigAir park with the boarder patrol --our own private closed run for a ½ hour or so. We took this job very seriously and swept it several times before declaring it safe for the general public--a great way to end a great day!

I was there last Wed. The snow was nice and soft. Riding plate-less boards all day didn't bother my knee. Plus, thin post holiday crowds. They're getting lake-effect snow on the tail of this storm and should also get dumped on this weekend like the rest of us, with more lake-effect after that. Let me know if you want to go. For the time being, things should be back in tip-top shape at Spirit. I'm hoping there's now enough snow to completely bury the ice base. Certainly after this weekend. We'll be out tomorrow and will file a report.

About 2-3" of light fluffy snow today. Went out for a few runs this afternoon to test softer springs in new boots. Very few people out today, but school bus loads of kids were arriving shortly before I left. 5PM: Snow is moving out now. Should be nice tomorrow, soft snow, sun & cold! Fingers crossed that Spirit doesn't decide to close, or delay opening due to AM sub-zero temps.

Great rant @bobble. Sorry, but it made me laugh, "don't poke your eye out" . Maybe 12" of snow this weekend will cover the mogul field. ...or... Maybe it's time for a nice quiet trip up north.

In general: Soft snow out west, cambered glass boards rule. You don't even have to sharpen your edges! Out east on hard groom and ice, no question, new tech boards make riding more fun. The mid-west is becoming more & more like the east coast.

Yup, that's the guy

Website states they're meant to keep the boards they're selling from breaking. Definitely copied the Apex design. Doubt plastic (acrylic?) will be as durable or effective as Apex's carbon fiber product. Didn't this guy post pics of his boards last year in the "board porn" section with actual pornographic topsheets?

I ordered from the menu below at Mcmaster-Carr for 16mm diameter springs. 38mm for the long (toeside) and 25mm short. Looks like the same color-coded springs. Hope I measured correctly. I'll find out Thursday. I ordered 6 springs, $7 shipping, $26 total. https://www.mcmaster.com/springs Metric color coded die springs: https://www.mcmaster.com/springs/spring-type~die/for-hole-diameter~16mm/

1" new at my place. Spirit reports 2". Check out the guys on the chair on Spirit's cover photo. There was freezing drizzle in the mix last night, so the groom had a frozen crust. There were areas with 1½" of soft snow on some runs and on the edges . 4pipe had an icy, uneven groom. A flat light day, but still a happy carving crew......R to L.....Leighton, Russ, Don and mr smiley face

Supposed to get a few inches of snow tonight and maybe the sun will come out tomorrow. Anyone coming out to play? @rwmaron @khoward Conditions were pretty decent yesterday. A little better each day.

Had to shorten my bindings 3-4mm going from m28 UPZ's to c shell .951's. Had to lengthen my heel bails (sidewinders) one turn on the lugs to allow the boot heel to capture easier. Took one run on them a couple of days ago and it was obvious I had some tweaking to do, like getting rid of the very slight outward cant I was running (50° cant/54° binding). Just felt like I was bowlegged. Guess I shoulda carpet surfed first. Based on Beckman's measurements, I wonder if that means that UPZ's have even more inward cant? Gonna try no cant and keep lift at 6° front and 3° rear as before with the UPZ's. I ordered a variety of springs from McMaster to play with. I like a softer flex. Did a "sauna" heat mold last night. Feels good on the carpet. I found with UPZ's the liners were swimming around inside the shell, so I now like molding a heated liner to a heated shell. These liners were pretty comfy from the start, so just a minimal molding. Really liked my UPZ's with wrap liners and dgss springs, but the plastic got noticeably stiffer in cold weather. I also like that the .951's feel taller on my calf. More like my old Reactors. Oh, and Rubber Soul...great album and makes walking easier.

Placed an order with Apex a few weeks ago and received my Geckos 2-3 days later. When I didn't get a tracking # I emailed and got a response right away. Turned out they had sent communications, but they all went into my spam file. I like the way they work with the smaller footprint of a BP cant kit and sidewinders better than the larger footprint of F2 Titaniums. The stack height was a bit scary with the standard sidewinder set-up. Using thinner TD2 elastomers would be better. I found them to moderately stiffen the flex of a board and make it ride longer. The effect was less so on a bigger board. A larger, stronger rider will probably feel less effect on the flex of their board than a lighter rider, since the only adjustment available is to soften the ride with softer durometer bumpers. I'm 185lbs and recovering from a knee injury, so not very strong, but they allow me to ride without traumatizing my recuperating knee. I like them a lot. They mute out a lot of the rough stuff and will allow you to ride longer in rough conditions and still have better snow feel than an isolation plate. You forget they are there. They're maybe 50% as effective as an isolation plate if an isolation plate like the Boiler Plate 4mm lite mutes out 90% of rough terrain. There seems to be a bit better edge pressure on ice. I still like to have a board without them for maximum snow feel when the groom is fine.

Maybe check out the SG Full race titan 163xt. Is in the same place in the SG lineup as the K168 is in the K lineup of race sticks. According to SG, it's a SL board for larger WC racers (it's wider and stiffer then the standard 163 frt, same scr), under the feet of mere mortals it might ride like an all-around free carver. (as long as you're close to the correct wt range). I have no 1st hand experience with the 163xt (so maybe contact SG directly for advice). There was one for sale here:

Only about 1½" new snow, but enough to soften things up since yesterday. Surface groom is now 3" and held up pretty well. A deep carve still bottoms out on the ice base, but overall the ride is softer and pretty nice. Rode for 3 hours, part of the time with Leighton riding his newly acquired OES board. Very few people with wide open runs until about noon. I'm still riding the Geckos on Coiler to protect my recuperating knee from any further trauma while the underlying surface is still hard. I didn't loose any parts today, although I'm now paranoid and keep checking to see if everything is there.

Hope you have a smooth recovery my friend. We were room-mates at the St Moritz several years ago during SES.

Pulled into the parking lot 10 minutes after the chair lift started (I'm late!), yet only a few cars in the lot. It's 0°F and sunny with a light NE wind carrying the promise of some lake effect snow later. Virtually no one on the hill for the first hour. Beautiful job with the surface groom. The ice is hiding just underneath and you can hear it with every carve. At the bottom of my 2nd run, I discovered I lost another bumper off the Geckos, but more alarming is that the heel bail on my front binding was gone! Picture here... My worst nightmare is having my front foot come out, somehow it stayed in to the bottom. Luckily, I have more than one board with bindings back in the car. Took a few more runs as the lake effect snow moved in. If we're lucky we'll get a few inches to soften up the slopes. 4:00pm about an inch of light fluffy lake effect snow and still coming down. Spirit has disappeared from view. Might be heavier snow up there.

I think of damp as a description of ride quality. Damp, quiet, mellow, in that the board doesn't transmit jittery or nervous energy to the rider over uneven terrain at speed. Essentially smoothing out the ride. A damp board can still have pop, maybe not the quite the same as a full cambered glass board. I haven't ridden one, but the SG Full carve is the free-ride glass (non-metal) version of the full race titan. Might also have a different scr and flex pattern from the race. So...apples & oranges? I think we do agree that there is something about Mark's boards, and it's hard to find the right words to describe it, but I like it a lot. There's is a distinctive sensation you get in a carve....he just might be the Walter White of board builders. **I might add that all my Thirst boards came with the best professional edge tune I've ever had (.75° base / 2° edge). Sliced my leather gloves just carrying the board. I thought the board bag/sleeve that comes with every board was to protect the board, but maybe it's so you don't cut yourself

Thin elastomers, designed for use with a boiler plate which doesn't flex under the binding. Still, I think the smaller footprint of the BP mounts will allow the Geckos to flex better then F2's. The ends of the sidewinders, using 6° & 3° cants, are close to touching the plates with only about 2mm clearance. Lost another bumper & screw today (thought I treated them all with threadlock), plus broke a bail on a old pair of sidewinder prototypes. Didn't notice til I reached the bottom, and have no idea how far I rode without it.

I removed the Geckos from the Thirst XC. Although a very smooth ride, it really changed how the board flexed for me and took away some of the fun of the dynamic Thirst ride. I suspect it has something to do with the mystery asym, layered, cambered core already built into Thirsts. So, I mounted them on my 179 Coiler Revelation today with Sidewinders on a recently acquired BP binding base kit. The difference in stack height with this plate/binding combination is hardly noticeable compared to normal Sidewinders. I think the smaller foot print of the BP base (compared to F2's) interferes less with the Gecko's ability to flex with the board. I felt only the slightest difference in how the board flexed and handled. They essentially disappeared under my feet. But I also didn't feel the rough ice I was riding on. Still set-up symmetrically, but with a mix of soft & hard bumpers. Hard, on the fingers under each toe & heel, and soft everywhere else.

^^good advice^^ 1st saw it used by racers and thought, "hey, that's not how you mount those", and then learned that some people need to and there's no rule says you can't. I just got a new pair of F2 titaniums. Nice built in lateral play, similar to what Sidewinders were trying to reproduce. 1st ride today I had trouble making a carved turn, looked down and my forward toe was not over the edge of the board. When I got to the bottom I found the heel block had moved back and I could lift my foot out without unclipping! I knew what it was right away because I had seen this happen to a racer at RTTC a couple of weeks ago and had it happen on my first F2 bindings 30 yrs ago. There is a locking nut that captures the other end of the screw that adjusts the sliding blocks. This can fall off unnoticed and then simple pressure can move the block and screw out. Really like my sidewinders. Never had a failure, and no fiddling around customizing heel & toe blocks for lift & cant. ***Update..................^^^^Never say never^^^^ Next time out, broke a heel bail on my old sidewinders. They were SW prototypes, about 10 years old, and likely saw some rough use racing before I got them.

Out for first tracks today. Sunshine always makes carving better. Minnesota firm groom (1" deep trenches), actually an impressive surface groom about 2" thick that held up well for the first couple of hours. Then you start to get down to the marbley ice base layer wherever the surface groom has been broken up and you begin hearing that awful metal edge on gravely ice sound and feel the need to employ your best ice riding technique as you feel the board skid a little. Started on the 175 REV mounted with the boiler plate and found my new f2 front binding coming loose. The heel block was sliding back. Didn't figure it out until I got to the bottom after having great difficulty carving any turns. Another couple of mm's and my front foot would've come out! There's a nut that holds the adjusting screw and it had come off! I had this happen 30 yrs ago with F2's and recently saw it happen to one of the racers (rear foot fortunately) at the RTTC at Buck. Switched to the 179 Coiler Rev mounted with the Gecko's and sidewinders on boiler plate binding bases. First ride on this set-up and it is the best yet. The Geckos did their cushioning thing without a noticeable change in board flex. Rode with a local border Mike.

^Not sure what you mean by this.^ I'd be careful what you say, as you're likely to run into K168 enthusiasts while you're riding the Loaf. I've heard those Maineiacs don't take to guys from NJ dissing their ride. " I forgot the K168 is titanal and I've ridden that plenty of times and would DEFINITELY not call that damp. But again, not enough time in the saddle of other titanal boards to really be able to tell the difference." ^^^This must be a joke...I'm assuming by K168 you mean Kessler, famous for introducing titanal boards to the world of snowboarding and the very definition of damp.

I think the XC would be the likely model to compare with a K168, or possibly the Superconductor (175). Maybe you'll run into Jack while you're at the Loaf. He might be curious enough to do a comparison. I think the Geckos might be muting your full SF experience. Rode the XC for a couple of hours yesterday in soft groom, finally! It rides like a large SL board. Does nice medium tight turns until you increase pressure and angle and then it can give you whiplash inducing tight turns. Really surprised me how fast it tightened up when I was doing cutbacks off a double-fall-line feature at Indianhead yesterday. Whereas the Super, on the same feature, was a little smoother and predictable. Might describe the Super as a small GS board--a great all around board. The SF rides more like a race SL, able to do long, relatively fast drawn out turns with stability and confidence, and nice quick, tight turns. Reminds me a lot of the black SG 163 frt (2011-12) I had a few years ago. Very similar exceptional performance, except that the SF can be ridden relaxed or aggressively. It doesn't demand that you constantly stay on top of it. And, for me anyway, willingly completes the turn as long as I keep it on edge. Push to decamber and tighten the turn, but hang on as it will really accelerate. I've come to the conclusion that my favorite Thirst model is most definitely, hands down.......the one under my feet But seriously, it would be riding the 8rw, but only when conditions are optimal--snow soft enough to get a grip (it gets going too fast for me on ice), no crowds (it's 185cm) and a sunny day with good visibility to let it rip. (Keep in mind I'm somewhere beyond my mid 60's and just can't push it as hard as some of the super human real mountain men here who can ride anything, anywhere).

Spirit has been making snow since last night with the subzero temps. Looks like it's over in the park area (pipe?). Plumes of snow smoke were rising hundreds of feet in the air. Maybe some of it fell on Gandy too. Might be worth looking for some softer turns over on that side of the hill.