Ray

Great news, the Bomber demo tent will have some VIRUS boards available at the SES! … as well as some cool stuff for the raffle! Thought that some of you always wanted to try one of these nasty beautiful beloved creatures :D At this time, am not 100% sure what exactly we will have…but it looks like a Psycho 175/16cm and a Phantom World Cup 185/19.5cm… because of this impromptu decision and the upcoming Expo (ISPO this weekend) in Germany things are pretty hectic at VIRUS and inventory is quite limited… none the less, these boards should make it. Please, lets not hammer Fin at this point with any board reservations… he is so busy to get everything finalized at this point… Let us get the boards in and go from there…Thx. Ray

Wow, that is really dreadful. Hope you get a bunch of snow to at least have a good ending of your season. Exactly, come to the SES

Have a save ride to Aspen Tim! Brian an I will cut some for you in June :D

The basic Virus models are pretty easy to ride… But the more special ingredients Frank puts in em the more tricky / advanced they get (off course). My wife is currently riding the Virus Dragster, a 163 BX board with a 19.5 waist. No issues at all. It’s soft and very easy to ride… she has a blast. She tried to ride my Terminator custom, a 165cm, Carbon/Texalium combo with a 17cm waist, Nope, not so good. She actually rode my Pogo Overdose much better… It really depends, like with probably every other custom board manufacture, a) the better the ingredients, the better the board should be and b) you get what you pay for (in my opinion). What I agree most is that these boards (Team, Custom…) really deliver the unexpected – in a positive way - even after a while, when you thought you figured it all out… Ray

who will be in Mammoth/June this weekend? Need to get some more turns in before the SES... Ray

kamran, exactly what i expected to hear from you :D

HUHA ! Kamran, that is SAAAWEEET! Have fun... Ray

Tim, was really fun riding with you last weekend. Hope you had great rest of a day (Birth-Day ;-) Always good to ride with stronger, younger riders :D

Hi Jack, Could you please explain this to me a bit more. Thanks. Ray

Am 5’7, use stance: 19.3 (49cm) centered on the board. My angles are: 63 front / 60 rear on my carvers (17.1 cm waist) and use some toe & heel lift with a 1.5 degree of negative cant in the front. Boots I use most are Suzuka with modified RAB system and Conformable liners. Ray

Nothing wrong with negative cant. I ride with toe/heel lift and a 1.5-degree negative cant on the front binding. Last weekend I rode the first day with negative cant and took it out on the second day in the morning to try and feel the difference. After 3 runs I put it right back in. Am a bit bow legged as well and it seems to really adjust the position. Ray

Next weekend for sure. But we will go to June! Last weekend we have been a group of 8, wow!

Corty is boot fitting for 20 years now i think and has most tools custom build for his needs... He fixed all my boots… besides the pair of Suzukas I got right before I went to Whistler. Had to take these un-punched to Whistler and found the place with this machine… It’s basically an easy way to get a “one for all” machine… fist I was skeptical over the traditional way Corty would do it, but it worked very well… When are you going up to Mammoth again? We should meet! Ray

Many people have asked how to punch boots, and what it actually is. Take a look at the picture. This is a boot press used by several “good” boot fitters. <img src="http://tinypic.com/1glhsh"> If your boot fitter does not have this press and has no idea what you are talking about, show him this picture. Maybe he will be enlightened ! This boot press does work wonders! No need to dremel or shave the inside of your boots (Anyway not really recommended since you only will gain a couple of millimeters when you maybe need way more than that). So the entire boot will be put in hot water until the shell is soft(er) and than punched at the needed area(s)…once cool, the shell holds the new form… minor adjustment can be done with a heat gun and the machine later on… There are other machines/ways to punch boots, but this seems to be the most efficient one I have seen so far. The toe box of my Suzukas came out almost square... and you know how round and pointy they usually are... Good luck! Ray

Chances are very high you will try both systems anyway! Simple reason, most of us are on the search for the best possible ride, so it will probably be only a question of time until you “have” to try the other side… I think there is no huge difference in what you try first… you’ll probably end up trying both systems sooner or later anyway. I recommend keeping whatever you get first. You might go back! Ray

Would love to come to Davos (again) Davos was the mountain we always went to until we moved to the US (’90) Jakobshorn was always fun, especially the Schuemli Pfluemli :D

Tim, see ya Sat in June :)

Do you have custom footbeds? I also believe a snowboard boot would be better... especially in the long run...

Chris, seems you are a happy camper :D Ray

Can’t, sorry. I’ve never rode a Donek FC. Maybe one of the other guys can?

kreeves, best thing would be to get in contact with them directly. Email: VIRUS-Snowboards@t-online.de or call Frank @ 49 6022 655553 If you want, you can also email me with some questions and I try to help you with my own experience... As kamran said, these boards run about 900 Euros, but depending on model and what you want can much more than that But Frank can help you with the decision… kamran, good choice! Yes, let us know what you think... after a full day of good riding you should know ;) Ray

Ghostrider, are you coming to the SES? Would be great. Ray

mtnpig, No experience with the Elastimer ring, sorry man. But I adjust my binding offset from the centerline! Lets see if I understood it the way you mean it. I set my bindings so the front is moved more to the toe edge and the rear binding more to the heel edge. I would say about a ¼ to ½ inch depending on the board. Basically set to the max without getting overhang. But remember, the waist of my boards is only about 17cm. I think you can not do that on a board with a19 –21cm waist. This way I just feel more stable and think to get more pressure on the edges… I talked to some people about it and many disagree, but some never went back to the 100% centered set-up after giving it a try. Ray

I am really sorry to see you like that and wish you all the best with a fast recovery! Would you mind sharing how old those Intec heels are and what you body weight is? Was the accident because of failure of the Intec heel, or did you crash and the heel broke because of some major impact? Many thanks! Ray

ok ok, I edited it. Hope we are all happy now :)