jim_s

Man! That is a LOT of camber!!

LoL, is that your Madd over top of your new Donek?

Ah, heck, I've been called A SB many times - I'm totally used to this already!

Look an awful lot like the old Burton Unicant discs... (I rode w/ one under my rear foot up until this season.)

I have no experience w/ the TitanFlex bindings, but I was warned that Titanium Race bindings might be too stiff for my scrawny 135lb self. I'd already bought them, so tried them out, and I LOVE them. I'd been riding Burton Race Plates (considered very flexy) forever, and was happy on them, but the Titanium Race bindings have given me a whole new level of connection with the board, and ride noticeably better. (And they're way more adjustable, too.) So, they definitely don't seem to be too stiff for me (at least by feel - an experienced observer might have other opinions, I don't know), and I'm likely toward the lower end of the weight scale.

Nah, you'd have no problems. Anyone with carving experience can do it, its just a narrower range of balance than many are used to. It takes a little exploration to find those bounds, and then its just like normal riding, just a little more sensitive, and at a bit of a more frantic pace. Anyone can ride it, but it seems that not everyone appreciates its finer points!

*SPOT ON* assessment!! Its a demanding little beast - in terms of technique, balance, subtlety and energy expenditure, but SO DAMN WORTH IT!!

I could probably cover that... (Sorry its been so long forthcoming - a head injury has kind of rocked me back on my heels this winter - life has largely been an exercise in keeping my head above water at work this winter.) Anyway, if there's interest, I'd happily lead, or at least contribute to, such an effort. (I suppose this might be particularly timely, with the apparent demise of the TD line of bindings...)

Don't thrash yourself all at once, @Jack Michaud - stretch the pain out slowly over the long-haul - its better for you, and all of us! And seriously, let us know if, when and how we can help.

Its a tiny, minor thing, but once the dust settles and you can breathe again, and you get an idea of a logo, and maybe some funding (you could treat it like a funding goal - reach $XXXX.XX, and we get a favicon!), it'd be awesome to have a favicon set, so the ASB browser tab sticks out for those of us who have ridiculous numbers of tabs open at any one time, but feel the need to compulsively check ASB for the latest posts.

Wow, look forward (sorta) to hearing what this means for BOL, the business. @Jack Michaud, are you seeking or accepting financial contributions to keep the servers humming? Let us know if so (now, or some future time) - I suspect you'll find a log of willing 'helpers'. Thanks for keeping this all alive!!

@John E - does that Flux have some asym in it, or is it just the photo angle??

One of the common threads to discussions or comments I get from people in the lift line is along the lines of, "That thing must be FAST!", to which I reply that it can be, but that I spend all of my focus and energy trying to make it go slower. :-)

Huh, I've always liked the birds (I actually really like the whole topsheet on the MK! :-), but I hadn't noticed that. You may have to contact Joe Hodnicki (http://sharingthestoke.com/post/148376727312/here-is-my-donek-snowboard-in-the-running-for) to ask him! (Don't know if he's a BOL member, or not...)

LoL, found a picture of the board that ended my skiing days! I was a dedicated skier - skied SL and GS skis because I loved carving turns. Literally, one hour on this beast of a board (it had the Burton aluminum tube style bindings - Variplate, maybe?), and I went out and tracked down an alpine board - an old beat-up Checkered Pig that some guy at the local ski shop was trying to get rid of. The K2 belonged to my brother, who never really got into it, but it was a life-changer for me! :-)

Those look awesome!

Yeah, I guess that's where I was going - if nose and tail width were fixed, then a narrower waist (for the same length, nose and tail width) should result in a tighter side cut radius, right? (Now, I have no real idea if a, say, 25-18-24 board would ride any differently than a 27-20-26 board of the same length, aside from the good point you bring up about torsional rigidity. So, maybe this is a nonsensical question, if nose and tail width really have no absolute effect on the board - within reason, of course...) I guess another difference I think I noticed (though I'm going back quite a few years to when I rode a wider alpine board) is that the narrower boards seem twitchier when riding flat, as in quicker to catch an edge, than a wider board. (I make a point of never riding the MK flat, except at the lowest of speeds, like super long shallow stretches, lift unloading, etc - other than that, Its always on edge - in part because that's what I ride for, and in part because it scares me to ride it flat, for fear of catching an edge and biting it hard - it seems to be very prone to catching an edge running flat, and/or getting kicked around by piles of crud, ruts in the snow, etc.)

So, with all of the great discussion I get to read on here about various boards, designs, techniques, etc, and my own seeming-predilection for skinny boards, I'm kinda curious what the real-world effects of waist width are. The ones I think I get include: - binding angles (narrower=steeper, wider=shallower, shallower seems to generally be considered better, though originally being a skier, I find the side-to-side knee motion and forward-facing position of steeper angles more natural feeling) - edge-to-edge transition speed (I guess one of my more favorite aspects of narrower boards, though I've read others who say their 20+cm boards transition as fast as skinnier boards) - I'm guessing turn radius (ie, a narrower waist should give you a tighter turn radius, for a given nose and tail width, right? In that the board would have a deeper edge contour with a narrower waist) - float in powder? (ie, wider would float better, I'm guessing... I'm clueless on this one, as I basically never see powder) So, if anyone is willing, I'd be interested in learning more, just for the sake of learning more - I'm not likely to abandon my beloved (and skinny!) MK any time soon, no matter what is said. :-)

LoL, well, I'd grant you different disciplines of the same sport of snowboarding, but in the end, we're all a bunch of geeks sliding around with our feet strapped to an expensive strip of polymers. I've seen a few soft-booters making quite enviable carves (though perhaps not on canoe-shaped park boards...), so its not entirely an equipment thing - its as much a mind-set thing, as anything, I suppose. (Like yourself, it kinda ruins my carving run when I have to make a skidded turn, though I'll throw them in guiltlessly on sketchy steeps, and at any time, if it keeps my butt out of the woods. :-)

Had a guy in the line really curious about my setup this weekend - he apparently saw me come carving by, and actually changed trails to follow me and ask about it at the end of the run. Nice guy, lots of questions, and I was happy to chat w/ him, which we did for a good 4-5 minutes in the line. I explained the type of board it is, what this style of board is typically used for, what it is good at and bad at, what I love about it, etc, and at the end, he asks, "Do you snowboard, too?" Maybe I was just unclear in my explanation, dunno...

With much encouragement from @SunSurfer, I've managed to increase my stance width from 16" to 17" (took two tries to do it, first try at 17" two weekends ago felt too wide - was impacting my knees and hips, and associated range of motion, and I backed off to 16.5". I tried again this weekend, and found that with 1 deg inward cant on the rear boot (I know, inward cant is considered evil, but for whatever reason, 17" flat just didn't work with my hips, but 17" w/ 1deg inward rear cant, made it work - maybe its all in my head?) Anyway, at 17", my 'jazz hands' have seriously calmed down! I only found myself lifting my arms up when I'd hit the occasional patch of ice today, or when I got a bit aggressive on the carve, and got a larger than expected pop out of the turn. (That having been said, I felt a little like a gerbil, as my hands were sort of curled up in front of me, LoL - I don't quite know what to do w/ them, if I'm not waving them around... :-) Interestingly, even at 16.5", I was still flailing my arms around a fair bit, but at 17", they calmed down almost completely. One thing I did find at the 17" stance that I need to think about and work on, is that I find myself riding my rear foot a lot more than I did at 16" or 16.5". It worked for me this weekend, and I really had to concentrate hard to keep the weight more evenly distributed between front and back, but the feeling of riding the rear foot was a little unsettling. (That having been said, the tail never washed out, and I did find myself getting more pop out of the turns, w/o really thinking about loading the tail up.) Anyway, just wanted to share that. :-) If there are any intuitions or observations to be shared back, I'd be very interested in hearing them!

I haven't yet had the chance to ride my MK in full-on hero snow, but my experience has been that in softer stuff, you have to take it a little bit easier on the nose, otherwise it can wash out, if you overpower it. (Whereas on harder snow, you can load up the nose a fair bit, you just gotta be prepared to deal with the consequences of being bold. :-) Local hill got 53" of snow this week, and heading up there tonight, so will hopefully get more opportunity to try it out in nicer conditions! The funny thing is, the MK growls in all conditions that I've tried it in thus far. Even in softer snow, it sounds like you're grinding ice while you're on edge.

Seems vaguely reminiscent of Zell am See, though its been quite a while...

@Corey - your 'big brother' MK sounds pretty much exactly like the stock MK! (I like #3 - I call it the 'MK Growl' - it almost sounds like your skidding, but there's no skidding involved, just a razor line left behind! :-) You didn't mention edge hold (aside from the standard tooth-pullingly-tight turns) - does Big Bro rail on ice like the regular MK does? How about torsion - did you notice any different and/or good/bad effects of torsion due to the width increase? It really seems that Sean has nailed it, in terms of the MK construction, and the effects thereof. Thanks a bunch for posting the info!

I understand (and I'm not saying that can't be done - I need to find that pic that I think was of @Mellow Yellow), just didn't want to be giving you the impression that that'd be a regular thing on the MK (again, maybe it can be for others, but its not something I'm capable of...). It sounds like you're plenty fleet-of-foot (and knee, and hip - though hopefully you don't have the 'jazz arms' that I have :-) for the MK. It really just comes down to how happy you are being that fleet-of-joint pretty much through every turn. It seems that some of us live for that, and some of us prefer a more moderate pace (and a more drawn-out carve). It'd be awesome if you could find somebody out there w/ an MK and/or an Angrry to try, but I guess if there were someone, they would've come out of the woodwork by now. I'd love to try an Angrry, myself - sounds like a really fun ride!!