1xsculler

No confirmation of acceptance of my order yet.

I’ve failed already.

The Swoard is only 22cm wide whereas the Orca is 26. I’d like to try angles like 15/0 which I can’t do on the Swoard and not have boot out.

Can get it to MCC if you let me know this morning.

Yes.

I won’t, I won’t, I won’t again become a collector of carving boards...well, I won’t start again adding to my tiny collection for a week or two at least. One Coiler and one Thirst will just have to get me through February 15th or so.

I have a pair of Cateks so maybe I should work with them. I even have them set up as stepins.

Very interesting! It’s always good to get Bruce’s input!

I just measured the ramp inside a new pair of size 11 Burton soft boots. 8.1° UPZs are about 10° What is the angle of Deeluxe ramps, again?

I’d like to read a review/comparison by Bruce of his k168 vs his Coilers.

Interesting. These are some of reasons why, when I had RC 10s and RC 8s sitting on my work bench for comparison, I decided to keep the 8s and sell the 10s. The boots were nearly identical, same height, same lower shell, same upper shell with nearly imperceptibly more flexibility (I couldn’t discern any) and the 8s had four instead of five buckels which I considered an advantage.

I get good heel hold in my UPZs using the Deeluxe 131 liner as it has generous heel hold down hockey sticks built in. The 141s don’t have this feature but it can be added with Deeluxe foam stick-ons available from Yyzcanuck. I had new RC10s and RC8s, side by side on my work bench and I compared every aspect of them. They are identical and obviously out of the same molds. The only difference is the 10s have five buckles and the 8s have four and the cuff on the 8 is maybe a tiny, tiny bit, if any, softer. It was obvious that the extra buckle on the 10s was totally unnecessary AND was potentially detrimental because of buckle interference when flexing the cuff forward. As stated previously, for my low volume foot, the Deelux/Palau 131 liner does a great job of heel hold down, overall fit and comfort in my UPZs.

Can you show us how you modified your UPZ?

Sorry, gone a long time ago.

I appreciate your supporting words, barryj.

My son-in-law’s favorite board for most everything but especially pow. It seems to be a favorite of a lot of people. I‘ve watched YouTube vids of guys carving up a storm on boards like the Orca so I’m going to demo one for an hour or two using my F2 stepins and my UPZs to see if it might be better than my 171 Thirst XC for the steeps and/or pow the next time they invite me to Jackson. I don’t own softies or softie bindings (I don’t intend to buy them) and I did do a half day of heli-boarding fifteen years ago using my Salomon SX91 ski boots, Burton Raceplates and a Trucker (either K2 or Burton, I think) so I think I might be able to make my UPZs/F2s work. I have no intention of going to the soft side but I would like the versatility to do steep and/or deep with my son-in-law and grandkids. As usual, I am open to constructive criticism.

$300 including shipping, 168S (soft) very close to new. Pics in the ad a ways down.

Thanks for that but I don’t have a pair of softies to measure so, I’m hoping one of you guys, who may have a pair, can do it for me.

Could somebody who has 6” or 8” digital level let me know the nominal inside sole ramp on your average soft boot?

Appreciate your sage advice. I definitely DO NOT have fifteen years to spend on this unless I am still carving at ninety-two...sounds like I should start wading through Beckmann’s stuff to become more efficient in my learning.

Do soft boots have some ramp built in...how much? Just curious. Update: I just measured the ramp inside a new pair of size 11 Burton soft boots...8.1°.

Is there much ramp in soft boots? Yes, 8.1° in the new Burton’s I measured.

I’m sure Beckmann has forgotten more about carving and the fine points about equipment and setup than I will ever know.

When you say large blocks under your toe and a large block under your heel (F2bindings?) have you ever laid a digital level across the heel and toe of each binding? I’m not saying it’s a good idea or that it will yield meaningful info but I was surprised at what I found. Today and last Friday I rode my UPZs/F2 stepins with 9° of toe lift measured across my front binding (equals a flat foot) and no lifting blocks on my back binding (equals about 8.5° of heel lift Again, undoubtedly useless information to you more experienced carvers but interesting to me.

Ok, thanks for the info. For now I’m going to let my front quad celebrate. I’ve never carved better and that’s not saying much but I’m feeling very good about it. I now need to find a setting to give my rear quad a breather. I know, I know, technique, technique. No, I’m not sending vids yet. Maybe the next time one, or more, of my grandkids are with me. Not that anybody cares BUT If you’re riding UPZs with TDs and you have a 6° TD disc producing front toe lift and a 6° TD disc producing rear heel lift the soles of your feet are: front 4° heel lift and rear about 12° heel lift, just sayn. That’s about what my digital level says.