dhamann

a lot of redundant information on this site regarding softboot bindings for carving. RE: neils post ride c-10. comparable to a-10. composite chassis vs aluminum chassis. ankle strap not so good. composite chassis may have broken where the aluminum gets bent. i am personally a proponent of breaking bindings as opposed to my body. at least two fractures (lateral talus, head, neck) and some other torn/affected parts. just something to consider i guess when selecting a binding if you're an aggressive carver. most carving bindings can be compared to the NOW odrive. however, i've broken a few bases, highbacks and buckles. i tried the nx2 a few years ago (not a fan) but some people love them. replaced this a-10 with jones apollo for next year. flux xv seems like a good option, but have heard warranty claims and customer service can be difficult. good luck in finding what's right for you.

Nice! Any total aerial views of the course? Looks like a whoop-de-do start? Whoop-de-don’t

bump and price drop: 600+ship. ridden a few short days. edges are set and polished to .5 base, 1 side and has about 8-10 layers of wax. currently has storage wax. this thing rails and torsional flex is superb. longitudinal flex is firm superb as well and the 162 length makes it very manageable. i'd keep it if it wasn't so close to another board i already have. great board for bx/banked slalom or firm softy directional free carve.

that's not what we want to hear, but maybe we need to hear. thanks a lot.

3/5/22, killington, VT, slash and berm: results 3/12/22, sugarloaf, ME: results congrats to @Jack M@Termin8tor@jburrill and others 3/12/22, stratton VTO: results 3/12/22, bolton valley, VT: results 3/12/22, ragged mtn, NH: n/a 3/26/22, sugarbush, VT, side surfers: results

r: fawcett, p: morrison Turning man banked '22. They look like step on's to me, but could be photo shopped like the K on the nose of the board. so if you're super human, give them a try. not for me. just ride what you're more comfortable on in spring like conditions. my hardboot stuff rarely comes out in the spring except maybe the first hour or two. nothing better or worse. just personal preference. 20yrs on hardboots, stick with hards. even though softboots are more fun, better suited to variable terrain, provide more agility and wear more comfortable. none of that makes sense if the rider is more comfortable riding hardboots though. happy trails "one way or another".

Roto kit sold.

iron used. still in good working order. 25 bucks roto handle, brass, nylon, horsehair, cork. 100mm. 100 bucks a nice upgrade from a vacuum roller +ship conus

Had a very similar encounter with some kid coming in hot at the spillway exit to skyline lift at the loaf. I was cruising casually flat boarded approaching the lift line when this kid came down at a pretty good rip, way out of control. I leaned to the impact to brace for my back about to be broken and he jumped just behind me clipping my tail and total yard sale with his goggles hanging off his helmet sliding a good ways. I dodged a bullet. Just told the kid to speed check it and kept er moving into the lift line. The crowd standing around was speechless and the kid said, ya I’m ok. Guy, gfy. Then later in the day I saw the same kid zip past me like he was doing a super G. Eh, kids. I wasn’t so lucky the next day. Got bit by a snow snake, buried my nose in a soft spot and blew my ankle up. Bad sprain and out 4-6wks to light duty. Bad timing but will be back next year.

Calf cant. Like the innovation. I’d keep an eye out if available in the states. As long as product breaks before the body does.

Soft boots firm. +8 Am start. Maybe hard pm. Still gotta scrape. See ya out there.

Topsheet. Core+. Sweet ride. Ride it hahd.

ditto! my 68 bxfr was maxed at 27.5 but that's due to a 9m average scr and length. all depends i guess. that's one sexy board though!

an OES FR 165w will ride completely different than a 164 cafe racer, even with a soft OES flex. the kevlar definitely adds to the torsional stiffness i believe. if we forget about the shape and construction differences and just look at the numbers, it's gonna run a lot bigger. probably weight too. add stiff construction into the equation... the board will be happy at high speeds. if that's what you're after then you've nailed it. width: 27.8cm cafe, 28.1cm FR effective edge: 1230mm cafe, 1400mm FR sidecut: avg 8.6m cafe, 12.5m FR (10-15m) absolutely. it's like the first time riding a variable scr rather than a single radii board, but even more prevalent on the finish of the turn. to me, it feels like a combination of the larger tail sidecut, .6cm taper (TT has no taper), stiffness and not so much camber locking in the tail corner edge. however like scott says, you get used to it. i wanted to sell mine when i got it but glad i tested it. she's a keeper. it's a good board to have in the quiver for sure. for firm fast days, it rips. i may recommend a metal chassis binding with this board as well. happy shredding.

nice, but prepare for HARD stiffness. like racing hard stiff. medium many be considered better for a first carve board. i will also add that the OES Twin Tip review mentions something about the proflie or tail edge not having a "kick" or "pop" into transitions of the next turn. i find this prevalent with my OES FR 162 wide as well. a medium flex may help with this as opposed to fighting the finish of a turn and/or loosing an edge at the finish of a turn. 15m on the tail of the 165. i found not too much camber in the board to engage the corners of the edges too. just my two cents. good luck and hope you enjoy the ride.

nx2 is the obvious answer here. what else is obvious is that the straps, ratchets/buckles and outward folding highback being a deal breaker for some. folding highback down when loading chairs should be a standard practice so they don't get broken and/or the rider doesn't cause chair issues. however when riding, the chassis and highback are very good for carving as long as the rider can get sufficient forward lean and get it to hold with loc tite or something. if looking for this one feature and forgoing everything else, the nx2 is your friend.

gold. funcarve dot com

You’ve probably seen it too. Saw a skinny kessler proto bx metal top that Cheever had up on fb sbx trader. My page was hacked and been kicked off so can’t confirm availability. It was smaller than 172 though so idk. I forget but I wanna say 166? Probably super stiff. Idk. Worth inquiring but also don’t know where he might be in the world at the moment either. Could ghost on inquiries. Good luck.

video has it all. majestic riding and great videography. one of the best clips in the 27 pages here.

26 w/ risers, 27 is good, 28 better... with a 10.5 boot... depending on how low you like to go. i have an SG soul 64 xt which you may want to look at the review if you haven't already. i also have an OES FR 162 wide w/ kevlar, stiff flex. the OES is a lot of board and i'm pretty sure it's attributed to that kevlar space material. the board weighs 9.5lbs. the soul is 7.5lbs. there's another review on a different OES Twin Tip than what i have, but also helpful to check out. sure you can get low of either of these as well as you cafe racer. the difference will be felt as equipment rather than a toy like how my nitro pantera feels to me. (still for sale btw) the soul radius is an average of 10.75m. where my OES is 11.5m. camber profiles are different as well as board construction. different boards all together. the soul is more forgiving to ride and carve than my OES, but so is my K68. sometimes visuals help... exiting a long laid out toe side here on the OES. i blame my wife for missing the money shot and that guy standing in my line of confidence. size 12 boot, +36/+6 for angles. 210lbs before gear, 6' tall. i need a riser plate for a 28 waist board on my heel side to match a similar angulation in the turn. i can't speak to nobile boards as i've never ridden being here in the states, but i believe they have a more race/stiff focus and construction. for a first softboot carve board, i'd recommend a board with a 10-12scr built for about 200lbs as a good baseline to start from. 163-167 given your height. camber. my OES feels like it's built for 300lbs and the soul built for 200lbs. it all depends on your aggressiveness and riding style/focus as well. some days you wanna give it all you got while other days you just don't. this equipment can get a little too much technical, but it's all for good reason. hope this helps.

if there was one thread for softboot carving bindings i think we'd exceed the Loon page count. anyways, i've had binding issues the past three years and this year being the worst. i prefer stiff, strong, immediate response built within the chassis, highback and ankle strap. throughout my research over the past few weeks, i've come to the conclusion... bindings are getting much better in design but still not perfect for free carving and we'll probably never have a focused free carve binding. however, there are some good options out there. i haven't ridden all of them. Rome black label: roomy chassis and asym but i don't understand why there's a sidewall on the inside of the chassis as opposed to the outside for heel side carves, look like a nice ankle strap. 85/15/5 nylon/glass fiber/carbon chassis. 70/30 "polystrand"/nylon highback. expensive. base looks like it has great dampening. pivot mount on ankle strap could have questionable durability. Rome cleaver: refer to the snowboarding forum dot com for discussion on these. probably gonna get disco'd and i'd stay clear. maybe the katana for a softer feeling binding, but also roomy chassis with no outside sidewall support. nitro machine: looks like a fantastic option. however, only two forward lean options and a questionable ankle strap. Union: highback connection to the chassis too vulnerable in design of their highbacks. not enough meat there for high pressure torque on heelside. some pretty options though and saw Eliot Grondin riding them to first place in olympics on the bx podium. NOW: oh how i loved my odrives. friends love their recons, but recons have since been disco'd. the drive binding is softer and probably one of their biggest sellers. recons and drive have the flip-it ankle strap. great strap, but the hyperfuse II strap is better that can be found on the odrive. sk8 tech base chassis is made up of "hanger" and "post". these are 70/30 nylon/carbon in all bindings mentioned above. fixed and pre-rotated highbacks. jones apollo: similar to odrive, but alternative carbon formula in highback. same nylon/carbon make up in the hanger/post. hanger is 70/30 nylon/glass fiber. post is 70/30 nylon/carbon. flip-it ankle strap as opposed to the hyperfuse II found on odrive. Ride A series: as mentioned above, simple system. i have the A-10. aluminum chassis is strong. small and barely fits my size 12 k2 thraxis, but it fits. yes, the thraxis is a larger boot as say the ride insano that would probably fit better. funny how that works. small fixed highback and responsive. ankle straps belong on a freestyle binding because that's how they ride. it's a freestyle binding with stronger components... keeping with the simple theory as mentioned above. the composite C series would provide more flex, but wouldn't be surprised if they had some carbon in them. although no mention of carbon in the marketing. carbon doesn't do so well in the cold where the bindings need to flex. Karakoram: eyeballing the recon. the quiver connectors have me concerned, but after chatting with @scottishsurfer and @Shred Gruumer asking why i don't consider these had me second guess myself given my research and experience with binding failures over the past few years. scottish had a quiver connector break, but he was on an early release version of the binding a couple years ago and got updated replacements in about a week from karakoram. customer service is huge when considering what to buy. i'll slip it in that i have read that flux is not so good in this department. while the highback can't be rotated on the Recon's i've had feedback that this is not an issue. the ankle straps look chinsey but again i've gotten feedback that this is not an issue. good solid locked hold. karakoram has the Free Ranger as the next step down in flex from the Recon. the continuum binding has a standard 4x4 disc and not the quiver connectors. @Cthulhufish hope this helps add to your search for a binding. it's a real struggle. good luck.

100%. Get on hockey skates and do figure 8’s. Edging with the sidecut of boards… the boards do the work. That and balance. It is that simple.

i can see the potential at Stowe when it has plentiful snow. this is probably why it's such a popular destination resort and i saw an awful lot of virginia, penn. and ny plates in the lot. however, i was just there this past week for a few days and found that the grooming was absolutely horrible on diamonds and double diamond terrain. ridges at every pass of the cat on the steeper terrain and bumpy that the dominantly skier traffic creates on the more narrow and/or windy/turny trails. lotta snowboarders ride like skier too. shorter skidding turns and speed checks. i found that the terrain design/layout almost forces this on most of the terrain and it aggravated the sh!t out of me. gondolier trail is the only good carving trail and a main trail that gets a fair amount of traffic. i rode sugarbush a couple years ago in mid/late March at the Mt. Ellen side for a banked slalom event. i didn't ride around too much because of the event, but when i did i remember a better terrain offering for carving than Stowe. wait a minute! first weekend of April? is this an April fools? haha. have fun!

reply sent. take it with a grain of salt and what might work best for you. cheers! -Dave