Deuxdiesel
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Posts posted by Deuxdiesel
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Lucky you- having to wear size 29 boots is a drag, literally. The A-10's are a great carving binding, but I will say that they are really no stiffer than my A-9's, so unless you are a heavy beast, you may not notice the difference and save some money. The Flow's are definitely stiffer than either of the Rides, especially the fusion strap version. The Flow's are picky on sizing and boot volume though- not all boots of the same size fit the same way. A medium would be the safe bet, but you might get lucky and fit into a small.
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Ride Karmyn 26.0 It looks to me like it fits fine, but she always struggled with it. Anyways, she's in a Large now and loves it, so as the saying goes, happy wife.....
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These were my wife's bindings for 2 seasons. Lightly used and in very good condition. 2019-2020 model purchased in 2021. Size medium (too tight for her 26.5 boots), includes all hardware. $250 plus shipping.
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Now/Jones are $600 for the top models. Ouch.
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I used Flows for years, from the older GT's to the newest NX2's and I agree that the are indeed stiff, but they have a unique style of stiffness. I switched to A-9's 2 years ago and bought some A-10's last year and the difference between the Flows and the Rides is very noticeable but not easily describable. For me, the Flow to feels like it is pulling your foot down to the board, whereas the Ride feels like it is pulling the board up to meet it- weird, but that is how I would describe it. Both ride exceptionally well, both are very easy to get into. There is a bit more lateral stiffness with the Flow fusion strap, but that never seemed to translate into the board. Someday I would like to compare a hybrid strap and see. I like the design on the Supermatic shown above- I prefer a stiff, solid highback, but by all accounts the current version is a bit flexy.
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Tell me more about the cat- I love smokey gray cats!
Good content, maybe a bit wordy but well done for doing this on your own. One point that always seems to come up is finishing the heel side turn without washing out (too little pressure) or chattering (too much). The delicate balance between the two is complicated by over-rotation from neutral. Some of this can be mitigated by lifting, canting and forward lean adjustments, but those are only adjustments and don't necessarily fix the issue. The middle ground angles of 20-30 front and 10-20 rear seem to be the worst in my experience, whereas duck and extreme alpine are less so.
Thanks for taking the time and putting in the effort to create this.
D.
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It is easy to get overwhelmed with the details. Simple is better. Focus on the basics and then work up from there.
-Put your boots on and stand on the bare board so that the centerline of your body is at the center point between the front and rear binding inserts or better yet if there is a mark showing the center point.
-Rotate your feet on the bare board so that your actual heels and toes are over the edges. Don't worry about heel or toe drag at first- you can adjust that as Jack mentioned.
-Slide your feet outward equally until the outside edges of your boot soles begin to lift up from the board.
This gives a basic, functional stance for your first attempts. Your body will tell you what adjustments it needs pretty quickly. The canting, lifting and angle tweaking can come soon after.
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I got hit from behind last weekend at a local area. The skier was just enough uphill of me on my toe side that I didn't see him until too late. I was turning to the lift on the right side of the run and he was heading towards the left side and we tangled up. I ended up with a broken 5th metacarpal, putting the already slow season start to a crawl. He was very apologetic and helpful, so it was hard to be too mad.
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Many new soft bindings come with 3 degree inward cant, which is nice if you like a wide, lower angle stance, but heel and toe lift are just as important with increased angles on softies as the are on stiffies. The power plates are nice, but overkill, expensive and they weigh a ton. Too bad nobody make a simple shim like Shred Gruumer showed above.
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PM sent.
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I went through a bunch of boards during my transition to softboot carving. Lots of demos, always asking for the biggest, burliest board they have, trying other peoples when possible. I'm 59 years old and 170, so neither big nor very flexible, and the difference between most recreational boards and the high-end boards for the groomers was virtually nil. The closest thing I found was a Nitro Pantera. Granted, the riding I do now is almost exclusively in northern Michigan where the snow is pretty firm and often "variable", conditions that make production boards flappy, chattery and nervous. It wasn't until I rolled the dice and ordered a Coiler BXFR that my eyes were opened. Night and day difference, and with high-end production boards in the $600 range, and extra few hundred to get a custom board like a Coiler or Donek makes it worth every penny. If I lived someplace with great snow and great grooming, it might be different. Horses for courses.
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With some refinement, this could be the ticket.
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I had several of those, and my wife rode one as well. We got rid of them because they all cupped and felt like riding a board with extreme edge bevel. You might want to check and see how flat it is to make sure that isn't an issue.
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I long for the olden days when we were accused of scraping all the snow off the hill.
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Pictures and descriptions of the boards are in the vintage classifieds if you want to check them out.
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14 hours ago, staples156 said:
If I'm understanding right, you could add more forward lean to at least your front highback. I'd start there and just crank it to whatever the max setting is (it'll either work or then you'll know what too much forward lean is). The highback is what transfers pressure to the edge on a heelside carve, so gaps between your boot and highback will kill your heelside carve. The more forward lean you have, the more you can bend your knees and ankles and still maintain contact with the highback. Your boot may not immediately fit in the binding very easily, but I find that cranking the heel strap down, moving around a bit, then re-cranking the heel strap will seat the boot in the binding nicely.
I tend to run more lean on the rear binding than the front. If I have more in the front, once I hit that highback with my front boot I find I have to do an exaggerated sit/squat to get the rear to engage, which makes it hard to move my weight fore and aft as needed. On my A-10's and A-9's, I use one notch on the front and 3 on the rear, highbacks rotated forward as much as possible. The are lots of other variables here, such as where the bindings are placed in relation to the sidecut geometry and the sidecut itself.
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For me at nearly 60 and with limited time to ride these days, a great soft boot carver is my choice. If the snow conditions aren't just right, I can no longer ride my hard boot set-ups very well. 25-30 years ago it wasn't a problem. The lines I make on the groom now with a BXFR are the same as the old days, and if the trails get icy, sloppy or lumpy I can manage to ride without beating myself up. There is a wow factor to seeing a great hard boot rider tear it up, but I'm happy with the sensations I get nowadays.
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I have a couple of 157 and 161 Elan alpine boards if you are interested. Cheap and awesome boards.
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The knee tuck and lock seems like a sign that you are struggling to gain leverage over your board- once you do that, most of the input comes from the hips on up. What kind of lean do you have on your highbacks? Are they rotated at all? Your angles and stance width are very similar to what I am running currently, but it would take a ton of effort to get my knees that close. Maybe a bit more information on your set-up?
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Nice, but it's no SwingBo
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I was able to spend an entire weekend widgeting bindings on my Coiler BXFR (163x27), and found some pretty interesting things. On my alpine/hardboot set ups, anything more than a 3 or 6 degree difference between the front foot (usually 48-51 degrees) causes lots of heel-side slipping and push out. On "softies" (Ride A-10's with Ride Deadbolt boots) at 33/30F and 27/24R, there was a whole lotta forward hip projection and back leg stinkyness going on to keep the heel side carving smooth and strong even with the highbacks rotated as much as possible. I've tried using Bomber power plates, DIY cants and older Burton wedges to eliminate some of the funkiness, to no avail- I'm back to flat bindings with the built in canted beds. For fun and to alleviate some of my old-man back issues, I dropped the back foot down to 21 and was amazed at the transformation. Full-on railed heel carving as always with no weird sensations or ugly awkwardness- it was total joy and Zen. I'm a tip it and rip it rider, so finesse is not part of my lexicon, but I am curious as to how others have experienced this. What is your experience with this?
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Outstanding! Gear selection for those videos?
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The 59 year-old me says choice number one is technically correct.
Softboot Carving worth watching
in Carving Central
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Lots of back knee tuckin' and arms flailin' great turns here. It's a reminder that as long as the moves aren't hurting your carves, let your freak flag fly.