Jack M

I really want to see a picture of you riding this beast! Or if that doesn't exist, you standing next to it!

You can only "adjust" a board's turning radius so much. The sidecut radius is the baseline for that adjustment. 35m is a hella big number - more than double the average radius of my NSR 185 (which has a 2.23cm sidecut depth over the 169cm effective edge). I've squeezed my NSR down some pretty narrow trails, but I highly doubt you could squeeze this thing down any normal eastern US trail. You would need a massive and empty snowfield to enjoy it. Maybe he has that. In those EC videos it looks like a board like this could be used at Zinal, or some such similar wide open place. I'd like to see it!

Nope.

Oh, heck yeah. That construction (rockered nose/tail, cambered middle) is all the rage now (in skis too!), and it works great like you say. I did a review/summary of race boards with this tech last year here: http://www.bomberonline.com/articles/newhotness.cfm

no, you're fine. you can trim the sidewall. I think you need a special tool to do that though. I don't trust myself to do much tuning, so I don't know much else.

cool. is it fully rockered or does it just have a rockered nose and tail?

Can we all please realize/agree that point loading and line loading are two different things? That said, I generally am inclined to agree with your assessment, Jon.

congrats, nothing like new toys. but is there a point here or should this be in off-topic?

sorry dude, I did think you had been in those discussions, but it really looked like you were having a V8 moment there!

This is what Jasey Jay and other racers have been doing, and it has been discussed here for some time.

added a poll.

Umm, did you just say that riding with a plate is more difficult? I'm out!

Semantics. If edge hold is improved, I'd say that the board performance has been improved. I think so.

yeah? That's what I'm saying.

Right, but improving board performance had to be one of the design intents. If you set out to only improve rider comfort, you end up with a device like the one I described above. The quote from Fin says very nicely that improving board performance was one of the major design intents.

If the board isn't performing any better, but you make the rider <i>think</i> it is, that's trouble. I rode a prototype set of isolator plates that were reeeeealy cush. They increased comfort a lot. However, they were separate - one for each foot, and they were very heavy and had massive foot prints (dead spots) on the board. This would make the board perform worse, but I felt more comfortable. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I was on hero snow, so it didn't matter. But devices like that aren't solving any problems. Any device worth using <i>must</i> increase edge hold and rider comfort in harmony.

it is, that's Peter Bauer. The man, the myth, the legend.

We do not know the original intents behind the birth of the plate. There would be value in increasing both the performance of the board and the comfort of the rider. A device that only allowed the board to work better but didn't increase the riders' comfort wouldn't allow the rider to perform much better, and therefore wouldn't be as effective. Setting out to design such a device would be short-sighted and ignoring half the equation. On the other hand, there would similarly be very little value in a device that increased the rider's comfort without increasing board performance (edge hold). Actually this would be even worse because it would give the rider a false sense of increased performance. I think it's a safe bet this was not Karl's intent.

:p video please.

http://www.bomberonline.com/store/accessories/Boiler_Plate.cfm

"High volume" sounds to me like the liner is thinner than usual. I'd try a standard (thicker) moldable liner first. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. A 27.6cm foot shoot not get heel lift in a 27 shell.

I agree very much. Everyone should remember that the front of the plate is mounted on a sliding pin, and is free to rotate around that pin. Therefore the flex of the duckbill and the flex between the feet are dependent on each other, and will affect each other. Snowman, nobody is saying you suck, I think you're overreacting there.

You may need to fiddle around with canting (inward or outward), but I think you should try custom footbeds and moldable liners too. Your foot is probably twitching around in the boot grasping for support and balance. Footbeds will solve that and moldable liners should eliminate heel lift.

posted on facebook by Logan Airport!

A few people ride pidgeon-toed, but it is generally not a good place to start. Set your back foot angle first, then either go parallel or +3 degrees on the front foot. This will probably result in the front foot being a little inside the edges, that's ok. It's due to the flare of the sidecut, the board is wider under the front foot toe, and narrower under the back foot toe. Just make sure both boots are centered lengthwise on the binding. While you're getting started, you can accept a little boot overhang past the edges. As you get better you will need to eliminate it. Some tips on getting started and setting things up are linked in my signature. Definitely try some toe lift on the front foot and heel lift on the back foot to make things more comfortable.