Jack M

Many Madds with the blue-boy topsheet were not flat and most of them were scrapped. It's possible some slipped through the QA. But regardless, you will see core before that board becomes flat.

:lol: Santa is bringing my boy a board. It is set up 21/15.

Seriously, check out the Welcome Center. A good starter stance is shoulder width plus an inch, about 3 degrees of toe lift on the front foot, about 3 degrees of heel lift on the back foot, and no cant. You should try that and then experiment from there. Also there is an explanation of all the new board tech in this article: http://www.bomberonline.com/articles/newhotness.cfm

umm, what do you weigh?

171cm.

Custom footbeds/orthotics. Do it now. Board boots and bindings should be fine, assuming the boots are a good fit. Try backing off to a more "medium" heel lift on the back foot, no inward cant, and an equal amount of toe lift on the front foot. This is usually a good "default" stance from which to experiment. Assuming your inseam is about 30", your stance width should probably be somewhere between 19" and 20".

I'm not at all surprised that on soft or hero snow where it is easy to carve anyway, a plate is simply not necessary or even a handicap. However what about when that soft snow gets rutted or pushed around into piles? Did that happen to you? @Shred - LOL :D

Coiler VSR 173, Donek Metal Freecarve 171, Prior FLC 171. Take your pick.

Nevermind the unwashed masses, there are a significant number of people riding snowboards with hardboots who do not know this.

I said twin tip and <9m. Existing boards that fit that description are generally not carving boards. I've edited my response though. Twin tip obviously has nothing to do with it. This is what reminded me of the "attitudinal" story. We could debate this all day, just like you could debate "what is a word?". Just because you can utter it and convey some meaning does not make it a word, and just because it <i>can</i> be carved does not necessarily make it a carving board. I can carve my 1997 Burton Custom 164, is that a carving board? Let's not be silly.

This reminds me of the time this English-major friend of mine said "attitudinal" in conversation. I said that's not a word, right? He said "well... I just said it, it's a sound that came out of my mouth, and you knew what I meant by it." :D

no real carving boards are fully rockered. there was a custom built like that a couple years ago which was "discussed" here , but afaik we never heard a positive follow-up report on it. loving my 21cm wide Coiler Stubby and 20cm wide NSR though. those have nose+tail decamber. what else isn't a carving board? powder boards, and, well, to make a long list short, basically anything with avg sidecut less than 9m or anything that will fold when carved on anything steeper than a green. unless it's a kiddie carving board.

Doesn't matter. +1

Steve... umm... not quite sure what to do with you. You really need to read the rules of each forum here before you post again in any of them. This place is not a free-for-all. These forums have been around since 1999, and have matured over time. We do not use them as internet rumpus rooms. Thanks in advance for your cooperation and respect. This thread is all over the place! Can we please avoid any more posts that don't have something to do with Gromel?

My neighbor has one of those slacklines - crazy difficult! I can only take like one step!

Step 1 is to learn to carve on your current gear. Can you carve your downhill edge? That is, can you change edges before the board points downhill, and start a new carve? If not, that is what you need to learn first. Then practice that until you can do it consistently on easy to moderate slopes. Next you can buy some used hardboots and bindings and try them on your current board. If you like it, then you can buy a used carving board. Check out the links in my signature for help getting started, and see our classifieds for used gear. Good luck!

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. That definitely happens. Besides... you really want sloppy seconds on a stranger's foot funk? No. Bindings = Bomber, Catek, SnowPro, F2, Phiokka, Burton (aka Ibex, aka CarveCompany) although I don't recommend the Burton variants for heavy dudes. Boots = Deeluxe, Head, UPZ. The 700s are not that stiff, especially with BTS installed.

Sugarloaf is doable but kind of far for a day trip, but well worth a weekend. It is rarely prohibitively crowded thanks to the buffer zone to the south (Sunday River). Although SR is an easy day trip and they will have the most open terrain. If you are only in town for the day, Shawnee Peak is 60 minutes away and actually has decent pitch. Keep an eye on their website for conditions, they are not open yet. www.shawneepeak.com.

baaa ha ha!

Thanks all for the detailed responses!

good luck! edit - I think a plate would be more beneficial than Sidewinders if the budget will only allow one or the other.

Buying the 8yo a board... he wants a Burton of course. Anybody have experience with the Chopper and other kiddie boards which have the outer inch or so of the perimeter lifted off the snow? Is this a good thing, or does it throw the kid off balance when they go to tip the board on edge? I would think this would cause two tipping points - one to get the board up onto the perimeter area, and another to get it up on edge... seems weird? Or does it work? I imagine it helps reduce downhill edge catches, which would be awesome, but at what cost?

I did a beer league in '98 at Shawnee Peak.... on a Factory Prime, Langes, and TD1s Can you say pain? The ruts were leg-snapping crazy. So crazy that I would take a really stupid line just to avoid them. Part of this was because the races would start at 4pm, and I couldn't get out of work and on the hill until 6:30 or 7. By then the course was shagged rotten. Some people took it very seriously - speed suits, armor, power bars, blood doping, etc, and they would be on the course at 4. Others would run the course half in the bag. So I guess my point is that if you're not going to be on the course early, you will probably want to invest in some Sidewinders and/or a Boiler or Donek plate. Some differences between freecarving and racing - in racing the primary goal is to get to the bottom the fastest (duh), but that means the first thought in your head needs to be to finish the race without falling or missing a gate or pulling the e-brake. So this means not necessarily carving every turn, and preserving balance above all else. And <s> if </s> when you do fall, get up, hop back up to the race line, and finish your run anyway. Even if that means taking 10 seconds to hop uphill to go around a gate the right way. If you give up and just go down the hill without completing the race you are DQ, your night is wasted, and your season standings take a big hit. Then when you can start thinking about going faster, a general rule of running gates is that you want to start your turn early and be passing the gate in the bottom half of your turn. Sometimes that's not the case, like in a flush or other circumstances, but it's a good rule of thumb. I'm no racer though.

aha... scratch my earlier message! Personally I wouldn't pay anything for that board based on John's info.

Could be a really awesome board, depending on usage. Madds were cutting edge and as good as it gets before the metal construction revolution. Looks like a prototype from 2004, but could also be a 2006 prototype. Never seen that base before, so it could be something they had laying around. But the carbon fiber topsheet looks very clean. If it hasn't been used much and has good camber I'd value it at about $400. Peel off the teeny-bopper stickers, tune it, and you're good to go! Nice score if you like high binding angles and a lively ride.