Jack M

Ah, I see the difference now between your 174 and his 171. Thanks. Usually stock boards have a range of inserts so I thought the 162 might be custom.

What is the stance width on the 162? Looks like these were custom? Do you know what rider weight were they made for? I see you bought these from @Emdee406, he listed the bigger one as a 171, is that right?

You mean these? http://www.thorsnowgloves.com/ not waterproof though.

Done. Great idea. http://forums.alpinesnowboarder.com/forum/8-ride-board/

Paging @www.oldsnowboards.com!

I think those sewn-on patches are going to let you down if you get intimate with the snow surface on a regular basis. And no gauntlet = no deal for me. I also got these Kincos because they claim they are waterproof but they are not at all. Not even with Sno-Seal. However the blank leather palm and fingers I think is the most durable design. But I'm with Corey, even those are not enough of a gauntlet for me. Big Wave Dave was kind enough to send me a pair of the Menard's last year and they worked well until I ripped through the cloth gauntlet. I think I've found them locally now so will try again with Gorilla tape on the gauntlet. Kombi Ferrous gloves are good but not cheap.

C shell, outside hinge is 5.5cm forward of heel, inside hinge is 6.5cm forward. Both are 9cm above boot board. Correction above, @lonbordin.

Sounds great @KB303. I'd be happy to publish your list. Let's talk.

Suffice to say I like them better than the Genesis X, but the GX were good too. On the Nows, it's a must to reverse the back foot toe strap so the buckle doesn't catch and break off on a deep toeside. I have not tried Flows or any sb bindings with a metal baseplate so I don't have a lot to compare to. Very happy with the Nows though.

@John Gilmour, I like it, sounds like at least two new Ride Board forums are in order, Ikon and Epic riders. Is that what you were thinking?

I hyperflexed my ankles in the black tongues. Ouch! YMMV

seemed like it wasn't a discussion about carving...? "General snowboarding", no?

I see more and more softbooters coming back to camber and loving it.

Very reasonable approach. I should have thought of this before, I have a Winterstick Wescott 164 for sale that I haven't listed yet. It's a do-everything, directional board that actually carves well with softies. They call it full camber but it actually has nose rocker of course. 26cm waist. It has a great shape for powder and trees and if you pop out onto some corduroy you'll have fun there too. Birdseye maple topsheet. Purchased new in December 2016, rode for 2 seasons. I stopped using it after I got a custom BX from them at the beginning of last season. In my experience the stiffness of most softboot boards simply doesn't compare even to freecarve boards. I got to try one of Seth's world cup/olympic Kessler Cross's and I was stunned at how soft it was. I love handing my alpine board to any softbooter, even ones in the industry, and telling them to flex it. Smoke comes out their ears. They don't even think it would be rideable.

(Not Sean Martin)

Took about 5 hot laps on Sunday. Front boot is perfect, rear boot had some shin pain, I think due to either having too much preload in the toeside spring (which I had cranked up), or maybe I need to adjust my canting (boot and binding), probably all of the above. Also I ended up unbuckling just the toe buckle on chairlift rides. No big deal vs unbuckling 3 or even all 5 of my UPZ buckles. Dealing with the liner tongue is a small nuisance when getting in and out, I guess I have been spoiled by wrap liners in that regard. The ramp angle seems a bit less than UPZ as I felt I had to narrow my stance by one set of TD3 holes (1/4"?), on the back foot. 6 degrees of toe lift under the front binding still seems appropriate though. The rubber soles seem fine and are pleasantly quiet when walking on a hard surface.

Heading out tomorrow for coach orientation at CVA. Wonder what they’ll think of this rig. @SunSurfer

Interesting, Intuition PowerWrap transformed my UPZs. Big improvement. I would think SB liners would be too short as @b0ardski says.

Took two runs in them today before the rain, very pleased. Excellent heel hold down, flex is smooth and even, and after molding they seem like the kind of boots that you can wear all day without unbuckling. Performance seems at least as good as if not better than my UPZs with Intuition liners and stiffer tongues. Except I would have to unbuckle my UPZs after every run. Looking forward to getting to know these boots this season.

I am in the C shell. Molded the liners tonight, they seem to have molded surprisingly well. They didn’t seem like much out of the box. @Beckmann AG has @MR. JOHN DEERE !’s boots. Day 1 tomorrow, for about an hour before the rain. Dedicating those turns to JBC. I have high hopes after the carpet session tonight. Seems like a great boot and great fit.

Agreed, which is why every skier can relate to racing, and few snowboarders can.

Same board here, agreed. For my next board I agonized over the decision to get either a 89 Mystery Air or a Safari Comp II. Glad I went with the latter.

Guess I know where I'll be taking mine. The plastic is Grilamid by the way. Seems to be popular in high end AT boots.