xray

Something I was thinking of as well. Take a good AT boot as a basis and build snowboard specific elements on them....

What would make a perfect snowboard hardboot? AT boots look great to me. Great buckles, much better liners, better soles. What would you adjust to make the even better fitted for snowboarding? Shorter sole? Longer cuff? Torsional flex? Stiffer? Forward lean adjustment? One remark I would like to place. With all the different ski boot manufacturers making dozens of models even for the smallest niches, the argument that alpine boarders as a group are too small seems a bit ridiculous to me. Just look at all the different AT boots there are alone, and AT is not mainstream. A dozen brands (Scarpa, Dalbello, Black Diamond, Salomon to name a few) all with at least 4 or 5 models.... would make sense to have a new, high quality, up to date, made to nowadays boards, purpose made hardboot. And to me that just isn't DeeLuxe...

@philfell, looks like you're the expert.... ;-) Allthough I know you've been indoors some times I think I might have an edge on you here.... @gburgess Indoor slopes are generally a little bit less steep. Generating speed, something each good racer knows how to do well, is more important than controlling speed. Outdoors it usually is the other way around, controlling (the highest) speed is key. That doesn't say you don't have enough speed to make a decent turn. It does say that round course do not work as well since they kill some of the downhill speed. One might say that the importance of generating speed even has impact on the board you would like to ride indoors. A little stiffer is better here since they generate speed more easily. The snow isn't dirty all the time. New snow is added frequently and every season all old snow will be removed and a new layer is created.

I raced, didn't qualify and helped the organization with the time scorekeeping board during the finals. I saw every run. Some very interesting ones I might say!

Right now not only pureboarding have an asy but Virus, a German boardcompany have some asy prototypes as well. Build in the latest Kessler fashion (ptex topsheet and titanal dampening). http://www.virus-snowsports.com/

Justin rode well, really well. He pushed Bozetto almost over the edge with his strategy of a fast and hard direct line!

Actually Phil, the snow wasn't that old......indoor snow is just different. Good having you in Zoetermeer and Landgraaf and once again, you sure spend way too much time on this forum! I was cocommenting for dutch TV and had a monitor with great shots right in front of my nose. Klug for sure had the speed to be in the finals but both final runs just had too many little mistakes at unnecessary spots. He really was ruling the lower section with the last noll though. Justin could have beaten Benjamin Karl, he really let him slip away. So steady up to that point. For the rest, for us dutchies always great to have the World Cup circus in our country.

You forget the Tomahawk Phil....It for sure is a real option.

Having ridden both glass (range of FP's) as well as metal I sure prefer metal. However you just can't copy shapes. Metal asks for different considerations and shapes. I've had early titanal Tomahawks that were too stiff for instance. Kessler not only ruless because of the titanal however. There's more special stuff in the boards than just the titanal. The have this special kind of weave that helps improving the characteristics of the metal.

It's simple for him. Haven't seen him riding as well as he did in Landgraaf for a long time. Clean sweap. He was 0,4 sec per qualification run faster than anyone else. On that course it's almost unreal. He found the Kesslers better on hard snow. Didn't like them that much in soft snow though...

Tomahakws also use titanal plates... and their recent boards are pretty awesome!

Goltes are not all soft and wide and are pretty good freecarve boards! Tested one last year but I'm spoiled riding the latest Tomahawks...

Latest quote from my source... "boots early next year. We're working hard to improve the boot and finalize everything."

Started on hardboots somewhere in 1990 or so just because it looked right, after my first couple of carved turns I was hooked!

Sources, sources... If it isn't true I will have made a fool of myself here (and some other places). So far my source is pretty reliable so I hope it will come true what they've told me. The will not be named Burton anymore since they dropped alpine but the boot will be the same.