D.T.

Today was a great day of riding. Bob, Jeff, big mario, pcogan, Crave2Carve, inkaholic, Shelly and I have lots of fun carving up the hill. Later in the day Tony and Kate met up with us. Thanks to everyone for coming!

Who: Anyone who wants to come What: A bunch on numbskulls getting together to have some fun and make some turns. Will probably be 6+ people. At the last impromptu session there were 8 of us carving. Where: Loveland When: Tomorrow, Sunday, January 28th Why: because the voices inside my head said we should!

I just got back in town and saw this post. Good question. This task is on my agenda for today. If I do not get it done today, I will not have another chance until after SES. I will let you know what I figure it out.

Disclaimer: I am not flaming anyone! That statement is absolutely incorrect. If that was the case, fatigue failure would not be much of an issue because noone designs products/components where stresses intentionally enter the plastic region. Fatigue cracks propagate from surface imperfections, machining flaws, oxide formation, and any other mechanisms where a stress concentration is formed on the surface of a component. Fatigue crack propagation is a function of the notch sensativity of the material as well as the materials resistance to the crack growth/blunting process. Both of these are dependent on material properties as well as environmental conditions. Yes, applied load have a huge affect on the fatigue mechanism. Anytime the applied repetative load correspond with a stress above the yield strength of the material, fatigue crack propagation and failure will occur in a short amount of time. The lower the applied loads, the more time and number of loading cycles are required for the component to fail. ------------------------------------------------------ Preload has a huge impact of the stress that is transmitted to a part/component.

@ 210lbs I find that I can carve my 179 FCI at any speed. As long as you make turns, speed is more a function of SCR than board length. The 171cm and 179cm have the same SCR. I would recommend the 179cm because of your size; you would have more edge hold.If you can, demo before you buy!

I weigh ~210lbs. I use the medium (purple) e-rings on my GS board and soft (yellow) on my FC amd AM boards. IMO, do not get the hard (red) rings. You will not need them. On really cold days, the medium e-rings on the TD2's are stiff as can be, to the point that the binding feels like a TD1.

Another failure mechanism to consider is improper (i.e. lack of) preload. Lack of preload is the #1 reason that fasteners fail!!! Yes, you can overtighten bolts causing problems (i.e. shear failure of threads, yielding of the bolt...). The purpose of preload is to minimize the adverse affects of fatigue loading on mechanical properties and component/fastener life.

If you are considering a Swoard, what about a Donek Blade?

I overheard a conversation between Bola and another person a couple years ago where Bola recommended the person not use TD1's on Burton boards. He said it was likely that the inserts would pull out (weak construction). I do not know how the Cateks compare to the TD1's, but I would bet they are pretty stiff and you might have the same problem. For BC, I use a Steepwater Plow with Garmont GSM boots and SnowPro bindings. The SP's are significantly softer than the Cateks. I love me BC set-up; crampon and snowshoe friendly. Very comfortable and forgiving, which is what I want when playing in the steeps and rocks. Zach Davis uses Garmont Mega Rides(?) with TD2's on a Donek. Run a search on Zach's name and see if he has posted any info on the topic.

Well said!

I would say it is all personal preferance and riding style. I used to have the tendancy to load-up the nose of the board too much. After talking to someone that knew more than me, I switched my base plates. On the GS and FC boards I now run the 6* base in front (toe lift with one notch of inward cant) and the 3* base in back (heel lift with one notch of inward cant). Binding angles on those boards are 55*/60* in front and 50*/55* in back. With the 6* toe lift I feel more centered on the board, then again I tend to be agressive and drive hard into my turns. On my AM board I run 3* front (toe lift) and rear (heel lift). Because of the conditions were I tend to ride this board, I want to be more upright (hence, no 6* in front). Give the toe lift a try. You will either love it or hate it.

Coiler AM, Donek FC1 or my Tanker (softies). I find the soft boots harder to ride in the chop than the hard boots, I presume it is a stiffness thing. As you said, I do not load-up the nose of the board as much since it is easier to go over the nose in the chop. I find that if the snow is that soft, I do not need a powerful carve. If I try to power the board, the snow shifts and I cannot hook-up and rail a turn. If I back my riding off a notch, the board will hook-up, I can rail turns, and the nose of the board does not dive.

What you have to remember is... you are comparing two high end boards. Both will perform phenomenally, yet they will ride different. Is there any difference quality wise? No. Price wise? No. It boils down to personal preference. You cannot go wrong with either board.

On average, I take three boards with me; Coiler 177 AM, Volkl RT178 and a 182cm Tanker set-up with softies. As my mood changes through the day, I will switch to a more appropriate board. Soft snow - Tanker or AM Deep pow/trees/bumps/hiking the ridge - Tanker funky groom - AM or RT good groom - RT or AM wide open slopes - RT busy slopes - AM One too many times I have been on the slopes wishing that I was on a board that I had left at home. I have vowed that will never happen again and with my current quiver, it won't. ;) As far as favorites, the AM is great, but if the corduroy is great, nothing beats the RT.

carpool departs Denver at 6:00AM most every Saturday.

Awesome day today. Three shreding in softies (Inkaholic, Shelly and Jeff), four on plates (Bob, Snowboardsfast, big mario and I). Good group, lots of fun was had, especially since we essentially had an entire run to ourselves. :D

What a day! As Mario said, we basically had the entire run to ourselves for ~2.5 hours. Great group to ride with. Thanks everyone!

Clean looking and easy to navigate around to find what you want. Nice!

For all of you who are too young to understand C2C's reference, . I had to google them myself. I think you may be showing your age C2C. I guess I am just picking on lots of people today. :p

I typically crack jokes about myself but... I am more than happy to entertain everyone at the expense of someone else! :D Sorry Jim

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I love Cartman's definition of sexual harassment. :D

For those of you who are uninformed, click here (not dial-up friendly).

Sorry but when I see the Panda, the first thing that comes to mind is: Who lives in the east 'neath the willow tree? Sexual Harassment Panda. Who explains sexual harassment to you and me? Sexual Harassment Panda. "Don't say that! Don't touch there! Don't be nasty!" says the silly bear. He's come to tell you what's right and wrong. Sexual Harassment Panda. :D

Ditto what you guys said. Great Day Definately, thanks Thor!