BlueB

is the pro choice. A bit clumsy, but graphics orientated. At the same time it would let you edit the code manualy. Boris

I learned to ski at the age of 5 (mid '70), back in Europe. Tried snowboarding in '90 or '91, on a rental board. It was on plates, as I was using my ski boots. Didn't like it too much (very steep hill, very icy)... In 92 I moved to South Africa. That had put the end to the snow fun for couple of years... Then I started going on ski trips to Europe. My best buddy, who lives in Germany, rides plates on a freestyle board (!?!), which was cool for me, as I could just jump from my skis to his board. It felt nice! So, I decided I must learn to snowboard a bit better. Then, in 2003 I moved to Vancouver - bingo, mountains at the doorstep! As I wasn't going to give up on skiing, I wanted plates for easy crossover. Unfortunately, I figured quickly there was no equipment, and the staff in the stores looked at me bluntly when I asked about plates... So I got myself a soft setup, luckily long, narrow and stiff, and was carving it (gently :) ) from the day one - just the way I learned on plates and skis. The price to pay was the great pain from over tightened straps. I am not at all into parks / jumps (bad back). Plus, when I started teaching the kid's ski camp, I couldn't just switch to board during my off hours. Something had to be done... Started digging on internet and discovered Bomber. Bought some cheep used plates (here) and thrown them on my softy board - great. Then I found a dusty NOS Hooger on a top shelf of a local store - nice forgiving board, good as an all-mountain. Newer looked back. I still have my old soft setup - keeping it for pow days (but even then I still end up riding plates :), and as a potential loaner to friends visiting from Europe. Boris

36. Industrial designer. Own company - doing all things "design". Riding, skiing, flyfishing and sailing when there's no work ;) Van is the place to be... Kids' Camp ski instructor, too. 31 yers on skis. 1 year on hard boots, 2 years on soft boots. Before that, on hard boots for couple of years, but sporadically. Boris

Quick short carves, night ride on Grouse Mountain. Still learning on a soft setup. I have to do a better clip this year. Bee part needs no explanation... Boris

No leash, please! All it would teach the kid is that it was ok to ski without controlling the speed. First thing the kid needs to learn is to walk/slide on one ski on flat ground, than on 2 skis, than to STOP. Without mastering this art no further progress can be made safely. Then, make it fun. It speeds up the learning process. When you see the kid bored, switch to snowball fight, or any game you can think off, or just stop the lesson. Pushing too much can make kid hate the snow forever… Using the “magic carpet” and pro kinder-garden instructors for first few hours/days would speed up the process a lot. I wasn’t a believer in this theory until I started to work as a kid’s instructor at Cypress Mountain. We work miracles, sometimes. The youngest kid ever was 2 years old (this is an exception, normally 3yr is youngest considered to be able to learn). We had couple of 5yr old girls starting as absolute beginners and skiing safely at green lift chair in the 3rd hour! But then, every kid is different, you need to play it by ear… Good luck! Boris

Name of my company: Blue B Design - www.blueb.biz Also describes my personality to certain extent. B is my initial. I use it on few other forums, too. " DESIGN is an indispensable marketing and development tool of every successful company. It is essential to the maintenance and growth of its image and sales, and development of the products. BEE is the symbol of hard and systematic work, creative buzz, good organization, and in some cultures - it even stands for intelligence. It produces one of the tastiest, and most nutritious matters known. Although there are millions of ordinary bees, the blue ones are hard to find! BLUE is the color associated with royalty, elegance, quality. Being a "Blue Chip Company" or someone's "Blue Chip Client" has a very special meaning in today's market. " Boris

Price is back to USD 170.00 + shipping. *** SOLD ***

Ok, my Alp i sold, so I do not need 3 hole compatible bindings any more. Lets find good home for this beauty. Price reduced to USD 150.00 + shipping. 7 days special.

I had started on plate bindings and ski boots (loaners), and was very unhappy when various shops' staff convinced me that alpine is dead, and bought soft gear as my first, own setup. I looked for the stiff boots and by the fluke I bought used Burton Drivers - so I was more or less ok carving with that. I knew that more stiffness would allow better performance, so I wanted to improvise 3rd strap on my bindings. Bought some spare straps already, but then I found my first plates (trough this forum) and never looked back. I still might look into constructing these 3 straps, one day... They are the missing link. I suppose all freeriders would be better off with them. Boris

Sale pending. SOLD

Please note, there's other people interested in the board. Kindly get in touch.

Did you get my e-mails?

I was looking at the same item, other day, thinking exactely the same thing and loughing :D (It's probably some kind of anti-skid device...) Boris

I've sent you another email with shipping quotes.

you've got mail!

Thanks for Blackcomb info, Dave! Super morning at Cypress, today! Still enough snow, but melting rapidly. On steeper and sunnier runs rocks are showing. Sunny and really warm (+15C). I was a bit overdressed and dehydrated a bit... It might be the last day tomorrow. No other carvers today, but I bumped in my fellow ski instructor from kids camp. He loved what I was doing, but said that he had never seen an alpine board before... Nice compact mash in the morning an all chopped up by the noon, of course. I did my first EC, but accidentally! On the toe side, and I did not recover from it. I'm not sure if I lost balance and just pressed more, or it was just an ill-timed cross-under which resulted in "push" motion, anyhow, the edge (and good part of the board in that softish snow) just hooked in, and there I was dragging my stomach and chest across the hill! Later on I did another one on the heel side, also without recovery. Pretty happy with my heel sides recently. So far, I love my board's combination of medium SCR and easy flexing. Easy to do long carves, but also easy to push it to slalom mode - cross under, shoulders to the fall line. Boris

BOBSI is stiffness index that someone from this forum has developed... I recently tried to develop my own flex index (see the discussion forum), and learned about bobsi from replies. So now I do both calculations on every board I tuch, just to see how it works. No idea when Prior rounded the tails... Boris

Check your mail.

Thanks for responses, everyone! Ok, I see, I was reinventing the wheel a bit... But I think it is worth it. As Skywalker said, there must be a way to ESTIMATE a boards characteristics by numbers. Again, I tried (just like authors of BOBSI) to come up with a simple test that everyone could perform at home without complicated rigs, and a formula just to give an overall idea of the board's stiffness. Not to predict the ride completely (where would be the fun then - we could all just crunch the numbers instead of riding?), just to give an ESTIMATE. Instead of saying to a buyer "look, it is quite stiff when I flex it with my hand..." or "I am 80kg (~176lb for pound lovers ;) ) and it rides fine...", one would say BOBSI 9.2 or ULFI 6.4. It should have more meaning? I have read all the articles I could find about BOBSI (probably there's more on old forum?). Great effort - why no one refers to these numbers any more? Where I can find the data base of measured boards? Interesting, my ULFI uses similar techniques and maths as BOBSI, so we must be on the right track, no? Now, few questions about BOBSI. For those not remembering, formula is (98.1 / deflection) x (effective edge squared). 10kg was used as the test weight. 1) Observations 1a) For the formula to work with the figures given in old examples, deflection has to be taken in millimetres and effective edge in metres. 1b) Effective edge is actually the Contact length, surely? Effective edge is measured along the curve of the edge and it is quite difficult to do for amateurs. Contact length is a straight line. 2 boards of same Contact Length can have different Effective Edge, due to different sidecuts. 2) Could someone (an engineer?) explain the logic behind formula, for public? My knowledge of physics is limited to what I remember from school, so excuse my assumptions. 3) Where the figure 98.1 comes from? My thinking is that the Acceleration of 1G (~9.81 m/s) was multiplied by Mass of 10kg used, resulting in Force of 98.1 Newton? Obviously, it is not a number added in to bring the results into 1 to 10 scale, as many boards go over it, up to 15 - 16. 3a) What the 98.1 (lets call it F) does to the formula? It should be there only if it "levels the field", meaning that the BOBSI number would remain the same irrespectively of the weight used, so long as you adjusted the F accordingly (i.e. for 20kg F would be 196.2) 3b) I tried the test with 10kg and 20kg, and calculated the BOBSI. The results differed about 0.5 - quite a lot for an accidental mistake. It needs much more testing, but maybe, just MAYBE, the 98.1 should not be there at all? 4) Why squaring the Contact Length? These questions are not to discredit the BOBSI by any means, I just want to understand it fully. As Nate W said, I do not care what system is used, so long as manufacturers could adopt one and we (the riders) understand how it works. That's why I was hoping to hear from boutique manufacturers at least. As long as the differences in tail/nose stiffness goes - who cares? In order to carve a perfect arc, you have to pressure the entire edge uniformly, so you would adjust your stance and technique accordingly to the nose/tail differences. Soft nose would help in moguls and maybe in pow, soft tail maybe on ice... For freecarving I would choose uniform flex anyhow. It is the overall stiffness that gives you the first idea. However it is nice knowing the rest too... Torsional flex is another issue and deserves separate test. The required rig might be complicated for home use, but certainly achievable by manufacturers. Regarding my proposed "dynamic flex index" test, yes I agree it is done in static state, but it gives you an idea of what would happen when you ride the board, and you pressure it more, and you pressure it more, and you... Trying to insolate/simulate the readings during the different phases of a turn. Therefore I call it Dynamic. And I proposed only 3 ratings, to keep it simple. It is probably less important than torsional flex, anyhow. Measuring boards movements after sudden release would give a good idea on dampening - very important from what I read. Unfortunately it is completely beyond the means of "home user", and probably beyond the means of small manufacturers. Again, this is all for fun, and idea exchange, not to start a war. If a benefit for riders would arise from it... well - super! Boris

Dean of Prior's told me it is probably 1998, before thy changed the name to 4wd and rounded the tail. No idea about the exact weight range. I'm 6' 178lbs and ride a soft Hooger 168 as my all-mountain bord, that has lesser BOBSI than 4x4. Boris

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SOLD Never used, never mounted, mint condition. Few marks from storage / moving around. I would love trying this one as my all-mountain board, but have no Burton plates... Flex feels a bit stiffer than on short Alps. Great all-mountain freecarving board at the budget price. Nominal L = 169 cm L (measured) = 167.5 cm Contact L (measured) ~ 147 cm - 148 cm Camber (measured) = 1.6 cm Nose (measured) = 26.8 cm Waist (measured) = 21.5 cm Tail (measured) = 26.6 cm SCR (calculated) ~ 10 m - 10.5 m BOBSI = 9.2 Inserts = Burton 3D Stance range = 38 cm - 53.5 cm Reference stance = 45.5 cm, Setback = 1.5 cm USD 120.00 + shipping Boris boris at netsplash dot ca

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