NateW

I have been very happy with my UPZs. They fit my feet better than either family of Raichle's boots. I use step-ins, and I used T-nuts to hold the heel pieces in. I've had no issues, and am pretty hard on my gear. (I broke a lot of bindings before switching to TDs, and broke some boards before and after...) If I used regular bindings, I'd T-nut the fronts as well.

I am not a statistically significant sample, but having done both for 20+ years, I haven't noticed anything that compensates for a couple of fundamental differences: snowboards keep your feel pointed the same direction, but poles help you stay upright. I'm sure skiing has a higher risk of leg trauma and snowboarding has a higher risk of arm/shoulder trauma. I'd be shocked if data showed otherwise, but I'd love to see some, either way.

Much as I like the Schtubby idea, I think you may have taken it too far this time.

Whoah, that's profound. Hard boots must be a whole lot safer. I had no idea...

Worthless journalism... The fact that 9 out of 10 injured snowboarders didn't take lessons basically tells me that 9 out of 10 snowboarders didn't take lessons. I'm totally with Dan and SunSurfer on this... In order to prove something interesting, they need a control group. Also, did anyone look at abstract linked from the article? http://ajs.sagepub.com/content/early/2010/05/27/0363546509361190.abstract In an earlier report, these same researchers found that water, at room temperature, is wet.

Can a moderator compare some IP addresses?

I have one in very good shape. The flex is a bit soft, and I like stiff boards, so it has been sitting unused for the last couple seasons. It can be yours for $200. You can try before you buy (this offer not valid until there is snow in the mountains), and I can even mount some bindings on it for demo-ing. I'm posting this in the northwest forum because I'd much rather sell it in person than ship it. I have no suitable boxes, I don't want to deal with shipping companies, and I'm always happy to meet more local hardbooters. I'm mostly in Redmond, occasionally in Seattle, and willing to drive to Everett, Tacoma, or the top of any of the Cascade passes to make the sale.

Or buy a used board from the classified section... I bought a Donek via the classifieds and used it as a baseline for my custom (just a tad stiffer). Good deals on used boards come up frequently. If you don't want to keep it you can probably resell it for only slightly less than you paid. I look at the classifieds section here like a rental catalog. Except that I haven't yet sold any of my 'rentals.' :o

Donek makes good AM boards too, I have a couple. One is custom and very stiff (per my request), the other is a regular model and the stiffness is... medium, for lack of a better word. I'm happy with both, but looking forward to the new-school designs that are coming out soon.

Holy ****. I feel a patent coming on. Mechanism for suspending a snowboarder above a snowboard... :lol:

It looks to me like that system has one of the rider's bindings anchored to the board. The mechanism in the middle is just providing damping. The thing in the middle is a lever driven by the plate-to-board distance, which in turn drives a damper that runs from the center mechanism to the front binding. It seems to me that if the plate stays flat, and the board bends, there are two options: (a) the distance between the center of the plate and the center of the board has to increase, or (b) the distance between the board and the tips of the plate has to decrease If you attach one binding solidly and let the other slide, like Sean's plate, you have (a). If you attach the center solidly, I don't see a way to solve the seesaw problem with a complicated and/or obtrusive linkage between them. Like one layer of the mechanism that keeps the top of this contraption parallel to the floor:

I think you'd end up with a see-saw feel if it was anchored in the middle and floating an inch over the board at each end. You could fix the see-saw effect with a hinge the middle of the plate, and sliding mounts at the ends... but then you're no longer decoupling your binding cant/tilt from the flexing of the board.

Cool video, Sean. Before watching it I had no interest in plates whatsoever. Now, I'm intrigued. But I still think a controlled experiment would be a good idea. Add a 3 pound riser underneath each binding, and see how that impacts the feel. You'll get the same extra height, and lots of damping, and it's so much easier to fabricate. :) I'm not joking, actually. I wonder how much of the perceived benefit comes from those aspects vs. not being able to feel the board flexing underfoot.

I think what you have is just two variations of baseplate, multiplied by two variations of TD logo orientation. I've noticed the printing variation, but did not realize there were 'long' and 'short' versions. EDIT: three variations of baseplate. I did not realize there were straight-sided and concave-sided, either. :)

Allow me to provide a contrary perspective: I don't adjust my carving radius. Not mid-carve, anyway. When I'm in a traverse, I consider my speed, the snow, and the pitch of the hill, and the board I'm on. I adjust the entry to the carve so that I'll exit in a reasonable place. I lean in, arc around, and exit. Mid-carve, I'm just focused on not falling. A trip down my favorite carving runs goes like this: plan, adjust, enter, carve, exit, plan the next turn... When I start a turn, I'm committed to exit the turn wherever that entrance and carve sends me. Maybe this means I suck at carving. So be it. I compensate by being pretty good at planning. I usually exit my carves pretty much where I expected to be when I entered, and I have yet to fly off the edge of the piste or hit anything or anyone. :) At low speeds, flats, approaching lift lines, etc, then I actually do try to adjust my carves a little, using angulation to tighten it up a little bit when my speed is low. But mostly I still just try to plan a line that will let me carve as much as possible without angulating.

Size 26 UPZs have a 287mm sole length.

This kind of thing has been on my mind ever since the variable-sidecut + decamber stuff started getting popular. I don't carve quite like Casper but I do spend a lot of timing riding switch and carving switch, so the progressive sidecut idea does not appeal to me at all. What is lost when the 'decambered' side is combined with a conventional uniform sidecut? Obviously the idea of leaning forward to turn tighter would be right out, but frankly that never appealed to me either. :) Is there anything more to it? Different radii for the tip and midsection seems fine, as long as the tail as the same radius as the tip. These questions are not just for Bruce, but anyone who has experience riding decambered boards, or better yet building them. :)

Or find a drinking straw, and take a deep breath... :)

I am sure. :) I haven't had my AX tuned since last season but I've been detuning it little by little and the difference is huge.

Looks like a good design, but I'd be really worried about tearing the top off of that plastic 'bridge' that holds the assembly to the board.

To me it does.

Looks like fun. I do 180s and mellow switch carves a lot, but I never even thought of taking it to this level until the first time I saw one of Casper's videos - very inclined switch carves, very frequent 180s, and all very fluid. And it's gotten more fluid, and it looks really fun... I have to try this. Casper, have you noticed there's some asymmetry to the way you ride? A few times in the video I saw this sequence, for example at 0:30 and 0:40 and 0:54 in the video: Forward toe-side carve into a left-to-right traverse Toe-side 180 hop or slide Switch heel-side carve Heel-side 180 slide Forward heel-side carve into a right-to-left traverse Heel-side 180 during the traverse Switch heel-side carve, both hands on the snow But I never saw the mirror image: Forward heel-side carve into a right-to-left traverse Heel-side 180 hop or slide Switch toe-side carve Toe-side 180 slide Forward toe-side carve into a left-to-right traverse Toe-side 180 during the traverse Switch toe-side carve, both hands on the snow I'll be the first to acknowledge that your switch carving is way better than mine, so don't take this the wrong way... but if you're looking for a new challenge, that "mirror image" sequence might be it. :)

That's strange to read, because my experience was exactly the opposite - bevel made very little difference, but detuning was like night and day. The one time I thought that beveling had really made a difference, I later found out the shop had also detuned the board. :)

I did try that before I resorted to detuning. First 1 base / 1 side, then 2 / 2. It still didn't give me the neutral feel that I want, and I was afraid to go higher. How much bevel do you run on the base? Did I just give up too soon?

Some background first: I had a bit of a revelation last year when I realized how much difference detuning makes in the way a board handles when riding with the base flat on the snow. A couple years ago I took my F2 183 in for a base bevel and without my knowledge or consent it got detuned as well. Funny thing is, I loved the results. So I've been detuning my primary board little by little until it handles as nicely as the F2. As of a couple weeks ago, it's about right. I can now go in a straight line with no worries. :) I ended up dulling the edge about an inch back from the contact points, front and rear. It's been a huge win for me. Carving doesn't seem to have suffered at all, or it has, it's been a negligible change. I'm OK with that... what little I lost is more than worth it, just for the extra straight-line stability. I'm pretty sure that I will be getting one of the new-school decambered boards next season. I love my skinny Donek AX, so a similarly customized metal version sounds very appealing. This raises some questions... 1) Do the new boards feel grabby when riding fast in a straight line with the base flat on the snow? At all? If not, then I guess I'll be perfectly happy right away, and that's all I need to know. But if they do need detuning to feel neutral in a straight line... 2) How do you detune a decambered board? Put little dull spots where the contact points are when you stand on the board? My intuition says that's what needs to happen, but the idea seems a little weird. If any of you early adopters can shed some light on this, I'd really appreciate it. I have about 6 months to make up my mind. :)