felix

Get ye to a competent bootfitter. He may grind down the footboard of a smaller boot so that there is enough space for your arch. I've got the oppsite problem - low arch. Allways easier to make a small boot bigger than to fill up space with foam etc though.

Never ever try on boots WITH their liners. Liners will compress an the boot will be far to big. If you're comfortable in a 26.5 MP 325 either buy a MP 25.5 700 or MP26.5 700. 27.5 will be far too big after 7-10days riding, and why use more boot overhang than needed? I have used 325 Ltd, then AF600 and now again old 325. Going from old 325 (295mm shell length) to AF600 with 299mm shell length was allright in the beginning, but once the liner had packed out they were way too big. Had I tested without liner I would have noticed that while the 325 was a smaller than 1 finger fit, the AF600 was bigger than 1 finger fit. Now I use a 26.5 325 in 285mm (0 finger fit, without liner I touch both at the front and back of the boot), but I had to cut away the toebox to fit in (cut of about the first 3cm of the liner at the sides and everything at the front). I imagine getting cold feet on really cold days but will use a bootwarmer (above the shell) on really cold days. At -10° Celsius it was still allright. The toebox provides way more room on the AF600/700 Suzuka/Indy boots than with the 325 series. Also with low arch AF600 ment for me that I had to buckle down completely the 2. strap and it still wasn't tight enough so my heel lifted upwards a tiny bit on FS. AF600 was a bit softer than 325 for me. Once racing tongues put into the 325 they are a lot harder (attention there were 3 different tongues for the old 325. At some point the hard tongues become the racing tongues, old racing tongues were not sold anymore, and a softer new normal tongue introduced.) Liners also differ overall stiffnes a lot. Thermoflex will make a boot stiffer than the standard Non-Thermo liner. Getting a custom foam liner (like Inutionns) will easily surpass both Raichle liners in stiffnes by far, if you choose hard foam. I would expect the softest foam to be about the same stiffnes as Thermoflex.

www.vist.it now lists the snowboard plates with a tiny picture. What's your take on it? At least this is the original plate with which the Schoch brothers scored a few medals at the 2006 olympics. Did they use a Hangl plate before, or did they start straight away with Vist? Anyone knows the prices? Can any ski dealer who ships Vist plates get acces to them? My local Vist dealer of course doesn't know anything bout the plates and a short call to Vist Austria didn't clear things up either. I usually could get Vist plates at retail price, but well skiing plates, not snowboard. I'm using a Vist Worldcup Alu Race on my slalom race skis and think that it's the finest plate there ist (well it's the number one plate in the Fis skiing worldcup). Vist is for plates to the skiing worldcup (OEM for Head, Fischer, Atomic, Salomon......) what Kessler is for boards to the snowboard worldcup.

Well then they changed the name back. On the Proform Formular one year ago it was written Burton AK 3L Soft Touch. The year before when my sister took the Burton AK 3 Layer, it was written Soft Shell on the Proform. The stickers on her trouser said Soft Touch, and Gore Soft Shell. But really those pants got nothing at all to do with soft shell concept. They are damn heavy, the sticker said 30/30 for Water/Evaporation. Such a Membrane doesn't fit into Softshell concept, that's clearly a hardshell. A waterproof Softshell is marketing and no soft shell.

Well the real Rossi Swallowtails are great boards. If you get this cheap take it. It's better than no swallowtail at all, though a real Swallow will show it whos the master.

Well Burton AK Softshell, in later years the reasonably changed the name to Soft touch, is anything but softshell! There's loads of stuff out there taht says softshell on the name but hasn't got anything to do with softshell concept. @Twelsch - could you please report back on the Thermawrap!!!!!!! I would like to know if I can use it as second layer without anything above for carving/touring etc on -5°C to 0° C. days, so days just a bit below freezing threshold. That stuff from Montbell looks really really interesting and decently priced.

On short skis, say shorter than around 120cm it's normal to use fixed bindings that don't release. Ascent skis aren't any longer (normally) so it's no prob to take a quick descent inbetween. For the real stuff the snowboard is with you anyhow.

X-Socks aren't too bad if you got too large boots.:lol: In boots that are large I wear them too, otherwise its plain Nylons for me. Nylons make it easier to get into those damn tight boot that fit just right. But well, only got skiing boots that are so tight that there's no more chance to put on proper socks. Without nylons or with other socks there is pretty much now way to get into my skiing plugs when the plastics are a bit colder. The thinner the socks, the better. For my normal day snowboard boots I just cut away the front 3cm of the liner so my feet fit in there. It's only cold when touching the wet plastics which happens when taking a bigger jump in the park to impress the kids or sometimes in the BX too. That's why I started wearing waterproof cycling socks. Makes it warmer and more comfy in those boots that are just, well maybe a bit too short for my feet. They are punched out already to allow for a bit more room after one of my toenails got lost in there. I was gonna sew a very thin toecap for the liners but thought it unneccessary with waterproof socks. Having a bit of airflow in the boots is really a nice thing, no more swettin, Yiehaa. Even at -15° C. it was allright, though I thought about buying those boot gloves you get for skiing plug boots that are notoriously cold too. Maybe they would solve the leakage problem of the Raichles too.

Well I haven't heard of any fire at Völkl Germany, though the owner K2 of Völkl would maybe be happy about it in my opinion. Völkl itself is reducing production year after year anyhow. Only the top of the line skis are still produced in Germany. Really wondering why they don't cut it when at the same time Austrian Manufacturers have no bigger probs (well Kneissl went down, but with their lineup and marketing that was no wonder) producing at decent cost, or considering that Elan Austria is producing about 1/3 of all boards sold worldwide (mostly OEM) and turns out everything from cheapo stuff to great boards such as Goltes or SGS.

Well tested on what board? If on a Virus, well it ain't made at all for such boards, but what is?

yeah just watch out about the marketing crap. From all posts I've read so far the Track 700 is way softer than the Track 325 which is rather on par with the Indy.

From the experiences made so far NO. The Track 325 at least last year was really stiff, while the AF600/Suzuka and now seemingly the Track 700 have allways been really soft. Less lateral flex yes, however forward flex a lot softer. Also note: Track 700 for wide feet, Track 325 for narrow feet.

Well then, good for you! For the rest then the classification of stiffness is then probabely Track 225 <= Track 700 << Track 325 <=? Track 1000 (depending on the stiffness of the parts as one can order the parts seperately).

That doesn't sound too good I must say. With the Track 1000 practically unavailable and the 700 softer than an old AF 600 (remember that boots get softer over time as the plastics dry out no matter how good you store them - even if Raichle was the best in keeping performance compared to other companies IMHO) which in my eyes was already a noodle of boot there seems to be even less choice on the market. Can you get harder tongues for the Track 700?

Ups looks like the plain Race is without titanal? Seems a bit strange for me as the soft slalom I rode definitely had two titanal layers like the medium and like the hard. Better call em up before ordering then. The shape is the same for all 3 boards though.

I rode some of the boards during the SG Invitational last spring. Really great stuff. The 18.5m radius of the GS (hard) was a bit too much for me for freecarving, the slalom with 12m Radius was exceptional. I didn't find the time to demo a 178race though. (I asked some teamriders which board to recommend me for GS racing and they recommended me the 185, unluckily there were no soft or medium (T) boards in 185 available. This year you can get one for your muscle power and weight which is definitely great. As said above the snowboards are built the same way as Elan race stock racing skis, blows away most other boards in finishing quality. You can see the both titanal sheets above the sidewall like on good race skis. I rode for 185 only the pro modell cause the soft ones in 185 weren't available. Can't recommend it for an average guy with 70kg to go for it. Better take a T or the standard race which is the softest. The build is the same for all of them, only different material thickness to make them softer or stiffer I assume. The pro modell is as said the real deal used by SG sponsored riders, so take it only if you feel ambitious to go for the top. I then tested the slalom 162 in hard and soft (not medium), both times with different Hangl plates. They blasted my imagination away. Both great on ice and in the slushy snow we had with 10°Celsius and sunshine without a single cloud in April. I couldn't imagine a board that would ride so damp and easy. I wished I could have used it for the race with my team agains Sigis team. I don't know any other slalom board I felt so confident on. I never got stuck on the turn like I do on my F2 Slalom, just releasing the turn when you want it. Got me closer to the flags than hours of training. For racing I'ld probabely take the soft for icy conditions, otherwise medium (T) which I haven't yet testet though. Pro was best for freecarving. But better I start saving soon so that I can at least ride one of the boards next season. I especially like the long radius of the slalom board, as the straight line down is simply faster but a short GS board just doesn't work for me in slalom. The 12m radius felt like 9m radius board when pushing hard anyhow. There were quite a load of professional racers that were stunned by Sigis boards and will change over once their Kessler boards are run-down. Especially as many feel confident that the boards will provide a longer life than Kesslers. The next time i want to give the Cross Pro a testride, seems to me like a nice Boardercross weapon. Sigi really seems motivated to provide an alternative board for every Kessler. Edited: - Just noticed that the normal Race modell is available in 154, 140 and 125cm too. They are developped with the Styrian junior race team/ HAK Schladming AFAIK cause noone, not even Kessler produced real kids raceboards anymore. I could try to get more info about them as one kid out of our race team switched to Schladming. Warning: Here in Austria we might be a bit crazed over Sigis boards though, as Sigi heavily pushes junior raceboarding by giving away boards to the most talented young boarders, invited them to the SG Invitational out of the money he had won at a local race series just one week before the weekend and off course as he gives those not scoring big fis-points an alternative to driving to Switzerland just to pick up a raceboard. He's been the reason for many younger kids to get into racing and to making our sport more popular. But not only as with the SG-Invitational he organizes a terrific event for pros and amateurs, I think it might become the biggest alpine gathering up from the maybe 120 people this year to maybe 500-1000 as many people I've met said that next year they'll bring along many more people due to the great athmosphere and 3 days partying and snowboarding. Hope Ischgl and Red Bull will then sponsor the whole thing for 500 people the same way they did for the smaller crowd this year.

Oh jip, you got me too. Wasn't that hard anyway.......... To ride your times I probabely just need one of your plates, and maybe maybe a tiny bit of training:biggthump Na just kidding. I would need loads of training and a bit more talent but at least I can ride constant times when I know I get a binding for doing so................. (the constant is a bit of an insider as I rode my qualifying runs with 0,01 time difference vs 0,004 of Christians runs - and therefore won the special price for riding the most constant times).

@silent, You're Christian Veit, aren't you? Just guessing that the avatar picture is you riding on the SG Invitational during the qualifiers with Bib 4 (I started right behind you in the next qualifier against René Huerlimann)?

Hmm, Burton ain't bad. It's even great price for quality. Oh did I mention that Proforms of Burton are easy to get if you're able to do some easy tricks in the park?. Especially their clothes are best value ever if you get them say :lol:65% off list price. For allround boards that do a bit of everything I like Burtons, other big names don't do it any better IMHO at least speaking of the older generation boards produced in lower Austria (I know someone who got a trailer full of snowboards the day the company closed as the couldn't get a grip to the market after producing exclusively for Burton for more than 20 years). Nah, for real freeriding look elsewhere. There loads of tiny manufacturers and shapers who turn out the real ****. Try some Elan OEMs to know what real quality means (like Titanal layers as well for freeriding - great when landing on some rocks), or small French shapers who output incredible Swallowtails that really show you why many associate freeriding to surfing.

Try for example reliableracing or raceworks as well as any shop that carries Vist racing plates. They are also glued onto the topsheet. There a different kinds of tapes for the plates. Some claim to absorb shocks a tiny bit, some others claim to be more direct...... I'ld rather visit a shop that carries Vist than Hangl, as Vist is the number one brand for skiracing plates (number one plate manufacturer for skiing competitions). Most skimanufacturers like Fischer, Head (even Atomic on some models) equit with Vist plates in their race stock.

I've only yet ridden SG Snowboards. SG Snowboards are really top-notch finish and quality and quite a lot of (former) Kessler riders that attended the SG Invitational in Ischgl last April considered switching to SG because of performance of the boards and durability concerns with their old Kesslers. Money wasn't a factor to decide for either board for them. I assume SG with Elan is able to use the same production knowledge that exists for titanal race skis (the norm since many many years) and thereby durability concerns about SG boards are out of question. I don't think SG boards are any slower than Kessler, more about personal preference. Furthermore since this season (or about April last year), you can get all SG Race for 3 weight ranges (soft/medium/hard). I believe the upcoming seasons SG Race have been a good step forward compared to the season before (it's right now only the second season they are available - as the Speed is no competition raceboard). Either way you decide, its a top decision. Too bad you're in the States, I believe testing is out of question.

Yeah, when will we ever see some real snowboard hardboots like a nice and snug racing ski boot with lace-up leather plug inside? (class of Fischer Soma Pro, Lange World Cup, Nordica Doberman World Cup, Atomic RT Ti........). Many snowboard hardboots are just copies of low-class skiing boots, overall length of a properly fitted plug won't be longer than that of any snowboard hardboot - but well they are all brick hard compared to even the hardest snowboard hardboots. However nevertheless as much as I love the glove like fitting of my skiing plugs I would never ever use them for snowboarding, too many things are just very different, starting with ramp angle and forward as well as sidewards flex and continuing. If I could ever have those nice Northwave .950 again that I once exchanged for some Raichles (stupid me) before realising that you can't get them anymore.

The main problem is that hardboots aren't made for low angles. Take a board not as wide like a swallowtail with say 24cm waist or below to get good results in my opinion.

I think there is no delamn issue on a Kessler, neither would be on a Tomahawk (that has allways screwed in directly) or a SG snowboard. Titanal snowboards like skis generally should do fine without inserts. I've seen goofy and regular insert packs on test boards though (well not 4x4 but 4 and 4 wholes to mount plates on so 8 wholes in total

WTF are you talking. Ever thought about the new inventions? Or was that post ironic, if so yes than you nearly got me. For racing or competition what you want is softer not harder edges than on retail gear. A too hard edge breaks and if the edge is so hard that it doesn't it would probably rip out or even worse distort the board flex. A soft edge can be furthermore sharpened much easier and better and for a couple of runs this is enough. And why use someone who can't yet even snowboard to design a splitboard.