David Kirk

I've been using Tankers (187W and 200) with TD2's for years now and I can't imagine changing anytime soon. The only issue I've had is breaking a board lengthwise under my rear heel. I was riding in a foot or so of powder on top of fairly hard stuff. I took a fall and fell back and the heel edge contacted a hard bump in a big way. This folded the board right over the base plate of the binding cracking it. I doubt this would have happened if I were using soft bindings as they spread the load (in most cases) from edge to edge. Rad Air replaced the board under warrantee with the old "never seen that happen before". I'm wondering if the TD2 damping kit would help prevent this in the future? Dave

Bridger opened yesterday and it was pretty darn good on the groomers. A bit scary off the groomed but good carving. I'm headed up tomorrow. Dave

One bump before it goes to Ebay. Dave

I have both a 187 wide ( my everyday board) and a 200 that I use on deep days. They are extemely versatile and easy to ride in the trees and bumps. I hooked up about 6 of my fellow instructors with Tankers and they are all surprised how well they deal with the tight stuff. Tankers are king. Dave

The one and only Will Garrow. Dave

You snooze you lose. SOLD! Dave

Hi Joel, I just returned your email. Dave

One more photo - Dave

Here's another board that doesn't get used. In fact it's never been riden. I bought it as a back up when Rad-Air pulled out of the US. It was a showroom demo that had bindings mounted but has never been on the snow. It's a 177 wide and here are the specs. Length 177 Tip 31.9 Waist 26.6 Tail 31.4 SCR 9.25m The price is $200 and the buyer pays shipping from zip 59715. Let me know if you have any questions or would like better photos. Dave

Another photo. Dave

I thought I never sell it but it snows too damn much here in Bozeman MT so this board doesn't get used enough. It's a Coiler 195 Custom Split tail that Bruce built for me about 3 years ago. It has a split tail that can be adjusted for stiffness by moving the bars fore and aft. It can also make one edge stiffer or softer by mounting the bars at an angle. It has an asymetic WCC ( World Cup Construction) core........not to be confused with an asymetric sidecut or shape. The core is profiled for the best responce on each edge. The board it not absolutely perfect but very close. It has a few small scratches in the top sheet and one very , very small ding in the base. I tried to take pictures of the flaws but they don't show.The board has most of it's life in front of it........ buy it and show it a good time. I've never raced the board but the edge hold is fantastic and it's very easy to ride. That said it's not for the beginner. I think it might be the ultimate freecarve board. Here are the spec's - Length 195 Tip 24.5 Waist 19.0 Tail 24.1 SCR 15m Serial Number - "WCC 195 0114-6.2 Goofy Asym" The price is $300 with the buyer paying shipping from zip 59715. I will refund the money to the buyer is the board isn't in the stated condition. Let me know if you've got any more questions or would like me to email you better photos...I've got plenty. I'll wait a few days to see interest and it it doesn't move it will go to ebay. Dave

I've been riding in hard boots for about 17 years and got my level III on hard boots on a Tanker 187 Wide. The examiners often don't know how to deal with it that's for sure. I was constantly being told " this might be different for you with that extreme race set up". It's funny that many considered it a "race board" even though I was on a wide powder board running 20° in front and 8° in the rear. You'd think that an examiner would be able to look at the set up and realize that we had more in common than we did different. The best part of my level III was when we went into the park and pipe. My whole group was actually worried for me with my set up. A few good airs out of the pipe and some rock and roll board slides on the lip made them feel better. "I can't believe you can do that on a race board!"......." HELLO, it's not a race board just because it's got plates!" I'm the head trainer at my school and slowly but surely more folks from my school are trying hard boots and longer boards. We have many folks riding 182's , 187's, and 200's and teaching on them every day with great success. Our mountian doesn't have a park or pipe but it does have butt puckering steeps and chutes and powder where the little 163 "pro model" freestyle deck leaves you wanteing to pull out your cell phone and call mommy. Thanks for asking. Dave

Bridger has a run called "6th grade virgin". It's not a wide open cruiser. Dave

I think you're right to be suspect. I've used thos Burton pieces in the past and I say be afraid. Dave

I have the same issue and have had very good luck with wrapping the cuff area of the liner with sticky back boot fitting foam ( can be found at most good ski shops). I've used 1/4" thick foam and had very good results. It can make the cuff of the boot a bit stiff but that can be taken care of by using strips of foam instead of a sheet. It's important to not distort the shell of the boot trying to get it tight enough. If the shell is distorted it won't feel right and it certainly won't flex the way it was designed to. Ideally the shell cuff should be parallel to your calf when tightened. If your calf is small in diameter the shell will tend to squeaze in at the top and create pressure points and the flex will be wierd at best. I hope that makes sense to someone other than me........ Dave

I'm sorry to say that I was a local there for too long. It can be good if the stars align and you've been a very good boy. The mail issue is grooming. They have the knack to take good packed powder and turn it into death cookies. The don't seem to really fully understand that it needs to be well below freezing to run the snow guns......so they leave them on too long and blow warm liquid water...........hmmmmmmmm! If you get lucky and they have lots of natural snow there is some good carving to be had. It's best late at night. The place will be full of gangs of snowbladers until about 8:30pm but then it is absolutly empty. Gore Mtn ( about 45 minutes north) is much better and there are some fun intermediate carving runs and narrow wandering groomers that can be carved hard once you know the run. Later, Dave

If you are in Bozeman and want to make some turns and take your carving up a notch give the Bridger Bowl Snowsports school a call and ask for a lesson with me. I've been riding for since 1979, carving for 15 years, teaching for 5 years and I'm a AASI level III instructor. Even if you aren't loking for a lesson stop by and ask for me and we'll do some carving or hit the steeps. Dave

stupid hot....ahhhhh. last season we were in the record 5th year of drought and it was above 90° for 6 weeks. It's normally in the low 80's in the summer and the humidity is about 30%. So far this year has been very nice...it's even raining sometimes. Dave

there are two places that come to mind then..... Music Villa is a retail store that is also the local Gibson dealer. I hear that they are the **** but I don't know much about it. The other place is the "Thirsty Ear". They are a retailer that sells utra high end hi fi stuff. A national reputation I'm told. I know neither of these is directly up your alley but I figured it couldn't hurt to mention them. Dave

check with Gibson ,....they make their acoustic guitars here. Dave

Greetings from Bozeman, Yes as my good friend Fin said I live in Bozeman and can tell more than you want to know about riding in the area. Both Bridger and Big Sky are great areas and offer very different terrain and feel. Bridger is more of a local area but it has some of the coolest and nastiest steeps in the country. Pretty serious stuff. It takes a long time to figure the place out but it's a fun thing to do. The carving is OK but not the mountians strong point. Powder, steeps, no crowds and longboarding are. Big Sky is more like a Summit county area that but it empty. It is HUGE!. You can ride there for a week and see only two thirds of the place. It has very good carving but it also has a 15 passenger tram that goes to the summit of Lone Peak. It drops of 15 people every six minutes onto an area about the size of Killington....so yes it's got some room to move and but puckering steeps. Not to be missed. Living in Bozeman is wonderful. Very easy going and laid back. Not at all like a ski town and it's not touristy. You see yuppies and cowboys in the same place. Real estate is cheap and plentiful and the weather is wonderful....most of the time but it can get stupid hot in the summer for a few weeks. I can only think of one thing bad to say about Bozeman. It's that there aren't to many jobs outside the building-construction industry. I have my own deal ( www.kirkframeworks.com) and life couldn't be better. Let me know if you have any questions. Dave

lack of taper or reverse taper is great if you like having turns that just don't end. It makes it very difficult to end one turn and smoothly transition into the next turn. They tend to chatter badly near the end of the turn and are spooky going fast.... stay away ! Dave

another foot last night brings us to 90" since Christmas. The forecast calls for 1-2 feet tonight just to top it off. Get out the Tankers. Dave

Just a heads up that my area (www.bridgerbowl.com) has received over 7 feet of snow in the last 24 hours. It's too bad because the craving had been really good. Oh well, we'll suffer through it. Anyone care to join me ? Dave

Not much time left. get your tickets nowwwww ! Dave