Guest Jagger Posted February 18, 2004 Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 Hey guys I picked up a 182 tanker from e bay and was wondering if anyone rides softies on a board close to this size? The board will be used for a general freeride/Freestyle board but I would like to get the best carving out of it possible. Any suggestions would be appreciated, I was thinking maybe 35-40 front and 28-32 rear. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nipple Posted February 18, 2004 Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 I've got 39 in front and 36 in rear on my atomic, which minimizes drag for me. Experiment and find the point where the bindings still function and drag is minimized for your setup. Or, just tack a third strap to those bindings and go mental. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jon Rutherford Posted February 18, 2004 Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 My freeride board is a Tanker oversize 167. Smaller, but still a big board. You will have no toe/heal drag issues at all, they are wide boards. For equipment, I ride the Burton HD P1's-they have a super tall high back made from carbon fiber, and you can crank the forward lean on them. I have the Burton Drivers for boots...a very, very stiff soft boot. I'm not sure of angles, but i'm probably around 35 in front, 18-20 in back, and I can lay the board over like its my race board. ***I may even ride this board one day at the ECES it carves so well... JR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jagger Posted February 18, 2004 Report Share Posted February 18, 2004 Originally posted by Jim Callen Depends on which boots and bindings you are using. With my soft setup I usually ride 53 front and 48 back, albeit I have Nitro Wrath II's, some of the stiffest soft boots on the market. You can also try adjusting the highback of the bindings around your foot to provide more support on your heelside turns. I also had palmer risers on the board and they helped out with my carving immensely. Jim Jim the boots are old Airwalk freeride II s with the velcro heel strap, bindings are off brands. I used to ride an old hauser fat chic 159 with high backs removed and was able to toe side real well heelside fair now it seems that things have reversed themselves, now my heelside seems beter at least on hard boots. Probably from reading all the threds and articles here. BTW Does anyone know where I can score some of those foam stick on cants, Does anybody still make em. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philw Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 [...]I don't know how stiff they are, but if they aren't too stiff I wouldn't go much over 45 degrees either foot. Otherwise you're in for some major ankle and shin pain as they try and support you while turning. Seconded. I was forced to use nasty floppy things as rentals the other week and this is precisely what I found. Set the angles even moderately steep and the binding backs attack your lower leg. I decided that floppy stuff is intended to be used pretty much somewhere around zero degrees or nothing... that seemed to be much less painful. In a way it was amusing to learn to drive a dross board with flimsy bindings, but not all that amusing. I didn't figure out how to stop the boots hurting my feet - they don't have shells so the strappy things just dig into your feet when you do them up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Pumpkins Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 i ride burton drivers, and my angles on my freeride board are 39 front 27 rear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jlm27 Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Why do you all ride with such big angles on your freeride decks? I've always thought lower angles were better due to the flex patterns in soft boots(not so stiff laterally, a little stiffer toe - heel). James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bordy Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 Food for thought, Most soft boot bindings are only designed to work for and aft. If you are running angles above 30 or below-30 you are losing major amounts of performance. While the high back may rotate to some degree you are still out side the support parameters and flex. Most Pros ride angles between 9 and 30 on the front and -15 to 15 on the back. Hence manufactures designing binding that work between these angles. When you run angles greater then 30 you then need to have support laterally and medially (read as side to side). That is what a hard boot or a 3 strap binding is designed for. If your foot is to large to run soft boots within these angles then you need to lift or to run a wider board. Once out side these angles your riding style must blend between a carver and a jibber. Great if you know how to do both already. Bad if you are unable, and must go through a series of mismatched style of turns with out the proper support. Although , you can still manipulate your style to still ride carved turns in softys at high angles you are then depending on the boot only, to make the support needed to provide lateral and medial resistance and control. This is why most folks will say the have had such good luck with a stiffer boot, because the binding can not do its job. A Burton Driver for example is stiffer then a 123 raichle hardboot for and aft but it is forced to provide all the side to side support in a soft boot at higher angles, since the ankle strap and high back are no longer inline with the edge to provide power and support. While the 123 boot provides support toward the edge because the upper cuff is wrapped around the ankle 360 degrees making sure there is support towards the edge no matter what the angle. Now I am sure any one can argue this point with there own riding experience and setup, But for max power and control you need lateral and medial support above 30 degrees its bio mechanics and physics. Not experience or time learning to ride a bad setup well. Its the opportunity to start with a working tool correctly designed and setup for the best results. If you enjoy such high angles in softys you are losing so much control and power. Perhaps a softer hard boot is the solution. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtslalom Posted February 19, 2004 Report Share Posted February 19, 2004 I don't ride my soft boards like I do my carving/race boards. My stance angles on my soft board are totally different from my hard boards. I ride 18 back and 30 front. I like to ride switch on my soft board so I don't want the angles to be much beyond 30 degrees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brodster_57 Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 I agree with Bordy completely and have even come to the same conclusion on the specific angle of 30 deg's generally being the performance limit. This is not to say that you can't ride like this (because I've have seen people tear it up with super high angles and softies.) But you have to realize that if you want to go beyond that limit you are fully aware of the disadvantages. Perhaps some may just enjoy the challenge of a handicap. I started out soft booting and hitting kickers with all my friends 12 years ago. I tried hard booting about six years ago, and spent time equally in both (I think I am going to focus more energy on the hard booting now.) So I have tried every angle from dual 75 deg.'s on my too narrow 197 burner to duck foot. However I tried Terje's orginal angles of 24 and 9 degs to be a good blend of carving, freeriding, rails, and pure freestyle. It never held me back doing huge backside 180's in the park or rodeos. I could carve it pretty well switch, and it carved well regular. Those stance angles seemed to be very all-mountain friendly. 30 and 15 I have played with a few times and found that it was even much stronger for all around carving but came a bit more awkward for park and such. One day at Squaw valley I was bored and decided to see at what point I was able to carve a clean heelside hip on the ground turn. Obviously you can touch your rear to the ground at any angle and I can do it at 24 and 9 if the overhang and snow is right, but I found around 38 degs on both feet to really be that point where heelsides showed dramatic improvement. But then again it felt awkward as hell and my boots were just plain sloppy. Another area to experiment in is the difference in angles between the front and back foot. I think Terje was the one who supposedly told a coach of mine that 15 deg's foot separation seemed very effective for the best hip movement and freedom. Which of course is mandatory in freestyle but may not be necessary if you just want to carve. So you must find that balance of hip freedom and edge pressure and overhang. I would also like to add that the new CATEK freeride bindings opened up some new options as far as canting and lift on a soft boot setup. Although the straps leave a little to be desired the binding idea I think is great for us hard booters that also ride soft boots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 I also find that above a certain angle - for me and my Malamutes, 33 degrees - soft boots become "sloppy". When I apply pressure pernendicular to the board edge, it flexes them through their softer zone, thus the sloppy feel. With regards to the difference in angle between front and back, I find a wider stance works in comination with more splay and a narrower stance works well in combination with less splay. These days I prefer 19.5" or so width, 9 degrees of splay in softies. (Also 19.5" or so on plates, with 3 or 5 degrees of splay depending on whther I'm on my Cateks or TD2s) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jagger Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 I ve decided to start at 45 36. That's where I have no overhang. Then I'll just work from there, having never ridden such a long board I'm just guessing. Looking at my old twintip the angles were 40 28 and that was real comfortable with a 21 inch stance. Heck I may swap out the bindings to get the bennefit of the stick on cants on my old bindings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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