best bts spring setup for all mountain riding

[snowboardfast]

I have been running blue on top and red on bottom on Deluxe Susuka boot and feel that it is a rough ride for all mountain riding. I tried to ride powder a couple of weeks ago and it was a rough pounding ride even if i loosened up the top springs for maxuim flex. I have been riding soft boots as well but would prefer hard boots as my feet are more comfortable. Am going to try yellow springs tommorow and see If I can smooth out the ride to an acectable level. I tried soft bail bindings last year and still too rough of a ride. I think that it is up to the bts system with softer springs to fix this. I am riding bomber td3 with yellow rings and intec this year. Boards used-either Donek Axess 172 or Prior 174 4wd or Dupraz D1 179. As a side note I have ridden the Dupraz d1 with both hard and soft boots a lot. I guess if this doesnt work I can go back to riding soft boots for all mountain. Again I would like to not have to do this. I am able to ride both hard and soft boots with good skills on all terrain of the mountain.

[KingCrimson]

Depends on your weight and ultimately your preference, obviously your setup is too stiff for the latter.

I'm 195 and use blue all around with only enough preload to keep the whole thing together. I'd like to think I'm an aggressive carver, but in reality I suck too much for that to be the case. Either way, every time I try and change things up to find a better setting, I come back to zero preload with blues.

[jp1]

snowboardfast, Without a doubt, To each their own, but to go from Reds on bottom and Blues on top, to all Yellows seems like a big jump to me. Have you tried Blues, Top & Bottom ? If you look at the spring rates, it's pretty easy to see the pattern Fin more than likely designed into the BTS system.

The pattern to me seems to be the Bottom spring is approximately Twice the spring rate of the Top spring (when staying within the same colors). I'm pretty sure more thought was put into the BTS system than meets the eye. I'd guess the spring rates the designer came up with as 'starting points' were because of the systems geometry. (Go ahead Fin, blow my whole theory here and tell me you just grabbed a hand full of springs and painted them 'pretty colors' :D).

Example:

Blue "Long" Spring = 144 lbs./inch.

Blue "Short" Spring= 320 lbs./inch

With the Red "Short" Spring = 656 lbs./inch in the bottom, and a Blue "Long" Spring = 144 lbs./inch in the top, you have more than 4.5 times as much spring rate on the bottom than the top on a system that seemingly was designed for approximately 2 times as much spring rate on the bottom as the top.

I'm not 'ragging' on you, heck I'm still dialing in my own set up, but just feel staying closer to the 2 to 1 ratio of spring rates 'may' be beneficial.

Like KC, I started with Blues Top & Bottom simply because they were the 'mid-range' of availability. I ended up finding I liked riding best with 'minimal' spring preload (on the Blues). This indicated to me I could go with a spring of less rate, so I actually researched and ordered springs of a slightly lesser rate than the Yellows. They seem to be a 'tad' too soft, so I think I found where I need to be (Yellows) to make me comfortable (and maybe they'll be the ticket for you also, I hope so, just a big jump) !

Keep after it, you'll find it . That's the beauty of the BTS System, the adjustability you certainly did not have before.

[Dave*]

Depends on your weight and ultimately your preference,

That hits the nail on the head.

I am a "chunky" type , about 230-240#, I spend alot of time off the cord and boonie bashing ( more so than most of the local HBers I think its safe to say)

I have been running Blue/Blue with one turn of preload top & bottom, with boot cuff set to neutral angle. This has proven to be a very capable all mountain/powder/carving setup for me, although I have always favored a "softer flex" to my Hardboots.

Its only been this season that my hardpack riding has progressed to the point where I might jump up to red/red for carving, I still think that would be too stiff off piste for my tastes.

I credit BTS with being the single biggest technological help to my riding , surpassing metal boards IMHO.

Think of BTS as your motorcycle/mtn bike suspension , the heavier you are the stiffer the spring you need, get it to stiff and you have a harsh ride, get it to soft and you bottom out all the time and still get a harsh ride from the "clunk" at the end of your travel.

[snowboardfast]

Tried yellow springs on top but left the bottom red. I liked this setup better for all mountain riding than blue and red because it made the ride smoother when riding on offpiste conditions. I thought it was a little too soft for the hard groomed snow in the morning but the groomed snow soon softened up once it warmed up later in the day. This has basically solved my problem. I think I will always use red on the bottom because I do not want the boot to flex backwards during heelside turns.I could see myself using red springs all the way if I was going to ride on hard groomed snow to get better edge power if the snow is harder. It is easy to change out the top springs during the course of a day if needed because you do not have to completely disassmble the BTS to do this. I may go buy a set of red top springs to try this out. I think the blue bottom springs will be too soft If I do an aggresive heelside turn.I felt like the boots are really soft with the yellow/ red combination and don't fell like I need to make them any softer. I will ride this again tommorow to see what I think. Again I will be riding the Donek 172AX. I think some times the bts stystem is too soft If I am riding my Nidecker 183 Tornado but that board is really stiff and If I buy a metal board someday I would think that I could get by with the softer boots and not having to push as hard during turns because the metal boards flex eaiser. I am having a lot of fun riding the all mountain board instead and will try to do this the rest of the season. I really like being able to ride the same board all day and go everywhere. I may end up only riding an all mountain board as I feel I can carve good enough on groomed snow and still go on other terrain. Maybe I will demo a Donek 172AX in metal next year?