Who rides both, hard boot and soft

[JJFluff]

I ride both, and enjoy both the same. I probably split time on both boards. Maybe even a little more time on the softboard. I love it all.

[Dave ESPI]

Gunnar,

I've been playing with the Catek Feeride Bindings and adjusting tilt, cant and lean. It has made angulation easier on my back ankle, but also hindered the recovery for some heelside turns... I need ot play with the front binding a bit also, but you are very correect about the bio-mechanics of the similarities between HB and SB stances.

Earthsurfer... I ride in DANNER Hiking Boots when I first taught myself to ride with 3 strap burton bindings. I still love riding in soft "Oldschool" Airwalk Advantage boots as they allow me the flexability in ankle control with the board under me. Some people however are not blessed with stong ankles, and the lack of a highback could really hurt them.

I will monkey with one of my boards that Im most comfortable on and remove the highback and see how I feel on it.

The notion has merit.

[John Gilmour]

Im really going to make an effort to try softboots again this season. Have not been on them since 95. What should I expect??

Trust me on this.

Unless you have an abnormally narrow foot or super high arches.. Buy the 2008 Burton Andy Warhol boot.

If you can afford them get the Catek Evo binding (I use them with Union straps).

If you need a cheaper binding... get Unions.. pick the firmest ankle strap model.

You will be amazed at the tech in that Andy Warhold boot in terms of flex pattern improvements.

Then if you ride angled w/ both feet... make sure your toe straps cross over the first two knuckles of your big toe in your front foot, and over the first knuckle in your rear foot little toe. This will keep your feet from flexing at the joints and rolling in your boots.

Make sure you have more high back lean in your rear binding so you can drive your knees forward and still have the highback close enough to your rear calf to pressure it just as you cross the fall line to engage the rear of your board edge on your heelside. about 60-80% of your weight on your front heel.

1. load weight on the pinky metatarsal of your front foot.

2. twist to check over your shoulder.

3. Drop your butt over the heelside edge while flexing extremely aggressively with your ankles and knees- your butt should be 1-2 inches off the snow (you can do a tiny "butt tap touch down bounce off the snow" to know you are low enough.

4. Be low enough to crush the top of the cup cake with your lead butt bone without crushing the paper part.

5. Just as you pass through the fall line- thread your rear knee through. or get really low and do a 1 legged bench press with your front leg (your front binding needs to be close to 45 degrees for this to work

Toe side... well you'll need "Gilmour Bias". and to do a good softie toe side...

1. Be balanced... weight forward. Move your front knee laterally towards the toe side - enough to start to edge the board off the snow about 1/2- 1 inch.

2. Drop the hammer by trying to touch your rear knee to the snow.. this is a Lateral move..a curtsy to the queen. 2 inches from the snow is about ideal.

3. So now your front foot helped to establish the channel- your rear knee drove the rear to in, and now... you need to move the front knee laterally across even more and try to touch hte front knee to the snow.... and move it about 1-2 inches closer to the rear knee. This will take a lot of g-force off of the back ankle and engage the front half of your toe edge.

2 days ago I was riding at about 30-40mph doing air to carve transitions fully laid out in my soft set up....I was pretty happy. Major roosters under the Highlands top chair. And my edges were dull dull dull and the snow was pretty firm.. no packed powder to be found.

but to make it all work- you have to be very very very low and completely committed. AND... be listening to Aerosmiths "Back in the Saddle Again" at 115 db

[bumpyride]

I'm riding Raichle 123's. Just a little harder than the old Burton 3 strap Torques. They give me just enough support to keep my ankles from hyper-extending, and enough freedom to do anything I want, and (of course) in the walk mode. Very surfy.

Tried softboots 1 day about 5 years ago. Didn't last long. Felt like I was riding a 12' windsurfer.

[Dr D]

Softies have come such a long way in the last 3-4 years. The bindings are more ergonomic, and rather than having one model in one brand that seemed to fit acceptably well, I can find several models from several brands that fit really well.

I think fit is even more important in softies than hard boots.

I also think that with hard boots, one can get away with not riding from the board up much more. With softies you really do need to ride from the board up (initiate turns with feet/ankles and not by throwing higher up parts of your body around).

Wanna make a strong softie toeside without heel lift? This this at home: get in your bare feet stand near a wall so you can catch yourself, and then stand on your toes... not tippy-toes but such that the whole toe is on the floor and the rest of the foot is off the floor. Don't flex your feet to point your toes - you're not doing ballet. Keep your feet relaxed and drop your knees forward and down. Now take it to the snow. The pointing of toes is how you get heel lift in any boot... but its especially troublesome for me anyways in softies.

Having said all the it's a different ride. I've seen highly skilled and mostly lighter riders work a softie setup as aggressively as plates. IMHO it takes more skill to carve hard on softies than plates and the gap in required skill increases with rider mass.

THat said I do it regularly at 6'4" 275 Lbs. IT helps to have the adjustability of the catek freerides. A little tweaking on the heel lift etc and you are good to go

[Neil Gendzwill]

Buy the 2008 Burton Andy Warhol boot.

Why is it better than the Driver X?

[Bobby Buggs]

I have a set of Flow M9s,

[CARV-NY]

I love my softies I enjoy doing allot of tree riding, moguls, and just plain messing around. there is a lack of control versus hardboots. but imho you make up for it in comfort. any soft boot is uncomfortable for the first few weeks until they're broken in. but i've been riding mine for the past 2 years and they are well broken in and i can wear them all day with comfort.

[wavechaser]

IMO - if you don't ride both you are missing out on all snowboarding has to offer.

-RF

[scotts.Scheinman]

i rode softies for a few days up in whistler, it took a while to get used to but i honestly dont perfer it

[Miltie]

After more than few years in hardboots only, decided to give softboots a try again in 2007/2008 but had some boot issues. For the 2008/2009 seaon I bought some Burton Driver X boots and love them. Great product which fit pretty well right out of the box.

Softboots are also much better for chasing kids around or playing in the snow. Try chasing a 5 year old and a 3 year around in hardboots.

Still think my apline decks/TD3s and 700Ts are best in most conditions but when my desk jockie (sp?) body and middle-aged back can't take the afternoon chop, I sometimes pull out the soft set-up to get some additional runs and fully amortize my ticket.

I usually run a varicant on the rear foot so it feels closer to my alpine set-up and run steeper 40f - 30r angles on an old Burton E-deck 163.

I agree with Wavechaser that you might be missing out if you don't give it a try as I think it helps focus on the basics and in turn can only add to your enjoyment on the snow.

[Dave ESPI]

IMO - if you don't ride both you are missing out on all snowboarding has to offer.

-RF

HERE HERE ! well said.

[Ernie00]

For burton driver X owners.

how is sizing ? do you need to go a little bigger for softboots or you are the same size as your hardboots ?

Found a pair of 9 from last year at very discounted price, I'm a 27 in deeluxe and my UPZ.

thanks

[Dave ESPI]

Ernie, some of my coworkers try to squeeze into a smaller boot size just to save toe drag, but everyones foot is different. You really just have to try them on if U can to see about the fit.

[leeho730]

I use soft boots for soft boot carving, freeriding, park, half-pipes, tricks, or just pissing around.

But I use my alpine setup 90% of the time now.

[Gunnar]

HERE HERE ! well said.

+1.........

[aactis]

For burton driver X owners.

how is sizing ? do you need to go a little bigger for softboots or you are the same size as your hardboots ?

Found a pair of 9 from last year at very discounted price, I'm a 27 in deeluxe and my UPZ.

thanks

Mine are slightly larger than my UPZ. I have size 30 Driver X's and 29/29.5 UPZ RTR's. It could probably go either way as far as being the same or slightly bigger. My feet are really wide in front so I think that is why I went with a 30 for the Driver X's. It was a few years ago though so I don't remember exactly.

[snowboardfast]

Have done both for several seasons now and am finished with soft booots for good after having tried numerous binding and boot combos my feet are too uncomfortable no matter what I do. My feet hurt the same way in soft boots no matter what type of softboot I have tried and with diffrent insoles. I ride them much eaiser and my feet will still hurt even in powder. People will go on here and say that your feet aren't strong enough and you need to keep riding them and I say Wrong! I have spent an extensive amount of time riding them in all conditions and don't see the point. This is all with newer gear that is good and I also rode the older stuff years ago.

[DiveBomber]

Have done both for several seasons now and am finished with soft booots for good after having tried numerous binding and boot combos my feet are too uncomfortable no matter what I do. My feet hurt the same way in soft boots no matter what type of softboot I have tried and with diffrent insoles. I ride them much eaiser and my feet will still hurt even in powder. People will go on here and say that your feet aren't strong enough and you need to keep riding them and I say Wrong! I have spent an extensive amount of time riding them in all conditions and don't see the point. This is all with newer gear that is good and I also rode the older stuff years ago.

Not to rub it in but... Told ya so!

[snowboardfast]

No Divebomber you are not bothering me by saying I told you so. One of the main reasons why I was trying to ride soft boots is the equipment is way cheaper but cheaper is not better if your feet are hurting! Also I am not interested in doing everthing that snowboarding has to offer- riding switch and in the park and off of huge jumps is not for me. I am only interested in making nice turns and staying on the ground most of the time which can be done on all snowboarding equipment. I just like hardboots better for both foot comfort and performance. I will be riding them on all my boards from now on Dupraz D1 included. I will be trying the Lemans boot with bts when the snow is soft and will be riding my Deluxe suskas with out bts on harder snow.

[LeeW]

I ride all three -- Softies, Hardies, and Skiies.