Jon Dahl Posted December 9, 2004 Report Share Posted December 9, 2004 as Fin and Jeff, they could have owned alpine! Both of those bindings are just plain engineering marvels, but it looks to me like the Catek is a damped binding, and the TD2 is a suspended binding. The Catek offers unlimited fine tuning, the TD2 offers easily repeatable setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted December 9, 2004 Report Share Posted December 9, 2004 Burton did put a lot of passion into alpine, and for many years they did own alpine, that can't be denied. Burton used to be the racing juggernaut. I think the passion began to fade around 97-98 when their race boards seemed to stop evolving. However they continued to offer a robust line-up of alpine boards through 2001, including race, freecarve, and all-mtn. They also offered a full spectrum of hardboots and plate bindings, including race and freecarve boots, standard and step-in race and freecarve plate bindings, and even women's boots and kid's plates. Their delusion that there was nothing wrong with their bindings was self-reinforcing, due to the fact that Burton bindings were on more podiums than any other. When they lost that passion and decided the money wasn't worth it, they tried to sneak out as if nobody would notice. That's the only thing I fault them for. -Jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AlpentalRider Posted December 9, 2004 Report Share Posted December 9, 2004 ^^^ I second that emotion. Now Burton has also managed to slowly reduce their freeriding selection to nothing. It really chaps my hide that one of the industry leaders can't poney up and ensure it carries good solid equipment for all types of riders, not just the ones in trend at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philfell Posted December 9, 2004 Report Share Posted December 9, 2004 Burton just didn't get it when it came to the alpine market. My biggest problem with them was if you had a problem or question about their alpine product you could only talk to some jib kid on the phone who only know what the computer sketch had to offer. They wouldn't offer parts only whole products, I know people who would call Burton trying to buy new bails so they would have extras for when theirs broke. Burton would not SELL them bails. So after every season these guys would put their bails in vises and break them, then return them to Burton and Burton would send them new bails for free. No wonder they couldn't make any money in the Alpine market. Another thing that peeved me about them is that you only could buy their production boards, they have so many moldes for their team, I alway felt they should offer to custom make boards or at least you could call them up and say I want Jasey's current board, or Fawcett's, or Prices'. But no their official statement was the their production boards were what the team was riding and everyone knew that was B.S. I always felt if Burton had someone there who had a clue that the alpine market is different than the freestyle market, it could be profitable. Bruce and Sean can make it happen with extremely limited resources compared to Burton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philw Posted December 9, 2004 Report Share Posted December 9, 2004 Burton's an excellent adolescent marketing company; what's that got to do with the sport? The newer wave is a much better bet - they have focus and they care about the product and the sport which Burton never did. </rant off> Now what was the question again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Dahl Posted December 9, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2004 I DIDN'T start a new post here, someone hijacked my reply to another post! WHAT HAPPENED??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted December 9, 2004 Report Share Posted December 9, 2004 I split the thread, because this is clearly another (worthwhile) topic. So thanks! And philw - Burton clearly did care a great deal about this sport for many years.... in the past. We'll see if Klug can't turn them around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Dahl Posted December 9, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2004 I just do not understand how they can market the stuff! It's heavier and more complicated than Voile, and it's supposed to be better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamran Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 It's just a matter of time, almost everybody I know started snowboarding on freestyle or all mountain board. So the average alpine rider today "used to be" on a freestyle board in his/her early years. The crowd of snowboarders back in 80s and early 90s was really small compared to today's crowd. Wait till today's freestylers get fed up (after a few years ) with their short/wide boards and try to visit the dark side. Then all of a sudden there will be a huge demand for alpine gears,..and Burton will sneak back in,...though they may then lack the development continuity since they've been out for a long time,....in that case, I won't have sympathy with them :p I was today in Kirkwood/Tahoe and yes, again a guy on freestyle board asked me whether my boots are ski boots and another one asked whether I am on a ski (missing the other one I guess) or a snowboard. Our community has done a very poor job in promoting the carving setup. How are youngsters going to long for carving, if they don't even know about its existence? suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest John Posted December 10, 2004 Report Share Posted December 10, 2004 We have free stickers, toss an envelope in the mail and I'll send you some. Then next time you go riding you can slap them on some lift poles. Admittedly you'll be promoting our site, not just alpine, but hey who else gives you free stickers :) (and we'll apreciate it) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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