Flexible Bindings/AM board wanted

[Odd Job]

AM board wanted for a rider 225lbs, hardboots, with flexible bindings, ibex, td3's? f2's? Something good for, weird leg alignments (I figure all 3 are good as they are flexible).

An offer for just one or the other is fine too.

[Puddy Tat]

Not selling my equipment but I'm 215lbs and for serious AM riding (double blacks, moguls, airs, and last year a drop of about 18') I go with UPZ ATBs, TD3 Step ins (I'd consider sidewinders bit they aren't step in yet) with yellow elastomers. For a board I've been running a custom Donek Incline with rubber damping (163cm/25cm/10m). My angles are about 50f/45r

For the past two years the incline was about a 163, and it rocked the AM stuff (airs, spins, zipper lines in moguls, float in pow) but I had to baby it a bit when I brought it back onto groom because the nose would fold a bit and wrap me into a ridiculously tight carve. I sold that to a lighter guy over the summer and I've upgraded the board to another custom Incline with the rubber damping from Sean's Saber model. The specs are now (171cm/24.5cm/10-12m). I'm looking forward to seeing how it'll rip.

Cheers,

Dave

[Odd Job]

I intend to do serious all mountain (but of course, require carving performance), however for hardboots I'm working with af700's, my idea was moving to a blue bts... (is it really too stiff still?)

PS: my boots are 24.5mp, so a 25cm waist would be way too wide...

My softboot setup is pitiful and will get me nowhere haha (boots are so broken down and board is wide for me). If I have to invest in new boots I may just sell everything and go softies only.... in which case, I am also looking for a good softies/bx board possibly! (I need to make up my mind!)

Not selling my equipment but I'm 215lbs and for serious AM riding (double blacks, moguls, airs, and last year a drop of about 18') I go with UPZ ATBs, TD3 Step ins (I'd consider sidewinders bit they aren't step in yet) with yellow elastomers. For a board I've been running a custom Donek Incline with rubber damping (163cm/25cm/10m). My angles are about 50f/45r

For the past two years the incline was about a 163, and it rocked the AM stuff (airs, spins, zipper lines in moguls, float in pow) but I had to baby it a bit when I brought it back onto groom because the nose would fold a bit and wrap me into a ridiculously tight carve. I sold that to a lighter guy over the summer and I've upgraded the board to another custom Incline with the rubber damping from Sean's Saber model. The specs are now (171cm/24.5cm/10-12m). I'm looking forward to seeing how it'll rip.

Cheers,

Dave

[Puddy Tat]

I intend to do serious all mountain (but of course, require carving performance), however for hardboots I'm working with af700's, my idea was moving to a blue bts... (is it really too stiff still?)

PS: my boots are 24.5mp, so a 25cm waist would be way too wide...

My softboot setup is pitiful and will get me nowhere haha (boots are so broken down and board is wide for me). If I have to invest in new boots I may just sell everything and go softies only.... in which case, I am also looking for a good softies/bx board possibly! (I need to make up my mind!)

Yeah I went to the longer board because the 163 was a little soft for what I wanted when I got back on groom. The 171 is much stiffer which will definately help me when I get back onto groom, but I'm assuming I'll be taking a little bit of a performance hit somewhere else (tight trees for one). There isn't really a such thing as a board that will perform optimally everywhere, when I want to go nail big carves on open groomers I grab my Prior WCRM 187 with a set of UPZ RTRs at (65/60), when I want to tear up steeps/ pow etc, I go to the Donek I described above, when I'm unsure I go to my Coiler Sctubby and UPZ RTRs (oh god I just realized I'm slowly turning into a board whore).

I've got a mondo 28 foot so the 24.5-25cm works great for me. Though to be honest Sean can manufacture a board for you in pretty much whatever width you want. If you want a narrower Incline he can make it happen. The 24.5cm in a directional twin works for me because I can ride with slightly slacker angles (50/45) which make me a little more laterally stable and helps me save it when I'm getting kicked around by moguls, chop, landing weird, etc. As an added bonus if I want to sell the board it is possible to resell it as a softboot deck because it looks like one and is not overly narrow.

I can't tell you on the AF700s or the BTS. Deeluxe/Raichles don't work with my foot shape, and I've never had to personally use a BTS because the UPZ come with something similar already (though with admittedly less travel). I have installed BTS into my daughters hardboots (she's 10) with yellow springs and they softened the boot (in the toe to heel direction) substantially. She needed this so she could shift her weight forward and back on the board.

All of this being said I still use different boots for a hard carving day, than I use on AM. I pull the UPZ RTRs with black tongues and a thermoliner (stiffish?) out when I'm going to hit the groom because I want the support to drive energy into the board. I use the UPZ ATBs with black tongues and a thermoliner (really soft) when I'm going AM riding on the Donek. I tried the UPZ ATBs on my schtubby one day but was rather underwhelmed with the performance because I found the boot was so soft I couldn't transfer enough weight forward to get the nose to engage quickly.

I use different elastomers under my TD3s SI's (I have two sets) depending on what I'm doing. Hard carving I'm using a blue, AM I'm using yellow. I have a red set but haven't tried them yet (they may make it onto my Prior this year). I intitially stated with yellow elastomers and was pretty much blown away by the cushiness of the ride, compared to a direct mount binding, then after awhile I tried the blues. I got a bit of vibration back, but the board responded so much faster and it was so much fun to carve. So I relegated the yellows for AM use, where I want to be able to absorb chop, and left my blues on my carving decks, where I want faster response, but don't need the absorption quite as much.

BTW its taken me awhile to get to the point where I've got all of these set-ups. (and I still want to try a well set-up plate board someday). I'd suggest you focus on one setting up one board at a time, either look into carving, or look into AM. Aim for something that will perform optimally the way you want it, then start looking at what you need in another deck.

Cheers,

Dave.