General Tsao Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 Apologies in advance for my long post....and I know this subject has been covered but I am officially at a loss and need guidance. Got back into by carving board last year after a 10 year hiatus. Having ridden a Volkl GS 183 that was great....but stiff and demanding....I decided to call Bruce and have a custom Coiler Nirvana Balance made to my specs. The board looks amazing....but I cannot get my bindings (angles/cants/etc) in a comfortable/safe position. I have unsuccessfully tried to adjust them several times with little luck. Through most of the adjustments one thing has remained constant. My front leg seems to be holding too much of my weight or pressure, the board is turning dangerously tight on my heelside turns (and hard to come out of my heel side as well). It is also tough to ride in a straight line...the board feels as if it wants to do a heel side slide. The board specs are as follows: Nirvana Balance 178 21" Width 10.5/12.7/12 SCR Ptex Topsheet Feel like I need to go back to square one and re-do everything. Any insight you can provide is a huge help. (I was feeling pretty down and went back to my Volkl just to make sure I hadn't forgotten how to ride...It was a great morning but I need to figure out the new coiler.) Thanks again. RC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dredman Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 Move your each binding forward on the inserts .5-1 inch. Might give you a more centered feel. Worked for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 Sorry your ride wasn't as great as your expectations. You have to realize you are going from a stiff plank to to a more delicate ride. You shouldn't expect the same as previously. Back to basics with your setup centre mounted side to side as well as front to back. Toe and heel lift. Relax a little more than you are used to keep a lowered stance generate a bit of speed but don't drive the board into your turns.Tilt and ride. That board should track very well in a straight line on the flat provided you are centred over the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 First check that boot centering on the bindings is not biased towards heel edge. Other thing you can try is to add some toe lift in front or straighten the boot cuff more upright. Also, maybe move the bindings a bit back... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
workshop7 Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 What bindings do you have and how do you have them setup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ursle Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 If you have to much rear edge, your front boot is flexed forward to much, either more toe lift, or if there is none, (flat) add some, if you have to much toe edge and not enough heel Edge, your front foot is to upright and needs to have less front of binding lift, get my drift? You can fine tune front and rear edges with boot lift adjustments, catecks are great for getting dialed in, unlimited cant and lift adjustments. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neanderthal Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 I was typing a response but deleted it when Ursle's poped up What Ursle said after that is settled then think about Gilmour or reverse Gilmour bias. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queequeg Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 (edited) 6 hours ago, General Tsao said: It is also tough to ride in a straight line...the board feels as if it wants to do a heel side slide. Tough to diagnose without actuallly seeing what is going on, but I agree with what others have said here, in particular adding a bit of toe lift. Depending upon what angles you are riding: a bit of outward canting on the front foot might help a bit (if you have UPZs you can do this by adjusting the boot cuff angle somewhat laterally), not sure if you can do this with Deeluxe boots but probably. Lateral/outward canting won't help much if your front foot angle is low, but it might help a bit if it is over 55 degrees. It's hard to tell from your post but it also sounds like your heelside edge might be a bit grabby while tracking straight and trying to slide around? You may need to detune the nose a bit? Edited January 15, 2017 by queequeg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Tsao Posted January 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 Thank you all for your helpful Posts. I appreciate it...and realize my post probably doesn't provide enough detail. I am going to take everything down...and start over. But, to answer a few questions: My old Volkl GS has Catek bindings...which I have always loved. Bomb proof and easy to adjust. They seem to be perfectly situated on that board. My new board has TD3 step ins. I think they are 6 degree cants on front and back but need to check again. I am not fearing that I might not have the set up properly... Queequeg, my angles are 60 on the rear and 65 on the front. When you say "outward" cant, does that mean it should be tilted toward the outside of my foot? Lowrider, I think you are on to something too. I think once i get this board set up properly, I may need to adjust my riding style a bit. Thank you again for all your helpful input. I appreciate it and will keep everyone in the loop on progress. RC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teach Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 (edited) I have almost the same board. Don't detune anything until everything else has been ruled out. Suggestion: mark the Cateks with your angles and stance, and put them on the Coiler exactly as you had them on the Volkl, centered on the inserts, same width. If that works, then mess with the TD3s to copy the setup (toe-heel bias, lift, cant) as closely as possible. I'm assuming you're using the same boots... Those angles seem a little high for a 21 cm waist... what boot size? What boots? The most common cause of what you're describing seems to be boots shifted rearward too much. This is especially easy to do with UPZ. But there are lots of other possibilities. A weird cant setup can cause you to twist the board unintentionally. Putting the right liner in the left boot and left liner in right boot can cause all kinds of weirdness. Don't even ask how I know. Edited January 15, 2017 by teach 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allee Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 ^^^ Agreeing with this. Go with the bindings you know work, and then when you've gotten everything sorted out, try the TD's again. Changing one variable at a time will make it much easier to figure out what works and what doesn't. Without knowing what boots you have, or what size feet, those angles do look high. I've ridden my 21 waist boards at those angles, but 55 on the front/45 on the rear (I know, I'm weird running a 10 deg diff) works much better for me getting pressure on to the edges. Re the dangerously tight heelsides - welcome to the world of VSR boards. I only have dual SCR's on mine, and even then I sometimes find myself on the wrong sidecut if I huck into a turn. It's likely that you're standing hard on the nose, because that's how you learned to ride that stiff plank of a Volkl (and it's certainly how I learned to ride my equally plank-like Hot Blast). Your Nirvana is much more ladylike than that, and I suspect much less receptive to being manhandled. But learning to ride it will come, once you figure the bindings out. The other thing I'd do, just to check ... take a ruler and make sure the board's flat. I know it's new, and it should be, but stranger things have happened than a board having the core twist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Tsao Posted January 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 (edited) Boots are 30 Mondo Deeluxe. Maybe I"ll try to get the Catek's mounted on the new deck and give that a shot.... Allee and Teach, thanks for the help. RC Edited January 15, 2017 by General Tsao Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ursle Posted January 15, 2017 Report Share Posted January 15, 2017 Responding to the fact that the board always feels like it wants to carve heelside.. I have had that happen with thin boards, what I find helps is outward cant on the front foot, it makes me lean out more to engage the edge, err, get my hips off the board a bit before the edge grabs 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpinegirl Posted January 16, 2017 Report Share Posted January 16, 2017 Additionally, too much toe lift on the front binding can twist your hips towards the nose, thus creating unwanted pressure on the heel edge. As much as I'd love toe lift to readily create greater toeside turn initiation responsiveness, it can also leave your body out of position to move the center of mass across the board. I personally do use a bit of toe lift with a smidgen of outward canting on my front foot (catek binding dork, though when they die I will invest in bombers). A great deal of trial and error brought me to this. Tweak away! Do try the cateks such that the only change in your set up is the deck. So many Allen heads.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queequeg Posted January 16, 2017 Report Share Posted January 16, 2017 (edited) I agree with what teach said: transfer your old binding setup to the new board and see how that works first. Insofar as canting goes: yes laterally—such that your front knee moves toward the heel edge. Same thing Ursle is describing I believe. this kind of adjustment should be easy with the cateks Edited January 16, 2017 by queequeg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonbordin Posted January 16, 2017 Report Share Posted January 16, 2017 Great input in this thread. I'm interested in three things when I setup my bindings. 1) Overhang 2) Where my knee is in relation to the board. I learned of this from BeckmannAG. He has a very detailed setup page ('m going to link to the knee position part here: http://beckmannag.com/hardboot-snowboarding/hardboot-binding-configuration/6toe-lift 3) Comfort (If you nail everything but cannot maintain the stance due to comfort issues this is where I start to tweak. My gut says your knee isn't where it needs to be.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
najserrot Posted January 18, 2017 Report Share Posted January 18, 2017 Got to ride a nirvana balance with your spect the other day. I have never ever rode an easier board to cave with. Carves really well at slow to moderate speed. I only have raceboards and they needed to be ridden aggressively. But this one was a really laidback ride.Like the others i think its down to the binding setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Tsao Posted January 18, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2017 Najserrot, thanks for sharing. Very encouraging to hear. Taking a weekend off but back at it next weekend. Will report back on progress. Thanks again. Out of curiosity, where did you mount your bindings on the inserts? RC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjnakata Posted January 19, 2017 Report Share Posted January 19, 2017 This may be what you were thinking regarding Cateks on the Nirvana: Bruce said to use Catek's polycarb spacers when using OS2's on a metal board...check with Bruce on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Tsao Posted January 19, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2017 The Cateks I will be using will be old World Cups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjnakata Posted January 19, 2017 Report Share Posted January 19, 2017 10 minutes ago, General Tsao said: The Cateks I will be using will be old World Cups. I believe those pose even more risk for a metal board. Careful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Tsao Posted January 19, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2017 Roger that. I'll check with Bruce before I do anything. Thanks for the heads up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 19, 2017 Report Share Posted January 19, 2017 49 minutes ago, rjnakata said: I believe those pose even more risk for a metal board. Careful! I think the OS2 are the worst by far, in despite the elastomers. They have the smallest footprint and those damn wings. Prior calls them "board brakers" and was using them to test durability when he developed the 2nd gen metals. The OS1 might be the gentlest to the board, of Catek products. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted January 19, 2017 Report Share Posted January 19, 2017 I'm wondering if perhaps you set up the Bombers with heel lift on both feet by accident? Generally toe lift on the front foot and heel lift on the back foot is a good place to start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Tsao Posted January 20, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2017 Jack, I double checked that too. I definitely have it lifted in the toe on the front. That said, I originally had the lift in both the front foot and rear in parallel with the board. In other words, the max lift for both was directly in the center. I am beginning to think that layout is what is throwing me off...? This is my first time setting these bomber bindings up so any advice is appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.