Kneel Posted January 20, 2020 Report Share Posted January 20, 2020 They may want to change this to 2 seasons. Jason replaced these in '18... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chouinard Posted January 25, 2020 Report Share Posted January 25, 2020 (edited) Edited January 27, 2020 by Chouinard Changed photo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 25, 2020 Report Share Posted January 25, 2020 Looks like the Gecko plate is intact. Do you know the story? A crash? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chouinard Posted January 27, 2020 Report Share Posted January 27, 2020 On 1/25/2020 at 6:12 PM, bigwavedave said: Do you know the story? See revised photo above Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slabber Posted March 25, 2023 Report Share Posted March 25, 2023 I recently acquired some Gecko's that came mounted on a Coiler Special Edition. I've not had a lot of ride time on them yet but thought I would add my .02. First time out, I had them mounted with TD3s (non-SW) with the BP cants (3° and 3°) on my older Prior WCR 175cm. I don't have much ride time on that board itself either as the SCR is on the large side for the local ski hill and the traffic normally present. Anyhow, I was pleased with the ride but only had a couple runs before last chair. I since sprained my ankle going over the bars while rushing to last chair at Brighton in UT 3 weeks ago. I tried to ride 2 weeks ago and it was still weak/painful on my Contra with regular TD3s. Fast forward to today, our local hill may not be open much longer and I wanted to get back out with my daughter. Mounted the geckos on my Prior WCRM with TD3 sidewinders (yellow bumpers) for the day. Putting the foot in at the chair and leaning made me think I hadn't tightened everything down enough as something seemed loose. Upon closer inspection, seems just the yellow SW bumpers were allowing that much flex. I never noticed that before. Only change to setup on this board was the addition of the geckos under the SWs. Board normally had the SWs albeit with normal TD3 cants. (3° and 6°). I found the setup to be a little disconcerting to start. Too much flex. Board wouldn't respond to smaller inputs due to the flex in the system. I got used to it though in a couple runs and just started to exaggerate my inputs a bit to compensate. The board flex also seemed affected - not as poppy/responsive, likely due to the change in the flex of the midsection of the board. But easy enough to get accustomed to. I decided to switch to the Contra for a comparison. I immediately appreciated the quicker, more precise response. I also recognized how much the gecko/sw setup was absorbing and saving my ankle after a couple of firm feedback carves and immediately switched back to the Prior with the softer setup. I am still babying the ankle. Once my ankle is healed, I expect I will likely put standard TD3s on my Geckos and use the SWs on my other boards. Per another thread, the Contra flex pattern is likely not suited to having the mid-board flex messed with. Also, I had my plates setup asymmetrical. I think this only makes sense. Center the plate under the toe and heel respectively to distribute the weight accordingly. I'm not sure on the validity of the twisting comments if you're already on that single edge? Maybe during transition, but once the edge is loaded, does the opposite edge have much/any effect? (I'd actually love to pick up another asym - there was a Burton M6 for sale near Montreal recently but I simply didn't have the time to go get it... ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted March 25, 2023 Report Share Posted March 25, 2023 My experience with Geckos and Gecko style plates. FWIW Asym doesn't make sense to me, especially with a circular BP base. It might make sense if you're using F2's that have a large asymmetrical footprint. I've tried Geckos asym and symmetrical, with F2's and td3sw, with reg (1cm) elastomers and with BP bases. Regular td3sw's with the thick yellow elastomer felt wobbly. Maybe a hard elastomer would be better, but the stack height was unwieldy anyway. td3sw with BP base plates had the least effect on changing how the board rode and still provided the vibration & bump dampening I sought. Increasing edge pressure was not my goal. I've had on & off meniscus issues that are sensitive to rough conditions. For me, both Asym or symmetrical setup with F2's changed the ride more in comparison to td3sw's with BP base, making the board ride longer and feel a little less responsive. BTW Geckos work great on my 2 yr old (3rd gen?) Contra 166 . They stay there. It's my ice board. I use hard bumpers under just the middle fingers, the rest get the soft bumpers to keep the flex and dampening softer. With soft bumpers all around, the ride felt too squishy & wobbly for me. Red bumpers under just the middle fingers fixed that. Red (hard) bumpers all around didn't filter bumps and vibration as much, but it might be the way to go if your goal is to modify flex and increase edge pressure, or if you're @lonbordin Geckos on a Thirst I rode the Geckos with the end bumpers removed on a Thirst XC and it worked great. Dampened bumps & vibrations without changing the responsiveness of the board. So, I made a smaller footprint (6 bumper/3 to a side) version using 5mm G10 plate. Kind of a cross between Gecko carve and the Stealth. I've had a few days on them and I'm very happy. Very responsive, dampens bumps/vibration similar to the full size, yet does not noticeably modify flex or change how the Thirst XC rides. I've been talking to Mark at Thirst about making a metal XC with a slightly tighter scr, say 10.5m to go with these plates for the ultimate ice board. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slabber Posted March 25, 2023 Report Share Posted March 25, 2023 Thanks for that @bigwavedave. The comment regarding surface area of the BP mounting makes a lot of sense. I'll likely go back to a symmetrical layout as a result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kneel Posted March 26, 2023 Report Share Posted March 26, 2023 @bigwavedave I was skeptical on the 6-toe, but not any more. Those came out great. I bet you could reduce the stack height of the bumpers to 5mm and still get the same dampening with a slightly softer bumper. There are 10mm M6 standoffs in 18-8 stainless and aluminum which may do the trick, but I'd have to fire up the mini-lathe for the upper 5mm to seat the plate a la gecko style. Which spacer did you end up using, apex or virus? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted March 26, 2023 Report Share Posted March 26, 2023 @Kneel I used an extra set of stand-offs I got from Virus. They are virtually the same as the Geckos―1cm tall standoff with a 4mm high collar. It was actually cheaper than getting similar ones from McMaster-Carr that didn't have a collar. As is, the stack height of my setup is virtually the same as standard td3sw. I also got extra bumpers from Frank. They are a bit harder than the soft/orange (70dur) Gecko bumpers and definitely softer than the hard/red (90dur). My homemade plates might be a bit small for F2 bindings, but they might work mounted asym. I rode the XC and the Contra back to back today with plates as pictured above. It was rough ice and they were equally uncomfortable. Had to pull out the F-plated 175 Rev (EE 164.5/ 11-12scr) to make the ride tolerable. P.S. I still want a tighter sidecut (10.5ish?) Thirst with a longer effective edge comparible to the ee of the K168 and XC 171 (ee ~157). I have come to the realization that a longer EE mutes out vibration & bumps and is an important factor for a smoother ride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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