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Softboots: Unicant or Power Plates?


daveo

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The Unicant is widely used here in Japan, but the Bomber Power Plates are liked here on the forum.

Does anyone have experience or thoughts of the pros and cons of each?

Looking to get some toe and heel lift for softboot carving at higher angles. The Unicant has come recommended here from a few for this purpose but just want to see if anyone has any thoughts on either of these. 

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Unicant is a decent way to figure out where you want to be as regards cant/lift, particularly for a lower energy context.

You remarked in another post that you prefer a wet ride, so you might notice (and object to) the slight 'click /clack' between tab 'A' and slot 'B' once under way.

Depending on binding angle, you may also find it a little 'squishy'.

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$55.00 per Unicant.  Wonder how much for shipping to the states? (I wonder if this is how they achieve those crazy stance widths! I gotta take another look at those videos.)

These Unicants look a lot like the originals so they would be much lower that the BPPs.

Those Unicants go to 8 degrees of pure lift or pure cant while the BPPs only go to 6 degrees.

Both give up lift for cant or vice versa. 

The BPPs are undoubtably heavier and stiffer. BPPs also have the choice of e-pad to absorb vibrations.  The BPP plates support the whole binding.  Most bindings will stick off the Unicants a bit in some direction can be an issue with some larger modern bindings.

The only other options I'm aware of is DIY shim style plates (an example https://www.flickr.com/photos/norskor/sets/72157609035985921/) or finding a pair of Catek Free rides (https://www.catek.com/FR2-soft-binding.htm).  The Catek's are the only softboot system I know of that lift and  cants are independant.

 

Edited by lonbordin
i ciant spel sew gud.
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@Beckmann AG sorry, what does wet ride mean?

They're actually for my partner, I haven't played with them in person so not really familiar with them, but I'll keep that in mind. I'll be interpreting her feelings and trying to get them dialed in so this is useful info I'll take forward, thanks.

The unicants are a whole lot cheaper than the power plates, so that's a plus. Also, they can be had at a reasonable discount at a couple of shops here, which is good. 

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@lonbordin always wish I'd bought a set of FR2s. Would be nice just to have them honestly.

Most of the guys running those crazy high angles are using a cant of some sort. A high percentage are using the Burton uni or whatever company owns it now. Carve Company.

The bindings being used are Flow NX2 Medium, they might even just fit on the Unicant. Or maybe hang a little? They're kind of small for a binding I guess. 

Thanks for the info, BTW.

Hmm not sure they even ship to USA. I can find a price once I'm in Tokyo in a couple of days.

 

Edited by daveo
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If you have access to a 3D printer that does ABS...

 

I've had good results with this but ultimately decided that I like a flat stance better.

Still, this is cheaper and lighter than the above solutions. (Though the BPP are bomb proof and have built in dampening)

 

 

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Yup.  Clickety-clack goes my Ultra Prime as I've used them front and rear.  They're great at dialing in lift and cant, but they dampen the ride in a really NOT good way.  Perhaps better materials like delrin and a way to lock the two disks together could fix that.  Of and that insert is great for going from 3-hole to 4-hole, but who really cares aside from old guys who like to throw on 20yo boards every now and then... 😐

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Well that certainly would be an improvement on materials from the original.  $700 US starting price.  $900 for the "pro" variant. And it's a viable platform for O-Drives which are the only softboot binding I could tolerate. But the overhang of the carbon top plate flexing even minimally would pretty much defeat the purpose of having O-Drives. That's an expensive experiment. Thankfully I'm not fluent in Korean.  Don't show that to my kids. Thanks. 👍

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