Apex X Plate Bumper Mounting Location

[ktv]

I just bought an Apex X Plate and looking at it, I thought you would mount the bumpers (the Gecko like bumpers) in the direction of your bindings. So in the photo below, it's mounted for a regular footer on the upper right yellow circle and the lower left red circle.

While riding and talking with @HillB she rides hers mounted at the yellow circles.

What's the pros/cons of each? How do you ride your X Plate?

Also, there's two positions at the yellow circle at the front of the plate. Again, pros/cons of closer to axle vs forward of axle?

Thanks

 

[Jack M]

That's the 4x4 mount version.  Technically it's supposed to have 8 bumpers.  Two in the red holes and two in your choice of the yellow holes.  I'm not sure why they did this as the UPM and Allflex mount versions do not have the yellow holes.  But my memory of the now apparently ungoogleable Apex website clearly showed this.

When I bought my UPM mount X-plate, it arrived without any bumpers.  I asked if it was ok to ride it without them while I wait.  They said no because in use, the plate flexes like a leaf spring, and without bumpers in the red holes it can overflex and bend the hardware.  So if you only have 4 bumpers, I'd say put them in the red holes. 

If you have 8 bumpers I imagine using the more outboard yellow holes might give a little more board feel and a little more stiffness, but that's probably splitting hairs.

[loopback]

15 minutes ago, Jack M said:

But my memory of the now apparently ungoogleable Apex website clearly showed this.

Some of the site is still searchable via wayback machine if it helps anyone

https://web.archive.org/web/20190615075159/http://apexsnowboard.com/x-plate-for-4x4.html

[Jack M]

5 minutes ago, loopback said:

Some of the site is still searchable via wayback machine if it helps anyone

https://web.archive.org/web/20190615075159/http://apexsnowboard.com/x-plate-for-4x4.html

Unfortunately the image there is not of a 4x4 mount plate, as the yellow holes are missing.  I think the broken images showed the 8 bumpers in place.

[ktv]

Thanks for the info Jack!

I guess I'll try to buy some more used bumpers, although hard to come by.

[Calle]

20 hours ago, Jack M said:

That's the 4x4 mount version.  Technically it's supposed to have 8 bumpers.  Two in the red holes and two in your choice of the yellow holes.  I'm not sure why they did this as the UPM and Allflex mount versions do not have the yellow holes.  But my memory of the now apparently ungoogleable Apex website clearly showed this.

When I bought my UPM mount X-plate, it arrived without any bumpers.  I asked if it was ok to ride it without them while I wait.  They said no because in use, the plate flexes like a leaf spring, and without bumpers in the red holes it can overflex and bend the hardware.  So if you only have 4 bumpers, I'd say put them in the red holes. 

If you have 8 bumpers I imagine using the more outboard yellow holes might give a little more board feel and a little more stiffness, but that's probably splitting hairs.

My guess is that it is because of the narrover axle spacing on the 4x4 plate vs UPM.

I had one of the first variations of doneks plate and it was to soft for 4x4 spacing so it bent forward over the front foot.

The Bomber plate was stiffer and moved the axles further apart and worked despite the narrower spacing but with the negatives of a stiff plate.

The first apex UPM which I still ride has a small amount of bending forward which you can feel when riding one footed depending on your foot placements over axles. It also bends in the middle until it cracks. I had to fix mine and installed bumpers under toe and heel like the never Apex plates.

So from that I would say that if your front foot/binding ends up too far forward over the front axle you want bumpers up front.

The 4x4 limitations in axle witdh might make the bumpers under toe and heel less important on the 4x4 vs UPM but might anyways be needed depending on hardware/plate?

[GeoffV]

@ktv I have the bumpers mounted staggered with the direction of the bindings. Have only 4 red bumpers. The yellow circles represent approximate location of the bumpers. I did not change the bumpers going from UPM mount to Allflex. 

 

[rjnakata]

On 1/31/2023 at 6:44 AM, GeoffV said:

@ktv I have the bumpers mounted staggered with the direction of the bindings. Have only 4 red bumpers. The yellow circles represent approximate location of the bumpers. I did not change the bumpers going from UPM mount to Allflex. 

 

According my conversation with Jason Patel of Apex before it folded THIS ^ is the correct way to mount the bumpers with 4x4.  He said heavier riders may want 8 bumpers in a square pattern.