Switch step-ins and hard boots

[Baka Dasai]

I can't recall whether I heard this from somebody else or whether I dreamt up the idea all on my lonesome, but I'd love to see hard boots mated with Switch step-ins.

The Switch step-ins have always seemed like a great design to me - robust, clog-free and easy to use. The side-attachment (rather than heel-toe) seems to make them even more suitable for hardboots, where the main forces are side-to-side rather than heel-to-toe.

The boots could have an installable section of the sole, complete with the Switch bails, just like current boots have installable Intec heels.

The Switch bindings might even be able to provide a stiffer, more direct connection with the board than current bindings. Even stiff bindings like Bombers and Cateks have a fair amount of slop in them. Even if a bit of slop is desirable it seems to make sense to eliminate it in the actual connection, and then put it back in via a more controllable method such as the TD2 elastomer rings.

Thoughts?

[gkanai]

The side-attachment (rather than heel-toe) seems to make them even more suitable for hardboots, where the main forces are side-to-side rather than heel-to-toe.

Hmm... I'm not sure I agree with you here. If edge to edge quickness is paramount in racing, then wouldn't you want the lever point to be as close to the edge as possible?

I think for freeriding, where slop is almost a good thing, the Switch design is fine. I think it would be tough to create a really stiff plate binding if the lever points were near the center of the binding, rather than at the edges.

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Unrelated to this, I took your advice and prowled the myriad of snowboard shops near Jimbocho and Shin-Ochanomizu. My god that is a lot of stores! It was like some kind of snowboard retailing nirvana (aside from the high prices.)

I found a helmet in XXL (after a LOT of searching) and only one decent race board shop- selling mostly F2s and Raichle/Deeluxe. No Cateks or Bombers yet.

[Gecko]

Originally posted by gkanai

Unrelated to this, I took your advice and prowled the myriad of snowboard shops near Jimbocho and Shin-Ochanomizu. My god that is a lot of stores! It was like some kind of snowboard retailing nirvana (aside from the high prices.)

I found a helmet in XXL (after a LOT of searching) and only one decent race board shop- selling mostly F2s and Raichle/Deeluxe. No Cateks or Bombers yet.

Yeah I cruised the Snowboard Sales Mecca of Japan on Xmas day I found a very nice pair of Mistral pants for the enormous price of 4300yen for that price I had to buy wax and a few other goodies just to make the creditcard purchase worthwhile...what I really want to do is head up there at the end of the season but alas I'll be at sea...hopefully my wife will go for a set of ski boot's for herself.

[Gecko]

Originally posted by gkanai

Unrelated to this, I took your advice and prowled the myriad of snowboard shops near Jimbocho and Shin-Ochanomizu. My god that is a lot of stores! It was like some kind of snowboard retailing nirvana (aside from the high prices.)

I found a helmet in XXL (after a LOT of searching) and only one decent race board shop- selling mostly F2s and Raichle/Deeluxe. No Cateks or Bombers yet.

Yeah I cruised the Snowboard Sales Mecca of Japan on Xmas day I found a very nice pair of Mistral pants for the enormous price of 4300yen for that price I had to buy wax and a few other goodies just to make the creditcard purchase worthwhile...what I really want to do is head up there at the end of the season but alas I'll be at sea...hopeflly my wife will go for a set of ski boot's for herself.

[philfell]

A few years back Kildy made his own binding that mounted to the midsole of a Technica. He had to totally modify the sole of the boot (he ground off the toe and heel parts, among other things). I used this set-up for a while then abandoned it, I'm not really sure why, maybe someone out in the Waterville area knows why.