Boot Cant for 12 year old racer? What direction, how much? Help!!!

[jhcolman]

Hi All

Any suggestions as to the appropriate boot cant for a 12 year old boy weighing 100 lbs, 5 feet tall. He races a custom Donek 155 and wears Reichle 225's. It has Burton Race Plates, with the rear binding cant.

I had never checked the cant on his boots before, but noticed today that they appear to lean out from each other when they are mounted on the board (ie not on his feet). The left boot leans left and the right boot leans right. Kind of a bowl legged look. Yet my son does not appear to be bowl legged when he wears them or rides. But it does not seem right.

Now one of the coaches on his team said they they should be canted in (ie left boot canted right and right boot canted left).

So ... how do I determine in what direction and how much to cant the boot?

And how does this relate to / tie into the angle and cant of the bindings?

I know that even small changes in his binding placement and angles have made major differences for him, so I suspect that boot cant must also be important.

I could use some solidly experienced advise on this.

Thanks for your help.

Regards

Julian

[jhcolman]

Hi Kent

Good to hear from you. And thanks for the advise.

Alex has been riding with the Burton Race Plate cant ever since he started on a carver. It hasn't seemed to cause him problems that I know of, but then I'm not an expert in that area. He's never rode without it.

I suppose we could remove it and see what effect that has.

Just curious: What kind of difficulties can can the Burton cant plate cause? We'll watch for it.

Thanks Kent.

Best Regards

Julian

[jhcolman]

Thanks for the help, and the invite. Most appreciated. However, both my kids have races this weekend, up here in Ontario. It's the usual, my wife and I will be driving in seperate directions for our kids races and training.

I'll chat with Alex's coach(s) on this. Never even thought about it before. Thanks for the heads up.

FYI, Al is in any event riding really well and loving this year's carver, a Donek 155 that Mat Cloyes had rode when he was my son's age. Steve Cloyes was kind enough to sell it to us. Al had an initial tough time accommodating to it, as it was longer, narrower and stiffer, and had a Catek binding on it. We then switched back to the old Race Plates, which worked like a charm. He now has very good control over the board, especially short radios. Lesson learned: one change at a time.

Anyway, again, thanks for the help. You folks are fantastic.

Best Regards

Julian

[Derf]

Originally posted by Kent

Howdie!

Hard to say....I believe the Burton "can'ts" came in several sizes. (anybody?)

Burton cants came in a couple of flavors:

- 3.5 deg, big for softboot bindings, aligned with center, 3D only

- 3.5 and/or 7 deg (unsure which), small for old plates, aligned with center, 3D only

- 3.5 and 7 deg, oval for recent plates, aligned with center, 3D and 4x4 (different center piece)

- vari-cant, adjustable from 0 to 8 degrees for cant and/or lift, bigger than the old ones, but generally considered unreliable, 3D and 4x4 at the same time

I have two of the 7 deg ovals, I experimented with several combinations, and went back to both bindings flat.

Derf

[jhcolman]

Hi Kent

We tried to adjust the cant, as suggested. However, the bolt on one side of one boot is seized and the square slot on the bolt is starting to strip. We're having trouble maintain purchase with our screw driver (square head) already. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Regards

Julian

[jhcolman]

Hi All

The Carving Community comes through once again. Many thanks. Wish I could offer something back; however, I'm a skier and don't have the carving knowledge and experience as you folks do. Any, thanks once again.

Regards

Julian

[Chris Houghton]

Well, you could try alpine carving, then we could REALLY give you advice and assistance. Labelling yourself as a skiier really limits the amount of fun you could have, and I'm sure your son would think it's cool if you took up alpine too. I have extra boards and bindings, and I am in Toronto if you ever want to try out "falling with style"

[jhcolman]

Hi Chris

My 50 year old memory is momentarily failing me. I think we met. Did you lend us a pair of Raichle's for my son to try on, when he was starting out carving a couple of years ago?

Anyway, I'd love to start alpine snowboarding. However, my 12 year old son initially took up snowboading, racing and then carving, so he would not have to complete with his ski instructor / former racer mom, fairly accomplished skier dad and ski racing sister. We understood and supported him on it. I raise the matter ever now and then (because I'd really love to start carving) and he still wants to be the lone snowboard hardbooter in the family. Frankly, when I take up a hobby / sport, I go after it with a passion and eventually become expert at it. So he's probably abit worried. Perhaps in another year he'll grow past it.

Or perhaps another kid can convince him that its ok for me to ride.

Sigh :(

In any event, thanks for the kind offer. I'll take you up on the tryout if one of the Oshawa "Lowriders" folks (my son's team) can't dig up something for me.

BTW, have you bumped into Paul (Pony) Morrisson or his son Mat lately. Now there's two hot carvers. Mat made the Ontario team this year, along with Jordon Jacket. They train at Mansfield. A fantastic rider by the name of Brandon used to coach our guys, but has moved onto coaching the Ontario team.

Also, we'll be out racing at Cedar Valley on Saturday, Devils Elbow Sunday and then Mount St.Louis Moonstone for finals the following Saturday. The last two are both "development" and "provincial points" races. Might you be there?

One parting thought: the Oshawa Lowriders is always on the lookout for seasoned race coaches. So if you know of anyone, let me know.

Take care

Julian