deeluxe suzuka, af 600

[Felix]

Hello to everyone.

As I am a quite happy owner of AF 600's (the last version from raichle. the newer ones just got better buckles) I just wanted to write how I feel about them and ask some questions.

Contras:
There is one very bad thing about the 600's (the suzuka doesnt have the prob any more). The buckles open themselfes on their own!!!! They onley stay closed when you close them as hard as possible. So after 3 hours of riding there isnt much blood left in me feet.
Even opening them on the gondola or chairlift doesnt improve to much.

As the second buckle from the bottom is to long to close with great pressure it opens itself up very often. I got new ones Size S and hope they will work. I can instantly notice a instability it the springs open.
Very hard to get in if cold.
Pros:
Otherwise they seem quite perfect to me. For my weight 68 Kg they are hard enough. No probs at all. I love the freeride setting if the snow is slushy or powder. As for the moment I haven't got an ACL in my left knee I use them on my freeride and on my freestyle board too.

Superb for jumping, I love jumping and boardercrossing on my Raceboard. The boots just make the landing effortless. (That was the reason why I ripped my Cruciate Ligament, after two weeks riding hard only and then shortly taking out me freestyle board and going above a big jump landing in the flat, as I had done on the race board often before my knee just crashed through )

Question: Which forward lean angle setting 1 to 5 do you choose. I am at the moment at 4. But don't know why or what for. Cant notice too much of a difference.

What is the spring on the Indy /700 really for. What does it enchance? I asked at a Intersport Eybl, big chain in Austria and they told me they could order a spring upgrade for 40 Euros. Is it worth it?

[audacium]

Well, I have got the same problem with the sometime opening of the buckles, but to be honest it is not very annoying. I do not close my boots very firmly (no need as they fit my feet quite perfectly), so often I do not notice instantly when a buckle opens, only when I look onto the boots. But when the boots do not fit very well and one needs to close the buckles more this might be very well annoying..
Otherwise I like them really well and cannot think of any fault.

I had my opening machanism changed to the spring of the AF700 before using them the first time so I cannot say how they ride without
But I think the damping of the boots is simply much more controlled, steady and progressive than if it is solely done by the shell, if there is no spring.
Because without spring one can only change the forward leaning, but with the spring one can change forward lean as well as the strength of the spring, i.e., how much force is needed to do forward leaning. Very nice if one (like me) wants different strengths for the forward lean of the left and right foot.
Only disadvantage: there is no "walking" mechanism which one does not need anyway as we want to ride and not walk

Eduard.

[raphael]

i always surf in walk position with randonnee boots. It makes me rely on style instead of legs & feet strengh. I don't feel it's limiting me in my progresses (but i must admit i'm not a very good carver yet)
and it's very confortable

[tigger]

i have the same problems with the opening buckles sometimes on my raichles, but if this happens its always because the preassure isn t applyed equally on all buckles, because they are too weak, or the others too tight. so it helps me to find the right position,
and you caN change the lenght of the buckle BY Opening the srew where its fixed to the boot, with the little keychainscrewdriver you got with the boots. there are at least two positions to adjust the lenght, perhaps this helps,
about my forward leaning: usually i m in position 3 back and 4 front, but in powder and moguls open,
i ve got a pair of extra stiff racing tongues and want to test them in combination with the freeride mode, perhaps this helps to get a bit of this spring mechanism feeling?
ride hard