finally on board

[willy07]

hey all new member here. i have been looking for a carving board for about 3 to 4 years now and i kinda gave up a few weeks ago and ended up buying a RIDES highlife alpine board. then out of the blue two day later i find 2 carving boards out of town so i drove 2hours to check them out. saw them liked them bought them, now i am the proud owner of a prior carving board a 171cm and a F2 speedster 153cm and carbon fibre race bindings by FINS, both are in incredible shape and turns out i bought them from a member of the alberta national alpine team. then 4 days after this HIGH of finally getting a carving board another carving/slalom board came up and i checked it out to and bought that one too and its a airwalk force 57 157cm, brand new or old new stock. it sat in a corner of some store and collected dust. my current board is a lower end burton division 23, i have the old switch bindings and vans boots setup. i was looking at both boards and i can easily swap the boots/bindings over cause the mounting is the same but my buddy says its not a good idea. my question or questions is why? are the carving boards need a racing type hard molded boot/ bindings? i wont be able to afford the hard boots for a while. the racing bindings i bought with the boards are carbon fibre racing bindings by FINS and looking at the setup i am guessing almost like a ski boot setup. i was hoping to swap over my current boots/bindings over and get one or two days in before our season offically ends. i am new to the carving board/world so i am as green as can be. i just wanted to get out and see how big a difference it is going from a regular board to a carving board since there's still a few weeks of snow left. i have been watching the SWOARD videos and how to's and really want to try it out.

[corviuscorvax]

willy,

So I understand you correctly - you want to use "soft" boots on the alpine boards? Sounds like you made a nice find, but to get the full potential out of the alpine boards you will want hardboots. I say "want" rather than "need" because, in my opinion, you can technically do very similar things with hard or soft boots, but hardboots make it much easier.

If your bindings fit on the boards, try it. If it's not too much trouble, could you take a pic of what you're trying to do? The reason we use hardboots is primarily to gain increased control over the board. I would be surprised if you could fit your softboots on the boards without them sticking over the edge, as most alpine boards are pretty narrow. Again, I think I need more info or pics to help you.

How new are you to the sport? Did you check out the equipment setup page on extremecarving.com?

[willy07]

i currently dont have any pics but i will try to explain a bit more in detail. i have the switch step in bindings and boots, they clamp on on the left and right side of the boot. i did see the setup page and this is what i was thinking is if i take the step in bindings and mount them on but have them clocked in the same degree as a hard boot setup so the position of the boot is correct then theoretically i should be able to try them out. this is just a tempurary setup cause in alberta the market for anything carving snowboards and equipment is very very slim to none. finding the parts and stuff is hard enought so i am not expecting to find hard boots anytime soon is why i am thinking about this soft boot setup to see if it would work. i just got back from a ski/snowboard shop and was told with a soft boot set up it is doable and would work but they said with a soft boot setup there would be too much movement and would cause delays in turn/carving and not as responsive as a hard boot.
i hope this is ok but i found some pics on ebay to give you an idea of what i have. these are simular boots and bindings i currently have. they are adjustable so i was thinking of clocking them to the hard boot setup so that the boot doesnt hang over the board and almost inline with the board.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Switch-Step-In- ... t_22wt_917

as for how new i am ... i have been snowboarding for a few years but self taught and by some help from friends. finally got the hang of it where i can actually go and enjoy a full day and not spend it falling and crashing. i can enjoy my regular snowboard but brand spanking new when it comes to carving. being that the snowboard carving community is so incredibly small in my area of town its hard to get help. lol. so right now youtube is my friend and this website. i hope this paints a somewhat clearer idea of what i am thinking about trying.

[Aracan]

Hm. Take the following with a grain of salt, as I have no experience with soft setups. The problem you might encounter is:

When you set up your bindings at high angles ("almost in line with the board", as you say), your boots need to transmit force laterally, because that is where the edges are relative to the boots.
Lateral transmission is often weak in softboots, as soft setups rely on the buckles and highback for transmission of impulses. This works alright as long as the transmission happens in a fore/aft directions - with low angles, lateral transmission is a moot point. The steeper the angles, the more important lateral transmission becomes. Which is why we use hardboots.

[willy07]

ah thanks for the explanation, it much more clearer to me now. i was just told dont do it but was not told why and such so i figure i was going to figure it out. i guess i will wait for the proper setup and the whole spring summer and fall to find and gather the remaining items. i was also told of one of the ski resorts in my province carries a limited selection of the racing/carving stuff so i may head out this weekend to check them out even though i am expecting higher prices.

[joemzl]

Yes, no hardboots on your eBay,
but did you check the classified section at Bomber Online?

That didn´t help? German eBay is full of hardboots (ok, not yet )
Shipping is 36 Euro to the US (and Canada).
If you need translation, ask me for help.

[corviuscorvax]

I agree with all the advice given. I'm thinking at this point, you should just work on carving with your softies. I was sort of in a similar situation to you when I started: limited market, noone in my area really used hardboots, not sure where to start. If you can link C carves (and I mean fully on edge, no sliding what-so-ever) down a steep blue, you are ready for hardboots. Not to say you can't start snowboarding in hardboots, or that it's harder, it's just different; and getting your softboot carving down will help with the transition. I assumed you knew about bomber online, maybe you did not: bomberonline.com

So many resources there, and you may be able to find some canadian folks near you!

[willy07]

bomberonline very cool thanks guys thats an awsome site. i did have a link for the snowboards section but didnt know they had a classified section. well looks like my late season carving is to an end, accident at work today arm and hand is in a sling. lol. my luck go figure.but in the mean while i will try to setup what i have and try it out next season and keep on huntin during the summer for them hardboots.

[willy07]

good news i just got back from picking up a pair of deluxe hard boots and now my outfit is complete. now just gotta learn the various settings on the boots and get everything set up properly and go testing. so happy it almost gave me a chubby.