First rides of the season!

[roger]

Hi guys and gals(?),

Finally the season has started. Last weekend I purchased the season card and made the first carving run down stugbacken in Dundret.

Even tough the slope was crowded and only for beginners I was having an enjoyable time trying out all the new equipment bought during off season.

After realizing the SWOARD was more or less like a superbike in a crowded go-cart track, I pulled out the the F2 eliminator ltd from the trunk. Even tough I expected the F2 to behave like a stiff freeride board, I was surprised with its excellent carving charachteristics. The snow was fairly firm and made sharp knee and butt scratching turns possible. F2 has certanly done a good job with the eliminator ltd making deep laydowns possible even with a soft setup. I would recommend this board for anyone looking for a freeride board that can deliver the freedom of a soft setup, while giving EC-rocketeers an good time for those days when the SWOARD's and Speedster's are inappropriate.

Over and out.

[István]

Hmm, sounds interesting..... 2 weeks ago in Sölden I was teaching a friend of mine who had an Eliminator with soft boots, the guy was really a rookie (appr 10 days on board before) but he started to imitate what I was doing on my Virus and surprisingly he could do nice turns on the Eliminator.

I was both surprised by the board and the rider but maybe it really is a great board.


Kindest,

István

[roger]

István, thanks for the reply.

I was both surprised by the board and the rider but maybe it really is a great board.

If you have the opportunity, you should give the eliminator a try. I was expecting the eliminator to be a slightly siffer freeride board, but after I set up the bindings correctly I noticed that this was a carving machine under disguise. This, of course, as long as the speed is kept moderate as the small sidecut and the soft boot flexibility won't lead to a stability/chatter issue. I'd recommend this board for anyone considering going for a EC/carving setup but that hesitates because of cost/current trend/skill/social acceptance/etc..

[Silber]

I made it to the slopes as well, and finally tried my new SWOARD.... Great Carving! Definitely up to the expectations.... but the suprise was using it to surf on the side of the only track open in Zermatt... despite the 175 cm it still allowed quite narrow turns on the powder accumultated on the side. Something I would like to point out instead is about the TD2s...
Closing the back binding was quite a pain in the ass. The spring that should keep the binding up and facilitate the insertion of the boot is not strong enough.. what a shame in such great bindings.... does anybody know if there is a way to somehow fix it?

[István]

Same experience if it is cold and the bail is a bit snowy. I've also seen Frank from Virus having a problem with it (with my gear).

I do not know if there are stronger springs to replace the originals. Anyway, at least it has some springs - not all bindings have that.


Cheers,

István

[Silber]

Istvàn,

I was almost thinking to use one of my santa cruz step in binding as the back binding... I would be curious to see if having different bindings on the board would considerably impact the performance...

What do you think?

[István]

Don't know, never did such modifications on my gear. There are some other guys on the Forum (J & P for example) who did many many experiments with different gears (as I've read it here) so they might have some experience with it.

Cheers,

István

[Hans]

I made it to the slopes as well, and finally tried my new SWOARD.... Great Carving! Definitely up to the expectations.... but the suprise was using it to surf on the side of the only track open in Zermatt... despite the 175 cm it still allowed quite narrow turns on the powder accumultated on the side. Something I would like to point out instead is about the TD2s...
Closing the back binding was quite a pain in the ass. The spring that should keep the binding up and facilitate the insertion of the boot is not strong enough.. what a shame in such great bindings.... does anybody know if there is a way to somehow fix it?

May be you can email Fin or Michelle, they will always be ready to help you out. I noticed this problem also, I fixed it to put some lubricant on it (artificial oil) which they use for cars at low and very high temp. I have no problem since. Hope this helps.

Greets, Hans.

[Silber]

Hans,

thanks, I will try it. I will also write Michelle. And then Fin will be in Zinal in January....

[Hans]

Hi, Silber

It just worked for me, hope it helps you too. You just have to find the right lubricant to use. So, look for lubricant which can stand up very low temps and still stays working, this is very important.

I also put a spring in the lugs of my front bindings (changed the lugs of it).
May be this isn't a good modification according to bomber but it helps me anyhow. My frontbails stand up too now.

Greets, Hans.

[István]

Hi Hans,

Why do you need the front bails to stand up? Just wonder...


Cheers,

István

[Hans]

Hi Hans,

Why do you need the front bails to stand up? Just wonder...

Otherwise they bang/lay at my nice SWOARD and it is also easier to take them up because they hang in the air now.

Greets, Hans.

[István]

That's a valid point... My case is similar.... But they keep banging my beautiful Virus

Cheers,

István

[Hans]

That's a valid point... My case is similar.... But they keep banging my beautiful Virus

Used the lugs and spring of my TD2 SIset

[Silber]

Pretty cool...

How much did u pay to replace the part?
And by the way, what angles and stance are u riding? (I am still trying to set my 175 the right way (55°/50 and 51 cm- but might increase it to 53 to follow the "new" height/3.5 rule)