(Joe) wrote in message . com...
(Arvin Chang) wrote in message . com...
compared to my Burtons which I had to "scratch/cut" in new angle
markers at the 90 degree locations. Are the SPX5 disc unable to be
rotated 90 degrees?

Arvin,
The binding disks have 2 (side to side) x 3 (frnt to rear) evenly
spaced rows. They will adjust toe/heel with a 4 hole pattern and the
middle row allows you to rotate 90 degree as you said and use the
burton pattern but as you know the way they are slotted, when you do
this the toe/heel adjustment becomes an frnt/rear adjustment.

Mmm... I'm having a bit of trouble visualing the problem there are
like this

xxxxx xx0xx

xx0xx xxxxx

xxxxx xx0xx

I see, rotating 90 degrees doesn't quite work. Hmm... maybe get
generic discs...

Arvin,
Are you sayin that heelside turns are initiated by the front foot and
toeside by the rear foot??? If this is the case I may be doing
something wrong. I can get good response on my heelside they way i'm
doing it now it just feels too awkward... too much work compared to
the other way.

No... I'm saying all turns are initiated by the front foot (well more
so than the rear foot). When you start a carve the majority of the
weight is focused towards the leading edge of the board, as the carve
progresses you should feel the main "contact" point roll down the
length of the edge towards the tail of the board, right?

While I believe myself to be quite good at carving... I'm not an
expert instructor so I'm not the authority on the subject. However, I
see the response difference is based on how power is applied in the
two directions.

One toeside, you small shin movement push the upper strap binding and
also flexes your boot uppers which transfers through the base of the
boots (assuming you have a stiff boots ankle section), right? Both
your upper strap and your boots are extremely snug against your
leg/shin so slight pressure is immediately transferred to the board.

On heelside, you shin movement pulls up on the lower strap and pushes
back on the highback. Now since the highback is not likely to be
immediately pressed into your calf... there is a slight delay as you
unflex your legs from:

* // *||
this * // to this * ||
* ==== * ====

With the *'s being your highback. As you can see, during that time,
you aren't getting full leverage for your heelside turn, hence the
slightly slower response on initiating the edge. I couldn't find an
easy solution to this on soft boots, I was told hard boots was the way
to go and hence why I'm trying them out this year. However, try
increasing forward lean on your front binding highback first.

I think this is an important point many people miss about turning...
the first is that you aren't explicitly pushing the back of the board
side to side (into a slide). The second is that you aren't really
directing your weight onto the toe or heelside to start the carve...
you are tilting the board on it's side and thereby forcing all your
weight on to the edge. To see how this works... get a empty cd case...
and put your hands across it like the feet of your snowboard (you
don't have to angle them). First try pressing on the fingertip edge as
hard as a possible (don't need to go overboard). Now try the same
thing, but this time lift the palm end with your thumbs. Notice how
much easier it is to get good pressure on the edge (since Pressure =
Force/Area and by tilting the board, you significantly decrease the
area, hence increasing the pressure). That's just how I see it... I
could be wrong.

--Arvin