lonerider wrote:

I like the stiff models in the Salomon lines (Dialogue, Synapse,
Malamute) and I haven't tried the Simbio, but I know it's on the
lower
end of the line. Yes they are very comfortable, but it is very easy
to
be comfortable in a soft-flexing boot, it's like wearing slippers...
but you don't want to run a marathon or go hiking in slippers. The
problem is that in order for a stiff boot to feel comfortable, it has
to fit you perfectly, otherwise it will pinch and pressure you all
over
the place.

Stiffer boots tend to be more expensive, so I understand that you
might
not want to buy them when you are starting out... but they are the
most
important piece of equipment - high performing bindings and boards
are
worthless if you have this super floppy, super loose pair of comfy
boots where you foot and shin can slide around inside without that
energy being transferred to the rest of the gear. As a compromise, I
just suggest that each time you buy a new pair of boots, slowly get a
higher end, stiffer pair of boots (that fit perfectly!) until you are
at least in the medium-high stiffness range. Super-stiff boots give
you
more performance, but there a tradeoff point where you just might not
want that stiff a boot. However, you would really need to search and
try hard to find a boot that I would say would be too stiff in
general
(especially at your size and weight). Snowboard boots are made for
snowboarding, not for walking, be prepared to walk a little funny in
them, if you can walk completely normally in a pair of boots (instead
of slightly on your heelsde), they aren't going to treat you well
when
snowboarding.

Well the good news here is that while this boot is soft it also fits
pretty tightly. I have no slide inside the boot, and I definitely have
to walk heel first. They do have a fair amount of flex to them though.
I'm hoping these will last me through next season so I can then really
evaluate what I want. I chose these because I had zero heel lift with
them.



Yes, the Custom is a soft board and Canyon is wide and not very
torsionally rigid. I wouldn't recommend either for you... actually. I
wouldn't recommend ANYTHING in the Burton lineup and you are just
beyond the maximum recommended weight for all of their boards except
for the Baron 172 and the Triumph 173 and then you are at the very
limit of the range (check the Burton website). Longer board tend to
be
stiffer within a particular model line (the 170 is stiffer than the
165, etc) but because Burton makes soft boards in general, you have
to
go really long to get the proper stiffness to support your weight.
With
other brands and other board models, you can ride a shorter board if
it
is stiffer. Palmer, Salomon, and Donek stick out in my mind as
stiffer
boards but there are other brands too (Prior can stiffen up a board,
but they make really expensive boards that rarely go on sale). Burton
and Forum (now owned by Burton I think) make very soft boards. The
boards you demo'd a really designed for someone 50 lbs lighter than
you. Sure they felt really easy to push around because again they
were
so soft, but you aren't going very fast yet and once you get better
they are not going to be able to support you weight in a turn (it's
going to chatter and flap and bounce you around). Not to mention the
fact that at 50 lbs over the designed weight you are much more likely
to snap the board if you hit a bump or a rut and crash (think of
trying
to cut a burnt steak with a plastic knife). Back to what you said
about
being able to push the tail around. It is important to be able to do
it
occasionally to control speed, but you don't want to be doing it
every
turn (i.e. turing by pushing your back leg out left and right) - as
you
get better you will learn to do this less. I'm not quite sure what
you
were saying when you said that the snowboards "get easily shifted"
riding flat. If you mean they drift in a random direction when you
are
trying to stay flat and pointed down the fall line, I am pretty sure
that is mainly because you are still learning and have quite gotten
the
hang of flatboarding (it is rather hard to do starting out). Having
beveled base edges will help a lot in keeping you from catching you
edge while flatboarding (don't worry about base edges right now).

So as far as the back leg thing. I am still pretty nervous about going
fast because the few times it has happened I have either gotten into a
nasty wobble, and eventually I hang an edge and go down hard. So I have
taken to side sliding a good bit to avoid gaining to much speed. I
realize this is a total crutch, but I don't how else to control my
speed. I assume there are other better ways once I progress, but I want
to make sure I am not getting a board that will prevent me from slowing
down when I need to. If the answer is "yes but it will take a bit more
effort" then I am down with that. I am more than willing to have to
work harder to get the board to go where I want it to. I just need to
have some way to effectively control how fast I go down the mountain.
Otherwise, I do all my actual turning with my front leg. I hope this
clarifies my concerns somewhat.


Again, you don't have to buy a super-stiff board immediately, but if
you want to progress beyond a novice level... you are definitely
going
to have to get something stiffer than a Burton Custom/Canyon 163.
Whether you do that now or later is up to you. Some people like to
buy
a board they can grow into, others like to buy a cheap beginnner
board
and then switch in 1 year be reselling and buying again. I will
definitely warn you that a stiffer board like the Donek Wide 165 will
not be as "forgiving" for really bad technique (like excessive
man-handling of the board by pushing out the tail) and you will have
to
deal with the bevelling the edges (just take it to a shop and ask
then
to sharpen your edges with 1 degree base / 1 degree side, which is
the
general standard) even though 98% of all snowboarder have no clue
about
edge bevels. I would suggest the Wide 160 to start out so you are on
the higher end (but still not on the maximum limit) of the weight
range
so it will be more forgiving. The Donek Phoenix 163W would actually
be
the perfect choice for you (noticebly softer and more forgiving while
still stiffer than any Burton at the same length) but I hesitate to
recommend it becuase it is $100 more ($475). It is one of the best
designed boards and most versatile I've ever ridden though. AGAIN if
you buy a Donek, take it to a shop and have the edges bevelled,
otherwise it will toss you to the snow hard a lot (any board with
unbevelled edges will do this, but Donek is the only company that
doesn't bevel their edges at the factory).

So you recomend the Phoenix. Do you think this is a good long term
board that I can grow into? Is it just a good all around mountain board
(I really don't care about tricks)? I know people were recommending the
sasquach(sp?) earlier. Can you compare and contrast the two boards for
me so I have a better idea about the pros/cons of the boards?



First, I would like to say that you will soon learn how to push
yourself up from your heelside, so I wouldn't buy gear just to be
able
to get into your bindings from the toeside edge. That being said,
FLOWS
are very convenient and hte higher ends are pretty good bindings and
I
don't see any major problems with them and Donek boards. I think FLOW
should work decently with Salomons as they don't have a big chunky
heel
(and get caught on the highback), but you should really just go to a
store with your boots and test if yourself. The K2 Cinch has a
similar
idea, but allow you to strap in OR step-in. The Cinch's plastic is a
bit cheap and flexy though (not very good performance, questionable
durability). Other bindings that are good are Ride, Salomon, and
Technine - Burton and Drake make good high-end bindings, but they
tend
to be very expensive and the cheaper models are not very good at all.

So I have solomon boots, and I imagine solomon bindings go well with
those, can you recommend some good bindings from flow, ride, and
solomon, with the obvious caveat that I need to make sure they fit my
boots? I'm just trying to figure out what I should be looking at.

Thanks again for all the help. This group is amazingly friendly.

--Matt