Beach View

I ride 15-20 days a season. All mountain rider. Spend a lot of time with skiers in back country and such. No time in the parks. I also still ski some since that's where I started, though not much anymore. I'm 6'8", 230 lbs., foot size 13/13.5.

Just got a new board. Ride DH 162. It was $125 new (last season) so if I don't like it I have a rock board. Riding Thirty-Two boots that are ~4 seasons old. Stiffer boot I enjoy a lot.

Was using a pretty old Flow binding that I liked a lot. Looking to upgrade to one of the new NX2's. Any reason to consider anything other than the AT's? The toe-strap / S-strap is interesting, but w/o testing it I'm suspect. Also seem to be a complaint above for larger boots. I was happy with my I-strap. Also, I tend to be cheap so the AT is priced right .

Thoughts welcome (on bindings or the whole set-up). Wiredsports thanks for all the feedback on this forum. I wasn't aware of you guys until I read through the whole thread and now you'll be getting my business.

Wiredsport

Hi Beach View,

I ride size 14 (Flow) boots and got in a great day on the SE's this week. I am very sympethitic to our friend above with size 15 boots. While there are some 15 boots that do work well, there are others (especially older boots) that do not. Size 14 and down in modern boots all fit easily.

As for the SE / AT question, this is entirely preference. The toe cap does pull you back amazingly well. I kick in as usual and then take a couple of clicks just after kick in. There will be riders who don't want toe cap and i completely get that.

__________________


Gnu | Rome | Bataleon | Flow | Electric | Roxy | Arbor | Flux | Dragon | Neff

http://www.wiredsport.com/?snow
http://www.wiredsport.com/blog/

Beach View

Now you have me second-guessing. Never ridden a toe cap so I don't know what I'm missing. I do generally like very responsive riding. Since I won't be able to demo, what would you advise? Or is it a flip of a coin? You prefer the SE's over the GT's?

Wiredsport

I have only one day on NX2's so far and it was the SE's. I cannot give first hand advice on the others. I can highly recommend the SE's. Again, so much of this is preference...

__________________


Gnu | Rome | Bataleon | Flow | Electric | Roxy | Arbor | Flux | Dragon | Neff

http://www.wiredsport.com/?snow
http://www.wiredsport.com/blog/

BigBoard

Thank you Wiredsport. It sounds like you are in the rare and unenviable position to sympathize. While I suspected that boots may have gotten more compact over the past few years, I hadn't had this confirmed. Do you also wear a size 14 shoe? In the past I had found many snowboarding boots to fit at least a half size less than advertised. I really hate to replace my boots as they are still in good repair, but it would appear that a new pair is on my horizon if I am to use any of the newer bindings.

Wiredsport

Hah! I am usually 13.5 or 14 in shoes. Snowboard boots are all over the place. Some 13's fit bigger than other 14's. You know the story. 15 is really tough in that most manufacturers don't even produce them.

Please measure your foot using this method:

Kick your heel (barefoot please, no socks) back against a wall. Mark the floor exactly at the tip of your toe (the one that sticks out furthest - which toe this is will vary by rider). Measure from the mark on the floor to the wall. That is your foot length and is the only measurement that you will want to use. Measure in centimeters if possible, but if not, take inches and multiply by 2.54 (example: an 11.25 inch foot x 2.54 = 28.57 centimeters).

__________________


Gnu | Rome | Bataleon | Flow | Electric | Roxy | Arbor | Flux | Dragon | Neff

http://www.wiredsport.com/?snow
http://www.wiredsport.com/blog/

Gdog42

Man, I feel for you BigBoard.

You you what I find strange? I noticed that Ride makes the Big Foot boot for really tall people with foot sizes 16-twenty something, but at the same time they don't have any extra large bindings to fit that boot, nor an extra wide and long board neither.
What's up with that?

If you want better boots in a larger size, try a pair of Burton boots. They have a "footprint reduction" thing, which gives the boot a shorter length than most other boots, by using less materials and keeping a closer fit to the liner. This apparently shrinks the length of the whole boot down a full size, or so I've heard.

I'm 6'4" and have size 13 feet, yet right now I'm wearing Ride boots in size 14 (Ride Anthem Boa). I have a larger size because when I first tried them on, the 13s were just a little bit smaller but the 14 fit fine...too fine as it now turns out! After using them for a season, they've loosened up a bit and now I'm thinking "shit! I should have gone with my own exact size-13!"
Oh well. I'm OK with wearing them for another season but next year I'm getting a pair of ThirtyTwos in size 13, which would work better anyway because I have Union bindings which are designed around ThirtyTwo boots.

BigBoard, I wish you luck with finding a binding, boot or both that work better for ya.

__________________
Kill it with fire.

BigBoard

Thanks Gdog42. I brought my monstrous board into AnyMountain last night for tuning (because I'm too lazy to do it myself). While there I found a pair of size 15 Burton Moto boots which I tried out in my adjusted NX2-GT XL binding. Being newer and having that footprint reduction just wasn't enough. However, it did come closer to fitting than my 2005 DC Judges. I'm just not sure what the deal is. Either I'm doing something wrong, my pair shipped with the wrong sized toe straps, or as I strongly suspect Flow is guilty of gross false advertising. I've emailed Flow with what I found but they've been unresponsive.

Wiredsport, I used one of those shoe store type foot measuring plates and it shows me at just over size 14.

Wiredsport

Got it. You may be able to get into a size 14 with a thermo liner. That along with a newer outline boot would make a huge difference for binding fit.

__________________


Gnu | Rome | Bataleon | Flow | Electric | Roxy | Arbor | Flux | Dragon | Neff

http://www.wiredsport.com/?snow
http://www.wiredsport.com/blog/

Gdog42

Another great thing about Burton is their bindings. I saw a size L pair in a shop last year was was considering them, so I called Burton. They said that although the bindings are already pretty big (true), if they're not big enough they'd send me a set of even longer strap connectors and ladders for free.
Those guys are awesome! So maybe that might be better for you?

In the end I got a pair of Union bindings. With my size 14 boots, they fit with even toe and heal overhang, with the heel loop and toes ramp extended fully (the heel loops came like that). The toe straps are on the second-to-last adjustment holes, and so are the ankle straps. So there's still likely to be room for a size 15, depending on how much larger DC boots are compared to Ride. I think Ride boots are a bit larger than others of the same size.

Check out Burton and Union bindings if you can!

__________________
Kill it with fire.