I highly recommend the (new) OB4 shells

[Than_Bogan]

As most know, I've been an advocate of the OB4 release system. If set up properly, I think it is the overall safest option available.

 

Those good at reading between the lines may also be aware that I wasn't entirely satisfied with the P80 rollerblade shells.

 

So I am very happy to whole-heartedly recommend the first shell produced directly by OB4, which I guess I'll dub "The OB4 shells." I recommend them with the Intuition Aqua liners. Firstly, they look pretty darn cool:

 

 

But the important part is their performance, which is simply great. My first set on them, I could tell I was going to really like them. I got amazing leverage and felt really connected to the ski at all the right times. After getting their location tuned up, I headed to the MA State Championship with a grand total of 4 sets on them. There I ran my first -35 of this season (2 @ -38; very first attempt of the year) and also my second -35 of the season (0.5 @ 38; whoops on the pullout), and finished as the 34 mph champ. It's been a really messed up season for me, but these shells have suddenly put me right where I should be, just a 0.5 buoy off my all-time best score at that site -- with just one week on them. Here I am basking in the glory of my prestigious state championship:

 

 

If you look closely at the photos, you can see one of the features that I believe is part of why these feel so good to me: The Intuition liner sticks way out, which is because the cuff on the OB4 shell is quite low. With hindsight being 20-20, I now believe this is why my past attempts to use shells failed: too much shin response makes it very hard to leverage unless you are an athletic stud like Jamie Beauchesne. The low cuff is awesome.

 

I can especially recommend these to anyone who has been in rubber bindings and wants to move to hard shells and/or releasable boots. They offer three things that long-time rubber users may rely on:

1) Plenty of response to ball-of-foot movements. I suspect this is the core reason that I never felt truly comfortable on the P80 soft shells. Again with the benefit of hindsight, I see these (new) OB4 shells as actually a much more natural transition from rubber than the soft shells, because the soft shells emphasize and de-emphasize very different movement than rubber.

2) Damped response to shin movements. As I noted above, I claim this is critical for good leverage, especially if you have "old school" form. It's also good for balance and consistency in the turn. I have heard that many pros cut the cuffs on their shells, so it makes a ton of sense to me to choose shells that already have that!

3) Some wiggle room because of the moderately thick Intuition Aqua liners. This may prevent the ski over-reacting to tiny balance movements. It's also super-comfy!

 

I hope to update my "guide" relatively soon with a lot of details about setting up and tuning these new shells. But I suggest you don't wait for that, and get yourself some now! :smile: If you are between sizes, consider getting the smaller size and cutting the toe off of BOTH shells. It's quite easy to do with a hacksaw. I am an 11 and using the 10s quite comfortably (with hacked off toes).

 

Since I am always a Full Disclosure kinda guy, I do have some criticisms of these shells, even though I love them and am really looking forward to more time on them and getting back to running some -38s:

 

- There's a lot of non-stainless steel parts. Eventually those will rust out. I gather most hardshells are like that, and maybe they'll last longer than rubber boots anyhow? But I'd sure rather see stainless or aluminum for in-water usage.

- The buckles are kinda lame, and I've actually taped down the top buckle on the rear boot to prevent it from popping open all the time. @mmosley899 had a similar experience and he recommended some replacement buckles from AggressiveMall.com. They look good, but I haven't had time to install them yet.

 

Bottom line: I'm excited about my performance potential in a way that I haven't been in a little while. AND I'm getting the release safety that I want.

[MattP]

Awesome skiing!

[Than_Bogan]

I forgot to mention: As far as I can tell, these aren't even on the Products page yet! Until that is rectified, I suggest putting into the comments portion of your order that you want "the OB4 shells" or better yet "the ones that Than has." :smile: I think they cost the same as other hard shell options, so there wouldn't be a price adjustment.

 

And also, "prestigious state championship" is mostly sarcasm in case that wasn't obvious. We try hard here in MA, but this isn't quite prime water ski country!

[Chef23]

@Than_Bogan nice skiing sorry I missed it.

[Than_Bogan]

@Chef23 Thanks. Hopefully you'll be back in action soon! You can't let @rayn rack up M4 state championships in your absence! Might go to his head...

[ALPJr]

Nice job @Than_Bogan. I was going to come cheer on a ski buddy but had to pick up my daughter at Misquamicut Beach in the afternoon. Sounds like a good day. Randy PB'd with 1/2 @ -35 in Mens 8.

[Than_Bogan]

@ALPJr Woah, how did I miss THAT? That's one helluva score in M8.

[ALPJr]

Yes, I won't be surprised if he gets through -35 soon. He's been getting closer and closer in practice.

[Than_Bogan]

Unbelievable. Just when I'm all excited to be back on track, I woke up this morning with my back locked up. Just done at chiropractor, hoping for quick recovery. Sheesh.

[mwetskier]

@Than_Bogan -chet raley used to recommend a stretching regiment called ' magnificent mobility '. might save some $$ on the back cracker bills.

[MAD11]

@OB to your point, which only seems to have the word Flextail in it lately, will these bindings fit on a flextail? It looks like the carbon spine is where the rear release needs to mount. Shells look nice.

[mmosley899]

@MAD11 the flextail spine will prevent using the double plate at this point. But you can use a single front release and rtp, or R style plate. I will look at how else to adapt the double plate.

@Than_Bogan we have asked our supplier to use a better quality buckle on future shipments. Also these boots have removable cuff bolts for easy replacement.

[Bookm_dano]

@mmosley899 are these boots available in larger sizes? I'm using size 14 Stradas with the OB4 system but would like to switch to a less bulky boot. I believe you said the previously available boot only went up to a size 12. (my bike shoes are European size 48 and are snug).

[londonskier]

@Bookm_dano do you like the Strada's? I'm about to demo Vapor Boots this weekend, coming from Powershells. They seem popular and I like the idea of a softer, more forgiving boot. Do they release or is that why you mounted them on the OB 4 system?

[Bookm_dano]

@Londonskier ...Stradas are comfortable. ..designed to release by letting the liner slip out of the hardshell. Requires stretchy bungee laces for the top half of the boot. The lower laces are non stretch so as to keep your foot more attached to the ski. It's possible to tighten the lower laces so much that your foot doesn't want to come out in a fall......I should say that has never happened to me; I injured my ankle with a cheaper lace up boot that stayed on for a bad crash....the only reason I kept my Stradas for the OB4 system is that the OB4 boots weren't big enough and Stradas a re easy to adapt to that system. Mike says you should replace the bungee laces with non stretch to avoid a release of both foot from boots and boot from ski which would put your boot on the bottom of the lake.

Bottom line is Stradas are comfortable and would probably protect in most crashes, but I think OB4 is better. And I would have bought the OB4 boots if I thought they would fit me.

[Than_Bogan]

I have now updated my guide to these shells, and moved any P80 soft shell stuff to an Appendix at the end.

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1M3z1wtYSyhHVQGdpaH_UOD2dEW0jhYlMHtD0eoizspg

 

I was pleased at how much stuff went away -- these new shells are a lot easier to set up and use as well!

 

As noted on another thread, this also contains my current best guess at a tension-screw-setting formula/table.

[Wish]

Not saying I'm going with releasable bindings. I've got 15yrs on non releasable. 0 ankle injury. Till yesterday. It's not bad. Woulda been worse in some other systems I feel. Walking with 95% weight on it. But did scare the crap out of me yesterday. If I make a move to releasable, OB4 will be the way I go.

 

 

[thager]

Heal quickly @Wish!

 

[Stevie Boy]

Could anybody tell me if the OB4 system is lightweight or fairly weighty in comparison to rubber bindings.

Also how many people have added the extra inserts to their ski or have most people gone with the Velcro under the front mechanism ?

[gregy]

@Stevie Boy I'd say the weight of my double xl T-factors is comparable to the ob4. I haven't weighed them, but just holding them I thought they were about the same. They do have a lot of metal. I've heard people having issues with the ski not floating with the boots on the ski.

[Than_Bogan]

@Wish one thing to consider is you could set the release a halt turn tighter than recommended. That might be similar to your nonreleasing setup except that if things went horribly wrong you could release.

[Wish]

@Than_Bogan agree.

[mmosley899]

@Stevie Boy the weight is comparable to T-factors or Animals, as is the overall stiffness. You do not need to add inserts, you can use 3M double sided tape or interlock. As for the ski not floating, I never take my foot out of the boot with the liner and leave the shell attached to the ski. That could lead to floating problems since new core material in ski does not provide as much floatation. I always release the boots from the ski and take the boots off after leaving the water. Skis float fine with just the mounting plate or with the liners in the shells.

[Deanoski]

the new shells look nice Mike!!

[Than_Bogan]

Might be slightly bad form to resurrect this thread, but I feel an update is in order because my impression of the performance of these shells has not changed. I've been inching along over the last few weeks getting 2.5, then 3, then 3.5, and last night 4 @ -38. I also tried some -39s, which I find useful training for -38, and even there I continued to be impressed at the leverage I could get and hold, allowing me to be sorta in control into 1. To be clear, I don't have an effing clue what I am doing at -39, so anything resembling a passable 1 ball is pretty amazing. I *may* have even scored 1.25 on one of those tries, depending on exactly when I dropped the handle.

 

Also, since I last posted here, I replaced the rear buckle on the top with the Aggressive Mall one that @mmosley899 suggested, and that has never been an issue again. I recently replaced the non-stainless cuff bolts with a simple truss-head (BoltDepot) / T-nut (same as OB4) pairing, which appears to work great. Eventually I will update my "guide" with these further modifications.

 

It's getting real fun out there right now. For the first time in a surprisingly long time, I am healthy and very confident in my equipment at the same time! KNOCK ON WOOD!

 

Oh also, I cut a tiny bit more of the front boot's toe. I was noticing a little bit of day-after-skiing cramp in my big toe, and there was a little more I could cut off without risking a change of performance, so I did. This has actually made me consider the possibility that all waterski hardshells should have an open toe. I can't think of a purpose that the closed toe serves, so why not maximize comfort and make it easy to get whatever spacing you want? It even brings a tiny reduction in weight, although "surely" that is negligible.

[MattP]

@Than_Bogan the only thing I can think of is that you turn your offside with the top of your front foot which starts with the top of your toes. I'm sure your boot is tight enough around your foot that it does to compromise this as your scores sound pretty sweet. Keep up the tinkering and updates!

[Than_Bogan]

@MattP Completely agree. I never knew it until this season, but I definitely have initiated my offside with the front part of my front foot for decades. @Brooks seemed to think that was a good thing when I mentioned it to him in the context of why I liked the new OB4 shells a lot more than the soft P80s.

 

Also, I meant to say I replaced the "top buckle on rear boot" not "rear buckle on top."

[mmosley899]

@Than_Bogan I definitely use my toes or the front part of my foot in the turns... Cutting the toes off is a personal comfort thing. The cuff bolts on the first shipment of boots were a terrible choice by the manufacturer, we asked that they go back to a pervious bolt, but it is not removable. I am also not a fan of the basic buckles that the manufacturer uses, so replacement with a more substantial buckle is an option for more discriminating skiers. I look forward to seeing you and other skiers at Nationals in West Palm Beach where we can discuss your needs and interest in the OB4 System.