HO 410

Ricky and Steven the 1st. A boys 1 skiers asked me what RS-1 stood for and that was the first thing to come to mind. From that point on I've talked about the binders as though they were alive: just being goofy. Did release. Very smooth. Not tugging. The only surprise was the 10 yard swim to retrieve one liner that had flipped off in mid-tumble.  I've had two falls like this in the last two years: where the ski stops and I don't. This time was in RS-1's the previous was in Wiley's. The release felt about the same, although I would guess that there was a little less pressure on my ankles in the RS-1's. It must be noted that RS-1's can be run tight enough that they will not release quite as free and easy as my expereince. There is a skier I see at tournaments that has release three or four times, but each time it was his foot slipping out of the liner, not the liner coming out of the shell. I would freely reccomed both Wiley's and RS-1's. The RS-1's have an added measure of edge control that I welcome. Although about once ever three sets the ski will bite on me in a way that is directly attributable to the RS-1's: it's all part of the transition and would be more pronounced had I chosen Fogmans Reflex. If they were stollen, I would probably choose the RS-1's again.

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Definitely sold the yard yesterday. Broke at the ball, decided to go for it and broke even further at the wakes. Somewhere the ripcord pulled, and the RS-1s did not object to my rapid egress. Would have been fine on my WIley's. I'm not sure what would have happened if I was still on Drafts, or in the interest of fairness, Approaches. Now that I have a solid crash under my shoes, my take on the RS-1's is that they are just simple enough to work like you think they should, but just complicated enough to be made to surprise you when they don't let go when they probably should. Can't commend on donning the boots in water though.

For me, if it's rubber, it must to be closed toe. If it's rubber, it's hard to beat Wiley's, period.

http://3eventstore.com/page11.html Just so you guys are aware. Bennett's is having a closeout sale on these boots. They bought a ton, but they were not as popular as they were anticipating. Do size up if you are a half size. I am a pretty solid US 10 1/2, the 11 shell is perfect heel to toe on me. If your heel to toe is right but foot is not big enough to fill up the shell, you can put an insole in the shell to stand on top of and take up more space. Here's the thing. Their price is amazing. Just call or e-mail and ask. If you hate the bindings, at this price you could very easily resell them and recover you money: if not make a few dollars. I planned to evaluate bindings over the winter, but this was a legitimate "too good to pass up" deal.

No, you get the boots that are right for you. All major manufacturers have transitioned into a universal insert pattern for the front boot. Since you are planning on a toe plate, you can buy on brand or you can get one at a place like wileyski.com. If you choose radar boots, their mono plate has holes to fit any current ski that has inserts. Even if you chose a rear boot that did not fit the brand you choose, plates can be swapped, modified, or fairly easily fabricated. You don't have to buy D3 boots because you bought a D3 ski, and you certainly should not drill the ski because the plates on the binding to not fit on the ski.

If the import duty is not too high for your taste, you should be able to demo through H2osmosis. The cost to try a second ski will be less than 10% of the total purchase. At the very least it's more convenient than trying to resell. If you are ready to pony up $1200 on a ski, you need to make sure you have bought something you'll be happy with.  Oh and to the original question, yes.

What country do you live in? It's a hard question to answer. Some people go from one side of a set of combos directly onto a Monza and get destroyed. They need something more like a Triumph. Others, get and stay on a triumph for a long time and don't know/realize they are ready for a higher performing ski. Yet others ski well on an MPD (for example), but don't know (until they try for some fluke reason) that they actually ski even better on a Senate. I tend to think that if you are pretty stable and don't rock around much, you can get onto a pretty high end ski and be okay. But you never know until you try. However, if you have to guess and get it right on the first shot, a Senate C would be a safer bet from Radar.

The shells look kind of like Jordan's don't they? And to think I took crap from my RS-1 hiking boots. Speaking of RS-1s, I thought they were pretty low cut too. Well, the top of the liner is just as tall as the wraps on Wiley's. I guess looks can be a little deceiving. Speaking of looks. From the looks of things, it looks like yet another Look release is coming to the water. First is was the Silveretta in it's many iterations, now it is the PX. I'm sure I'll get to see these things up close much sooner than later.ÂÂ

My -3 cents 1. If you can track down a pair to slip your feet into, I think you should consider RS-1s. The design's strength is in its simplicity: granted, it does not quite fit the criteria you have put out. The shell, and the inner chassis provide enough support and retention that you do not really need to tighten the ankle all that much. In fact I've pulled the bungees as tight as possible and I did not feel like I gained any extra support. I may also be blessed with a foot perfectly sized for the 11 shells, and that does seem to be an important factor. When they are tightened as the design intends, they do feel too loose in the water and on land, but they are rock solid one I start skiing. So long as the laces are not too tight, and it is pretty obvious when they are, I find the release to be very similar if not easier and smoother than Wiley's. 2. Dual Lock doesn't make sense to me as a release mechanism. 3. I think I like what I see from the new HO boots. I was expecting to see a pin release like Fogmans. The picutres in the other thread look more like a Dynastar PX heel. I think the shells are going to be the focal point of the system. If this is the direction you choose to go, do not drill your ski. I hope that HO will make an adapter plate available. If not you can have a G-10 plate made to attach the bidning to and then attach the G-10 plate with the existing inserts.

Some morbid curiosity deep inside of me wants to see this guy ski an R-class once his ban is up. Although I would not be surprised if he threw his ski down that day and never entered the boat house again. And then there's the probability that the kind of person that would try to cheat a dimension driven sport would also lack the ego strength to handle the teasing and verbal abuse that would come with returning to the sport.

Ha!

I believe both companies use the same insert pattern on both front and back boots.

You could try putting your foot into a plastic bag. This worked great when I was younger and had trouble getting wetsuits on. If you going to try that, don't forget to cut the bottom out. Slit the bag down the side, close it with masking tape, you should be able to reuse that if it works for you.

Along those lines: Because the offside turn feels more uncomfortable than the onside turn, I will somtimes rush back to the handle. What has been true for me is that the turn stops the moment your second hand comes onto the handle. If you are turning your shoulders to reach for the handle, don't do it, period! This will stop the ski and break you in both senses of the word. If you are more or less skiing back to the handle, I would encourage you to be fractionally more patient and that should allow your ski to come around a little bit farther. Video, if you have it, is always helpful.

Move them back 1 or 1/2 hole. That should help free up the ski a little.

One of the things I liked about the Wiley's or the HO 98 ? was that they were no brainers; just shove your foot in and go. I know several skiers that were die hard for the 98s and, now with animals, just set the laces and never move them. This gives me the thought of removing the slider on the upper laces, tying a knot, and just retying periodically to account for lost elasticity.

It's hard to say, so do your best to try out some skis. Go ahead and try the biggest baddest ski you can find and then turn right around and get on a Senate C, Custom X, or Sixam 2.0. For every person that would get worked over by a Monza as a -15' 30-32mph skier, I've known at least one that would ski better on a Monza than they could on a Triumph. It's pretty difficult to gauge what your technique is suitable for, and you won't really know until you try. The only definite thing I could say is that it is far more likely that you will get along well with a Senate than with an Elite.

Is you perception markedly different than last year?ÂÂ

How are you guys sizing these boots? Anyone opt down from a half size or is everyone pretty much opting for the larger boot?

I've seen aluminum adapter plates for Fogmans so they could be mounted using factory insets. I cannot remember if that was bought or if it was home made. I've also seen the Fogman units attached to a G10 plate and then dual locked to a Warp 8. I dooubt HO will leave everyone without a new S1 or A1 out to dry: that would however beg the question, "why the new insert pattern then?" At the very worst I should think that someplace like Wileys would be able to make an adapter plate

Saw the new insert pattern, any dirty rumors other then that HO is going to release some kind of not a rubber boot around nationals?

Anyone know where the webcast of this weekend's bigdawg is going to be hosted?

I can't answer, but you have certainly come to the right place. But those in the know will need more information. Ski: make and model Fin: current settings You: what is your difficult pass?

John, From what you were writing about the Prophecy, RS-1,and A1 in the initial post, what you are planning to do is compareskier input to ski reaction. That should be useful and reasonably generalizable information. If you are looking to turn this intosomething bigger than a John Horton pet project, I'd be happy to helpwith writing up a testing procedure and database for participants tofill out. Obviously the linchpin in this is a skiers ability to consistently identify a behavior (tip-pressure as an example) and add to it or back off from it for an entire set. Could be interesting.