epyscs

@adamhcaldwell I will give it a try and let you know how it goes. Like @mwetskier the old heelside/toeside turn confuses me too! For me its good/bad or on/off side. Re the feeling a blow-out isnt far away, I was talking about my off-side. For some reason I have a worse habit of blowing out off side. No idea why - it could never be the old come off handle early and dive on the tip! I would never admit to having such a bad habit! Will try the changes mentioned and will post an update!

Sorry should have been more specific. The ski is new and was set to factory everything (except wing) before my latest tweaks. Done with regular calipers / tips. I set up fins / bindings regularly and run into 35's... but cant find the adjustment that works to dial out the issue noted above. Initially there were a few issues with the ski (slow, narrow and not coming under me in the turn) that were corrected by taking out a fraction of tip, moving DFT back a fraction and adding a touch more to the wing to put it to factory. I also went 1 hole back with the rear kicker, but that was due to too much contact with a front boot. Current numbers are 6.698, 2.478, 0.898 and wing is around 7-8 ish. The ski is fast and responsive now, but I have the issue mentioned before where I sometimes get the slow turn and roll onto the tail out of the hook-up. There is certainly some technique issues here, but I am trying to resolve those. ;) Feel free to throw out any ideas on adjustments that might save an old guy from trying to fix it all with technique!

Got an issue with my off-side that I am trying to get the grips with. It 'feels' like the ski is taking a long-slow turn on my off-side and despite hooking up at the end, it takes a little too much pressure than I would like and I seem to come out of the buoy without much angle and pointing too-far down course with me standing slightly on the tail of the ski. I dont want to add tip as the ski seems to engage ok and seems to hook up well and I dont think a tail blowout is too far away. Any thoughts or ideas guys?

Looking for input on a good glue for re-attaching drysuit seals to and old baggy style suit?

Yeah, should last fine with the right materials - just avoid most metals except stainless and use sparingly. Our course is in salt and the biggest pain in the arse is the crusty animals that want to make a buoy its home!

Shit guys - look up some of the research on roundup and brain issues. Major links between that stuff and thinks like dementia, parkinsons, altzheimers. May only be low doses, but I would pass on lakes with the stuff in.

I just had a relatively new skier (just learnt 180's and 360's) demo a bunch of skis including a Quantum, D3 and a couple of Reflex skis. They ended up buying the Reflex. Not saying the Reflex 'the one to buy', but give a few skis a try and take your pick from there. Note that certain skis are extremely similar.

Most recent bindings will work for you, but I would echo the concerns of others. Bungee type bindings are inherently more unsafe due to the ability to over-tighten the binding and getting a non-release. I would certainly recommend you consider Reflex. The shell certainly protects the foot and despite the price they last well and are comfy.

Interesting... we had 2 bent handles, emailed photos as requested and not even a reply!

I agree with @mlusa, hard-edges skis are no better for high end toes. In fact, this year I sold my D3 Honeycomb with less than 9 months on it as all the toe line tricks were destroying the edges. I also switched 4 months ago from a Quantum to a Reflex Furtif and relegated the Quantum to a toe ski. The Furtif is certainly worth a go and I would certainly say its a better ski for hands than the Quantum. I have only done 1 set of toes on the Furtif and it worked well but was too big for the control I wanted.

@MrJones. Dont stress the edges too much. The soft edge skis can be fractionally more forgiving in my experience but only noticeable when I ski two skis back to back (I used to ride a D3 hard and soft for a while). Personally, I just switched to a Reflex Furtif and absolutely loving it (switched from Quantum & D3) @Horton, I know you are not a trick fag, but it would be amusing for you to do a couple of trick ski reviews!

Give George at Hazelwoods a call in the UK. He should have some in stock as they are the standard Reflex plates.

Hey @Horton, Any chance you have skied in any of the infill psycho suits with the welded seams? If so, how do the long Camaro Blacktec suits compare? Sorry if I just resurrected an old thread!

I skiied FM and Reflex and hitched my cart very firmly to the Reflex product. The 404 release FM use has reliability issues on the cross-bar shearing off. The Reflex use the 500 (newer series) release units. I agree with @ktm300 - FM's E-Series certainly looks like something made in a garage. Quality can be hit and miss and it makes for an inconsistent release (was the problem for me). On the dual-lock... I have used it and didn't have a problem, but I never trusted it, For double boot, I would look at either a Reflex Front and their R-Style rear, or their front but using a Wileys rear rubber boot.

@doonez If you are based over here you can often pick up some good prices from US sites around now. Although as an importer I shouldn't really say that as we all have 2013 gear coming in or coming in soon. Have you tried getting in touch with Duncan Hancock over here? He might know of some second hand Stradas for sale? Give me a shout though if you are interested in staying with hardshells as I import Reflex gear and have a few options for double setups - http://www.facebook.com/ReflexSkisNZ. Although the $ might be an issue.

From the options I would go with the Strada bindings for sure. Getting the dual-lock working well seems to be a challenge for many people. I personally don't trust it enough. Also consider Reflex if you are looking into Hardshells. They have a new slalom shell out which I currently use and like a lot. I moved from Animals and was on an A2 at the time I switched.

Ok - best thing to do is post a video on here and people will be able to add a few more thoughts. Otherwise - I am not so sure I would necessarily agree that you need to put the bindings that far forward to correct the tip-lift. I suspect its more an issue with your position that is likely to cause the OTF crash. Don't worry too much about the wing. I would personally leave it on for consistency and change other things first.

Unfortunately I swopped from Straightline after getting 2 trick handles that we well out of being straight (to the point we couldn't adjust easily) then a slalom handle did the motorbike grip on me! That sure worked the forearms for a couple of sets until my new one turned up. Then more recently, Masterline! Oh dear, I still have 2 Monster handles in my garage with only a couple of sets on each. Emailed Randy as requested with photos and never heard back. These were both supposed to be club handles. The club just moved to US Gear on its latest order. Despite a few odd comments about the bendy bits on the end, I think the general consensus is they are working well. Apart from one soft skier (will probably read this) who complained they were a bit heavier...! (lucky the handle can't complain after hauling him around..!). ;o)

I have ridden the FM E-Series, the 404 Revo and Reflex for a couple of seasons on trick and slalom. The E-Series I gave up on after I had 2 extra cuffs sent due to pre-release. Of the 3 cuffs, 2 were manufactured wrong (they machine the cuff manually), and the original released too easily - and despite this, I never got a working replacement or refund. In fact I never got a reply to my last emails and voicemails. I ended up heavily modifying the boot to make it work. Note the e-Series failed on me in practice for a big event and took me bolting to the ski to get through the tournament. The Revo is a heavy boot and could really feel the weight on the ski. The buckles for me degraded very badly and were non-functional after a season (admittedly I do ski a bit in Salt). I have also seen 2 failed 404 units, again at the weld area as mentioned by others. One resulted in a big yard sale at the wakes, the other went on the dock of all places! I finally switched to a Reflex system 18 months ago and all is going well. I also picked up one of the slalom boots when they came out too. Yes the boot is a little softer for lateral support, but the quality is noticeably better, the release seems better built and the buckles are all good and still working fine with no obvious signs of degradation. I had meant to get the aluminum buckles, but they didnt have any when I ordered and these have been good. Re the liner being thinner - I prefer the thicker silver liner and this feels almost the same as the FM liners which are admittedly more comfortable than the thinner black Reflex liner. So on choice... Reflex all the way for me and I am happy with my choice. Safer, better quality and better support. Disclosure: I am now a Reflex dealer (skier first), but only after I tried the bindings and would happily stand up for the product.

akale - stick up a video on youtube and will help where I can. I am one of those trick guys on here that doesn't comment too much as this evil @Horton being seems to get his frilly underwear in a twist. ;)

Funnily enough our club has 5 or 6 bent Masterline Monster handles. Some with as little as a few days use on them. Havent heard anything back from Masterline on them yet as I sent them a note via their website. This year is the first time I have bent a handle and I never grab the middle. I can ski deep 35off and bent the handle at 32off.

Yes I have a bondplate on my current ski. As far as I am concerned it works really well. I havent given it much thought but it seems well built and the bolts are plently long enough. I have a few cup washers on the ones behind my rear kicker just so the bolt sits more flush on the nut. I could have chopped them down but this was good enough.

Hey this is getting confusing with @Ryno! Yeah its been a while since I have loaded a line like that out of the turn. The ski was really smooth and not grabbing. There was no slack, but it felt like it just kept loading at the end of the turn (and yes it was partly me rotating a bit too much). Will give the ski another try later in the week and adjust slightly more. Thanks for sharing thoughts on this one. And sorry no video this time.

Right - update from today. Took out length by reducing depth first set. Ski was better balanced on the on-side and didn't feel like it came up early off the wakes into the on-side. It did however bite hard on the off side. Too hard in fact, which means it cured the notchy off-side hook up. So finally moved the blade back a fraction (probably .02 in the end) and took out small amount of tip and all seemed to work out well. Off-side was great and on-side also felt pretty good. Only problem is I now have 2 pulled forearms from the monster angle this ski wants to generate. Oh and another bent Masterline handle! That's the 5th one of their handles we have done at the lake. Note - I have all the measurements written down but cant remember off top of my head so sorry again if this all sounds vague.

@SkiJay - yes more than confident. I learnt from some of the best and no I havent made any of the classic mistakes of relying on anything being correct. So everything was measured related to stock including the bindings. Wil give 2 things a try today... move back a shade and possibly play with a tip setting or two. Will let you know how it goes and maybe even get video if I can.