Messages posted by : cem
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i would forget the skis right now and spend money on the best fitted boots you can afford, you can hire pretty good skis in any resort and as you progress your needs will change.
as for boots do not buy on line and do not buy "a beginners boot" you need to set your sights a little higher think about your skiing in the next couple of years and where your level will be then. it really depends on your foot shape as to what boot will work best for you but do not fall into the trap of believing that lange only make narrow boots and salomon make medium width boots all the major brands make a range of lasts [shapes] to fit from the narrowest to the widest feet, a good boot fitter should be able to select the best shape to fit your feet....boot to stiff for your ability again a good fitter should be able to adjust the flex and soften a boot a little should this be required. if you have a bunion do not buy a boot to fit the width of the foot and the bunion, get the boot which fits the foot and have it modified to accomodate the enlargement. where are you and i may be able to suggest someone close to you |
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the best products i have found are the grangers series, they use flouro chemicals to give the garment the same water repenellcy as new
the most important thing to do whatever product you use is to activate the product with heat there are a few 2 in 1 solutions which are pretty good,if not using one of these you must wash the garment in a non detergent ligquid soap, powder clogs the pores of the gore tex after the wash cycle and a further wash cycle with the proofer the garment must be either tumble dried on cool for 50mins or so or ironed with a cool iron, it is the heat which causes the water proofing chemicals to stick to the fibres and work properly contary to popular belief gore tex loves to be washed properly, if it is not cared for the face fabric will wet out and this causes the garment not to breath correctly it is when this happens that normally it feels like the garment is leaking when it is actually persiration on the inside of the garment which cannot escape as the pores are blocked from the outside |
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leave the plumb bob in the cupboard and find a willing assistant :D
you need to remove the liner from the boot and stand in the empty shells [with the footbeds in side] the idea for the shaft alignment adjustment on boots is to line the cuff up to the shape of your lower leg, what you need to do is stand in your neutral ski stance looking straight ahead then have someone adjust the cuff screws [as shown in macskis picture] so that the gap either side of your leg in the shell is equal... a lot of the time this will be enough, however if it is not enough then full canting is the next step canting can be either internal or external and the effects are very different, adding shims under the footbed will affect the relationship between the foot and the ankle [the sub talar joint for the techys out there] external canting is achieved by either inserting wedges between the ski and the binding ...not possible on some modern integrated systems or by planing the soles of the boot or building up with angled plates at the set angle.[ i will have a palner in the next few months when the engineer has finished milling it!] the effect of external canting is to shif joints above the top of the boot ie knee and hip...see below some people are not cantable due to lack of available joint space range of motion at the knee or hip, this is why the plumb bob can give really whacky readings for some folk, assessment should be carried out using a rocker bottomed device [cant co rocker or similar] which can simulate what will happen to your skis when you stand on the snow. checking with the plumb bob is great to see if the original assessment makes sense. for the "uncantable" people the solution is to fill the gaps to give a flat ski to stand on, this means that they will always be either knock kneed or bow legged but the ski will run flat on the snow good luck, enjoy hows that for an opening post ) |
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