Don’t use em but they have Crank Brothers Joplin 3 @ CRC reduced from £209.99 to £98.98 53% off, seems like a good deal to me? Thoughts on the Joplin 3. would not be so gutted if I purchased this or it was shite!

OK OK you are correct, when I go up the mountain tomo……………….. fek this I am off to bed first gondola up is at 9.
I will come back for a boot fitting lesson after a hard day on the hill!

“Comments like that above about needing mega tight boots off piste and stiff flex show lack of ability and how many people approach off piste skiing that it is hard work and requires extra brute force and power”

I never said anyone needs mega tight fitting boots, I said it works for me.

Everyone to there own I guess, how we do up our boots is everyone’s own personal preference, the way I do it works for me, mentally it gives me confidence.
“Probably stems from having poorly fitting boots when you were younger”
Maybe because when I started skiing (39 now started skiing when I was 8 race training when I was 11) 31 years ago, first pair of own boots at 11 there was nothing compared to what you get nowadays when it comes to boot fitting, not until Dynafit and Dachstein came out with foam injection did things start to progress, then maybe 12-15 years ago we started to see mould-able liners and custom foot beds.
I ski 30 days on the trot when not working and the “pain” does not bother me in the slightest, maybe pain is a bit much? It’s not as if I am grimacing at the end of every run. Or maybe I am wrong and I know nowt about ski boots. :wink:

Woody, so you saying if you did your boots up as tight as physically possible your feet would not start to hurt?
Done about 150 days in the last 2 seasons on a pair of Black Diamond Factors, absolutely fantastic boots and fit my requirements perfectly, most comfortable boots since Dynafit 3F comp.
Every pair in the last 10 years been fitted by an expert, if I have a relatively relaxing day on a mountain and not in the mood for going for it then the boots will be done up normally and they are perfect, for me unless my boots are done up so tight that I can not move any part of my foot then they don’t inspire any confidence when hammering the off piste, think it stems from the days of Glenshee race training when a kid and a teenager spending to many days on the Cairnwell in hard packed and ice through the slalom gates fighting to keep an edge.

Bose, Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin, Marantz.

It all depends on how you ski, like someone said if someone says “my boots are so comfy” then the are not fitted properly and as a result not a very good skier, if you are serious about skiing and want improve/become good your boots need to fit like a latex glove to the point where they are uncomfortable but not overly painful. Also depends on your style of skiing, if you stick to the piste and of an intermediate level (can parallel turn but like to keep the speed down) then fit is not so important, go for comfort.
If your bag is fast edge to edge fall line (old school IMO) on steepish reds then you will still get away more a more comfortable boot with a flex rating around the 100 mark.
if you want to progress to flat out carving on blacks and back country or hammering through the off piste crud your boot is likely to be uncomfortable because of the fit and shape and the stiff flex rating of 130 IMO its a trade off for becoming a better skier.
Some saying your toes should just touch the front of your boot, again that all depends on how you ski, if you are just bumbling around on the piste then fine, if you are hammering through the crud, back country, jumping, terrain parks and the like then toes touching the front of the boot is a no no, had several black and lost toe nails because of this, if you are an aggressive skier getting good air a lot of the time along with hard landings toes slamming into the front of the boot is not good, for perfect control when your level of skill increases on your chosen planks the heel should not move at all, forwards or backwards when leaning into the boot.
Me personally I have my boots done as tight as physically possible (just the way I like it) to the extent that after every run I crack open the buckles for the chairlift back up, as feet are killing me but come lunch time don’t feel the pain any more as I have skied through the pain barrier.
Bring back Dynafit 3F Comp and Dachstein foam injection boots that’s what I say, just a shame they don’t last for ever or I would still be using mine!

DrJ you are on the wrong forum you need to be here-For Stephen Hawking Types[/url]

A mate has an unused still like the day he bought it DP free-styler in shocking pink with white Skyways and loads of other trick stuff for the era hanging on the wall in his lounge, needless to say he lives in a bachelor pad, hoping one day he will meet a nice lady so he will sell it to me!

cant seem to post the images but check this link out,

Old School

Kuwahara Exhibitionist with white Z rims and a rotor, awsome! fek getting all sentimental!

Sheesh!
As I work in oil and Gas industry (at the dirty end mind not like DrJ and fwb2006 who clearly work at the clean end) I know loads of lads that have pumped thousands into Desire hoping it was going to make them rich, I don’t find it funny though. I know one lad that has bought up around £100000 worth! On advice that he would make at least a million in 5 years, problem is he wasn’t buying in the beginning when the shares were 24 pence a pop!
I do find it funny that if there are any reserves worth tapping into generally your BP’s Shell’s and Totals of the world are in there first with the rest coming in later and picking up the dregs.

Haro Free-styler and Skyway TA with tear drop tube frame with white Z rims which always had a hugely buckled back wheel from seeing how far we could bend them and still spring back into shape. Brilliant!
BMX’s just aint so good nowadays!

My mutts are never on a lead (2 Scottish Deerhounds, sight hounds) and they are not bothered who they come across on the trail, walkers or MTB’rs, they roam around searching and scanning the horizon for small furries to chase and don’t care about people or other dogs (apart from once at Pitfichie on top of Cairn William when one of them decided it was time for a bit of action with a black lab bitch, sorry to the owner of the lab if you are reading). They have instant recall when I see OP on the trail but that does not stop OP screaming from a distance GET YOUR F*****G DOGS ON A LEAD THEY ARE F*****G DANGEROUS!
So extremely large dogs must be dangerous because they are large? I will be the first person to destroy one of my own dogs if it ever bit someone. But don’t tag large breed dogs as dangerous just because they are large!
I’m grateful the hounds don’t give OP the time of day, it saves me having to converse with the ignorant b******s!
Don’t take them when out on the bike nowadays anyway as they were forever beating me and the mates on the DH track at Fichie, fast feckers they are!

“it’s easier than sex”
Can be better than sex as well! The Gun Barrel DBD Heavenly Valley California,72 hours of constant snow fall equated to about 5 feet of the finest powder in north America, me and a mate first one down the morning after the storm subsided floating through it to the chest, thought we had died and gone to heaven!
What every aspiring skier should be aiming for!
Came back down to earth with a bump though when on about the tenth run down with the bindings wound up to 12 and powder straps on the left ski came off and we spent the rest of the afternoon digging for a lost 1080! Never found it so had to go and purchase new skis, small price to pay for the experience though!

At work as usual, Drill Ship performing well flow tests offshore Brazil.

not as pleasing on the eye as others on here but dramatic all the same.

ignore the last I will do again

At work as usual, Drill Ship performing well flow tests offshore Brazil.

I have been to La Tania with the scotswoman and scotsgeets, good for families as very quiet, 2 pubs when I was there, and alot cheaper considering it is just round the corner from Meribel, Courchavel, Val Thorens and the rest. And just gondola ride away (with never any queue) you have the expanse of the three valleys to play on when you leave the wife and kids at ski school, swimming pool whatever.

Quick and easy method of shortening up the wheel base for that all important quick turn in knee down action!

this is OK when the snow comes, very rarely gets stuck, got stuck on the M6 in july one time though, plenty room in the back for wife and kids and the all important bikes!

Anyone gone for V2’s M4’s just because of the bling factor, or as a bit of engineering quality, against the equivalent Saints, Formulas there is no comparison in the quality of manufacturing, like the hope calipers being one piece, machined from billet for less flex in the caliper, the rest although top quality just look like an average mass produced product. I guess this is why the Hopes on RRP are knocking on twice the price!

If David Knight spent the same amount of time that Atherton has spent at Fort Bill it would be Knight everytime

I wouldn’t bother with them waste of F****N space, I ordered stuff a while back, 10 CO2 cartridges non threaded, threaded got delivered, A pair of POC gloves, said they didn’t have the ones I ordered in stock but would deliver when they came in, three weeks later the wrong ones appeared, CO2 cartridges they told me to keep and they would send out more non threaded, still not appeared, gloves I sent back for a refund as they could not get or were not getting the ones I ordered, still waiting for the refund 9 weeks later. stick with CRC and Wiggle! Customer care is shite as well!

I have a topeak Prep stand elite excellent piece of kit for the money compared to equivalent park tool, accesories are cheap for it to, folds away into a neat little bag that comes with it, and it copes with 38lbs DH rig no problem. £169.99 @ CRC I have seen it cheaper elsewhere £149.99 but cant remember where.

if he likes bottled beer, I can recommend non alcoholic Becks, exactly the same bottle apart from a slightly different coloured label and tastes exactly the same as the aclcoholic version.

Seems like a combination of things, blunt chain, (buy good quality Oregon or similar) chain bar roller (sprocket type roller at the end of the bar) is not running as free as it should so when it heats up it is expanding and getting tighter heating everthing up, chain bar, chain. Before use slacken off chain and check roller is running nice and free if it seems sticky and not spinning freely WD40 does the trick. Chain bars are relativley cheap for my saw (Husqvarna) not sure about your model though.
O and good quality chain oil Sthil or similar, not the shite you get from B&Q.

For me alpine decents one week holiday a year in the alps and Fort Bill is my local area so spend a lot of time up there and the surrouding area. But no racing to long in the tooth for that malarky!
Thanks all for your constructive comments.

In my uneducated opinion is it not the brake manufacturers finding a happy medium between braking performance and unsprung rotational forces? The bigger the disc the harder it is to turn in? Being into the motorised version of two wheeled fun as well as unmotorised and haven riden a Buell or two in my time with the daft rim mounted disc I have to say they handled teribbly compared to a similar streetfighter style road bike like say a triumph speed triple, or it could have been that the Buell was a shite handeling bike in the first place and nothing to do with the rim mounted disc?

Being both a pedal powered and engine powered off road enthusiast I understood both sides of the argument until one day I saw 5 or 6 “freeriders” giving a forestry commission employee a right load of abuse because they were about to go down a closed trail and were caught in the act, reason for closure, erosion by mountain bikes, then they decided to go down anyway after effing and blinding and calling him allsorts and giving him the rite to roam speach. W*****S!
Anyway some great trails for pedalling in and around the Cairngorms, and I live far enough out of the way that no one bothers us when we go out on the engine varity of two wheeled fun, no peddlers as there are no marked/constructed trails and plenty of permission from landowners, so if you are struggling to find somewhere to take your crosser/enduro bike PM me.

Cheers.