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got the Blazes yesterday

Im in the US right now (Boston) but I'm flying back to Europe on dec 5th. I want to get my pair of Blaze's before then so I can bring em back home. The people at Spark told me my best option would be to check their retailers. Now, I'm looking for a M, I don't care about the color.

- Venture only has L's left in stock and can't guarantee a M pair before dec 5th.
- Mountaingear.com only S and L, M should ship bij dec 3rd, so that's too late.
- Tactics only has the S.

Which other options are out there? I really want to get them here to avoid the $50 or so shipping to Europe, plus I want to use them asap

If anyone knows a retailer that still has M's in stock and would ship them, please let me know.

I believe Monk151 has a pair of m's.

or

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9674 <--- Starting bid $225.

hmm, still 9 days til the end of bidding so im afraid i wont get them in time. plus, i dont wanna spend more than the $299..

thanks, anyone else tho?

I just got my pair of Blaze's, they're pretty sick! cant wait to try em out..

they're kinda hard to slide on to the voile pucks though, i don't know if anyone else has experienced this? someone earlier in this thread suggested using wax on the pucks, i might try that seems like a temporary solution..

Also the pins are kinda hard to slide through the holes. Anyone else encountered this? Is the plastic on the inside of the holes supposed to wear over time so that the pins will slide in more easily?

I had the same observations as you.
After going out twice with them, everything was smoother. Pins slides in really easy, same is true with slider.

Cheers

I still haven't ridden mine yet, but strapped into these things I'm concerned about doing steep technical lines or even high speed lines for that matter. Can any Blaze owners confirm their worthiness on anything steep and fast that isn't perfect pow? In saving weight, Sparks seems to have eliminated all lateral support and w/ their fisher price highback when I strap in and carpet jib in my Malamutes I feel like I can roll my boot laterally as if nothings there supporting it. They seem like great bindings for jibbing through trees and tweaking, but they do not feel like anything I would want on top of some 4k gnar in AK. Did the fuses have more support??? Cuz I see J. Jones was rocking these in Deeper. My ignitions w/ franken heelcup/highback and ankle straps feel 2x better strapped in than these.

I guess I'll just go ride them and find out.

I was concerned about the highbacks as well, but I have gotten quite a few days on them and they perform much better then anticipated (I feared the softness).

Half of which was high speed resort days while others have been Full day skinning trips.

Nice. My new DIY bindings are having structural issues, so gonna have to go test out the Blazes this week.

You can carefully run a 1/4" drillbit into the hole to scrape away just the slightest amount of plastic from the bushings. I'd only do this if it's really hard to get the pin in. If it's only kind of hard to get the pin in then repetitive use will work out this problem.

In terms of the stiffness of the highback we need to judge this based on riding feel, not how it feels in our hands while looking at the binding in our living room. Yes, the highback has some serious weight-saving's too it and feel flimsy. I put my Blazes to their first test this weekend on a 10 mile skin. I rode an 800' vertical line which is in the high 30 degree range with six inches of fresh atop a break-able crust. I was taking it easy because of the nature of the exposure but I was laying in carves that threw up faceshots and put me in the whiteroom three or four times. I felt no issue in the ability for the highback to perform it's task.

I think it would behoove us to follow Kyle's lead and ride some "high-speed resort days" with these binders to get a real feel for how they perform.

Is anyone with the Blazes experiencing significant wear on his/her boots? Either on the sides or the rear?

I have a lot of wear on the back of my boot and on both sides of each boot around the ankle where the bindings dig into the boot and tear the leather. Others have experienced the same (see earlier post here: http://splitboard.com/talk/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=8072&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=13)

I'm wondering if the wear is caused by the profile of my boot with the bindings.. or if the Blaze's shape/profile may have been slightly modified to correct for this.

^^^Still waiting for my Blazes, but I've had that issue with some other boot/binding combos. Just slap some duck tape on the bindings to reduce friction. If you can't duck it....

Put one binder on my scale tonight and it came out at 777 grams. I put one of my Ignition IIs on the scale next and it's weight was 989 grams. That's a difference of 212 grams (7.48 oz) for one foot. Overall I'm walking with 424 grams (14.96 oz) less weight on my feet. It is definitely noticeable.