dchu

I picked up a Cafe Racer 164 recently. Not quite 100% in love with it, but I'm liking it a lot and having a lot of fun on it. As I understand it, the second generation Koruas were built in a different factory and they now have full-wrap edges. I've heard the first gens were garbage, but I like mine. I wouldn't call it premium construction or finish, but seems reasonably given the relatively lower pricepoint. Preface that I don't hard boot, so I probably have different expectations of a "carving" board from many on here. Most of my season so far was spend on pretty aggressive all-mountain freeride boards, the United Shapes Orbit and the Dupraz D1 6'0" Plus (my "sendy" boards). Few days on Moss Snowsticks, the Wingswallow 149 (since sold) and Swallow 162. CR feels like a pretty good hybrid between a traditional snowboard and a more Japanese snowsurf ride. It's relatively rear-foot driven and the engagement of the front contact point is further back than I initially expected. I had a similar sensation the first time I rode a Moss U5. Carves quite nicely. Very neutral feeling turn, which was jarring at first. It doesn't power into the next turn like most Western carving/freeride boards I've ridden, or flow into it like a Japanese snowsurf. You can CREATE pop or flow, but the board waits for rider input. I was ambivalent about it at first, but actually really like the feel after spending 4 days on the board. At 278 mm waist, it's the widest non-volume displacement board I've ever ridden. It's wider than a I need, I only have size 10 boots at the moment (and typically max out at 10.5). That waist sucks at slow speeds... skating is a pain and it started to feel pretty unwieldy when I started running out of steep on an icy cat track. But as long as I give it even moderate speed, say 15 mph, I'm fine. Waist is also a liability in firm bumps and varaible terrain. Manageable, but I definitely feel impacts resonate up my legs more and need to be more on top of my riding. Plus side, I will never boot out. If I could reshape the board, I'd probably give it more like a 265 waist and it'd be a decent daily driver candidate for me. Quite playful. I was actually surprised at how playful it is given it's a full camber deck and rated at 7/10 stiffness. I'd call it more like a 6, personally. Pretty easy for me to press and ollie even right out of the plastic (or almost, I am the second owner but first owner only put 1 day on it... first time I hand flexed it, I still felt and heard fiberglass breaking in). I huck a lot of sidehits on it and don't worry too much about being "on". Pretty relaxing ride. I don't need to be nearly as on point on landings or line selection as as my "sendy" boards, and it's much less physically taxing to ride than those boards (and punishes user error less). Doesn't hold up the best at high speeds. I touched ~45 mph once, which is usually well in my comfort zone, and wouldn't want to go much faster than that. But I generally don't go 45+ unless I want to, so that's a manageable limitation. I enjoy the CR a lot, but am skeptical whether it's an everyday board for me because of the waist. If it was a hair narrower and a hair stiffer, I think it'd be my daily driver. But I'm having a lot of fun on it regardless. As an aside, love the plain graphic and the general philosophy of not swapping out new models every year and only doing a refresh every several seasons. Plus side, the plain white top sheet is easy to sticker up, so I'll customize the graphic to my liking.

I've seen it already at a premiere they did in Oakland. Great mellow snowboarding flick.

Cool. I'm most likely going to put to snow and see if it speaks to me. If I decide to part with it for cash, I'll let ya know

Not really. I know it's odd to post on this forum without interest in alpine boards, but the forum came up when I was googling results for Moss boards (mostly because of @barryj lol) and I figured if any community would be interested in funky esoteric boards, it'd be this one lol.

Half-heartedly bumping this. Picked up a WS 149. I can find basically nothing about in terms of reviews and video, so screw it, just going to ride it and see. If someone has a trade offer that blows me away, feel free.

I hope so. Unfortunately their snowboard buyer who spearheaded their snow surf efforts left last year (he's a buddy of mine) and I don't know the current guys as well. If he was still there, I suspect the shop would have not screwed up the tune. They don't have a PQ60 in the demo fleet, and I don't want to have them pull a new one off the shelf until I've explored options out of their used stock. Besides which, I really like the fat 274mm waist on the PQ54 and am bummed Moss shrinks the waist so drastically down to 258mm on the PQ60. I've heard rumors Moss is experimenting with a fat waist PQ57-ish, but we'll see. Right now the only boards in the line I'm interested in are Swallow 62 (which I own), Swallow 70, or PQ54 (which to be honest is a little small for me, but super super fun on the right day). I could maybe be talked into a Wingpin 75 or Pintail 64, but neither speaks to me.

Edit 12/9/2019: Ended up trading in my previous board for a Wingswallow 149. I'm 210 lbs, skeptical this can work at my size but a couple buddies INSIST this can work for me. We'll see. If anyone's interested in a trade or sale with something I listed below, here's some pics. Topsheet is 8.5 / 10. Base is 9/10. A few burrs on the heelside edge for a regular rider. Looks like it was ridden once or twice. Original Post: Without getting into details, a shop screwed up the tune on my Moss board. I'm trying to sort things out with them, so not naming names or airing out specifics. They've offered me a trade from something in their demo fleet: a Wing Swallow 149 or Swallow 162. I'm not interested in either board (Wing Swallow is too small and I already own a Swallow 62), so I'd prefer to trade them for something of similar condition and quality. I'd consider a sale, but I'd like to hunt for a suitable trade first. I'm 210 lbs, size 10.5 US boot, so bigger guy. My everyday soft boot all-mountain boards are in the 162-164 range. Searching for a relatively recent (last 3-4 years), high-end snowsurf / carve inspired board that I can't easily find in the states, like a Dupraz, Gentemstick, Amplid, Deus Ex Machina, etc.. In particular I have my eye on is a Dupraz D1 6' +. No actual photos because I haven't seen the boards yet (I live in San Francisco, the shop is in Tahoe). Wingswallow 49 Swallow 62 (Before anyone tells me I should push them for a new board swap, that's possibly on the table too. But I shop here quite a bit and would prefer not to tighten the screws until I've explored other options)