dshack

A few of their older ones had some Burton Mission GT-esque boardercross lateral support wings on the highbacks. Nice bindings, if a little flexy. I've heard good things about whatever their current freeride line is.

Post three in my spastic (but educational) search to upgrade my quiver. The advice I got when I asked about an AM board as a replacement for my burton ultra prime made me realize that I'm actually looking for two boards: a powder-day, all-mountain, reasonably carve-capable board, and a damp (-er than my UP) carver for inconsistent snow. This post is about the latter. I've got a budget that should buy a used prior, coiler, madd, etc., but that's not enough for a new one. Calling out for a damp carver with a 10m+ SCR, a waist under 23cm, and fairly soft (I'm 125lb, or maybe 130 since turkey day). Possibilities, as far as I can tell: Axis on the shorter end 164-169cm 4wd WCR or metal (<173cm) Coiler (anything built for a <150lb rider) Oxygen proton on the shorter end? Madd (Anything flex 1, I think. Pretty sure flex 2 would be too stiff) Nidecker proton, escape, etc. in the 160's. Thanks to Thor, Chris, Mike T, Bryan, and all the guys putting up with my indecision. Hope to ride with y'all in the future.

The UP is pretty hard to handle off the groomers, in powder (19cm waist), and in choppy conditions. I basically figured that one of the 21.5-waisted AM's in the mid 160's would be way damper than the UP, a little floatier, and a little easier to push into small-radius turns at slow speeds. I was basically holding out to see whether someone might have a low-160's axis, a 165 or 169 stock-waist 4x4, or something along those lines. It's a bit of a long-shot, getting so specific, but those seem like pretty common lengths of pretty common models, so I figure someone's probably got one hanging around somewhere. Chris's board seems like a great buy, but I'm used to carving on the 11m radius of the UP, and unless I'm mistaken, 8.5m seems small enough to preclude anything but very, very, tight, small turns. It might be that I'm fixating too much on the all-mountain aspect, and that I would be better off just looking for a damp freecarve-ish board.

Still looking....

I think the sidecut's 11. The base has summer storage wax on it, so its condition is pretty obscured. If that'll make your mind up, though, I'll scrape it and take a photo.

Oh yeah? Well, Mt. Hood has a whole THREE INCHES!

How do you think the oxygen apx in the classifieds would carve compared to the escape? It's got a .4cm wider waist, and a 1m larger turn radius. I've heard the oxygen protons are nice and damp, but I don't know anything about the apx. It's priced about identical. Thanks for all your help, guys. My dream is to one day have ridden enough boards that I can give n00bs advice like y'all.

What's the waist width?

Bump- more pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/davidshackelford/Burton. I bought it from klugriding.com, and only put about 20 gentle days on it last season. The only blemish are four small circles on the base, presumably from overtightening binding screws a tiny bit too much. They don't protrude or affect the ride quality in any way.

That is so weird...I just sent a test email to myself and it went through fine. What domain are you sending from?

Checked your mail, steph?

Whoa, someone grabbed my avatar. You want to throw down, man?

If I'm not mistaken, I met Dan on one of my first few days out; he was ripping on a Madd BX. I was going to grab a ride with him to last year's OES, but I got swamped with schoolwork.

Where did you find those? I'd love to print them out and put them on my wall.

mail sent

Unfortunately, I've got a meadows pass (everyone from my school rides meadows), so I may not see you all as much as I'd like. If t-line opens in the near future, though, I might need to grab a day pass. I've seen a few guys rip at meadows on Tinklers. Not sure if it was the board or the man, but heads were turning. The prior sounds real tempting, it was stiffened for a 130lb woman, so should be about right for me. On the other hand, the escape is very affordable, and has a pretty good reputation and a little more surface area for powder. I think I'm probably leaning in that direction.

Ok, tapping the collective wisdom one last time. I'm basically ready to buy, and I've got a few options. Nidecker escape 165 Donek olympic-core axxess 172 in a 167 flex and with a 24.5 waist Prior 4x4 159, with a little custom stiffening Donek axis 167 I'll be riding almost exclusively at mt hood, mostly carving on inconsistent grooming, though I like hitting the backside bowl as well. I'm 125lb with 23.5 boots. I've basically got a budget for one board. The big donek looks sexy, but it seems like with my small feet, it might be hard to control its width. I think I'm leaning toward the prior, because they basically get nothing but stellar reviews, but I'd grab the escape if someone thinks it's a better option. They've both got about the same sidecut and effective edge.

Those are skinny. How stiff are they compared to alpine boards?

It's sounding like the 172 axis might be a little much for a fun go-anywhere hood board, so now I'm looking at this 159 prior 4x4, but a 133cm effective edge and an 8.5cm sidecut seems too small for any sort of GS-type turns, mirite?

$125+ shipping (bindings not included). Also selling some outerwear for small people.

Has anyone out there below 190lbs flexed a donek axis? Thor's got a damned tempting one in the classifieds... There's a 159 4x4, too, but the SCR seems too short for it to be a real carver.

Probably. Is it stock SCR/flex/etc?

Probably in the 160-170cm range, or longer if they've got a soft flex.

I've been to boardreviews, but usually I find their alpine reviews a little lacking, both in number and in depth. Now I'll just wait for an AM in my college-student budget range to pop up in the classifieds or on the 'bay....

How does a tanker carve compared to the axis/4wd/am holy trinity?