nils

I personnaly think the emery course is way stiffer than the TD2 with yellow bumpers.... the emery have metal parts with a .5 mm rubber pad that is basically here to save the topsheet... the rest is 6 mm thick alu plate that is not really what i call soft :) and when the binding is locked tight, there is no real room for moves! No wonder why it was a good world cup binding used by many racers in the mid 90's. Weak thing is the bails tend to brake, where the TD2 bails are likely not to do so ;) Nils

Phil is right regarding euro lifts, and the first time i sat in Aspen on the buttermilk chair i looked around to see where the bar was, and it was nowhere to be found... I suffer vertigo pretty easy and even on this not too high chair, i had to grab the frame in order to feel comfy....The absence of feet rest is also a bummer, since hardboots are heavy, and the cantilever you have with a front foot and the board can be painful after a long day of riding! So i'd like to see the stats of fatal injuries of chairlifts without protection vs chairlift equiped with them!! What is a bit weird on the kid accident, is that the chairlift alarm didn't stopped moving, since it usually has a small switch that catches legs crossing it after the 180° turn... N.

started 1988 and since have tried softies only one full (painfull) day... but was long ago and thinking of getting a soft setup on my swallowtails to see how it goes... N.

still wondering what the base is exactly?? 50% graphite bases...? Not sure it exists! Electra 4000 R that ski races use in the world cup events have a max of 20% graphite, and its still prototype bases from IMS.... Not going to copy that on the next Swoard's, but just by curiosity! :) What I like with small manufacturers of alpine boards is that they write usually the name of what is inside the board in clear letters, and not like salomon, burton, or rossignol do such as renaming a Ptex 2000 base into "exclusive ultra glidinium base".. It seems alpine consumers are more aware of tech and like to know what they ride, but also that the truth always pays and costs less than marketing! N.

well i have seen myself a few Virus and can say the quality of craftmanship is among the best there is, so I cannot agree with the comment about the poor quality. If the base did not take wax, it has nothing to do with grinding, but it can be because it was a 4000 electra that takes very little wax ! High density bases are indeed hard to wax! I have also seen a Kessler, and they are really in the same league as Virus for the quality, despite a price that is way higher thu... Be ready to go as much as 1200 euros for a small customization on the kessler!! ( I just read a paper on Isabelle Blanc boards made in Italy by tropical tube, and she pays ( fair price for sure) 650 euros for them ( protos they are each ).. F2 boards are ok quality, but since they use monocap construction, its way easier to maintain a good finish on the sidewalls than on a ABS sandwich board that requires lots of skills! Pogo also are very nice on the alpine boards, i was however disappointed by the overall finish of the swallowtails (that are great boards to ride) N.

Do the materials really go from usa to italy for production...? Sounds like customs and shipping prices would not make it possible to my opinion... As for small manufacturers ability to produce volumes, just the pressing time itself can divide your productivity by 10... Swellpanik ( famous swallowtail maker) presses each board for 24 hours at 40°C, Most euro custom manufacturers press 12 hours at 50°, and the big boys like Salomon or Dynastar press 20-30 mins at 90°...A factory that can output 100+ boards a day needs at least 10 workforce, when a factory making 10 can work with 2-3 people if they have enough presses... As for middle man, you can basically count the margin to be between 1.6-1.8 so its easy to imagine how much a board costs to make when you divide the retail price by the middle man margin, knowing that the maker has also the same kind of margins in that case at least... example: salomon XYZ model retail price 500 euros middle man buys it at 277 euros to survive, production costs have to be below 150 euros, and knowing those boards are now produced in romania at a cost that is closer to 90 euros the real salomon margin is closer to 3. What is the rule nowadays it to have the margin of the main companies increasing enormously, and the quality of the boards decreasing, because you cannot produce the same board at 90 euros than at 150 or 200. Its not just about mass quantities and lower labor costs, but also on materials and quality of the materials ( hence their cost..) When I see makers saving 2 euros on a core of a new line, and the price NOT decreasing by at leat 7 euros on the new line's retail price, I know that the one who is suffuring is the buyer, that pays the same for less quality... I know a brand that went last year to china for production: has the retail price changed? No, but in the meantime the production cost had decrease by 70% ! Incredible no? I'm dreaming for example of a small database with all boards, using the marketing name of the materials, and the real name of the same material in order to compare what is comparable... Pretending XZAQS base the best available when it costs 20% the price of the best IMS 4000 is marketing lie! Knowing what you ride is the first step toward quality, and fighting against man made marketing, instead of the product itself doing its own marketing... Knowledge is the first step to good consumption! As for madds, I know the sum of hassle it has to be to find a new factory, make new molds and overseas!! etc and i can only say: congrats ! Nils

beautiful fun and pics! the pic taken from the chairlift with the board on the left and the rider below looking like doing a bottom turn on a giant wave is simply one of the best carving pic i have ever seen!! Worth a full size print !!!! Nils

Fluo yellow and grey was it? Had a pair they were light!! loved them ! Lots of 1987-1988 racers wore them on the backfoot with a racing Salomon ( SX-91 equipe the red one) on the front boot... all this on the emery binding ! Most used also rubber band from old bycicle tires to make sure the binding lever would not open during a slalom! did not know there was an " after" model post albona! Nils

Randy has a point there: a good trained beacon user with the old F1 from orthovox can outperform any guy with the latest tech... It means train, train, and train again... the idea is to always ride powder with some training under the belt, knowing that under stressfull conditions, you are likely to loose all abilities... The Orthovox X1 is supposed to be as good as the dts, but its ergonomics are better and its suppose to take in consideration that stress.. I have the M2 from orthovox, and I find it very smart to use, and easy... Now a beacon is NOTHING without a search pole and a shovel, we call it the trilogy over here in France, never leave without it! Finding your pal without a shovel to dig is I guess a bit frustrating!.... To add chances to your side, you can also look at the ABS airbag system backpacks, they have very good stats on people that used them.. I bought one, and beside the heavier weight, its neat to feel that you can rely ( a bit) on something.. Needless to say it should not make you act like a weirdo in backcountry because you wear one :)....I also know guys that use the avalung breathing system, but the downside is you have to take the mouth piece in mouth when you ride "tacky" pow areas.... kinda kills a bit the pleasure of beeing on pow! Nils

yes wood cores are mostly vertically laminated wood, but Hot snowboards uses skateboard like (horizontal laminates) wood. What makes a lot of differences, like in the ski industry, is the quality of the wood.. a wood core can cost from 5 euros to 12 euros here, depending on what woods are used! Ash is definitely the best for snowboards/ Skis ! Nils

Yes after Regis left the company, the US partner named Bill Kent might have continued making the boards under that name for a while... Some precisions too: Regis got involved with Bill, then the taiwanese guy named Lin bought the company in 1990 to save it from bankrupcy... so the US story might have ended later than 1992... Regis is now back in business with Lin and his new boards are made in China by Lin. ( Saw the new line, and quality looks pretty good ) Nils Eric: If you have the molds of the swallowtails made by the company then, would be nice to see pics :), as well as pics of the old stuff :)... I could host them on swallowtails.org!

Jean is now a journalist and is an editor for a small press group... He is not involved in any snowboard company as far as I know... His last mag was called Rider, but due to lack of sales, it went bankrupt last season... He publishes a thick winter mag once a year since last season about freeriding with skis and snowboard... He told me he quit any form of hardbooting ( he has size 12.5 feet )and got rid of his hard gear long ago already :).... He still shows up at some mardi gras parties with his genuine oxbow / burton GS suit so its easy to recognize him there!!!... He follows the carving scene ( I keep him informed here and there on what goes on here and overseas in NA..)....but not much else! he now rides a Miura Swallowtail most of his times :) Nils

the board is at least 15 years old! Would love to see a picture btw since they must have produced like... 100-500 of them only (i can get numbers from Regis Rolland!) Never saw them in real. To explain the story behind this boards: -1983-1987 > regis rolland hand produces his boards in France -1988-1991/2? > he makes business with a taiwanese and an american and company and machines are transfered to NY ( weird place for snowbusiness) and boards are produces partly in Canada by a subcontractor. Business goes under the apocalypse snowboards until they split because of business colateral damage ;) ( partners not agreeing). - 1992/3? - 2003 > Regis is back in france without the name ( left with the business there in NY) and makes his new company "A Snowboards". He is bought by Rossignol in 2000 and Rossi drops all activity and shuts the factory (that was also making HOT/Hammer) for good. Regis, again, has to leave the name! and founds APO snowboards ! from 2003 till then! So that race / alpine board is made between 1988 and 1991/2! Nils

Jim, I'll bring the foie gras to go along the wine ( not sure how to sneak it through dog sniffing at the customs thu) when I come to a future SES ( you can keep the Yquem for at least 50 years, so I guess it, and I, can wait a bit!) A collection of old boards is nice too, but less tasty :) N.

No wonder the TD2 is so expensive if you have a Touareg ! Damn! ;) Nils

We rented the XC70 last winter for the SES and apreciated the great snow driving ability ( snowfalls...) and all the quality mentionned above.... To my euro eyes the fuel consumption sucks thu... Its considered a great engine over here ( the 2.5T) but the worst in terms of consumption in the Volvo line.... Most of the models sold in europe use the common rail D-5 engine ( turbo charged diesel ) that takes like 35 mpg with quiet sound and great torque.. Would i have to choose a car in your list it would be an A6 audi station wagon (quattro of course), but the volvo trunk is bigger and your quiver needs room!! N.

Some confusion on the name thu... In Europe, the board was never called the throttle, but the Race alpine aka R159, R167 and R173. The lower end model was just the basic Alpine model... I'm not sure about the throttle series... Might be post or Pre- those models no?? the previous name of the R series was the Shanon Melhuse R series....and, maybe, the throttle beeing the "lower" end model ( had a blue nose going thin to the tail with the rest beeing silver like... the Shanon has the same but the blue went to the tail in many thin points ) I'll post a pic of shanon on it when I find the time to scan it! N. N.

Said again because every other snowboard brand in europe that is interested in alpine is making a snowboard binding with Phiokka.. I'd rather see brands try to invent something intelligent than seeing the same stuff with different stickers! Phiokka is on the top 3 for bindings ! Nils

bindings look like made OEM by Phiokka ( again !) Same bails and same steel work on the part in contact with the boot! N. never heard of the company nor seen the board in swiss/france!

I happen to know bob, rossi's shaper since the early years! :) I'll ask him when i get the chance to find his phone again! Nils :)

wrong cos i saw one broken R159 in a shop ( the red spaceship i posted above ) and all there was was wood, not foam!! As I mentionned: Rossi used wood in the race model ( ok this is the alpine everyone talks about here ) until the monocap construction... Nils

this is my beloved R159 ( stone board now) - it is the last rossi Race with sidewalls made of ABS - it has the nice wood core that keeps it lively 1995-96 : That model, especially the 167 won lots of races and boardercross alike! It is still considered here as the last great rossi race board! 96-97 : Next year RACE model featured: monocap construction and wood core (I believe it is the year featured on the pics above, but this is not the race model but the alpine model..). 97-98 : That year featured: microcell ( foam core...) and monocap Over two year they killed the great thing and fewer people bought it ! It is also important not to confuse the two alpine models made by Rossi each of this seasons... there was the R model, and the Alpine model... The later been designed for rental purpose mainly...I assume the alpine model on pics is, yes, maybe a microcell since they had to maybe test it on the less expensive model before switching the Race series to foam too... To be continued! N.

Ok its more like fingerboarding ! hilarious and great ability! Nils please bring us SNOW !

yes 96 are monocap/wood.. I tried the yellow race with the foam core, and also the previous white model (foam too ) i found the flex not springy enough... My friend said both boards got twisted after a season...My R159 wood core lasted at least 5 seasons before getting some twist! N.

The first models with the foam cores.... the Race series used wood until the previous year ( they already switched to crappy monocap construction the same 1996- 97 )... funny how from a great great board ( the 93-96 models ) you can switch to something less good!! Marketing sucks big! Nils