nils

I'd say give the Gen4 from Swoard a try if you can: there is more dampening and smoother ride than we had in the Gen1 ( 2003-2004 which I believe Hans has/had) and the board is fine tuned to the max: the shape is indeed in developpement and reaching a level of precision in EC that is unmatched: yes you can get more dampness with a titanal board, but titanal implies decambered rocker which is not the way we ( swoard) think it should be for an EC board that is riding vertically on the snow at apex of turn. ( I'll developp that in another topic when I get the time..). Dampeness is interesting, but lead everyone the 100% titanal way which might be good for racing, but is not what we are into now. Having a non titanal construction doesn't mean you're out of date! ( reminds me on when the foam cores and monocap where hip)... Its a "marketing" view biased by the racing boards or the freecarving " racing / bomber style" which is not what we are into while doing EC. We tried titanal, we built titanal, we decambered, we recambered, in many prototypes since 2006-7 season, and if we stick to the original shape, making smooth but perceptible evolutions in the construction and efficiency on the snow, it's not to save money or try to be different...it's because it works better for EC in all conditions....This does not means that titanal is a no go...it means we don't want to go the decambered way for good reasons: it does not work as good as cambered board for EC ( same goes with VSR radii).. Try to get someone near you with a gen4 or gen3 Swoard matching your size/weight/feet size and borrow the board for a ride! See for yourself! Nils

Bryan: sending an email to alex now asking for better pics of the amok so it would clear the " hands on" question ;) Nils

Bryan, Yes i think from europe to the US its around 130 usd using tnt or fedex for one box! The swellpanik Amok ( my fav board ) is really nice for its a collectible that is still made. I assume it would need a wet sanding then revarnishing to look new again. I'm looking for a PJ 7.0 but its too expensive! Alex told me the swoard is "used" Meaning not sure the edges are still enough for another go.. I'd love to add a lacroix eagle race, a PJ and a beamer wc edition... Anyway... it' nice to dream Nils

Hi! I know the right place would be to use the For Sale section, but since a friend of mine is selling a big quiver, and some of it is rare to very rare and I know some of you are collectors....( moderators feel free to move it if needed..) Alexandre is a famous high mountain certified pilot - instructor that flies mostly in Courchevel / french alps...he still rides Winterstick round tails off piste as well as swellpanik and we met through Swoard in the early days. Anyway: I'm not allowed to let my collection of boards grow any further, so here it is! ( I'd love to get the rare Apocalypse graffiti..) https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2095112/SALE%20COLLECTION%20OF%20SNOWBOARDS.pdf Contact him directly via email ( its on the PDF) He is likely to speak pilot's english so use ALPHA / BRavo etc codes if on the phone! He is likely to sell boards as units or as bulk, or small quivers ...see with him! Nils

Or ride flat if you want to use the rotational / EC technique ( no canting / no lift ) ( I suggest everyone tries it and see its not that bad ;) Nils

Neat carving slope..but crowd at the end is scary!! you guys should try to come to the ECS in Zinal next season!!! We'll post feedback of this week end's session ( ECS 2013) in a few hours.. Nils

hehe :) not sure it leads to discreet life...

Please search the previous forum archives ( is it possible?)....that topic was already hot in 2003-2004...it will be nice to re-read some of the categorical affirmations that were said then by some fellow carvers explaining that Lance is among america's greatest sport hero.....I remember receiving small flaming when with a few others we gave the opinion that he was suspicious...( as well as the others in the top 20).....will be fun to read now :) N. ironic Nike ad :

awsome ! nice filming smooth riding and great pow... I know Phil and I disagree on board lengths for pow :)...I would never bring a 156 in such pow unless I have no other choice...I like to ride on the front leg in powder and that's when you need something above 180cm, especially if u're tall. Of course in the trees a shorter board is more manoeuvrable, but on those open faces....looks you're undergunned in the vid.. Nils

Hi, Maybe you haven't noticed, but "Carved", the first snowboard movie shot on the Red One Camera is now available for download...thnx to Jonas Rejman http://www.extremecarving.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10588&p=110941#p110941 Nils

I don't agree with the above....EC applies extreme pressures to the bindings laterally speaking, since the technique also implies transfering weight forward and backwards on the boots with much more leverage than with higher angles. Basically it means bails are bending and braking often because the lateral pressure is enormous...plus the fact that most EC'ers don't tighten their bindings to the max to keep that lateral movement possible, increasing the leverage of the boots to the bails... I am not a powerful rider, around 81 kilos for 6'3 and I broke F2 ti, Bomber inox, and bomber titanium bails..requesting us ( Jacques / Patrice and I ) to make special bails in special steel at a cost of 100 euros per set... This was of course before the magnifiscent TD3 Sidewinder that changed all that...Now I break no more, and bend no more...the binding manages the lateral flex and its such an improvement over normal flat bindings!....anyway: I would not dare to step on a F2 ti because of that risk, and favor TD3SW for this reason... ( plus I love their sexy look and the color matches that of my Swoards ;)) Nils

Hi all, INFO HERE The 10th event will take place in Zinal, Switzerland, the mecca of EC this january 26th-29th.. It would be nice to have some overseas members as well to meet europe's finest EC riders.. Nils

Thnx for the pics :) He is thinner that most of you guys ;) hehe.... Nils

Indeed...but maybe the future lies in the improvement of the concept of the .950/.900: why use plastics since its not really needed for bend ability. The future boot might be a boot where the shell is stiff as hell ( carbon?) and the bending / flexy part will all be small tooled parts.. The idea in the Northwave shell is that the flex is controlled by the spring system, not by the plastic and its unpredictable reaction to cold/warmth. So maybe molds are not necessary anymore, and the future shell is a fiberglassed protection for the feet, rock solid, and CNC machined parts + springs...An idea would be also to have a hollow like chassis around the feet, with a outer protective shell for weather and shock protection. ( like a race car). The high end Dynafit competition touring shell is basically two carbon parts linked by an axis. Nils

Yes you're closer to the real cost and qty...don't forget the prototyping and the huge cost of pre series, testings etc....unless the exact plastic and injection specs are kept known by someone at Northwave...its going to be discovery again....I think that the estimation I made back in 2003 was around 600 K euros in order to be able to be on the market and ready to sell....The production cost was somewhere around 150 euros due to small series... huge then...

actually its not a BTS, its the original spring system of the .900/.950. It can be modified simply by customizing the springs. Compare to the Raichle RAB its enormous advantage is that the springs work both ways> frontsides and backsides. There is plenty of info regarding what spring choice is good on a topic somewhere on extremecarving forum. Something tells me the BTS is a nice inspiration of the northwave system too ;)... Anyway I don't really need new molds because I have two pair of .900, one is 2001 and still looking good, and the second on a shelf still in plastic, ready for the first one to break ( I should be able to use them till I cannot ride anymore due to old age...) !:)

Believe me...thery are lost! Right after we launched Swoard ( 2002) I went in search of them molds, and got in touch with half the people managing northwave on the phone ( $$$ before the skype years..)..and really they had NO clue where they were....they thought they would be in a wharehouse somewhere but it appeared they got lost...maybe the aluminium has now become an audi or high end car...? N

1 mold would be in the 20 K euros area ( Maybe Arnaud ( arcol) who is an plastic injection specialist will give us more precisions )..So basically 1 mold fits 2 x 0.5 mondo maybe 3 (3cm) at best..it means you need to make at least 6 molds to have a certain range / line of boots....6x20K = 120 K not including the high cost of prototyping, making the molds work and finding the good plastic mix...would double that cost at least...then batch making would be very pricey due to low quantities ( setting up molds again etc....)...How much are we ready to pay for such a boot....€500? € 800? € 1000? I'm sure even if northwave lost the molds, there is archives somewhere in that factory with the drawings / CAD of the molds somewhere to be found ( the molds have been produced by some third party, maybe in italy for they are good in mold design....find this guy and you short cut a lot of the hassle! Nils

Thnx! Please do take pictures!! Nils

Gosh wish I could attend...please send my regards to Dimitrije when you see him! I know he doesn't have so much time to ride these days with work, but would love to see if he still rides his modified Nitros Pow ( he drilled inserts so he could ride them further upfront for he likes riding the nose under the surface in deep pow...).. thnx Nils

Yes Phil you're right they deliver what they say they aim for... but is the improvement in "surfy" feeling so big that the reverse sidecut can justify loosing versatility vs a good powder board that already has surfy feeling...I'm not sure...and even if I was to hike to and from the powder session without having to worry about edges, I wonder if I would choose such a specialized board.... Nils

yep ditto...but i'm mostly aware of the downgrade in performance and versatility...why go back 35 years in terms of performance....? yes the riders level has improve, but its still boards from the early 80's that will sink and be awfull once you reach the groomed...( I bet 80% of the people riding pow end up on grooms on the last part of their ride..). Snowboard evolution improved versatility and performance in all fields...when you ride a modern powder board, it can excell in pow, be not bad in jumps, and carve not too bad...why loose all for a powder rider that will not be perfect in all pow conditions....??? marketing is an answer...difference at all cost is another.... N

Phil Actually there was bans in many european resorts, most of them lifted gradually from 1985 till 1990. I had the chance to " open" Baqueira spanish resort in feb 1988 or 1989..Just happened to be there with my first hand made snowboard the day the ban was over. Funny rememberance was to be the only snowboard visible in what is a big resort...few days later I remember seeing a dude on a Burton cruize...we waved at each others!. In France there is still a "ban" in some resorts that prevent snowboarders to ride certain lifts ( old plate lifts). It comes from the fact that on tricky lift track ( icy, frozen, very steep..) average snowboarders are likely to fall and get everyone behind in trouble..What you do is explain to the lift attendant that you are expert rider and negotiate your way up ( and cross fingers u'll make it...which u usually do but it can get tricky when you have a wide alpine board and two 3 inches frozen ski tracks uphill..)...other than that you are right: resorts are pretty open minded when it comes to tools to ride the mountain..you see pretty exotic stuff sometimes... Nils

http://snowboarding.transworld.net/files/2009/08/04/1992_apr_philippeimhof.jpg When alpine made it to the front...( philippe was HOT team before helping develop the excellent F2 Beamer line..I remember when all I wished was getting a Beamer WC edition...too expensive then). Nils

New light on this topic...French tour followers were always suspicious about Lance's performance and it seems he will be stripped of all his titles....basically it means the tour's last 50 years is a doped circuit...i'd like to see a list of winners and see who's officialy been stripped of the title...Scary