xy9ine

yeah, the pow stick gets some solid reviews. this is the stock 26cm deck though. might be worth a try for kicks. never tried a real powder board. curious how it compares to the spearhead though. looks to be similar apart from the round vs swallow tail.

oh i'm thinking about it. pow stick work w/ hardboots? 176 vs 181? no cheap fissle, alas. spearhead is also an option... hmmm...

i think this is a pretty dated design, so perhaps not entirely surprising. i was looking at the demo board rack to see if there's any boards that might fulfil my quest for a fresh snow / crap carver, but now i'm thinking their 'allmountain' hardboot boards could probably use some updates. a 4wd sounds closest to what i want, but the oldschool nose probably isn't optimum for soft / chunky stuff (or so it seems from reviews i've read). the pow stick is almost tempting, but not sure i want the 26cm width, and a split tail is probably overkill for the amount of pow i ride. oh, the ongoing dilemmas...

superb burger action review. alas, I missed out coming up later. great spring conditions; not too warm / sloppy & firmed up as it clouded over. used both the sl & gs; both fabulous & super fun. growing to love these things. hoping to get up over the long weekend one last time. cous - is that an atv or 4wd? how do you like it?

^nice. i've amassed a few killed frames over the years. for a while (back in the big hucking days) it wasn't a matter of IF a frame cracked, but when. fortunately trails & riding styles have evolved significantly (transitions rather than flat landings! who woulda thunk?!), and i've mellowed out in my advanced years, so my current bikes have remained intact for a few seasons now...

love the direct mount block concept. way too much superfluous hardware accumulation on curent iterations. well done.

whoa. hardboot tandem has been done, apparently: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISfVOULGOnk&feature=youtube_gdata_player

haha; mad scientist at work. now just need to make that in a split version for ultimate versatility / options.

i'm also a new longboarder. i've got a rayne nemesis. i really like the drop deck nemmy, as it's low to the ground (easy pushing & footbraking), and has built in foot stops so you're not getting front footbite, or whatever its called (ie stepping on your front wheels & getting tossed). also locks your feet in for sliding sheenanigans. i've also got a rayne hustler; too flexy & feels tall in comparison (drop thru deck). as far as trucks go, i really like indys for carving; the reverse kingpins i've tried (randal & bear) just feel dead. the indys have a nice progressiveness; almost springy 'pop' that, in conjunction w/ the drop deck feels nicely snowboardesque for carving. also fond of orangatang purple durians; soft riding & grippy, yet with a nice predictable, relatively easy slide (though i'm a total newb at this).

yeah, it was looking pretty fun once the sun came out & softened things up a bit. still got a few happy-making turns beforehand regardless. the board was great - surprisingly damp & grippy on the frozen hardpack. stable, yet quick edge to edge. when i'm on (in these more demanding conditions), it's fantastic, just really need to commit & be confident of it's capabilities. should be a great tool to grow the skills with. tossed on the skinny sticks had a great afternoon w/ the kid. his first time on the fast quads, and the soft & forgiving conditions were perfect for him. making decent progress & doing full runs of colins & panorama w/ minimal assistance. looking forward to next season & having him on the snow w/ more frequency (and when he'll be a bit bigger / stronger). have to admit, the skis were kinda fun too. can't believe this is the last week! i'm not ready to pack the boards away yet! having too much fun this season.

I want this.

i just picked up a 156sl, and it's turning out to be a super fun & versatile little rocket; will definitely be my go to board on icy or crowded days; also works great in the softer stuff. damp, forgiving, yet jumps from edge to edge when you power it up more aggressively. great fun when you don't have the room / conditions / cajones to open it up on a longer scr board.

you'd think i'd have learned my lesson, huh? i wasn't really anticipating that much snow when i went up, but was impressed with how well it worked regardless. a bit softer flex than my previous boards & the long nose decamber = great float though untracked & chopped up crap, even with a fairly centered weight distribution. no nose auguring tendencies at all. surprising, really. super fun & versatile (ie, short to huge radius turns) in these conditions. stoked. granted, if i had bought something like this new (which wouldn't happen any time soon), i'd be more hesitant about using it thustly. something to be said about buying used.

previous to a couple weeks ago, i haven't touched skis for 25 years. found it interesting how snowboard carving affected my initial approach to them (as opposed to my recollection of the fall line j-turn / tail swishing technique of the olde days). ie, turning by tilting them on edge & seeing what they do; lo & behold, they turn! wild newfangled ski tech. apart from the weirdness of having independently mobile feet, it's not a huge leap of skill transference. having the feel for a carving edge on snow is the core. kinda fun, actually.

got up this aft. expected soggy, but it was snowing at the lodge. ~8" of fresh on a hard base. heavy at the bottom, but pretty decent pow up top. minimal bodies meant lots of fresh tracks to be had everywhere. surprisingly, the big kessler rocked in this stuff; loving this thing. fun couple of hours; definately a bonus this time of year.

you still have the flc? curious how they'll compare.

this totally looks like what i'm longing for in my prior bx thread. very nice. review asap!

ah, si; i won't dispute that. i just read something like gilmour's review of the virus ufc (in powder), and figure this is the sort of tool that could be a one board quiver - for me. the number of pow runs i do in a season (of any significant depth) a can count on my hands (one hand this season, sadly), so pow performance isn't at the top of my list of priorities. i'm fine w/ a little compromise here & there; hardware rarely detracts from my ability to have fun, and i do place a bit of a priority on simplification. i'm nearly conflicted w/ having 3 snowboards at the moment...

now that i've been hooked on this carving thing i long for hero cord more than anything. it has been elusive, however. rode it last season in the (bc) interior - fresh pow dump the day before, then bluebird, cold & perfect grooming. the first time things really clicked on my new wrcm. just amazing. i've been chasing that ever since. have yet to see a hero day this year (either fresh, tracked, bumped, icy, slushy, or a combination of all of the above), but it's been a fun season regardless.

no, I'm just an aesthetics victim. though I haven't had experience with alot of boards I'm not totally convinced a pointier shovel does much with the new decambered noses, ie a longer decambered square nose being more forgiving than a short tight radius shovel with a round profile - yet the square gives you more edge. granted, this is a bit of conjecture mixed with relatively limited experience on my part. I just like to geek out sometimes.

because they look rad, of course! I just like the idea of a stubbier thing you can toss around easily, yet still have enough edge to charge some hard carves. ie, my super stubby 156 Kessler has a good bit more edge than my 164 palmer, with ballpark similar scr, but much more edgehold (yeah, there's a pile of other factors at play). interestingly, these square nosed, big decamber kesslers are better than the conventional camber, round nose alpine boards I've used on the soft and chundery. doesn't seem like the nose radius is that critical. reviews of the virus UFC seem to support this as well. hmmm...

ian, those numbers sound great - a fun, versatile steed. though my kesslers are race oriented (I've got to do some calcs & figure out the specs), I'm amazed at how forgiving they are and am sold on the fat decamber on both ends. the flc had a good bit less on the nose and minimal on the tail in comparison (and lots more camber). a wider Kessler with a bit more hook to the tail like yours would be cool. how's it working now you've spent more time on it?

that's awesome! had no idea you could get such a narrow hardboot specific (or would they have used softies on that?) pow stick. rad!

got in a quick rip this aft @4. gorgeous bluebird day w/ soft spring conditions. getting a bit bumped up, but fun regardless. on the gs174. staring to get the hang of this thing. again, surprised how forgiving & versatile it is; works just fine through the sploodgy bumps, and made some nice deep trenches in the smoother stuff. amazed i'm still riding snowboards this time of year; should be back on bikes by now...

i think the idea is versatility; not all of us can justify a specialized board for every occasion, and the concept of a wider, carve friendly deck w/ good edge to length ratio (ie, stubby nose) and decamber is in the ballpark as a do all machine. whether coming at it from the direction of a narrowed bx board, or a wider freecarving deck (ie, something like a shorter version of the original coiler monster, or the virus ufc), there's a bit of convergence of design. if i were doing cat / heli drops i'd be looking for a pow specific board for sure, but my typical riding day is comprised of such a diversity of conditions (often within one run) that i'd spend more time running back & forth to the car than riding if i had a specialized quiver. also - i have a bit of a dream (or delusion perhaps), of growth in hb freecarving, and hardware specialization does nothing to aid accessibility. build a shortish, wider, stubby twintip with fat decamber at both ends, and you'll have an easy to ride, versatile machine that will dig trenches as well as rip pow, shred chunked up, jump, whatever - perhaps facilitate progression in how alpine hardware is used, and open people's eyes to the fact you can do more than extreme carve perfect groom on an alpine deck. i can has a dream?