xy9ine

pondering my next board purchase (perhaps not till next season, but i'm a neurotic analyzer). i had a 177wcrm previously, which died an untimely death. i've been offered discounted pricing from prior, so will be buying from them. currently deliberating between the single and dual radius designs. anybody have experience with both to provide a comparative analysis? vsr sounds good on paper in terms of versatility, but i'm concerned w/ losing a bit of the energetic 'pop' off the tail (no idea if this is valid). more forgiving, but less fun perhaps? also considering going shorter (169 or 173). the 12.25m donek i'm on is pretty fun (esp. for the smallish mountain i typically hang out at). the (12m) 173wcrm would be a close fit, but the 169 flc (11-13m) might also work, plus have that bonus je ne sais quoi... thinking out loud. any helpful ruminations?

the ufc looks mental. what's the numbers on your 163? micro review?

great vid. what's the specs on your board? i like the idea of a snappy, shorter radius playful board that's still versatile. was looking at the shorter dual radius flc's...

3 degrees & raining currently... ugh. just wanted to say thanks again to roy for lending me the binding (not a bad idea bringing extra hardware up the hill). scary thing, popping a binding at speed. the attached leg survived unscathed, thankfully.

coffee geeks! what hardware you have? i've got a basic, but but solid setup: rancillio rocky / pavoni europiccola. love the retro levers. great lever geekery on the home barista board. i'm a beer / brewing snob too; homebrewtalk & beeradvocate are decent. my main sport is mountain biking (dh / freeride / trail); i hang out at nsmb (north shore vancouver based) and ridemonkey a fair bit. i lurk on silverfish as well...

had a fun morning on the hill; a bit of ice here and there, but generally decent carving on eagle. first day on roy's old donek gs170 - a fun stick. pretty forgiving, I think I like the slightly smaller scr. great bang for the buck; should keep me happy for a while. cool running into all you guys. i counted 6 hardbooters on eagle - we're taking over!

though I've never owned one (used to ride gnu back in the day), I've always been a fan of lib tech / mervin - loved the old litigators. the new hardware is pretty cool though. Curious what a skunk ape rides like. and what magnetraction would work like in an alpine application... I fantasize a magnetraction gnu race room (w/ fluorescent pink squiggle) & decambered nose & tail... the 158 sounds wicked fun though. anybody ridden a coiler angrry?

GeoffV - you've nailed it. you can't expect to re-educate the masses, so you've got to look out for yourself. i rode sportbikes as well and my mindset was similar - assume you're invisible, and everyone else on the road are idiots. though i've been snowboarding forever, i'm relatively new to 'real' carving, and i'm super cognizant of the disparity of styles (having been a 'zipperline' rider previously - neat term, boris, never heard that before). i'm a bit paranoid (esp on heelside turns) and have to keep reminding myself to check uphill periodically. on the subject of technique differentiation, i was thinking about it last time i was up the hill. hardpack, but carvable conditions, and most people, apart from a couple more skilled skiers doing big racer-esque gs turns, were more or less doing the tail wagging speedcheck / sideslip straightline thing down the hill. some guys were going really fast, but dynamically, it looks so boring. in the past, it would take super steeps, or powder dumps to get me excited, now caving a groomed blue is super fun. perhaps it's just my enthusiasm for something new, but i get the feeling that people are missing out on the possibilities. it's like a new sport to me. i'd like to think there's possibility for a resurgence of alpine - perhaps in conjunction w/ an aging OG demographic. anyways, meandering ramble off...

did a night owl session tonight. decent carvable hardpack w/ a little ice. fun stuff. pretty quiet; saw one other unidentified hardbooter. my old option c165 is pretty much dead now (base delaming from edge). Paging Roy shortly... anyone else have any cheap beater boards kicking about?

don't think i'll be getting the new prior. too much coin even at the discounted price. i'm 'po, alas. riding the old option c165 is interesting to say the least; gets pretty sketchy when pushed - definitely emphasizes my suckyness. the prior was lots more forgiving. shorter radius (something like 10m) is kinda fun though.

first night session on thurs. decent carving conditions, surprisingly few people up. saw another hb'er briefly; couldn't id hardware. back on my vintage option due to broken prior - missing the new tech for sure. good to get out on the snow regardless; sure feeling rusty though...

try a upz 27? i've got similar foot sizing, and they're the bees knees. nice snug heel - no way it's going to lift. the uppers fit my svelte calves nicely as well.

sounds neat. are increasing radius boards therefore noticeably less 'poppy' at carve exits? i like a board w/ exit energy, and was looking at a newfangled multiradius shape (r12/14), but curious if it'd be less 'fun' for recreational carving.

now that's funny. sad but true. applies to bicycles as well (in equally horrid states of assembly).

this was my assumption of it's purpose - kinda like an overload leaf spring on a truck. in extreme circumstances when a conventional board would fold the nose, this would most likely save it, and hopefully, save the race run as well. perhaps there might be an opportunity to more optimally tune the flex characteristics of the board for carving / tracking performance (ie, a more 'supple' flex) if preventing the nose from folding is a lower priority.

yeah cypress. not a crazy crash at all; the nose just 'disappeared' during a standard frontside carve on groom & i went down. it was a wtf moment for sure. you know, if/when i get a new one i was thinking about a 173w flc - a bit more versatile, small hill friendly ride, methinks. my old freecarve thing is 21cm wide, and it feels like the sweet spot for my purposes.

3* rise on the front. re: the kessler - ouch! that's some pricey wall art. damn. curious if alpine boards could be built in a manner to reduce these types of failures (since this seems to be the common 'fuse') w/o negatively affecting flex characteristics too much. hmm...

broke my wcrm a couple weeks ago. crappily enough, it wasn't the result of a crash or stuffed nose - it just failed in a regular turn. i'm assuming there was previous accumulated fatigue of some sort, but i'm at a loss as to how / why / when, as it was a low mileage deck, w/ no 'traumatic' incidents. unfortunately out of warranty, though prior did offer a crash replacement discount on a new deck. still, i'm a bit put off. i've never broken a board in my two decades snowboarding, and my previous long term glass boards have seen much greater abuse, with no issues. are modern metal boards just that much more fragile? i assumed the teething issues of a couple years ago were over. back on my vintage option, alas. i did love the prior...

i'm eagerly awaiting the release of the $100 gromel plate.

tippie is a hardbooter? too rad! though i do seem to recall him being involved w/ competitive snowboard of some sort back in the pre fro days. schley as well, i thought...

"The additional weight enhances stability." haha - nice spin.

did my first day on my 2010 rc10's yesterday - i love these things! i've never had a more comfortable boot out of the box. fantastic heel hold w/o having to crank the buckles down, and a relatively roomy toe box. not a pressure point to be had. very nice.

hilarious. i'm on venables near templeton. howdy, neighbour!

i've got a snowboarder magazine from 1988 that's loaded w/ classic hardboot pics. damien on the cover + half a dozen full pages w/ a variety of riders. about 20 hb pics in total. surprising in retrospect. i should do some scanning, there's gold in this thing... heaps of fluorescent of course. sweet safari action: <a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v237/xy9ine/?action=view&current=photo.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v237/xy9ine/photo.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

indeed. i'd be all over that. great way to recycle dead old decks. though i can see a manufacturer reluctant to sell hardware only due to lack of implementation control leading to the possibility of poor performance, failure, etc. all sorts of fun liabilities. still... i'm assuming the donek hardware conversion kits don't have all the necessary bits for a diy plate (ie, there's some common hardware between the two mounting types). correct?