WinterGold

The ´more´ time means that the timing changes and you have more time to concentrate on your technique - correcting body position or pressure distribution, etc. Of course it depends on how much you push your board ... If you keep your 163 than the longer board is a no brainer.

173 with 12m sidecut is a very good allrounder! In comparison to your 163 it will be more stable at higher speeds and it will provide you with ´more´ time during your carved turn. 9m is very tight - such boards are fun to play around with. You will lose some of the agility and you will need a bit more space. But even 12m is not really a ´big´ radius, so the board will work in a wide variety of terrains. Personally I would not go for the 169 - neither fish nor flesh - but that is only personal taste ...

Ok, thank you very much. I guess this method would be exact for radial boards. For progressive sidecuts it gets even more complicated, right? Because you don´t know where exactly the radius changes ... But at least it would give you an idea of the measurements.

BlueB, as stated in my first post, all these specs are for the 2010 models! And F2 seems to have changed their shapes considerably (see nose ;)). The website is about the current 09 models. Kessler - the radii are from a Japanese website and for the new black ´production´ models (made by Nidecker ...). These are the 2010 models as well. So they also might have changed a bit ... Could you tell me how to measure the radius? I have wondered about that for quite a while.

I have updated the specs with taper and sidecut radius. Apex............163..253/199/243...10mm...10,7m....183..249/199/233...16mm...17m Kessler.........162..266/202/247...19mm...12m......185..250/202/232...18mm...18m Black Pearl....161..265/200/250...15mm...?..........185..248/200/233...15mm...19m SG...............163..260/203/240...20mm...11,8m....185..251/202/229...22mm...20,3m F2................163..261/201/245...16mm...12m......183..249/202/231...18mm...22m Does nobody have infos for other brands? Will Donek also have slalom boards for next season?

Just because you haven´t seen any Sense boards, doesn´t say much. Contact them and tell them what you want. I don´t know them, but having a shaper near you who can build the board especially for you is a big advantage. Virus - you have to contact them. Most boards are customs especially made according to rider´s wishes. SG or Black Pearl - I think you can´t go wrong with any of those, although you won´t get much feedback from the Black Pearls at the moment, because they are fairly new. It doesn´t get much better than SG at the moment in the race sector! Plates - I bet you will get interested sooner or later :D ...

Apex radii bigger? They are actually a bit smaller than from the other companies. GS (183) is 17m and SL (163) is 10,7m - but numbers aren´t telling the whole story, because they all use multi-radii sidecuts! See the thread ´20m SCR´. Apex are actually a bit cheaper than most of the other brands, BUT you have to buy them together with their plate. So it depends whether you want to use a plate ... their plate system looks extremely nice! Black Pearl - just send them an email. Of course you can order them. They are around 850€ ... By the way Zanci - Sense Snowboards are from your country! I don´t know much about them, but they have a rider in the Worldcup!

I bet that Pogo and Nidecker make great boards qualitywise, but if you have followed some discussions here on the forum then you should know a bit about ´newschool´ vs. ´oldschool´ shapes. A ´newschool´ shape often features metal construction (2 layers), decambered nose (and tail), progressive sidecuts (different radii blended together, often bigger radii) and some taper. That is state of the art at the moment. Nidecker only offers classic ´oldschool´ shapes. There is only a metal surface on the alpine boards. Pogo also just offers ´oldschool´ shapes afaik. American brands are already discussed in this thread. European brands (with ´newschool´ boards) - SG Apex Kessler (the new ´production´ models are supposed to be made in the Nidecker factory!) Black Pearl Oxess And maybe also Virus for 2010 (I don´t have much info there ...). (Of course there are other brands, but they are rather small and often don´t really offer ´newschool´ shapes - Tomahawk, Rabanser, Sense, etc.) It depends on what you are looking for ...

Sorry, maybe I have expressed myself in a wrong way. I couldn´t find any Virus boards under the feet of top World Cup riders. But maybe next year ... ;)

Ok, let´s see - for the GS models - Apex - 16mm Kessler - 18mm Black Pearl - 15mm SG - 22mm Donek - 21mm F2 - 18mm :D

Taper is just the difference between nose width and tail width. So it is easy to see from the numbers. But if you want to, I can make a list :) ...

Ok, thanks anyway. Will be interesting to see, if they are on par with the other big raceboards companies next year ...

Thank you for that ´up to date´ info! And your numbers are also pretty close to the other manufactures. But I guess that the way a course is set somehow defines the dimensions of the board. Oxess anyone?

That´s exactly what I thought! And about the SL shapes. What can one read out of the differences?

I´ve been gathering information about the 2010 models of various brands. These are only the men´s GS and SL lengths. Maybe some of you find it interesting to compare them directly ... The Kessler specs are from the black ´production´ model. brand........length......n/w/t.........length....n/w/t Apex............163..253/199/243.....183..249/199/233 Kessler.........162..266/202/247.....185..250/202/232 Black Pearl....161..265/200/250.....185..248/200/233 SG...............163..260/203/240.....185..251/202/229 F2................163..261/201/245.....183..249/202/231 I couldn´t find the specs of the new white Oxess boards. Maybe someone can add them. That would be interesting. Or information about other boards - Donek (as soon as they are ready ;)), Virus, etc.

@bola: I already asked in the other thread. Can you give some information on the Virus boards? What lengths? Nose/waist/tail? Construction?

The real questions are - How good are the boards? And how well does the plate work? Because the 2010 models are titanal boards. They are also pretty successful on the race course and not only is the plate cheaper than other systems, but the boards are also cheaper than other metal raceboards. The combination is about 1/3 cheaper than from other brands. And they also do some customisations (like the flex), which are included in the price. I have no first hand experience, but it seems pretty intriguing.

I contacted the builder of the Apex boards. The Flex-Plate does require special inserts and is only sold together with the boards at the moment. But the plate costs less than half the price of a Vist and I think it looks pretty interesting.

I suspect that there are special inserts involved :(, but hopefully I can tell you more soon ...

Bernd Wallner and Hans-Peter Maier from Salzburg started the company in 2005, I think. At first they were specialized in making custom boards. With the help of Mario Fuchs and Doresia Krings (excellent BX riders) they started developing BX boards and later also alpine boards. You can still order custom boards for all different aspects of the sport or get one of their production models.

You could have just looked at my first post in this thread ;). I find it interesting that some brands are hardly mentioned in this forum. Apex boards seem to be up to date and the Flex-Plate (which I have already mentioned in the HFP thread) seems to be an interesting system - it floats on the board and seems to be very light and easy to assemble ... but I haven´t really used it yet ... maybe something for the next season as well ... :D By the way, here are the 2010 models of Apex - the Pro+ BX board also looks really nice! http://apexsnowboards.kr/wordblog/?page_id=186

I bet that SG and Kessler boards are an amazing ride and I ordered some SGs for myself for next season. But talking about dominating in the race courses what about certain other brands? What kind of board is the BX champ riding? What brand is the women´s overall champion using? Maybe Kessler started the thing, but I think right now there are more than these two brands which can provide a competitive board.

Wow, this Kessler is like a dream board for me - 185cm, 20,5cm, approx. 16m - it can´t get any better ... ;) Because of the boards you have chosen I already guessed what you are trying to do and my comment at this point was rather a joke, but nevertheless it would be cool to have some other contenders involved ... :D ... maybe the season after the next ...

And I thought it is not about the money, but the truth, nothing but the truth (Companies should appreciate our help more ... ;))

That´s a cool stick ... Specs? (You should also have an SG in your reviews. And a Black Pearl ... and one of the new white Oxess ... maybe an Apex or even a Sense :D)