bigwavedave

What Buell carefully states about comparing "stock" Kesslers is important as there are a lot of custom Kesslers out there, so if you're shopping the used market you want to verify that that it;s made for someone similar to you. I don't think there are any custom SG's. Likley most Donek Revs are custom. I had the opposite experience of Buell where I had a 163SG that I loved and it could do anything well. I also had 2 different 162 Kesslers that were custom made for lighter (but strong) racers, but didn't work well for heavier me. A stock one likely would have worked well. That being said, if I were to pick a SL sized Kessler for riding in western mountains, it would be the 168. I only rode one once, but the specs for a stock one show that it's pretty turny and made for a full sized rider. And, since there are far less of them out there, you're less likely to come across a customized one. The 157 SG (and the stock 156 Kessler) are the "women's" boards (lighter, smaller rider), but many women racers ride the 162 Kessler for it's wider range sidecut, but customized for their weight.

Spectacular drone footage of 65' "windsurfers" surfing the southern ocean somewhere near nowhere, otherwise known as Point Nemo...

"tweener" was not my term, hence the quotation marks. You have essentially agreed with me in the above post. I have owned and ridden them all too and spent enough time with WC/FIS racers to know. Just saying that the K168 has a place in their race line-up and yes , if you had to choose a Kessler for an average adult male recreational rider the 168 or 180 would be okay. After owning and riding several off-the-shelf Kesslers, SG, Rev and Oxess, I found I prefer a race build with a "recreational" side cut for all day riding. It's so easy and less expensive to get a custom build from one our "local" builders. That would be my recommendation for the O.P. who seems to be struggling with getting his carve on. I don't think a Kessler is the answer.

If you look at the specs for the 3 most popular European "off-the-shelf" race boards, they each have a "large" (or "tweener"?) SL board in their race line-up-- Kessler (168), SG (163xt) and Oxess (164). Oxess and SG also have a recreational carving line, Kessler does not. Each race line-up has wider waist boards (~20cm range) for for bigger feet, bigger stronger riders (often referred to as the "men's race board) and boards with a narrower waist (~19cm range) for smaller feet, smaller rider (often referred to as the "women's board"). While the K168 is a nice size for a recreational carver, it still has a racy variable sidecut of 8-12m that will not want to complete turns as easily as a narrower range side cut. If you are still working on perfecting your carved turns you might be better off getting a custom board made for your weight and preferred width and sidecut. A custom board from Thirst, Coiler or Donek will cost about half as much as a new Kessler. Kessler 168's are rare on the used market.

If you're just looking for a board sleeve that will fit long boards, and not necessarily the Bomber logo, Thirst has some for sale here...

Thanks Neil. That was at SES a few years ago (Highlands?) and the photo credit (I think) goes to @Riceball A big thanks to him for many high quality photos.

SG boards: https://www.sgsnowboards.com/snowboards/ FC=full carve (glass, no metal) FRT=Full Race Titan (titanal, aluminum alloy) FRT ProTeam essentially same as FRT, with different graphics and price. I notice you have a Coiler NFCB. I had one and thought it was about the easiest ride I've ever been on. Based on Bruce's all-mountain design, it's great on a variety of conditions from ice to soft snow. The race boards you're comparing here have a flex pattern that give you more acceleration through turns. Definitely a more exiting ride.

Bending it through the years...Kessler 180, Donek Incline180, Rev180, Rev 175 Guess I'll need to work on my toe sides now

Vibranium! Pretty sure...

"Gulf" paraffin canning wax-$5.00 for 1 lb (four blocks), each block the same size as a $10-$20 block of Swix--and it's softer and actually works as well or better in warm wet snow. Ask @BlueB

The SG Full carve line up is marketed as their "recreational" carvers, likely with a more radial side cut, as opposed to Full Race Titan. I have only owned and ridden the 163 Full Race Titan and have no experience with the Full Carves (so I'm just guessing based on the specs), but the Full Race Titan line-up also has a similar anomalous SLsize called the 163xt and might be the equivalent of the anomalous Kessler 168. I would agree that out of the Kessler line-up, the 168 is the closest to a medium-sized-resort recreational ride , but I wouldn't recommend it for the O.P. for the reasons I stated in my first post in this thread.

Works better in my experience and at a fraction of the price. I rarely hot wax with an iron during the season, mostly touching up the edges by rubbing it on. Read my 1st post. I just loosen the screws, I don't see the need to completely disassemble the bindings.

Do they make their own shims? they also have quite a bit of forward lean on the boot as well. But many racers ride flat at the front from what I noticed. My first bindings were F2's with a RadAir label. Made my own shims out of tropical hardwood, but I think one could also use some kind of plastic material. I cut to the rough shape and thickness and used a belt sander to fine tune cant and slant. Actually much better than the level shims that come with the bindings as you can make the toe and heel blocks line up in the same plane (like you get with your plate on top of TD3 cant ring) so you end up with a much better contact between boots and blocks. I did the same when I had SnowPros. The pain is you have to have exactly the right length screw for each hole in each block, so I got a bag of long SS bolts and cut to size for each block.

I've never had rust under the wax, I think it protects. Seems like a lot of extra work to completely remove the bindings.

Thought I'd revive this thread as I have been putting my boards to bed for the summer and just to relate a couple of things that have worked for me. I started using straight paraffin "canning" wax for storage wax. It' super cheap, and so soft it really seems to go deep into the base. I've been using it for a couple of years now and it seems like I've even needed less alpine glide wax during the regular season. It's also a pretty decent glide wax for warm/wet snow. The other thing is loosening the binding screws before placing a waxing iron on the base. This was a tip Sean Martin told me to prevent "base suck", and I think that leaving the screws loose during storage also helps, especially if it gets warm or hot where you store your boards. Since I've been doing this I've had little or no detectable base suck. You just have to remember to re-tighten them before you hop on that board next season!

When comparing stock Kesslers, the boards with the ~19cm waists have a flex and scr for smaller/lighter riders, often referred to as "women's boards". The waist widths in ~20cm range are the men's boards, made for heavier/stronger/larger riders. SCR's are designed for navigating either a SL or GS course.

...agree, and the 168 maybe for a more open SL course. I have owned a 180 and 162 and have demoed a 171 and 168. While the 168 is a nice all-around recreational size for an adult male rider (as is the 180), it's still a race board that will always want to go faster. In order to complete turns across the hill it has to be driven rather than ridden.

For soft and deep powder: Burton Fish, 25.8cm waist, Head/Blax step-in bindings (similar to F2) and softer hardboots than I use for carving for increased flexibility and softer input to the board. 50° front/35° rear ½" front toe lift / ¾" rear heel lift with inward cant (feels similar to 3° cant discs) Compared to my carving stick setup, a 1" wider stance and splay increased from 5° to 15°. Trial and error and tweaking on the hill got me to what feels comfortable. Seems pretty close to what many here are riding. I only get into deep powder about once or twice a year, so stance may still be evolving. I used a similar stance on a 24.5cm waist Nomad and a 3800 in the past. For baby pow (up to about 8-9") over groom, I'll ride 20.5-23.5cm waist carving sticks with steeper angles that get my heel and toe near the edge of the board.

Some tracks from last weekend at Indianhead, upper Peninsula Michigan…

Surprise! Wild mountain was open today. Had a little left in the tank from yesterday, so I went out this morning. Firm enough to use the carving stick.

...and they're grooming?! How early will they start for the ski team? They might let anyone on early...part of the alpine snowboard team!

What were you riding today?

I'm thinking Buck tomorrow. They don't open til noon though, so I might arrive early and hike up if they don't groom it all in. I noticed on the webcam that the main lift wasn't running today (wind?), and the baby chair closed early. Forecast for another 4-8" overnight on top of the 8" today. The way it's coming down I wouldn't be surprised if it adds up to more!

Don't look now, but there's a big blue blob on the radar just to the west of us. This could be fun! Thinking Wild or Buck Sunday?

When I used to race snowboards (USASA), I used to complain about the lack of courses with across-the-hill turns. It was argued that those courses will become unrideable much quicker than a course where you are briefly carving edge to edge. Ever wonder why there are no racers hanging out on this forum, other than to sell some equipment? And by racers I don't mean recreational NASTAR or USASA level. Chris Klug lives in Aspen. How often did he come and ride at the Expression Sessions held every year in his hometown? Racers have a different mindset. In addition to loving the carved turn, they are also addicted to speed, competition, and navigating a race course, so free-carving takes a backseat once someone gets serious about racing. Sigi and Jasey Jay are exceptions. I've been to many FIS (NorAm) and World Cup races and it was rare to see racers taking a run for fun doing big round turns. JaseyJay was the only rider I saw doing big, laid out, round turns on the hill next to the racecourse in between races, coming to the bottom with a big smile on his face. It seems most racers at the "pro" level prefer going fast to making big turns that slow you down.