Emdee406

Thanks for your comments...maybe next year’s Sundance! I had intended the board to fill a specific gap in my quiver, as a soft boot on-piste carver, that I could do the odd BX race on. Off piste? I guess it depends on what terrain your powder is in. My mountain has a lot of steep, tight trees, and for that I already have a very able board...the mid-wide Yes Optimistic. My BXFR is on the stiffer side, and although very maneuverable for a big, wide board (with great float), I wouldn’t ride it in tight trees, it would just keep accelerating! Wide open powder, it would work. The nose is quite low, but Bruce can change that to make it more pow-friendly. On groomers? It rules. Super stable at high speed combined with tenacious grip on all snow. I would suggest a softer flex pattern if you wanted it to be a little more versatile. My final dimensions were: Length 160 waist 27 sidecut 8/10/9 Running length around 135 Slight early rise at nose contact point, tail too (for switch carving ease). Nose and tail shape - like Coiler Slice Top sheet finish - Carbonium Base Graphite Camber low Flex - medium stiff (I weigh 170lbs), nose softer than tail, with the tail the stiffest part for acceleration.(More like a slalom board) I hope that helps.

Hi @Grip, I’m definitely off work and around until the 15th (vacation), but I won’t know about after that until I get my March schedule, on the 16th February.

Talon? Beautiful

Last winter, I got to test an amazing soft boot carver... the Coiler BXFR 160, a free carve version of their Boardercross model. It was built to my personal specifications by Bruce Varsava. @Jack M pointed out that I hadn’t posted the review where it should actually be...sorry for the delay, better late than never. Here’s my review.

The sketchiest part? Showing the plate bindings with a soft boot in them, with the toe clip on the heel! I’m tempted to say I’m interested, but would first like to see video of someone riding it as advertised...

Very cool...what were you flying ?

I’ll be interested to hear what the resort is like. I’m headed there for the first time in early March for a BX race, and am getting excited about being there for a week! It’ll be my first taste of Canadian snow too! Have fun!

@TimW When I say ‘accidentally’, a friend and I were on a deliberate speed run, on a long steep perfectly groomed empty black run at Canyons resort, in a full tuck. We rolled over a knoll, to find that it was not groomed. We would have slowed down, but were already going too fast to, without risking falling. We stayed with it, and accelerated unintentionally to our top speed, hence the ‘accidental’ aspect. Foolish? Perhaps. Fun? Absolutely! I often snowboard with high level ski racers and have done the KL (Kilometer Lanceé) speed run at Les Arcs, where members of the public pay for a days training, to log high speeds on specialized speed skis. I recorded 89mph on this specially prepared piste, (on skis) and was nowhere near the fastest people, however my point is, that I do know what high speed feels like. I was also British Downhill Skateboard Speed Champion in my youth, clocking over 60mph at the Brands Hatch Motor Racing Course. You’re absolutely right, it does take commitment to hit 60+, but I’ve been taking part in high speed gravity sports my whole life. Slalom and Downhill skateboarding, skiing, and snowboarding up to World Cup level (GS & SL), and I’m comfortable with it. I think over the years, as my experience increases, so does my confidence in my abilities, and my awareness of what I’m capable of handling (that speed run was DEFINITELY the upper limit). I do spend most of my soft boot time riding with 20-something year old SBX racers and fellow instructors/trainers, so I generally do ride fast as a matter of course. There are people on this site who have ridden with me, they may be able to better inform you. @Corey the app is called Ski Tracks, currently the most popular ski speed tracking app on the App Store. Steve Wilson designed it, he’s a former snowboard student of mine, and the guy who introduced me to my wife! If you contact him, I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to explain the workings of his app. https://www.corecoders.com/contact-us/ This is from his site: “Ski Track Accuracy How accurate is Ski Tracks? Each version of Ski Tracks we try to improve both the GPS processing, ski algorithms and filtering techniques. We also calibrate our software for different iPhone types to improve the final results. The processing, algorithms and filtering systems provide a degree of accuracy that works best for mountain users. Generally for mountain users Ski Tracks provides accurate results given GPS and the environmental factors that the phone is working in. Generally most Ski data is accurate to around 5-10%. Plots and graphs use filtering techniques to improve the user experience so these can vary in accuracy over the plot but generally altitude is 5-10% and speed is 10-15%. These figures are based on our test data and cannot not be guaranteed as many other factors can cause accuracy issues. For more information please checkout the user guide available on our web site.”

On my Coiler BXFR 160 (in a soft boot set up), I’ve had more confidence than any other board I’ve previously owned, though I haven’t ridden my newly acquired SG174 yet... it cruises quite happily at 40+, feels really stable at 50...but at an accidentally occurring 73 mph, I thought I was going to my !

Darren is part of the British Armed Forces Disabled Snowsports Team. I met some of them while working a recent flight, and they’ve asked if I have any spare time to help coach their SBX Team. I’m trying to see if I can, it would be great to work with guys like these. I’ve already coached the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Snowboard Team, and these guys have such great spirit.

Rudy & co, it was great fun getting to ride with you guys in PC. I enjoyed taking you to my powder stashes! Awesome riders!

It was great running into you and your son today, although briefly. Hope you had fun, your son was looking great on his little Factory Prime! I’m actually working 3 of the next 4 days on the mountain, and working some flights on Friday. I’ll keep an eye out for you, I’ve sent you my email so we might be able to meet up another time. Couple of good pow days coming up!

@jng good to know! Heres an insider weather forecast for you!

Absolutely horrendous! They should be ashamed of themselves, what a disgraceful way to run a business. Glad it’s sorted now, looking forward to making some turns with you in January...things should have quietened down in PC by then.

I’ll keep an eye out... I’m pretty easy to spot, as the only black instructor on the upper mountain I’ll be in the blue uniform, Monster sticker on a black helmet, riding either a ‘Monster-graphic’ Never Summer Proto or a black Coiler BXFR (less likely)...and if I’m turning, I’m carving! I’ve got a regular client for the next few days, so I’ll be blasting around both resorts, but he’s got a slower girlfriend on skis this year, in tow. The Canyons is much quieter, and she’s never been, so we might be over there quite a bit. Happy New Year, if I don’t see you!

It’s been posted before, but worth posting again!

If you get the chance, have a look at a Yes Optimistic...fabulous in trees!

I was up yesterday, it was dumping, but it’s supposed to calm down and stay reasonably cold. They will blow snow at night. The coverage is pretty good now, most runs are open...I wouldn’t go into the trees just yet though It’ll be great for carving!

I’ll be riding at that time, but in soft boots, as I’ll be teaching some regular clients. I’m easy to spot, I’m one of 2 black instructors on the hill, the other one will not be carving much. Suggested runs? The Canyons area will be quieter, runs off Super Condor Lift especially. Jonesy’s and Assesment on the PC side, and Prospector...if you want to show off. Sunnyside when groomed is great too. Hopefully I’ll see you, what will you be riding?

Wait a minute... this looks a tad fishy. Now that I see the Never Summer Swift there, maybe Korua are NOT having their boards made there, and they’re just being copied, because obviously the NS boards are made in Colorado! Looks to me like, not only are they copying the boards, they’re actually using original photos, because I’m pretty sure there’s no way they are making Korua Split boards! Someone needs to let the Korua and Never Summer people know what’s going on!

Wow! Those are IDENTICAL to the Koruas! The graphics are in exactly the same place, and the black one’s look just like their Plus range. It makes sense that they’d be made as inexpensive yet as possible, it’s a company started by a handful of former mid-level sponsored riders, so I guess they didn’t have a huge amount of capital to start with perhaps construction (particularly for their carve-specific models) will get better over time. In retrospect if I was to buy one again, I’d only go for one meant for powder, rather than their carving sticks, they’d be great for that. If you could someone who was using state-of-the-art construction, to make something the beautiful shape of their larger Café Racer, it would be awesome!

I bought a Café Racer a couple of seasons ago, and was sadly disappointed. My background is 34 years of riding, BASI Full Cert, raced up to World Cup level, National titles in SL, GS, and SBX Taught for 30yrs, trained instructors for 25. It performed fairly well on perfectly smooth, well groomed pistes of perfect snow. However, if it was at all uneven or slightly rough, it’s lack of torsional stiffness let it down. It also made that weird ‘glassy’ sound when placed tail down, on a hard surface. I weighed about 180lbs back then and felt that it was too small with not enough edge, for the speeds that I wanted to ride at. At that time it was only made in one size. They definitely needed a bigger option, and in their ‘Plus’ construction, it should give better performance The finish was just ok, it didn’t scream quality at you. Their marketing makes them look a lot better than they are, and I think they’re very careful what terrain and snow quality they use, when they film. The shape is great, and with a decent build, it would be amazing, but alas... After riding it 3 times, I sold it on. I put the money into a Coiler BXFR 160, and haven’t looked back.

I owned a Korua Café Racer for a while...nice board, but pretty low end construction. Not a patch on Coilers and Doneks. Great marketing though!

Bruce steered me away from the asym concept too, when I ordered my BXFR 160. And it’s my all time favorite soft boot carver now!

Canyons is always quieter! Let me know if you’re headed back sometime!