Jack M

Sean, 10 to 20? That's part of my point... board builders have had to go back to square one and scrap all existing designs and tooling if they want to chase Kessler... why? After riding a "K-type" shape last year I was struck by how cleanly the board seemed to "slice" through the snow, and the resulting edge hold and less speed loss. I believe this is due to both the decambered nose, and the blended sidecut (~14m nose, 17m tail). I think these help the board make a more natural, radial arc. Bryan's closeup picture in this thread is perfect evidence of a traditional board plowing the nose and kinking in the middle. Notice how the nose is causing the front of the board to bend up abruptly while the tail remains practically straight. I was thinking about the blended radii tapered race boards and I'm wondering if part of the reason they do so well is that when the rider is in the middle and end of the turn with weight mostly on the back foot, the tail of the board decambers more than the nose. Therefore a shorter raidus in the front of the board would make sense. This also jives with how these boards don't need to be ridden so aggressively forward at turn initiation. Also, aren't the racers saying they like using Vist etc plates partly because they reduce twist between the feet? This would make me think there aren't many benefits to pedaling.

Huge loss. Just terrible.

You know how I know you're Canadian? DH... after watching Bordy nearly straightline some black diamonds at Sugarloaf ECES 06, I'm not sure why we couldn't at least have Super-G.

Another natural option is Valerian Root.

Sure about that? Considering that a conventional radial sidecut board does not take on a radial shape when decambered, it stands to reason that some <i>other</i> shape, or shapes, <i>does</i> become radial when decambered. Or when decambered by being pressured unevenly..... hmmmmm.....

Erik J, you are banned from this site for the next 5 minutes. ;)

Well of course. But then you're only using a much shorter portion of the board, often half or less. Not the best idea on ice. On good snow, sure. Only if one doesn't know how to angulate.

you're over-thinking it. the answers are simple. for example: in order to carve a radial arc, ideally the board should assume the shape of.... a radial arc!

AFAIK he is an engineer for a company that is a vendor to the military. Or he works for the military directly. I forget which, but either way it's been like that for many years.

five easy questions: What is the ideal shape a board should assume in order to carve a radial arc (a section of a circle)? Should the board have a consistent edge angle down the entire length of the board while carving? What will happen to the board if you apply twisting and/or bending forces to it with your legs? What shape and edge angle(s) will the board assume if you do this? How is this good for optimizing edge hold on hard conditions? I believe the HFP and similar systems are designed to help the board assume the ideal shape for carving, as well as provide suspension/dampening.

I would say it is no more boring to watch than ski racing, or bobsled, biathalon, short-track speed skating, curling, or any other fringe sport that as far as 99.9% of people know only happens once every 4 years. Unfortunately I think sports like these are marketable primarily to people who participate in them, and then also during the Olympics. So again that leaves alpine with relatively no interest. They tried making snowboard racing interesting with Boardercross and Super-Y, but even those have had limited success. People who want to prove they're one of the fastest snowboarders in the world are simply going to have to pay through the nose to do so.

Since it's much harder to prove a negative, I'd like to ask you to prove it's beneficial... what does changing the shape of the board <i>only between your feet</i> do for you, and how? That's Sir Vice Administrator Jack to you! ;)

You can get away with it on softer snow. However on hard snow and ice where you're looking to conserve every bit of edge hold you can get, it's not adviseable.

Wait... are we going to have anyone at 2010?

Angrry is VSR too...

Looks like this review will also include Vist vs. HFP... stay tuned!

Geoff and I have decided that the 2010 ECES will be a fundraiser for at least one US World Cup/Olympic racer. All proceeds from the ECES will be donated. It might only cover one airplane ticket, but we feel it's a good purpose for the event. Thanks Bordy for the heads up, and thanks Phil for offering to channel donations. We'll be in touch.

Ha, my pleasure! Although I'm not going to be ranking them winner to loser. I think I'll concentrate more on how close (or better?) they are to the Big K and how usable they are and how much of a value they represent to the freecarver.

You might, if you want to do power wheelies and drag race Corvettes. My bike makes 50hp. It would be nice if it made 75. But the only place I ever think it *needs* more power is on the track when I'm trying to hang with friends on their 600s etc. How does the 696 stack up against the 800? IIRC you're a big dude (?), that might make more sense.

Because racing doesn't sell snowboards? Or Mountain Dew? But then again, what does Bobsled sell? Sounds like a grassroots effort is in order. How can we donate directly to the individual racers?

hope so! measuring with a tape measure and converting to metric gives me: 25.87cm, 20.55cm, 23.97cm at the widest/narrowest points. So I guess 19mm taper, but I could be off a little. I hope this is the case I'll report back. Good to know. I can understand the need for backup equipment, which I have to have for my side job as a photographer. Well we got lots o' that here! I guess I would be considered a middle-weight at 180 (should be 175 :rolleyes:)

Oh well, I'm pretty careful/gentle with my boards. Good, sounds like the ride isn't significantly affected. True, but I wanted a new race stock board built for me. That's what I asked Bola for, of course I have no way of verifying if that's what I got. Well I dunno, the form asked for a radius, so I put one in. I also stressed to Bola many times that I want whatever is on the feet of World Cup PGS racers. I've measured the tip and tail widths and the board has a 20mm taper, so hopefully I got the real KST PGS sidecut. I also asked for inserts for Vist, so I'm not sure what happened there. Someone suggested that they might be in the board but not drilled out, haven't heard back from Bola yet.

That's an option I was given, and was told that the topsheet adds some dampness and weight to the board, so I opted for the classic Kessler metal look.

Clearly.... the Virus online store is non-functional. I just tried to start an order and couldn't. And I'm no interweb dummy. If I was buying a Virus I'd want to start the order online so that it gets their attention and becomes a traceable transaction. Nowadays email is spotty at best - if your email makes it through the spam filters, it still might get buried in inbox limbo within hours. And calling across 6+ time zones is a hassle. But I know, if you <i>want</i> a Virus, you work around these things. My only point is that it's easier for North Americans to deal with NA manufacturers. The real breaking point is the price. A 50-100% premium is major. Hehehe... perhaps. True, and 90% was just a guess. But Obama says I'm filthy rich so if the idea of a $1500 snowboard makes me swallow hard, I have to assume it does for most people here too!

Well, "accessible" means many things here. 1, being able to just go to a website and order it in English in the case of Donek and Prior; 2, not having to pay for shipping across the Atlantic (whether that's additional or rolled into the price) and any additional EU fees; and 3, the biggie, not having to pay $1500+. Coilers are about half that money, and Donek and Prior two thirds and I think that's about the limit for 90% of us. I'm 35 and until just this year a $1500 board would simply be out of the question. Even now it's still a stretch. No knock against the well known quality of Virus or SG or Black Pearl or anyone, but I have to draw the line somewhere.