AK in PA

I've never had much of a quiver. But, my everyday board is a 182 Coiler NSR2. I still break out my 178 Oxygen Proton, though. I sold my other alpine boards and only ride my softie setup when I take the kids sledding. (Give them a push, strap in, and follow them down.)

My wife and I being huge DMB fans, just think Carter is the best ever. He's complex and flies through the drums, all the while smiling and laughing his ass off, and blowing bubbles. He's incredible and clearly loves what he does. To see him live, he blows you away. You gotta love him. Our son is named after him.

Ahhh, bought a barely used 182 NSRII in the fall. Fell in love with it on the 1st day of riding. Holds an edge so well, that I routinely "hip-out" in the snow (akin to boot out). So far, it's the only board I've owned that I can carve virtually hip to snow and chatter free on cat-tracked, see yourself in the mirror ice. I can't believe it holds an edge so well, even when I'm "on" that stuff. I'm not so sure that there's not a mini pair of Stihl chainsaws built into the edges! Haha! I've made it my every day board for our local east coast, 600' vert hill. The board I bought was actually built for someone 40-45 lbs lighter than me. IMO, that makes for a great freecarve board on blues. But carving blacks, it starts to get chattery. (Tempted to order a stiffer one for my weight new for that reason.) The decambered nose makes it a dream to maneuver and skid turns on the flats, too. Much easier to steer at slower speeds than my 178 Oxygen Proton, which feels like a 2x8 unless carving. While that ice slicing ability is fantastic, I wish it did have more pop between turns. For that reason alone, I still ride my Proton intermittently. Reputed as damp, the Proton still has more lively pop between turns than the NSR. But the Proton doesn't have near the edge hold, nor can I get as low as with the NSR. Just finished up the season last weekend, splitting my time between both boards. Thin corn over thawing ice, with random bare ice mixed in between. Coiler handled it all like a dream. Too easy almost. Proton made me work more, chattered alot more, couldn't get as low, and found myself laying my hand down not in deft touch, but to stay on my feet. But it offered some pleasant, lively and aggessive pop in the transitions. The NSR seems to have alot of setback relative to other boards. I wonder if shifting the bindings forward slightly would allow it to turn tighter on hard stuff and maybe boost that pop. I should play with that next season. Trouble is I'm more of a set it and forget it type. Besides the regular, "What the h*** is that thing?", questions in the lift line, I had a skiier kind of entralled by my NSR the other weekend. He apparently tried to follow my line and caught up with me on the lift, asking "How do you carve like that? I just couldn't follow you!" (This to Joe Average hardbooter ?!?!) Some stuff from this season... <embed width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://img.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v81/AKinPA/Winter/9026320c.flv">

Should you be scared? Naaaa. Just shut up, step in, and hold on....:eplus2: You'll know your gettin' it when the phrase, "Holy ****!" starts to reverberate through your skull. :1luvu:

Has a real utilitarian look. Monsta's a fitting name, especially given the size. I agree that it does look like a battering ram. Kinda cool, though, and I like it. Could add some silver POLICE letters running down one of the black stripes to build on that look. Toss some piezoelectric red lights in the sidewalls and you're set! Just a general question on the metal construction, if Bruce or another builder catches this. Has anyone considered trimming the metal width just slightly to confine it entirely within the board? What I envision is a narrow (1/4"-5/16") strip of hard maple or other durable material running just under the topsheet all the way around the board, exposed at the sidewalls, with the metal layer completely protected inside. I would think that might do wonders for dings and board life. I love my NSR, but it seems every time I come home, I find another spot along the edge where an innocuous bump in the lift line caused the metal to dent/lift along the edge. The metal in the toeside edge along my back binding even has pieces of red plastic caught in it from my own boot. (All minor stuff so far, but none the less concerning.)

Ray gets my vote for Board Bling King with his Cyborg. Having the pleasure of watching them many weekends, Neil and his Kessler race crew get my vote for creating the coolest lift chair carving scene. I'm just having a ton of fun on my 182 NSR-II. Mind boggling edge hold.

That's what happens when you try to take a leak from the lift, but have 3-inches of clothes and only 2-inches of d!ck... :lol:

Bling-broke? :(

I'm 190#+/- and have 2 Protons, a 178 (14m s.c.) and 185 (16 m s.c.). I like both alot. They ride best with a very weight forward, aggressive style. Throw your weight towards the nose, and I think you may see a difference. (I've never ridden a board with a convex base though.) At very slow carving speeds, they're not much fun, much like riding a 2x6. Skidding turns (especially) on gentle slopes is nothing short of a chore, particularly with the 185. (Though bouncing thru bumps is OK.) But, ramp them up, get some speed, get aggressive, and they come alive! IMO, they have a good bit of pop edge-edge when you get them going, which you might not expect from their fairly chatterless carve. There's a magic speed at which this seems to happen. My 178 is the maroon w/ silver edge stripe and fireball nose model. My 185 is blue w/ dots, (older model I believe) and is a little softer. The 178 is a slightly tighter turning ride, especially on ice, and is more lively. The 185 is more damp, and MUCH more stable in choppy conditions. It's a great spring / wet conditions board. Cuts across ruts and chop like they're not there. Both, however, can be "hooky", and not want to release out of a carve. Sure bet almost, if you're too low and too slow. This year I bought a newer, but used, 182 Coiler metal NSR. I've compared the 178 Proton on back-back runs against it. The Proton is a great east coast ride. The NSR is the ultimate in dampness, though. NO chatter and holds an edge better for hip to the snow carves. Unreal, really. It seems to like a more centered stance. But it has almost no pop, excepting the more straight down the fall line / slalom edge changes. The Coiler has become my everyday go-to board. It may replace my 185 Proton for crud, too. But I'm not about to give up my 178 Proton. Still lots of poppy fun on good snow.

Yeah, I know they're ugly. But switching between boards last weekend, one with and one without, I decided to get one for the new stick. The one "with" just made life easier sliding off the lifts and navigating over to the top of the runs. I like the functionality of my spikey Dakine. It's clear, but a little clunky looking. But I see they make the individual spikey stickies, too. Barely noticeable and not at all obnoxious. I wonder if they'd actually stay put though. Not alot of surface meat to hold them. And do they provide enough boot grab to be worthwhile? I'm leaning towards functional clunk at the moment. What do you guys like?

Hotbeans, Yes, bow...arrows. Kinda my thing, even beyond (gasp!) snowboarding. I'm in "deerly" depleted / orange hat in every tree, 5B.

Nice bucks guys. I wasn't able to find a legal buck this season, but I did manage to kill a couple of does in archery season. Both taken with an osage selfbow and ash arrow. Both quartering away shots. I don't have much interest hunting in our current gun season, though I may take my flintlock out once the intial crowds of orange hats dies down.

Almost never on my UPZs, unless they're unusually wet "and" I plan to ride the next day.

I used to ride the old Burton cant until I upgraded to TD2s a few years ago. Bought the first set with 3/3 cants. Then I bought a used set with 0/6 cants. I found I was more stable and rode better with a flat front foot, though the rear cant was a bit much. So I recently traded a cant to have both pairs match at 0F / 3R. Should have it nailed now.

Barring rare occassion on the slope, I reserve my soft setup for the local sled hill when we get actual, real snow and take a family jaunt to the park. Give the kids a push down the hill on their sled, board down behind them, lug it all back up, usually with the kids still in the sled. Do that a few times and then pant, "Honey, you're turn..."