Opinions -Burton Triumph 173

[boarderboy]

Any thoughts or experience with Burton Triumph? Think it's in the lineage of the Supermodel and the Canyon?

'07 lacks last year's carbon and is $50 cheaper, leading me to think it's made offshore.

I'm a near-60-yr-old recreational carver, 6' 220lb. Now use Scarpa randonee boots on a longish Alp. Looking for a powder/piste longboard for hard and soft boots. Considering the Triumph 173.

Any thoughts appreciated.

[Jack M]

With all the great all-mountain offerings from Alpine-loyal boutique companies like Donek, Prior, Coiler, Madd, etc, the only reason left to consider a Burton is if you happen to find a sweet price on one that is in stock and ready to be picked up or shipped now.

Otherwise, check out (in no particular order) the Donek Axxess, Prior 4WD (4x4), Prior ATV, Coiler All-Mountain, Madd BX. All excel at riding all terrain with hardboots.

[D-Sub]

a LOT Of people ride Rad-Air Tankers with hardboots. 172, 182, 192, 200.

somewhat narrower waist, sposed to do it all quite well. Maybe you oughta take a look

there's a huge burton bias here, and I kinda agree. Smaller companies do more to earn your support, and many make some damn fine product

[Phil]

Looking for a powder/piste longboard for hard and soft boots.

Disclaimer: I have not ridden the Triumph 173. I have friends who have and really like it.

I don't know about the differences from last year to this.

It is pretty wide, but I guess you know that. From what I understand, it is pretty soft torsionally, so you have to know if you like that flavor of board. It has a progressive sidecut and 3/4 cm of taper.

It seems like it would be a decent match for what you are looking for.

D-sub mentioned the Tanker which is also a fairly similar choice.

I agree with Jack that Donek is a good choice, but I disagree about which one. I think that the wide 170 would be a more parallel choice (and a fine one at that). The other boards you (Jack) mention are kind of narrow for soft boots. Those companies make other boards that you (boarderboy) might want to check out, though.

[Dan]

there's a huge burton bias here, and I kinda agree. Smaller companies do more to earn your support, and many make some damn fine product

Make that <b>anti-</b>burton bias and personally I agree wholeheartedly with Jack. :)

[boarderboy]

Thanks for the observations, guys. Will try to give Donek, Prior, Rad-Air, etc. a look before I leap.

Kinda hard to demo alpine offerings in the southeast (North Carolina) but mebbe I 'll wrangle a Vermont or 'out West' trip before I buy.

Powder to all of you as summer blessedly fades away...

cheers

Boarderboy

[Jack M]

Ahh, I missed the part about a board for riding with hardboots <b>and</b> softboots. Yes, as Phil says, the All-Mountain Carving boards such as the Axxess, 4WD, AM are probably too narrow for your softboots. But those companies make some fine wider boards too.

[D-Sub]

slightly shorter (171) but steepwater is a GREAT board as well. Longer sidecut than most, and the "narrow" version is around 24cm

www.steewatersnowboards.com

site isnt ready just yet...

[tex1230]

Just another to add to the list - Donek Incline or Wide - great boards, same price as the burton triumph, and they will reinforce the inserts for the added stress of hardboots.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Prior makes the ATV which is 23 cm waist, and markets it as the hardboot/softboot crossover. Coiler makes 23 cm waisted AMs, waiting list is long but maybe there's a used one out there. As others said, the Tankers work great hard or soft, 24.5 waist IIRC. The Donek Incline is a great bargain but some find it a little stiff for pow.

[D-Sub]

you know, last year I scored a custom Prior 182. It was a 4WD shape that the buyer had modded...a bit wider at 23 or 23.5, but otherwise the same, so I guess its basically the new ATV...

that thing RULES in ALL conditions that Ive encountered, but Ive never ridden east coast ice, and never will.

I rode it three days straight at Mammoth. 20" of fresh fell the night we arrived, and I rode mostly untracked the first morning, then of course chop after that with the occasional stash. This board plowed through everything (helps that I weigh 225ish Im sure) and carved beautifully. Probably one of the best days on one of the funnest boards I have ever ridden.

at 182 it was a little sketchy in the trees, but trees in mammoth are sometimes very close together.

here's a pic (middle board):

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

They probably like a clean room too. ;)

However if they are an arts major they probably don't like poorly doctored photos either :)

Nice board, nice photo. Wish I could have afforded a board like that at your age. Well, come to think of it , they didn't make a board like that when I was your age.

Enjoy! Nice to see the face behind the posts.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Any thoughts or experience with Burton Triumph? Think it's in the lineage of the Supermodel and the Canyon?

'07 lacks last year's carbon and is $50 cheaper, leading me to think it's made offshore.

I'm a near-60-yr-old recreational carver, 6' 220lb. Now use Scarpa randonee boots on a longish Alp. Looking for a powder/piste longboard for hard and soft boots. Considering the Triumph 173.

Any thoughts appreciated.

I have seen a few on sale, some demos pretty inexpensive.

The Tanker you might consider, if you can find one , is the 187cm wide. It is a great do it all board for the bigger guys with larger feet. Might check with Ryan at www.exoticboards.com Doubt if they are in stock yet, but he would know.

Just checked, here is a 177cm wide that is in stock. 600$ , however I would buy it over the Burton

[Pow]

sorry about the messy room, and my face is somewhat distorted because i had to condense the photo, but thanks oldsnowboards, nice to know im not going unnoticed:biggthump

I can barely afford the boards, but they are worth it to me :)

[Neil Gendzwill]

The Tanker you might consider, if you can find one , is the 187cm wide.

Don't know why he'd want the wide if he's going to also use it with hard boots, unless he wants to run flat angles in his softies.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Don't know why he'd want the wide if he's going to also use it with hard boots, unless he wants to run flat angles in his softies.

Kinda sounds like he might need it. Reading between the lines.

The WIDE is not allot wider than most longboards. The 192cm is actually rather narrow by comparison. Numbers not handy.

"I'm a near-60-yr-old recreational carver, 6' 220lb. Now use Scarpa randonee boots on a longish Alp. Looking for a powder/piste longboard for hard and soft boots. Considering the Triumph 173."

The randonee boots add to length of the sole quite a bit.

[Jon Dahl]

Just a fyi, I've ridden the Voile 178 split swallowtail board at 35f/30r flat in my Raichle SB 123's (mondo 27) at splitfest in March, with no problems. However, my Nitro 178 Swallowtail is a bit of a truck to turn on hardpack, it can be carved, but it is work. If the board is for mostly soft powder type snow, the width will not be an issue. On hardpack, groomers, well... expect to work at it. Oh, the Tanker 192 is around 24.5 at the waist, the 187 wide is 25.6.

[boarderboy]

My size 12 Scarpas require some really steep stance angles. And I like that. Seems to torque my thighs less when skating, and I've grown used to facing straight down the fall line.

To fill in some blanks (you didn't ask, but here goes). 9 year old injury - Lis Franc sprain (sp?) - radically torn ligaments in right foot - has caused bone spread and given me a too-flexible, easily injured foot & ankle - which led to favoring the left foot - which led to arthritic changes in that foot - and a sometimes painful left knee. (yes I'm a regular foot)

My objective is to still be carving and floating in 20 years and to enjoy all of 'em. Therefore, easy walking is a plus and the stiff, steep lean plus abbreviated heel of full-on carve boots doesn't qualify, in my experience.

You can count the number of true powder days I've had in my (near 20) boarding years on one hand, but I've experienced just enought "surfy" float to know that I really like it. Thus, I'm looking for a decent powder tool that has enough sidecut and stiffnes to work OK on groomers and to deal with the chopped up afternoon crud that we usually face down here in Dixie. I also like the idea of a longboard for gliding through flats easily.

I don't really like softies, but they give me a way to rest my muscles, especially when walking and skating. Hope to pair some stiff Driver X's with a a 3-strap Torque front binding and the stiffest Flow rear binding that I can find. (Think I have a line on the metal plate Flow at a steep discount, so if there's a Flow rider out there who'd like a stiffer front binding, I'll probably have one.)

Finally, I'm also looking for size 12 or 13 Burton Earth boots. Outgrew my size 11 Freecarves and really miss the low cuffs for playing on the mountain. (Klug site just has smaller ones)

Thanks again to all.

[bobdea]

the earths suck, get a raichle 413

could go with burton shadows as well, I just thought that the earth was a bad boot compared to most of the other boots burton made

depending on the length and width of board you want there are lots of places to look I shoot for 27 cm waists or so

I would look at these

never summer titan tx or if you want something a little narrower the T5 never summer boards carry a three year warranty and are excelent boards

Ride Yukon

Baron ES

Rad Air Tankers in the wide sizes

the Donek sasquatch is good too but the rest of the bunch are more rider friendly and easier to handle the donek wide is a little better about that though

[Guest Matt D]

Hey, I've actually ridden an 06 triumph 169 and took it for some rips with another guy riding the 173 @ lake louise. I love the board personally, for a few reasons. The 10:45 sidewall is tough and durable providing good feel and some good carve. The Superfly 2 core is kinda old school by Burton standards, but works great in this application. The board has 2" set back built in, with a longer softer nose, and as someone mentioned already the board has taper, which makes it initiate turns really easy, but it doesn't finish as sharply as a traditional non-tapered shape. The board is a really nice all-rounder, though putting plates on it would not be my choice of application, as you'd quickly overpower the front end if you were trying to carve it semi hard. The board is IMO best suited to soft boots and variable snow conditions. In 1 run at the lake, I rode moguls, powder, crud, groomed, ungroomed, dropoffs and even the park... the board spins a little weird with the extra setback and length, but the board kicked butt on everything else!

I know some of you on here aren't liking the burton product, but I've always had good experiances. Actually I used to hate Burton, then I started using their boots and bindings which is their strength IMO, but the T6 and Triumph, as well as the Malolo and Fish have been the boards that really have me stoaked recently! I got a T6 last year, figuring if I break it, they'll warranty it for something else at the very least. Its turned out to be my favorite board to date.

Let me tell you about my Prior experiance. I've ordered 2 of their boards. The 1st was a MFR 168XW which was my first ultra high performance board. It had a base bubble when I first received it, so I call them about it, and speak to chris himself... he'll fix it, if I pay for shipping back. I decided not to and rode the board and got 3 seasons out of it. So I went for a 2nd, this time an AMF 162W. No visible defects that you can see but when you ride it, it hooks real bad to the toe side (I ride goofy footed) near the rear of the board. So I had the edges done by a pro in Banff, same thing. So I setup a jig, and found the board to be asymetrical along the long axis... anyway, just really frustrated that I've recommended them to so many people, and now I ride with 3 others at my local hill all on priors, but I won't be buying anymore. I've also visited the factory during my 1 trip to whistler, where I saw about 4 guys building boards, none of them were chris.

Anyway, all burton boards are finished by a computer and then inspected, so chances are if you buy 2 of the same model, they'll basically ride the same, aside from any things related to subtle differences in the cores, but 2 priors of the same model my ride totally differently... which is a gamble I'm no longer willing to take.

Hope some of this info proves useful ;)

[boarderboy]

Just the kind of feedback I was looking for. My first Buron was an Elite 150 - convext botom, swallow tail, aluminum skeg and all. Rented it from a local surf shop and, knowing nothing, rubbed some Mr. Zog's Sex Wax on the base - a complete disaster.

Until they got out of the alpine busines, I owned just about every free carver Burton made - M6, E deck, 2 Alps, etc. I'm admittedly not tough on boards or bindings, so my experiences with their gear have always been positive. Like many, I'm put off with the glitz and bling and fashion statements, but the two ton Guerilla has extensive demo programs even in the southeast. I can only dislike em so much, and their Driver X looks like the perfect change of pace softy for a hardbooter. Do wish they - or someone - would reintroduce the three strap binding. In my usu terrain - ice, hadpack, etc a really supportive highback makes a huge amount of sense.

Thanks again for the input. Hope to demo the Triumph @ Snowshoe in December - and mebbe some of the "boutique" boards out west later on.

cheers

[bobdea]

so just slap a toestrap on at the top of the highback

I have drivers and just bought a pair of the driver X, they are stiffer than the old drivers by a long shot, right in there with the salomon malamute

should ride really well, I like burton softboot gear too but for big wide rides there are a bunch of options up to the low 170s then it get tougher with big guns