felix Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 Ok, I'll bite. I ordered it -- $219 shipped. I did some research and it turns out F2 has their boards made at Elan in Austria -- they make boards for several companies... claim 20% of all snowboards. Than they must have changed their producer. Until 2 years I can say for sure that Elan only produced F2 raceboards while another big factory produced F2 (as well as Duotone, Forum and many more) sooftbootboards. I'm not sure if Eliminator Ltd was produced there too or at Elan. It's true that Elan Austria is the biggest producer of snowboards worldwide and market leader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndUser Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 This board is marked as made in Austria. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndUser Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 How come? I'm lazy and just havent gotten into the habit of waxing my boards. I should.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felix Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 Both factories where F2 are produced are in Austria. Elan in Carinthia the other I think in Salzburger Land so you can't tell. The parent company of F2 - Boards and More (owning several brands) is Austrian too. Originally only the P50 and P60 Powercores where produced at Elan and everything saying Lightcore wasn't but it might have changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dano Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 I'm lazy and just havent gotten into the habit of waxing my boards. I should.... I rode mine with the "factory tune". There was a thin coating of some sort of wax, so I just road mine as is ( 2 sessions so far ) it was great. I'll probably just use rub on wax this year, and get a hot wax next season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dano Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 I got to ride my brand new 176 Respect today, with great hero snow (but no pow) at Hoodoo near Sisters, Oregon. Here is my review!I did no tuning or waxing. I could see the edges were detuned a few cm past the tips. My previous ride was a Burton Johan 163 --- from what I can find it has a sidecut of ~7.9m. In contrast this F2 176cm board has an 8,5-9,5m (progressive) sidecut. Wow, this difference of ~1M feels huge. I need a lot more space and speed to carve with it. I'm using Catek FR2's (also first time on these -- I'll give my review of the bindings in a seperate thread). Soft boots (a size 10) Burton Driver X (with factory plastic add-on bits for extra stiffness) One thing is that the stance is a few cm wider than my Johan, but otherwise I setup the binding angles the same ... Front: 36 , Rear: 12. I found the stance a bit wide and uncomfrtable on my knees, so, while I initially had configured the F/R bias completely centered, I decided to move the front binding back one set of inserts (the last set of 4x4), and centered in the disc. BAD IDEA! [read on] This provided an asymetric setup where my stance was a bit rearward on the front. I thought it would be nice for powder.. but... Carving felt like I was on rails -- (well duh, I was), but I felt like I was leaned over really quickly, and my hand was on the snow and closer than before with the same effort. I was on ~40 degree wide groomed slope, pretty fast too. The edge held really well.... until the angle of slope decreased a bit. I was pulling some serious Gs and closing my angle with the slope, the tail started to break away -- at the same time pelting me in the face with snow/ice as the stiff board cambered off the snow. After a few runs this became a pattern, tail breaking away and me spiinning out. I couldn't trust the edge to hold me at low angles. So, at lunch I re-adjusted the front binding forward to the center inserts to have a more forward (neutral with the board inserts) bias. Also, having the Catek FR2's I decided to use the cant/lift features to my advantage to relieve the knee pressure of the now wider stance. I canted inward on front and back, and lifted the rear heel and front toe. Bingo! Huge difference. The tail was much more stable, and the "feel" of the carve was right-on. Transition between edges was very quick (felt quicker than my Johan actually), and there were times I felt airborne (perhaps caught by surprise) with the tail snapping me up on transitions. Much more stable at speed than my Johan, and on edge really felt damp compared to it. On my Johan I learned that certian speeds were just too much and would eventually cause chatter/washout. I was easily supassing this speed on the F2, and it scared the hell out of me because I was used to the Johan's limits. The F2 was stabe at any speeds I took it to, but I'm just learning what it can really do. I still think I was getting some boot-out causing some washouts.. so I am uping my angles to 40/20 for next time. By the way, the StrucTurn base felt nice and fast on the flats.. and it was about 26-32 degrees throughout the day (again, no wax). Overall, a pretty sweet ride.. seems like a good carver, but I'm still getting used to the larger sidecut radius... might become an issue on narrower trails. I can't wait to try it in pow! At $220 shipped (plus a pair of free sunglasses at $70 value! wohoo!), that means I got this ride for $150! hah! (Ok, the sunglasses might not actually be worth that much.) I've been thinking of getting a Tanker, but with a 10+M sidecut, holy crap, where would I carve that thing?! This might be all I can handle for the local resorts. Nice review! I'm using the minimum stance width, with snowpro race bindings with 3* cants at about 40-ish* on the board ( just enough to prevent boot overhang). The stance felt very wide the first few runs but I got used to it. I had no problems with the tail washing out...just tighter and tighter turns. I'm also glad to hear someone elses' opinion on the Respect's ridiculously good stablity at breakneck speeds. I was able to reel in a MADD 170 "straight line" rider without even trying! In fact I was adjusting my ipod as I passed him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexeyga Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 Overall, a pretty sweet ride.. seems like a good carver, but I'm still getting used to the larger sidecut radius... might become an issue on narrower trails. I can't wait to try it in pow! At $220 shipped (plus a pair of free sunglasses at $70 value! wohoo!), that means I got this ride for $150! hah! (Ok, the sunglasses might not actually be worth that much.) Looks like a killer deal to me, 100$ + SH of eBay for a brand new, true freeride stick from F2 is unbeatable.. Hell, i'd get one just for the sake of having it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndUser Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 Nice review! I'm using the minimum stance width, with snowpro race bindings with 3* cants at about 40-ish* on the board ( just enough to prevent boot overhang). The stance felt very wide the first few runs but I got used to it. I had no problems with the tail washing out...just tighter and tighter turns. I'm also glad to hear someone elses' opinion on the Respect's ridiculously good stablity at breakneck speeds. I was able to reel in a MADD 170 "straight line" rider without even trying! In fact I was adjusting my ipod as I passed him. Thanks. I think the minimum stance width would work fine since it is symetricaly centered on the baord still, not like what I did... I'm hoping the 40degree angle will help prevent my washouts -- So far I'm not sure how to detect boot-out, but it's my best guess as the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonerider Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 Thanks. I think the minimum stance width would work fine since it is symetricaly centered on the baord still, not like what I did... I'm hoping the 40degree angle will help prevent my washouts -- So far I'm not sure how to detect boot-out, but it's my best guess as the problem. I don't think it's your front binding that's the problem. I suspect it's that fact that your back legs is splayed out so much (36/12). Without a lot of practice, having the back foot splayed out like that will make it hard to keep your hips aligned in the turn and I would think lead to washouts. Dano is riding hardboots with plate bindings - so I would suggest riding something like 36/30 as well as I found with my own experimentation that it's harder to pressure the backfoot if the splay is wide at higher (over 30 degree) angles. Just my thoughts though.Also the board have a progressive sidecut, meaning it's going to turn tighter and tighter towards the end of the carve, when you weight is shifting back toward the backfoot (from 9.5m to 8.5m) - so you are going to need to adjust you guidance of the board and weighting according like. Finally, I doubt it's that problem... but the slight taper will also cause the board to release from the carve a little early. All pintails do this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndUser Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 Looks like a killer deal to me, 100$ + SH of eBay for a brand new, true freeride stick from F2 is unbeatable.. Hell, i'd get one just for the sake of having it... Holy crap, that is a kiler deal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jrobb Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 Holy crap, that is a kiler deal! that is a great deal...but that's just starting bid price. These are usually going home at auction between 150-180 USD plus shipping. Same price as what you got figuring free shipping and free glasses...which is still a deal. J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.