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Posted

I wonder what bevel they use on their edges?

The wipe outs have got to be impressive, 20 MPH and catch the low side edge.

My biggest fear would be riding faky with the support bar where it is

Posted

I bet it's pretty fun, but one of my favorite things about snowboarding is the fact that when I fall, my equipment never beats me up. I really don't like the idea of going fast while wrapped up in a big metal contraption. With a bike I can jump off and maybe push it away if the **** hits the fan.

Looking at this thing, I'm not sure what's scarier, the handlebars near my face, or the support post near my delicates...

Posted
it looks crazy dangerous to me. Head first at 30+, 6 inches off the snow? Pray for no rocks...

Imagine a couple feet of fresh :eek:

Maybe a snorkel, eh?

Posted

Imagine flying down a powder run (assuming you could breathe). That would be a great sensation.

Also this might be a new option for paraplegics since you don't need to use your legs (maybe).

But I think it will have shock absorption problems + painful crashes.

Posted

how I can get my dog to snowboard with me! :eplus2::eplus2::eplus2: I agree with Rob Stevens on the "para" comment, that was actually my first thought, but OMFG that is the laziest thing I've ever seen for an able-bodied person to do! You might as well be on an inner tube!

  • 2 months later...
Guest HangBoarder
Posted

They've done 1500 runs in all conditions and on all kinds of terrain, with no injuries. They've been clocked over 40 mph on easy runs--it's really aero, and they use long narrow boards, so it's faster than skiing or boarding. And it seems even faster then it is, 'cause you are so close to the snow.

Those long boards help in the powder. Haven't been in the really, really deep stuff yet, though.

Still working on better shock absorption for the jumps. 6 feet is about the limit, right now.

Blue Bird: no custom bevels, yet, just stock.

Blue Bird and NateW: The rig acts kind of like a roll cage, so it doesn't beat you up when you bite it. You can't really ride faky more than briefly, because you need the rudder/brakes for control, but even if you could, your legs protect you from the vertical post.

tex1230: actually invented by a skier/hang glider/helicopter pilot.

pebu and dano: the rudder/brakes fold up, and you ride it like a scooter on and off the lift.

Rob Stevens: it's a whole body sport, and needs upper body strength and balance like mountain biking, with coordinated foot/leg motion to control the rudder/brakes.

Jim Callen: they've had it on the steepest runs at Mt. Washington, Big White, Sun Peaks, Silver Star and Apex in BC.

ar(angel: it's quite a workout. Most new pilots can only handle 2 or 3 runs their first day before they are wrung out. It's hard to do, so those blue and green runs will be waaay more interesting for a while.

Guest HangBoarder
Posted
...but you really look like a dick strapped into that thing. :freak3:

Great! Then they are in good company, considering how snowboarding was similarly ridiculed when it was just out of the Snurfer stage.

Posted

Let me get this straight ... when snowboarding first started up there were only a handful of mountains that allowed it ... I was limited to just a few runs on my local mountain when they finally caved and allowed snowboarding (wachusset) on like, one lift ... but they will allow these down the mountain? WTF??!! Retarded!

I think parapalegics allready have much better options available to them.

It seems wildly unsafe, how can they provide enough leverage to stop and turn *quickly* without being able to quickly and drastically manipulate the position of their COG. Being so much lower than anyone else on the slope, they are not easily visible.

I'm sure the first time one of these little meat-rockets run into someone and that giant hunk of metal they are suspended from hits someone in the spine paralyzing them forever, this sport will have seen its last day.

Guest HangBoarder
Posted

I seem to remember that snowboards were considered unsafe in the early days, with similar logic. How do you stop a snowboard if you can't snowplow? ...or something similar.

It just strikes me as really strange that I can open up Transworld Snowboarding and see "heroes" catching enourmous air, riding slopes where a fall would be deadly, and showing off casts, bruises and similar carnage... and then boarders say that this hangboard thing is too dangerous, when there hasn't been a significant injury in 1500 runs. I thought danger was part of the thrill?

Stopping fast on a hangboard is pretty easy--it's just a quick turn, with some hard rudder and a lot of body english.

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