Riding impressions Rossi world cup 190 and 184

[mr_roboteye]

The past few days have been brilliantly sunny and almost perfect carving conditions. (little too warm in the afternoon, but I shouldn’t complain) I went to Whistler on Sunday and Monday. I spent quite a while tuning (filing and diamond stone) the side edges with my kuu 88 degree icebuster for a 2 degree side bevel. Base edges were left at factory tune, I assume one degree. The 184 has considerably more camber(24mm!! Stood vertically on it’s tail.) and stiffness than the 190.(18mm camber stood vertically on it’s tail.) Both boards were ridden with burton race plates. I put my only set of aluminum discs on the 184 and rode the 190 with plastic discs. 19” stance on the 190, 18.75” on the 184.

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Here’s what I thought of both boards.

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190

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I rode this one first. It rides pretty damp as I have read in other posts’. I can only compare it to a sims burner 188, because I’ve got a couple of them and like them a lot. With a 17.5 metre radius, you have to be moving pretty fast before you tip this board over and attempt a carve. I’ll just get to the point now. I was really unimpressed with the way this board performed. It’s just too soft to hold an edge. It’s alright for lazy (fast) cruising, but when I really laid it over, it refused to perform. At my place of work I’m going to fabricate some ¼” thick titanium discs to lay over the top of the plastic discs to replicate the stiffness the aluminum discs provide because I can’t frikken’ find any of them. I’ll try the board again with a stiffer interface to see if makes a difference, but I kind of doubt it.

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184

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Night and day difference. They are two totally different boards. This board holds a ridiculous edge at every angle of inclination I could throw at it. On my stiffness meter, this board gets “very stiff”. (burner being “very very stiff”) It is lively out of the turns. It isn’t any more damp than my skinny burton 185 race stock deck. I liked it a lot. She’s a keeper.

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Final thoughts, Maybe the 190 I’ve got has seen better days in the past. I’ll try it with my aluminum discs, or the titanium add-on I mentioned earlier to see if it makes a difference.

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Thanks for reading if you made it this far,

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Later,

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Dave R.

[bobdea]

be careful on the 184, that nose on it is prone to folding and sometimes breakage as seen here http://bomber.smugmug.com/gallery/125121_oqm2T#4513976

[AaronG]

WOW, a totally different perspective to what I experienced with my WC 190. What are you referring to with the "lazy (fast ) cruising" comment. Straight lining?? fall line type turns?? long radius GS type turns??

I tried out my WC 190 last year for the first time and the conditions didn't warrant having that board out there. This year I wanted to try it out on some good snow which occurred here last week. I shifted my bindings forward a bit to ease the turn initiation, took a few runs to dial in the weight distribution and from that point on it was good times.

I agree with you on the comment of having the board up to speed before tilting it up on edge but once the speed was sufficient I had no problem with the board holding an edge. After a few runs I was beginning to become more comfortable and really started to load the nose and see how short of a radius I could get the board to turn, a few times I was able to carve back up the hill and have plenty of momentum to carry me back up the hill for a good distance. I know from the speed that I carried back up the mtn that the turning radius was much smaller than what I was expecting.

I enjoyed the ride so much that I am thinkng of selling the Oxy 185 I have and ridng the WC for most of the time.

BTW, I am 6' 02" and weigh around 195, are we similar size?? Maybe you don't weigh enought to flex the board??

[mr_roboteye]

By "lazy" I just mean not leaned over very far. More lean angle equates to more physical effort from your legs to hold the rest of your body up. Hence the "lazy" turn.

I tried this board under absolutely ideal snow conditions (for carving), on Whistler / Blackcombs' renowned grooming.

As I mentioned in my original post, I'm basically comparing this board to a burner 188 because they are very similar length and sidecut radius. I'm going to assume that you haven't had the pleasure of having a burner beneath your feet.

I weigh plenty enough to flex this board. I'm 5'10, 185lbs. with gear on. This is a bit of a moot point though, as the larger the sidecut radius, the weight of the rider becomes less of a factor, and kinetic energy derived from momentum more of a factor. When I was riding it, I tried loading the nose, the tail, and staying centered.

Any review is subjective. To me, the 190 feels like a wet noodle compared to what I'm used to, and compared to the 184. It's not a bad board, it just doesn't suit me. I'll try it again with my aluminum discs or my titanium solution.

later,

Dave R

[mr_roboteye]

be careful on the 184, that nose on it is prone to folding and sometimes breakage.

Thanks for the inside info. The board felt great though. It's so stiff, it's difficult to imagine it breaking, but I readily concede that it's quite plausible and possible.

high lean angles and deep trenches,

Dave R.

[Guest DarkClone]

Hello up ther in B.C. This is DarkClone and thoroughly enjoyed your perspective on the 184 Rossi. W.C. Just got back from Session and never rode the W.C. because cond. did not warrant. But this year has been day after day of perfect hard corduroy at my local hill. (Bear Mt.) My daily ride is the F2 177 Speedster but when it gets really good midweek the yellow mind altering W.C. is ridden. Walked into a shop about 5 years ago and there it was all new for less than 3 bills. This board laughs at you constantly going, "Come on give me more and I will give U back more than you thought possible!!" If you want it will out turn shorter boards with style. Turn uphill in a heartbeat and if you have the right real estate carving 360's happen no problem. (without cheating at the end!!) Yeah the F2 is Eddie Van Halen, but this board is JEFF BECK... Enough said... DarkClone out................

[davekempmeister]

No side by side comparison here. I read this post last week and was inspired to go ride my WC 190 yesterday. Edges could have been sharper, and it could have been less windy. Also, the snow was all machine and blown off to expose some white pavement of the hardest variety. Sunny, though no softening effect. Anyway, I 6'5" and almost 220lbs. and this board kills it. Damp in the nicest sense of the word and the board (in my quiver)that requires the least amount of effort and manipulation for the feedback that I get, I have only good things say. Personally, I intuit that it's just perfectly suited to my anatomy/dimensions.

[mr_roboteye]

I'm gonna try the 190 again with some alu. discs in my burton race plates to see if it makes a difference. My impression was that the board itself is just too soft, but I'll give it another shot as soon as I can.

Thanks as well to Darkclone, the 184 is indeed a killer board, and pretty lively too.

thanks all,

Dave R.