Custom Board Testing

[Scorpio]

So after seeing all these cool new Schtubs and boards from Shred as well as other custom builders, I have to ask the question, how much testing is done by the builder for these custom shapes? If I ask Prior, Donek, Coiler, Kessler, Tomahawk, etc or some other custom builder to make me the board of my dreams, will they build it (price considering of course) and send it to you in hopes of having it work? Or is there a limited amount of testing done with these newer shapes? I guess someone has to be the guinea pig but it sucks to keep on shelling out tons of dough to perfect a design that may not even work in the end.

I do get that builders/designers probably draw upon past engineering experience, design successes/mistakes, and empirical ride evidence from other designs but there must be some leap of faith that is taken between the sketch and the snow. You can anticipate all you can but no one really knows til you ride it.

Hopefully some builders can provide some input to this thread.

[tex1230]

Bruce never tests. he just KNOWS.

[bobdea]

depends on who it is.

With coilers I know Bruce rides some boards before he topsheets them, not sure if this is all or just some though.

but yeah, most of the time you get a board that you decide if it's gonna work or not, because whoever built it never rode it.

[Chris Houghton]

Bruce rides a lot of his customs before he ships them. However, if you want something out of the ordinary, you're probably the only one to decide if it "works" or not. That's what custom is all about. On the other hand, if you want to draw on Bruce's, Chris's or Sean's knowledge and expertise, describe what kind of rider you are (honestly) and what you want the board to do, and they will make you a winner. The mere act of giving them specifications takes their input out of the equation. For Shred, that's OK. For us mere mortals, maybe not so good.

[Dr D]

FWIW Shred said Bruce rides all his customs. The exception being the X3 as it was finished just in time for delivery at ECS

[Donek]

When you order a custom you are the only person to ride that shape. That's why it is a custom. I almost always provide my input and don't typically build someting that is so far outside my experience that I can't have a reasonable expectation that it will work.

[Bruce Varsava]

I try to get out on any new stuff and even proven designs as I can verify stiffness and with my system it is adjustable at the end which is a huge benefit. I can pretty much tell right away if a design works or not with a few simple runs. If the design is proven and meets my bench tests then no on snow testing is done. I also have a "test team" of riders I really trust and they can sometimes test when I cannot. I have so far tested well over 100 different metal boards and not too many lemons but the odd one does creep up and in that case I can sometime readjust or replace. However if you ask for something really off the wall of course the risk factor is up. BTW every board ever made is custom to a certain degree, unless you know of 2 trees which are clones:)

Wood density , even using the same species, can massively change stiffness. My latest batch of wood is stiffer and I have to compensate on core dimensions to adjust.

Its no fluke I am getting good press as of late! I have put in many many hours in the shop , on the hillls and had the benefit of working in the early stages with some very good riders testing the designs

BV