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Any opinions on Prior WRC metal boards?


RkyMtn

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RkyMtn: fantastic board from Prior. Chris was at the SES last year with these boards and they where always out and when they came back the response was excellent.

The use the latest technology that I consider a necessity for a modern carving board: metal construction and decambered tip and tail.

We have this size WCR 2010 in our shop for demo. So if you want to come on up and try it (I see you are in Denver) just drop us a line and set it up to try.

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I was one of the guys hogging the time on the WCRM 177 at last years Sesh...

Ended up buying the demo from Chris. Kobbe snagged one too. Awesome board.

Plenty damp, but still very responsive. Super easy turn initiation with the pre cambered nose.( Is that what it's called?):confused::confused:

Is the WRC your #1 board? What other boards do you like/have/ride?

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A good clarification for the newcomer. The original Prior metals--with exposed metal on top--had known durability issues. However, the new ones sound fantastic.

How has Prior been managing these issues? Are they just managing until the warranty expires, or do they back their product, as the problems I am hearing seem more like product recall material.

Thanks,

Eric

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How has Prior been managing these issues? Are they just managing until the warranty expires, or do they back their product, as the problems I am hearing seem more like product recall material.

Thanks,

Eric

You can do a search on Bomber to find out more about this whole issue. I think most people regard it as in the past though, and not necessarily as a bad reflection on Prior as a company. Most manufacturers had their growing pains in working with metal at the beginning. And, most alpine companies are small, and probably couldn't survive the financial hit of repairing and replacing that many boards in the rare event that a widespread problem occurs. (At least, that's my take on it.) Welcome to a small, niche sport! Sometimes you just have to take one for the team. I'm happy Prior is still here. I've owned one of their boards and I'd consider a WCR in a second if I had more $.

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How has Prior been managing these issues? Are they just managing until the warranty expires, or do they back their product, as the problems I am hearing seem more like product recall material.

Thanks,

Eric

Eric here is the short story, All boards with metal topsheets can be damaged, All it takes is a pressure ding from anything to weaken the metal, and start a falure, Lots of boards ding and never fail others do, it was really a crap shoot with new boards. Prior was the first to try and mass produce metal boards, at the time only Kessler was doing so for athletes and a huge cost and high failure rate. All boards with a metal top were having the same issues maybe 5% turned into cracks and of that 5% maybe another 10% of thoose broke. So as you can see the numbers were very small. There are lots of happy prior owners out there with metal boards and no problems.

Most builders learned to place the metal into the board and solved the issues, Prior Warrentied any board that had issues with in the boards warrenty period. And as a curtisey offered any metal board owner who had issues after the warrenty period a credit toward a new board purchase, while still keeping the old board. No other manufactor of Metal top sheet boards has or did this but Prior. As a retailer I was so inpresed with the new construction that we at Hardbooter had a custom line shaped just for our customers using this construction. Prior went above and beyond for their customer service.

To answer the ? about Divebombers board, the top sheet which is Metal is cracked from edge to edge across the insert pattern it has clearly failed and bay or may not fracture at that point, once the crack goes from edge to edge the topsheet then loses its sear strenght and the boards ride is comprimised.

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Eric here is the short story....

Thanks for the info! I feel much better about the Prior WRC metal boards, now! Just ride it until it breaks, then call.

Once the crack issue was shown on the board, it is a deal breaker. I had once of the first K2 Fat Bob's back in 1993. I developed a crack in the top sheet and it spread quickly and then the board failed, all within a day of riding (and I am a carver at heart, only skidding to bleed off speed or avoid a pedestrian (skier)). I found a retailer with a 177 NOS that I am going to grab, and if the board fails, i'll just pay for the upgrade to a current model.

What kind of usage life are you seeing out of carving boards these days? I typically ride 1-3 hours per day on a carving board. Then switch to a soft boots if I have any legs left.

I appreciate your expertise!!!

Best regards,

Eric

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Welcome to a small, niche sport! Sometimes you just have to take one for the team.

With such a small percentage of failures, it's weird that metal board manufacturers in general don't warranty metal boards the same way Jake does with his stuff. This is a deal breaker for me: I never broke a board, and if it happened with one of these, it's a fab problem, so I'd expect it fixing. My mistake I guess.

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Anyone ridden the FLC?

Neil The flc is a progression board, the Idea and shapes are in line with the boards we shaped through him last year at Hardbooter, They are the most progressive shapes Chris has offerd yet. Our shapes at hardbooter defently helped chris develop this new line. Our hardbooter line are the best Prior I have ever ridden.

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