Sims Carve II? Any Good?

[Guest markpr]

There's a bunch of Sims Carve II's 167 up on eBay at the moment.

Anyone know if this is a decent board - suitable for a carving newbie (had the boots/bindings for 3 years but too small a board to do anything with)....

thanks

Mark

[Miltie]

Markpr,

Picked up a Sims Carve II 164 a few years ago to use as a rock board during early season.

The Carve II would be a decent board to start on, however, you may want to upgrade to a narrower as your skills progress. I find mine a little more flexible than I would prefer and the purple graphics are awkward.

You probably can't go wrong if you can pick one up cheap. You may also want to check the Burton Alps or Wires at www.klugriding.com.

Have fun!

[Guest markpr]

There's a purple one on eBay at the moment too - ugly looker - but the set of 167's are red and blue. Don't care for the graphics but these are running at $90 each.

My soft boot carving is coming along and I already have 3 boards so I don't need another freeride board. But if this will help me get the hardboot technique down well and be useable for anything but racing then this might be the one for me.

I couldn't get the web site link to work but will try later. I'll see if anyone else jumps in on this thread otherwise might just go and give this a try.

thanks

Mark

[RJ-PS]

Hi Mark,

I bought one last year for my first carve board. I must admit that although they don't receive a lot of respect on this forum....mine threw me the first day. If you don't pay attention, the little sucker will let you have it!

As was stated before it is a good board to begin with but I am in my second year and already moving on to other boards. I ride about 30 days a year, so I progressed maybe faster than a casual carver, but the board probably won't last more than 2-3 years as your main carver.

One of the pluses is the flexibility the board will allow. Because it isn't a skinny stick you can pretty much ride it on anything. I took mine into the backwoods a couple of times (helps to put the raichles on walk mode). It worked the moguls nicely, pow nice, ice don't go over 30+ mph. I took it into the parks (when there wasn't monkeys everywhere) and it was surprisingly fun!

Overall I would recommend this board as a first carver. I think that it helps one progress quickly from beginner to intermediate. I don't believe it can take your riding any further than that.

However the intermediate carver is the intermediate-advanced snowboarder (imo).

So grab one at a good price and with the money you save get some interest on it for next year's carve monster!

[Guest carvemaster]

I picked one up for $76 (plus shipping).

Thought I was getting a purple board, but it arrived in metallic black and green (kind of a grey-green) along with the sims swoosh in blue. Far better looking than the purple shown on ebay. It was packed well and received no damage in shipping.

Being on a budget, this board was a welcome sight considering the 9 year old asym I needed to replace. I still wander into the parks and powder so I'm pleased to read some of the other comments made. Kind of strange how all these boards suddenly appeared. I'd like to know what year they were made. Guessing 99-00??

By the way, I'm linking the board up with a new set of snowpro race plates and low end raichles. The bindings look solid. The boots are heavy and sqwishy. Grand total was $430. Think I'll change my name to cheapmeister. Seriously though, for the price, I think this board's a good choice.