Camberpopper Posted October 29, 2004 Report Share Posted October 29, 2004 Is anyone familier with Apocalypse raceboards? I looked up their website and all I see is freestye & all mtn boards. I just picked up a used (in great shape) Apocalypse 6S and just wanted to see if anyone knew anything about the board and quality? Thanx! p.s- I'm still lookin 4 boots size 27-27.5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thump Posted October 29, 2004 Report Share Posted October 29, 2004 I believe that you have stumbled upon a limited run of boards made back in the late 80's by apocalypse surf.had a factory in ellenville,ny.jimi scott rode freestyle for the co. and then i believe they sold out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nils Posted October 30, 2004 Report Share Posted October 30, 2004 the board is at least 15 years old! Would love to see a picture btw since they must have produced like... 100-500 of them only (i can get numbers from Regis Rolland!) Never saw them in real. To explain the story behind this boards: -1983-1987 > regis rolland hand produces his boards in France -1988-1991/2? > he makes business with a taiwanese and an american and company and machines are transfered to NY ( weird place for snowbusiness) and boards are produces partly in Canada by a subcontractor. Business goes under the apocalypse snowboards until they split because of business colateral damage ;) ( partners not agreeing). - 1992/3? - 2003 > Regis is back in france without the name ( left with the business there in NY) and makes his new company "A Snowboards". He is bought by Rossignol in 2000 and Rossi drops all activity and shuts the factory (that was also making HOT/Hammer) for good. Regis, again, has to leave the name! and founds APO snowboards ! from 2003 till then! So that race / alpine board is made between 1988 and 1991/2! Nils Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtslalom Posted October 30, 2004 Report Share Posted October 30, 2004 Camberpopper, My friend Sean rode for Apocalypse in 1993 right after riding for Hot. I had bought two Hot Logical boards from him in 1992 and he was showing me his new Apocalypse. I think a guy named Jerry was a representative of the company. We all rode at Vernon Valley in northern NJ. We are about 50 miles from Ellenville NY. I'm not quite sure but I believe the board was a solid yellow color. He may of had another that was a red color. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik J Posted October 30, 2004 Report Share Posted October 30, 2004 When the company went out of business a friend of mine bought a crap-load of the old Apocalypse board materials with the intention of pressing some of his own. I still have all of it stored in my parents barn. I completely forgot about it until I read this thread. Sorry to get off topic, but damn, I'm gonna have to do something with that stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nils Posted October 31, 2004 Report Share Posted October 31, 2004 Yes after Regis left the company, the US partner named Bill Kent might have continued making the boards under that name for a while... Some precisions too: Regis got involved with Bill, then the taiwanese guy named Lin bought the company in 1990 to save it from bankrupcy... so the US story might have ended later than 1992... Regis is now back in business with Lin and his new boards are made in China by Lin. ( Saw the new line, and quality looks pretty good ) Nils Eric: If you have the molds of the swallowtails made by the company then, would be nice to see pics :), as well as pics of the old stuff :)... I could host them on swallowtails.org! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camberpopper Posted November 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2004 So you guys really think this board is that old? It looks much newer to me. I'll have to get some pics up of it. I dont think it could be that old, it just looks to new. It does have some older snowpro "race" bindings on it? Its has a black bottem and a blackish top to it. In the middle on the board on the top side it has the letters "TAC". "Tapered Asymmetrical Core" spelled out under the letters. Looks like a straight up race board and is stiff as Hell. I'll work on getting some pics up. So since its this old, I should still be fine ridding it shouldnt I? Or is this something collectors go after? Im still looking for boots to if anyone can help. Size M27,27.5:cool: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mellow Yellow Posted November 1, 2004 Report Share Posted November 1, 2004 Camber... Tnere are a group of us that rides Springs. During the week after xmas I'll be there along with some others that post on this board. Have you ridden at Springs long? Jasen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shred Gruumer Posted November 1, 2004 Report Share Posted November 1, 2004 I did some Rep work for them in the day,, I actually had one as well Yep,, sounds like that old piece! should be black on the sheet, but the best feature was the base.... looked like a dug out canoe!, should have a big ass U Channel down the middle that look like someone did it with a wood chisel! Has rebar in it.. dam thing would not flex if you tried.. I even sanded the top sheet off to make it rideable. Mine had the special LOFO bindings on it.. doesn't even have a retention plate in it.. Now the CAP 161 they made was a pretty fun board! Ohhh back in the days!!! Right said Shred Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Randy S. Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 And here I thought Shred replied to this thread only because he saw the poster's name and thought someone was trying to Pop Marilyn. The only apocolypse I remember was a swallow tail - I think. That would have been mid-late 80's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philfell Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 Last Apocalypse race board I saw was the one Shred described, it was at the U.S. Open in '93 I think. But to answer your question yes your board is old, probably not fifteen year unless its the asym model, but if its a symetrical shape it's probably around twelve. My advise is if this is your only board ride the hell out of it and not second guess it. If you have other board to ride hang onto it for a conversation peice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kipstar Posted November 25, 2004 Report Share Posted November 25, 2004 I know little about boarding, but the asym core is the idea of a NZ guy called Dave Patridge; it is basically a sympetric shaped board with an Asym core, and possibly an asym sidecut - this same guy also came up with the channel idea as well; I think he worked for them in 1992. He previusly made boards himself in NZ called Snostix that also used the same idea. A very smart guy, not sure what Dave did after this. Regards Kip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Gilmour Posted November 25, 2004 Report Share Posted November 25, 2004 I had a TAC core board with Channel bottom in I think a 167 length or 165. The tapered asymentric core was neat because the board had a symetrical shape- so you had no asym lock....but it had a asymetrical shift in the core. So the thickest point of the core was to occur between your heels on your heelside (shifted aftward) and then on the toe side it was shifted forwards. The channel bottom idea was to separate the board into two distinct flexing planks- remove extra drag surface off the snow, break up suction, and make it cheaper to wax. Cool idea. And in some conditions it worked. Fawcett used to ride these as well. The idea would have been far better executed if the separated ski idea could have been done as a cap construction as opposed to a v-lam. For once the cap construction could have been used properly as the torsional rigidity of a cap goes up as the height of the cap approaches the width of the area capped. I suppose he could have blended a cap in so it would be v-lam at tip and tail- and cap in the middle. the board I had I think it was the 7GS was super stiff. The conditions that favored that deck were chalk- or very hard surface where you would not sink in more than 1/4 inch. The board had very thick sidewalls so if you railed the deck more than 45 degress- you felt extreme sidewall drag- and you ended up with more pressure on the sidewall than the edge- which ussually ended up as a blowout.... for racing- it was fine. The problems were riding that deck in looser snow- or horrors ...in softer snow or wetter snow- you had to get the edge to engage to bend the baord...and if the snow was too soft you couldn't get enough hold on the snow to bend the board- but who cared??...it was made for racing in hard conditions anyhow. The channel bottom made turn intiation very difficult in soft snow and the board would lock. You had to edge the board with no pivot at all- and high enough to free the channel from the snow- I have photos of me dragging the board through softer snow on a headwall at Squaw valley and then through moguls....don't try that at home...lol... the board came with double density inserts. I think the asym core was not super shifted....so angles couldn't be too high. ________ LIFE SABER Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camberpopper Posted November 25, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2004 Thanks Kipstar and Gilly! That was the info I was lookin for. The really bad news that I got jumped by some a?shole and ended up with 3 broken ribs. Hopfully I heal up quickly. Snow is predicted fo tonight!!!:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullins01 Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Thank you, this post brought a lot of memories back. I had an apocalypse 5S I bought back in the 1992-1993 season that I used as a race board in high school. I went on to use it as a freeriding board for 10+ years. It was as described above - black channeled base, black top with apocalypse logo in red and lettering TAC: tapered asymmetric core. Before that I rode a Burton Asym Air (another great board). But the 5s was the best all-around snowboard I ever owned. To this day every time I think about I kick myself for selling it in the mid-2000s when I for some stupid reason decided it was 'too old'. Honest to god I think about it today and I get mad at myself for giving it up. It was I think a 158 and you guys are right about the stiffness. I'm 6'7 and rode both slalom and GS on it. The board was so strong it could handle ridiculous speeds just riding the tail. A couple other features I remember is that it had a slightly raised tail for mixed conditions and you could even ride it fakie in an emergency (typically to dodge some out of control skier), and a tall nose with a relatively pointed tip that was good for crud. I rode that board all over the mountain - fresh snow, whatever. It was short enough (for me) that it was very maneuverable. It wasn't great in powder (not a huge surprise). Here's to regrets I suppose but that was a great line of boards. Core was great, boards were well made. I doubt I'll ever see one again but here's hoping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pegtal Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Got this board at home : I bought it in Val d'Isere in good used condition from an american racer during 1992 or 1993 summer. It's a short board, about 151 or 153 cm, stiff (for me) with a softer nose and a very low camber. I rode it about twenty days, funny board, able to handle speed despite its size, found it less springy than a Logical, less comfortable than a PJ. If I remember correctly, this board was available in several sizes, with one plain color by size. Mine is white and I saw some years ago a red one, heard about a black one and a yellow one. This ridiculous stance on the picture looks so weird now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shred Gruumer Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Is anyone familier with Apocalypse raceboards? I looked up their website and all I see is freestye & all mtn boards. I just picked up a used (in great shape) Apocalypse 6S and just wanted to see if anyone knew anything about the board and quality?Thanx! p.s- I'm still lookin 4 boots size 27-27.5 I used to sell them... send me a pic of it and I think I can help..maybe rthut2 at roadrunner dot com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullins01 Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Nice picture, thanks for sharing. Shape of the tip looks familiar but mine had a symmetric tail. "This ridiculous stance on the picture looks so weird now." Why, what kind of stance do you ride today? Michael Got this board at home : I bought it in Val d'Isere in good used condition from an american racer during 1992 or 1993 summer. It's a short board, about 151 or 153 cm, stiff (for me) with a softer nose and a very low camber. I rode it about twenty days, funny board, able to handle speed despite its size, found it less springy than a Logical, less comfortable than a PJ. If I remember correctly, this board was available in several sizes, with one plain color by size. Mine is white and I saw some years ago a red one, heard about a black one and a yellow one. This ridiculous stance on the picture looks so weird now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.oldsnowboards.com Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Cool! We were talking about oldsnowboards when this thread was started in 2004. TEN YEARS AGO!! Cool! I have a few, each very different from the others. Innovative to say the least. Very cool that some of our members were directly involved with the company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pegtal Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Why, what kind of stance do you ride today? Michael I ride with a 56 cm stance on an Apex BX board. In the early 90's, legs used to work together like a single "suspension" system, stance on the Apocalypse is about 42 cm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nils Posted January 8, 2014 Report Share Posted January 8, 2014 (edited) neat forum digging :) never saw that model! It looks like a partial assym ( same sidecuts but with advance gravity center on the frontside). they were basically three kinds of assyms: cut tail ( type 1) / forwarded frontside ( type 2 ) / full assym w/different sidecuts frontside/backside and forwarded frontside. The biggest improvement was taking type 1 ( first hoogers) to type 2.. It seems it was made by Serge Dupraz on the first Hot Assyms..What is funny is that it was also hype in wave windsurfing gear ( remember the HT hi-tech brand from Craig Maisonville?) Not sure about what models where of type 3, but I recall a brand advertizing them. for those interested in windsurf history: http://www.mauisails.com/barry_corner.php?id=33 there is an interesting part played by Dimitrije Milovich making carbon masts in early '83 Edited January 8, 2014 by nils updated link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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