Metal failure stats

[~tb]

alright . . . Flame this thread to death, but i swear it is well intended.

I ride Catek OS2's with D3s. Many people have stated that this binding on metal boards without a protective plate is dangerous to the board. I have been riding them on my "gen 1" donek metal for 2 years now almost "trying to break it." The board has held up with no signs of wear or damage. (THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD DO THIS TO YOUR NEW DONEK METAL)

In preparing for the ECES (and all the boards I want to demo) I am trying to assess how concerned I should be about putting catek OS2's on a demo board. I have heard conjecture on this, but I am looking for FACTS.

So, I am interested in compiling some statistics. I would love to get every known broken metal board in the log, even if it isnt an interesting data point. IF you have broken a metal board, can you answer the following questions:

1) Do NOT share the board manufacturer. . . I have no intent in starting a flame war

2) Description of break (example: delaminated metal behind rear inserts)

2) If you know, what "generation" of metal board was it from the manufacturer (1st year, 2nd year. . . )

3) What bindings were you riding (complete description, brand, model, setup (example: Bomber TD2 step-ins with yellow e-rings and suspension kit)

4) Approximate number of days on the board

5) Were you using any form of protective plate

6) Now be honest. . . how did the break occur in 10 words or less, crash? Hard carve? Stuffed it in soft snow? Hit something? someone hit you?

7) picture? But only if it can be shot in a way that you can't tell the board manufacturer.

Im planning on making a "plex-plate" to take to ECES to run on all the demo boards. . . but still havent seen proof that the most recent Cateks are actually a problem compared to any other binding.

[bobdea]

they might of just been the first gen boards they hurt but they do have a really small footprint like the td1. the td1 was known to tear up the not so tough standard construction board (such as my burner 188)

anyway, I have a metal top from a certain builder's first gen that's peeling at the tail.

edit: not sure why it's peeling.

I've owned four metal boards. at least with boards that have a topsheet I don't see much of a difference in durability than glass boards.

a few people have metal doneks that have taken a beating and lots of people have metal coilers that have put up with some abuse with no issue. I THINK it's really the addition of a topsheet and some glass over the metal that makes a big difference assuming everything is bonded well in the first place.

[Bobby Buggs]

Tb, good thread here. I look at my Coiler metal sometimes and wonder if it will last as well as my glass one did. So far so good as it gets 90% of my snow time. I ride F2 intec exclusively.

And screw worrying about a flame war, if a board fails its fact not fiction. I have Evil products that fail from time to time and people cry about it on the net, its a big part of todays commerce, get used to it. Whats more important is how the manufacturer handled the failure.

[Snowman]

I have been pushing my metal Prototype Donek very hard since I got it with TD3's and no protective plates of any kind and in all kinds of nasty snow and its still very much in good condition!

Think Snow!

[John H]

I've got Catek OS 2's with D3 elastomers on both of my Prior metals(2010 versions). Neither board has ever been fitted with a protective plate/spacer and I've had no problems.

[BlueB]

When the new (glass top) metal Priors were in prototyping phase, I met Chris Prior in Whistler, riding his proto with Cateks OS2, no D3 elastomers, no lexan plates, basically trying to brake the board. No failure.

I have 3 metal top boards from 3 different manufacturers. I rode all of them with TD3 or TD2 with suspension, no sub plates. All are still fine. The one that's percieved as the weakest of the 3, I probably rode hardest!

However, I did buy 3 other metaltops, from 3 different sellers, that came BROKEN, DELAMINATED, or BENT, to me!

One went straight back to the seller (who is a famous racer, btw), for full refund, after a lot of arguing. Other one got fair refund issued without being sent back, no questions asked. The third (famous and notorious oldy) stayed as a wall piece, while a symbolic refund was offered but not followed through.

I know of another local metaltop (not mine) that developed "bubble" type of delam around foremost insert pair and was repaired by Prior. It was ridden with TD3s without sub plate. I'm going to ride it with Vist and try to brake it ;)

On the 3 boards I mentioned before the damages were as folows:

The delams consisted of boubbles around inserts, small cracks around inserts, delams around edges from nicks;

The brokken core, in front of lexan sub plate, straight crack right across the board, but no crack in the top sheet, just a fine "inprint" line visible at certain angle of the light. Then, crack in the base p-tex, right under the line on the top. I assume the bottom titanal would have the crack too, but no way to check that.

Bent board has uniform bend from front binding to the tip, Basically, it looks like rocker nose of Kessler, taken to an extreme. It does not appear to be brokken (no cracking sounds on hand flex), just bent. I might try to ride it for few hours, just for the hack of it.

[JK moscraciun]

1) - *********** (the manufacturer replaced the board promptly)

2) - complete failure

2) - 2009 race stock

3) - F2 race titanium

4) - 1 day, yes! 1 day on the board

5) - no protective plate system

6) - in soft snow! to much pressure on front foot

7) - below (image)

Since the manufacturer replaced it promptly I'm not complaining here! The exact cause of the failure is probably(in my opinion) a mix of bad riding in soft snow condition, bad luck and some sort of construction limitation/weakness.

After that event and 30+ days on the replacement board everything is OK!

[~tb]

Great data all, thanks for sharing. I will throw it into a table when we get a little more.

So of the confirmed failures,

1 F2 setup

1 peeled tail that is nowhere near the bindings.

and

3 failures that Blueb has bought, but don't have all the info on how they failed.

1 of which failed WITH a protective plate in place.

Lots of positive stories that lead me to believe that the newer boards are more robust.

Who else has info?

[GaelenSW]

I got a used 3rd or 4th (not completely sure) generation prior wcr, and broke it on my first race with it. i ended up winning the provincials on it, but it split between the base and the core. I was riding Catek OS2's without any protective layer, and it probably didn't help that it was a used board from the racing circuit.

I talked to Bruce about how to repair it, but because of where it split, it was irreparable. I loved that board, even though i only rode it for two days or so, it's still one of my favourites.