Long board tips

[Sultan Guy]

A question for all you long board enthusiasts out there. I have been having a great time on my Prior 4WD 174 and Hot Blast 178. Making large leaps in carving ability this season. I just picked up a bad ass looking Tropical Tube 185 with a 16 meter SCR to fool around with.

Any advice on changing technique for a board of this length and SCR?

Besides the obvious one of initiate my turns well before the trees :)

Someone told me to be "patient" with longer boards.

Why do you like a longer board over a shorter board?

[Newmax]

Why do you like a longer board over a shorter board?

Speeeed stability!

Did you try it out yet? If not, just step on it, and give it a try, preferrably on a wider run. Then you'll probably soon recognize the difference. Oh, and don't be afraid!

[Sinecure]

Being patient is good advice. To break it down, remember to wait a bit longer than you are used to before tipping the board into the new turn or you may fall on your face/butt. And don't be afraid of speed.

Oh, and remember you can't throw it sideways as quickly if a gaper cuts you off.

[Corey]

Plan way ahead. That drives looking way ahead, which lets you see stuff well in advance of it becoming an emergency. Try this in your car (in very light or no traffic), only allow yourself to turn the wheel a certain amount. To do that you need to really see the arcs in advance and plan out where they'll end.

On steeper stuff with good snow you can bend a big radius board into surprisingly tight arcs.

[Mike T]

Learn to make more racer-type turns where you go harder at the beginning of the turn. Initiating the turn with plenty of room between you and the side of the trail is part of it, but the other part is don't just initiate gently... do it powerfully, get the board high up on edge, right away.

The new-school race shapes and also FC shapes inspired by new-school race shapes (Kessler, SG, Coiler NSR, Coiler VSR, 2010 Donek metal, etc) are designed to make this easy. With the exception of the "don't tip it over without a little speed" thing I don't much worry about patience, planning ahead, etc on my 185 NSR.

[bobdea]

depending on what you're coming from its probably gonna be easier to ride if you can deal with the speed and you have the room.

for me the most humbling boards are short turny boards, SL type boards tend to show flaws more. long stuff not so much. as long as it's not crowded.

[inkaholic]

My SG before (same as Sincure's) with reservoir tip and after, no tip. Now a Custom SG 177 Race T Twin Tail.

Ink

[carvedog]

see my sig. Thanks eaj

[Call me jack]

My SG before (same as Sincure's) with reservoir tip and after, no tip. Now a Custom SG 177 Race T Twin Tail.

Ink

what is that little virus? it's cute. ridable?

i have a F2 speedster rs 186. i find that on a steep enough hill, it will turn just as sharp as my donek axxess 177. i just need to lay down in my turns more, which i'm much more comfortable doing on my f2, then my donek, for some reason. At lower speeds though, yeah, the f2 is quite a handful.

I would just start it on a blue square run, and go from there. as soon as you start making turns you'll know exactly how that board wants to be ridden

[SteveInOregon]

__ ____ : As a beginning hard boot'er with only 11 full all day outings under me , ( long time softboot'er) I picked up an old & skinny 185 Oxygen and this is what I noticed, and it it right in line with what the more experienced guy's here are saying.

1) S-P-E-E-D the faster speed was immediately noticeable and I LOVED it. weight neutral-forward or way back it don't matter once it breaks 30mps it don't matter much ,( it does ) but lets say it is highly forgivable as far as front to back balance in the strait away.

Indulge me: I could literally imagine taking my bindings off the board, putting stop pads all over the middle top sheet, slipping into to my neopreme wet suit booties and walking up and back on it like a dam surfing long board while charging down a blue groomer, that is how stable it is. ( one day I mite just do that for a kook thrill )

2) I needed a lot wider trail to work the board, a typical California "short & steep" just don't cut it. when you do a "black & narrow " it turns into a survival experience , no fun, no time to set turns, no learning.

3) Cadillac ride, more board under me to absorb the terrain , plus it is old glass board so its kind of "damp" if that term applies to the smoother ride.

4) Authority in the turn, You have to stay on the gas when you turn, You have to turn with "purpose" or your going to lose the edge and be on your ass every time and then be on top of it when you transition ( Mine likes more push on the front foot with my forward pointing high front boot angle setup )

5) Hook up, it does not "come alive" unless you are going a bit faster than all my other boards. ( granted my others are all mountain ) under 20 or so without a steep it is just a slider, but when the wind starts buffeting you then its "alive".

6) Lean for your life, I am not in carving slalom shape, my form sucks to , nor an ice hockey player any more so I don't have powerful lowers so I have to lean my whole body into it to keep it curving-carving. I cant just flip it on side like a toy, which is no big deal because I tend to ride it like I surf a long board on a overhead, I "surf" the snow, in fact I am so use to surfing long boards I subconsciously revert to surfing when I get into a steep, lol.:p ( I may never be a pure carve guy, just a snow surfer, I'm ok with that )

7) Ice = hospital, I'm not saying it does not handle well in ice , it does, but it's heavy & long so when you "loose it" going fast on a 30 degree hockey rink this big stick wants to jam your knees into your teeth, so I learned to respect it

I love my old long board and cant wait till I can climb back on, and even a demo a new one or two to feel the difference.

I hope this beginner's to hard boot-bindings & long alpine boards perspective helps too.:)

[NateW]

At low-ish speeds, prefer skidding to carving. Big-SCR boards need more edge angle to make the same turns, which means they need more speed. If you don't have that speed, you will find yourself leaning into a turn, tipping the board on edge, and falling over because the board doesn't turn as much as you're accustomed to. At least, that's what happened to me on the first carve I attempted with a 13m sidecut, after riding nothing bigger than 10m. It felt like the board hadn't turned at all.

Once you get your speed up, it's not that different, other than needing to plan ahead a bit further. Like Corey said, boards with long sidecut radii canturn tight. You just need to go faster, lean in further, and look/think ahead further.

I'd focus more on the "going faster" part than on the "lean in further" in the beginning. Going faster is the easy part, it's just a matter of getting comfortable and confident at higher speeds, and that will come with practice.

The more you lean in, the more important good technique becomes. You can improve your technique on any of your boards though - for that I'd focus on the board that you're most comfortable on, regardless of sidecut.

[KarverKai]

what is that little virus? it's cute. ridable?

The little Virus is my Rookie 99. I am waiting the arrival of my bindings and Dada says we may get my boots on Sunday. I hope to ride it with Frank at LCS3 on Saturday with my softies and flows.

I'm so excited to try it instead of my 110 freeride board. Slalom baby, slalom! :p

KarverKai

[groovastic]

My SG before (same as Sincure's) with reservoir tip and after, no tip. Now a Custom SG 177 Race T Twin Tail.

Ink

Sorry for going OT, but how did you get a custom made SG?? (or I got something wrong...)

Aren't they mass produced in a big factory?

Cheers!

[inkaholic]

Sorry for going OT, but how did you get a custom made SG?? (or I got something wrong...)

Aren't they mass produced in a big factory?

Cheers!

Mine was the same as Sincure's until I took a saw to it = custom. :)

DOING THIS IS NOT RECOMMENDED BY SG or Inkaholic or anyone else for that matter.

I got tired of the reservoir tip bouncing around adding nothing to the board so it is now gone. A side benefit is it now fits into a smaller board bag for transportation but has the big sidecut. The board still rides great.

Ink

[Sinecure]

If you buy my SG from me, I'll send it to Ink and he can customize it for you. Someone please buy my board. I need the $$.

[NateW]

the reservoir tip

:lol:

[Sultan Guy]

Took that 185 out this morning and right away I was ripping and carving. I loved the edge hold and had some really nice heel side with no washout, something that has been an issue for me on shorter boards.

Super stable also which helps my confidence.

This board was so long that it got started at constantly at the lift :)

[groovastic]

Mine was the same as Sincure's until I took a saw to it = custom. :)

DOING THIS IS NOT RECOMMENDED BY SG or Inkaholic or anyone else for that matter.

I got tired of the reservoir tip bouncing around adding nothing to the board so it is now gone. A side benefit is it now fits into a smaller board bag for transportation but has the big sidecut. The board still rides great.

Ink

oops :o

sorry for not reading carefuly enough!

[TrenchKnife]

Try to familiarize yourself with a very short alpine board first.

Longboards allow a lot of latitude for sloppy balance, and many riders' skills suffer as a result, often with the board riding them, as opposed to vice-versa.

This is all-too-common in hardbooting.

[inkaholic]

oops :o

sorry for not reading carefuly enough!

It's all good. :)

Ink

[lowrider]

You will never have to worry about going fast or slow only stopping!! learn that well and the mountain is yours.Thunder thighs help:lol:

[carvedog]

Longboards allow a lot of latitude for sloppy balance....

How about "longboards allow more balancing positions along the length of the board." If you want to call it sloppy I guess you can. I love the ability to recover from more positions and also to carve off the tail if I want.

And what's wrong with that?

I got tired of the reservoir tip bouncing around adding nothing to the board so it is now gone...

you funny guy yes. ( I just wanted to type four words that all had the letter y in them-thanks for playing along )

[Steve Prokopiw]

I was telling Fin the other day that the 210 is fun to ride with a sort of 'Bodie Miller' recklessness.That said,I don't think of this as sloppy as much as just another way to ride.So I'm with Carvedog on his counterpoint.Furthermore,I get tired of seeing how smooth and 'reduced' I can make my movements, and the long board facilitates more 'movement exploration',er,Expression.

I spent twenty years riding freestyle boards in hardboots.I still like them for tricks and tight spaces.But nothing compares to the feel of bending a longboard in half to make a high-g turn in half the radius of it's sidecut.

[mr_roboteye]

Try to familiarize yourself with a very short alpine board first.

Longboards allow a lot of latitude for sloppy balance, and many riders' skills suffer as a result, often with the board riding them, as opposed to vice-versa.

This is all-too-common in hardbooting.

Bad riding is bad riding, no matter what size the board is. Poor technique and improper execution will be punished by a stiff, mean board, regardless of the size. I would go so far as to say that metal construction probably hides more mistakes than a longer board.

There's nothing quite like railing a badass 185+cm board in a nice wide open space.

.

[big mario]

Bad riding is bad riding, I would go so far as to say that metal construction probably hides more mistakes than a longer board.

There's nothing quite like railing a badass 185+cm board in a nice wide open space.

.

+1

After adding an early rise to my virus, I have gone back to my 186 F2 Speedster with a 16m as my everyday ride. As long as I stay on it and pay attention, I am rewarded with a smooth, fast, grippy, fun ride, and I can bring it down really tight. As soon as I start to get tired or lazy however, that board will turn around and bitch slap me. If you are going to ride big boards, own them and show them no mercy whatsoever.

My Vampire, metal construction, let's me get away with all kinds of stuff that I could'nt even contemplate on a glass board, be it long or short

mario