Landyachtz DH Race or Evo?

[Justin A.]

I'm giving serious consideration to buying a new board with some of my tax return money, and it's come down to the Landyachtz Evo or DH Race.

The DH race is 1.25 inches narrower than the Evo, but that doesn't bother me much as I ride with overhang on my current board, or with some alpine-style foot angles. The Evo seems to be pretty popular here at school, but all the reviews that I've read talk about how great it is for bombing hills, with little to no mention of how it scoots.

I've heard that they both push like a dream because of the low ride height, but what about low(er) speed turning? 95% of my riding is done around campus and I don't want or need another tank like my Gravity Spoon Nose, I need something that can actually take turns off of pedestrian paths without needing to take a racing line, something that can dodge the fat chick and her friends as they giggle up the hill.

At the same time I'm looking for something that's not going to wobble me into a tree on said hill, because we've got some serious hills here and my spoon nose likes to wobble like mad (hence looking at drop-down boards).

So DH Race or Evo?

Edit: I just read the product description of both (GASP) and gleaned more information from those than the countless reviews that were to the effect of "OH MY GOD D00D, I DID 60004 MPHS ON THIS BOARD IT R00LZXORS"

Looks like the Evo has angled mounting points whereas the DH Race does not, and these angled mounts make it turnier than the DH Race. Evo it is.

[pokkis]

If you look board for campus riding why dont you pick GS board?

[Justin A.]

If you look board for campus riding why dont you pick GS board?

You'd have to know the campus. We've got several very very large and steep hills.

Between the huge hills on campus and the fact that I want something to bomb with on the weekends, that's why I'm looking at the DH-style boards.

[Arclite]

I'd get a Rayne Hellcat, but thats just me.

more details on why, later.

I gotta split

[KingCrimson]

I was gonna say the Race because I really dislike how dramatic the wedgenose is on the Evo. Let it be made public I'm terrrrrible on longer boards and do not go fast on a regular basis, or particularly well...

That said, keep in mind the Evo is a taper design, and is 10", whereas the Race is a straight sided 8.5. Since I only own and regularly ride slalom decks, I really prefered the Race when I tried the two back to back.

Also if you happen to hit some crap that jars you around, there is that much more surface area on a square deck. I also think you end up with a lot less concave length as a result of the designs.

I wouldn't take into account the geometry of the nose and tail too much as you can just play around with baseplates and bushings to get the behavior you want.

Julian- Why a Hellcat? From what I hear it's a great ride but you sacrifice a lot of pushability, and even more critically, foot dragging through traffic.

[Arclite]

I was gonna say the Race because I really dislike how dramatic the wedgenose is on the Evo. Let it be made public I'm terrrrrible on longer boards and do not go fast on a regular basis, or particularly well...

That said, keep in mind the Evo is a taper design, and is 10", whereas the Race is a straight sided 8.5. Since I only own and regularly ride slalom decks, I really prefered the Race when I tried the two back to back.

Also if you happen to hit some crap that jars you around, there is that much more surface area on a square deck. I also think you end up with a lot less concave length as a result of the designs.

I wouldn't take into account the geometry of the nose and tail too much as you can just play around with baseplates and bushings to get the behavior you want.

Julian- Why a Hellcat? From what I hear it's a great ride but you sacrifice a lot of pushability, and even more critically, foot dragging through traffic.

Concave = bliss for downhill boards.

Are you talking about an older version of the hellcat?

Because they specifically fixed that problem with the "pleasure dome"

And I tryed an evo/hellcat back-to-back with the same basic set up, I liked the hellcat MUCH more.

I love drop throughs - easier to slide.

and the hellcat's concave was much superior in my opinion to the evo's

[Justin A.]

I decided on the Evo with Randal R-II's and Abec 11 Gumballs (I'm pissed that you can't get the pink gumballs anymore though!).

I actually hemmed and hawed about the wheel choice for the better part of the day today. I had originally planned on 97mm Flywheels, then decided they were too big and I would get tired of pushing them around. So then I decided on the 90mm Flywheels, and then the 83mm Flywheels. At 83mm, I realized that I might as well look at the 75mm-ish size wheels, of which there is more than one choice. I was ready to go with Retro Pink BigZigs, then realized that the pink bigzigs are only 77a durometer - way too soft for my purposes.

Then I'm sitting here, and I thought about what duro I DID want, and decided that ~83a+/- would be best for all around (I find the 80a wheels on my Gravity board to be a touch soft and short-rolling, if comfy and quiet).

So it was down to the Bigzigs in Yellow or the Gumballs in 83a. Damn near everyone on a longboard on my campus has Gumballs in one durometer or another, so the deck was stacked towards the Bigzigs (green wheels are getting out of control - like Denali Jackets and Uggs). Then I noticed that the Bigzig upgrade price was $29.99 and the Gumballs were only $19.99. Sold to the Gumballs! I took the extra $10 and got black R-IIs instead of silver. The black trucks are going to look SICK on the black board, too bad I couldn't find black wheels as an upgrade option...

Grand total price? $237.93!, $50 less than I was going to spend from daddiesboardshop.com for a similar package. Thank you boards on nord!

It's going to be a loooooooong week waiting for this thing to show up.

[Gecko]

I can't believe I missed this...if you haven't bought yet you ought to check out the Clutch Deeznutz (yeah that's really the name) Similar to the Evo in basic shape but less extreme and (IMO) better made...plus they are made in Bristol RI

[Justin A.]

I can't believe I missed this...if you haven't bought yet you ought to check out the Clutch Deeznutz (yeah that's really the name) Similar to the Evo in basic shape but less extreme and (IMO) better made...plus they are made in Bristol RI

Too late!

I rode someone's evo at school the other day and loved it, for once I'm not immediately doubting my decision to buy something over $10...don't you make me start!

[Gecko]

Too late!

I rode someone's evo at school the other day and loved it, for once I'm not immediately doubting my decision to buy something over $10...don't you make me start!

the Evo is good I just like Soda Factory boards

[Justin A.]

It shipped last night, should be here saturday!

Of course, I have to work from 10am to 9:30pm on Saturdays...

I'll get to ride it Sunday though!

[Gecko]

I know the feeling I have a Lambchop I am picking up from the sodafactory on friday but the soonest I can ride it will be Sunday

[Justin A.]

I know the feeling I have a Lambchop I am picking up from the sodafactory on friday but the soonest I can ride it will be Sunday

It looks like sodafactory makes some slick boards, they usually show up at Wheelabrator, right? What do they have in the freeride-specific style?

[Gecko]

My Lambchop, Gravity Drifters, Indy 215s

[Justin A.]

daaaaaaaammmmnnnn you! ;)

Have you ridden it yet?

I'll live vicariously through you tonight and tomorrow - my Evo will be here some time tomorrow while I'm at work

Edit: I'm not so sure that I'm buying it, FedEx...they're still telling me tomorrow, but the board is in CT...I can't imagine it coming up from CT and being delivered tomorrow...Figures...monday while I'm at school would be even worse than tomorrow while I'm at work.

[Gecko]

I have assembled it and skated around a basketball court but nothing at speed or in anger yet. I spent most of the day skating with

....and learning

[Justin A.]

Wooo! Came today while I was at work, and my girlfriend brought it over to me (still in the box, so I even got to open it ) and I rode it around in the parking lot a little bit.

First impressions:

Damn that thing TURNS. It might just be the soft stock bushings in the Randals, but it makes like...5 foot circles at moderate pushing speed. Very smooth ride thanks to the 76mm Gumballs (84a), and the drop is just the right height, I feel like I could push forever, especially compared to my Gravity Spoon nose that sits about 5" off the ground . I need to tighten up the trucks a bit before I take on any hills, but this feels like it's going to be a really good board to learn to slide on, I got it to break loose by accident in the parking lot at pushing speed, so on a hill with some hutzpah it should be dreamy. I am however going to need to put some small risers on it, I got a little bit of rail bite while trying to break the wheels loose . I've got some 1/4" risers coming off a board that's going in the garbage, those should do the trick.

I'm thoroughly happy.

One nagging question though (and yes, it's stupid)...all of my boards up to this point have had definitive noses and tails...which end forward on the Evo? Skinny end or wide end?

[Gecko]

the fat end with the upturned nose

[Justin A.]

the fat end with the upturned nose

That would explain why it felt so turny. Good to know before I go trying to hit some hills lol.

For some reason I just assumed skinny end forward, probably because it looks more aerodynamic that way and I know that it was designed as a DH board . I did try riding it fat end forward and it seemed a lot less twitchy, but required more effort to turn, so this explains quite a bit. I'm still going to try to tighten up the trucks to see if I can get a more progressive feel rather than easy-way too easy-easy-hard-railbite.

[Arclite]

Hey one thing I've noticed with randals is that the bottom washer cuts into the stock bushings, you probably want to swap them for some venom downhills or khiro barrels

[wavechaser]

That would explain why it felt so turny. Good to know before I go trying to hit some hills lol.

For some reason I just assumed skinny end forward, probably because it looks more aerodynamic that way and I know that it was designed as a DH board . I did try riding it fat end forward and it seemed a lot less twitchy, but required more effort to turn, so this explains quite a bit. I'm still going to try to tighten up the trucks to see if I can get a more progressive feel rather than easy-way too easy-easy-hard-railbite.

Hey Justin - which angle baseplates did you get on the Randals? Are they 180's? With the wedge nose on the Evo, I'd de-wedge them about 10 degrees if you have the 50 degree plates, obviously less if you have the 42's. Or better yet, get some 35-degree Randal DH baseplates - good to have anyway...with flipped hangars you can have 4 different truck angles.

I see you are in NH...check out my preliminary race announcement here:

http://www.bomberonline.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=30666

GS/SG/DH off a ramp in Burlington, VT 5/16. Hit it if you can. Follow that thread for more info. You to TP. :-)

...and Gecko, I got a newest toy on the way too - Fullbag Elise with Black '09 190mm 40degree Smokies. Tis the season.

-RF