New Member, Old Rider, Looking for Board Advice

[leeho730]

-sidecut: single or vsr, how big?

-flex pattern: you can tell Sean you want to do eurocarving, I'm sure he can cook something for you.

[bgarfield]

He mentioned doing VSR, and his explanation made perfect sense to me. We also spoke about the flex. I was very descriptive about what I'm looking for and he seemed completely confident in what to build for what I was looking to do.

He did mention (don't quote me, but I believe this is correct) that the Incline would be less of a tree board due to the center stiffness vs. the Saber, but I was willing to give that up for a better hardpack carve. Basically saying that the Incline doesn't transition quite as fast in powder as the Saber. He did say that he does trees just fine with the board, it's just not the preferred tree board for his customers.

The only problem now is that I'm too rushed to do some seriously cool custom graphics that I'd like (board needs to be done for my upcoming trip).

Brian

[Boarder_Ted]

Couple more thoughts...

I went back and read your original post. The VSR does not lend itself well to riding switch. It can be done, it's just tricky. You'll also notice that the board will want to run long if you sit back on the tail to finish your turns. I've been knocked into the back seat occasionally and you keep waiting for the board to pop you back up and into the next turn. And it doesn't happen. Ride it hard and be aggressive and you'll have no trouble. So if you are serious about riding switch, I might consider just going with the standard SCR, maybe tightened up a bit.

As a last note, Sean was very busy earlier in the season and he told me it would be three weeks instead of the usual 2 to build the board. I waited 6 weeks get it. Just a heads up.

PM me if you want to chat more about the Incline.

Ted

[bgarfield]

That's great information Ted, I'll be sure to talk to Sean about it as I'm generally riding and carving backward about 30% of the time. My fun exercise is to carve toe side and hop a 180 to carve toeside backward.

As for the time frame, it's been well discussed as he'll be shipping the board to where I'm staying....in about 3 weeks.

Thanks!

Brian

[bobdea]

I'm another fan of modern softboot gear. for what you're asking you basically are describing BX stuff.

I love hardboots, when all I feel like doing is carving. but the newer softboot stuff works dang good for that to some extent as well but is unreal to do the classic freeride on.

[slopestar]

That's great information Ted, I'll be sure to talk to Sean about it as I'm generally riding and carving backward about 30% of the time. My fun exercise is to carve toe side and hop a 180 to carve toeside backward.

As for the time frame, it's been well discussed as he'll be shipping the board to where I'm staying....in about 3 weeks.

Thanks!

Brian

Right there with you. I do have a burton fusion that I have been playing with. Ridden only with alpine gear. (Late 90's burton bx) I too mainly softboot and ride switch about 40% of the time. Endless bottom turns are my favorite. Next year will be a custom donek as the custom x has seen its life and I can't bring myself to buy off the shelf when there are fine custom builders available here in the states like donek. Looking forward to hearing about what you both come up with and its performance.

[bgarfield]

Slope, I noticed in searching that you were looking for a similar board about 6 months ago. Well, after talking with Sean several times and doing the numbers the best I could blindly (meaning I haven't compared specs from boards as I rode them, I just rode), with Sean's feedback, we've come up with what we thought would do the trick.

Hopefully a board that will lay down the best carve possible in soft boots, forward AND backward, while performing respectably in powder, much better at speed than any freestyle board, and still able to deal with East Coast crap snow.

I'm an experienced rider (24yrs) with race and pipe experience, 5'9", 160lbs.

Donek Incline 164

25cm waist

9.8m sidecut (tightened a tad for a 164)

1" set back for powder

regular sidecut (non-VSR)

30.1 shovel

29.4 tail

It'll be delivered to me when I'm in Steamboat, not a riding day before... wish me luck!

[newcarver]

Had a very similar Incline. Very fun board. Mine had a 10.4M sidecut and didn't have the setback. Still worked pretty well in pow and would carve very well on all snow conditions. Regret trading it somewhat, but got a more powder specific board that is a lot of fun in a different way.

[bgarfield]

For those that were actually interested, I wanted to update on my board. It was sent to me in Steamboat, rode it the first day in some powder (no groomers at all). It was great in the shallow stuff, but I couldn't keep the nose up in the deep stuff, which didn't bother me because I didn't have it built as a powder board, just a few features to help it float.

I gave it to a ski valet for the night and they dropped it and broke the sidewall! I sent pictures to Sean and he told me not to ride it anymore and I immediately shipped it back to him to which he repaired it for free (ski valet was denying fault, but did give me a rental). Unfortunately, the timing of shipping and Sean's availability took it out of my hands for a couple of weeks.

When I got it back, I got to really put it to the test, albeit on the lame hills close to me in MD/PA. The thing is a friggin rocket and holds an edge unbelievably. I used to race and run hard boots as well, and this board with softies and Burton FS bindings is practically the same. Low carves are no problem and I've never been so confident on low heel turns in softies.

Anyhow, I wanted to update and express how happy I am with the board. I've decided to buy a 2011 Burton Malolo (got a great deal) for the powder days, but I'm still laying out low carves, regular and switch, and blasting big airs (even in the park ) with the Donek.