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Metal . . . or Plate, and you can't have both


~tb

you can only have one, Metal board, or non-metal with plate, which is it?  

41 members have voted

  1. 1. you can only have one, Metal board, or non-metal with plate, which is it?

    • Gimme a Metal any day
      33
    • Ill take the plate and a non-metal board please
      7


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So after a weekend of riding some new donek boards, new donek boards with plates, old glass/carbon/kevlar boards, and old boards with plates, I walked away with a puzzle in my head:

FOR THOSE OF YOU QUALIFIED TO ANSWER (AKA, you have ridden a plate system, and you have ridden a recent metal board), If you could either have one metal board of your choosing, or one non-metal board, but with a plate system, which would it be?

The metal board could never be used with any plate or modifier, the non-metal board with a plate system, you could use with or without the plate.

Discuss.

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Metal all the way. It already has enhanced edge hold and dampness. Plate would add those features to a glass board, but would add unnecessary weight and compromise low speed / low performance handling to some extent. For the record, I'm a plate maker too.

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There are so few people that have ridden both a plate and a new-school fiberglass board that you're not going to get many opinions. Snowman? Pukas?

Who makes fiberglass boards with new-school geometry? Donek, Virus, anyone else?

From only experiencing one plate on two different metal boards (Coiler 182 and 167) and an old Volkl RT 178, I'll pick metal by a huge margin. That's really not a fair comparison though. I'm really interested to try some of the new shapes in fiberglass at SES, with and without a plate.

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Kessler with an Apex plate ,SG and Donek are probably the only true test yet for plate board matched sets but i'm pretty sure no one has nailed down the perfect combination and i would bet it's another gold medal away before anyone can claim they have the perfect plate board! What a plate can do for any board is dramatic. Makes older Glass boards behave user friendly. And reduces nose oscillation on new metal dramatically.So the question you really pose is, Can new metal boards performance be enhanced by using a plate? Yes! Maybe we should backtrack and redesign the perfect glass board for a plate then the perfect metal board with a plate. And then...................

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Been on 20+ metal boards (Coiler, Donek, Kessler, Prior) and 3 plates (Apex, Donek, Hangl). (Do Tinkler plates count? Been on that too; the ride was more Hangl-ish than Conshox-ish)

Metal, metal, metal. Did I say metal?

Simply put, I've found plates to be a tradeoff... faster acceleration, better edge grip on ice, better contact with the hardpack when covered with crud, at the expense of agility, nimbleness, flickability, feeling for snow, ability to recover from certain mistakes.

Metal boards, the only tradeoff I have experienced has come when I have to fork over an extra few hundred bucks to buy it. I just like the way metal boards behave. They're so much fun, all the time, nuff said.

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Sorry TB, got to throw a wrench in the machine here :smashfrea

First , exponentially more riders have experienced metal board vs plates. Especially the newer plate systems. That said, it is going to be very biased toward metal boards.

Although I do enjoy metal boards and without question they are a huge advancement overal. I also have been a plate user / believer when it was still being poo hoo'd) That said, my favorite board is not metal and is the older plate system, however, it is more importantly both a TNT (split tip and tail) AND Snow Stix system. It is frickin amazing what it can do. Wrench placed.:biggthump

As a result: I will take a glass board built by Mike with a plate and sno stix any day over metal. It is that good.

This is why the video of Mike riding will always be from a distance. His latest board / system is fricking amazing.

Only question now is how I am going to pay for it!!!!!!!! Damn. I will be ramping up the sales again in two weeks.

The combination of all these things is being tested, mine will hopefully be built soon.

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First , exponentially more riders have experienced metal board vs plates. Especially the newer plate systems. That said, it is going to be very biased toward metal boards.

Not if people follow the rules, and only vote if they have personal experience with both metal boards and newer plate systems.

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Recently had some time on a standard construction board with a plate. Not convinced in the least, actually very disappointed. Go metal all the way. Most will find that the plate only gives you a nice feel, but does not directly enhance your riding performance. Great boards already have a nice feel.

With a little luck we will have another plate system for you to try soon. I think you will like it. Sorry, I can not offer any additional details. None.

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There are so few people that have ridden both a plate and a new-school fiberglass board that you're not going to get many opinions. Snowman? Pukas?

Who makes fiberglass boards with new-school geometry? Donek, Virus, anyone else?

QUOTE]

OXESS!!

I got an Hybrid BX163 full carbon top that smokes!!! Fastest board I got.. then again its 14.5m sidecut. Its been a wicked surprise to date.. Its damp as metal as far as vibration and edge hold on ice.. but its got a bit more pop.. Its fun as hell too..

Cant choose right now I have an SGP plate on a metal Coiler VSR 163 and its like ridding an Old DeVille with broken shocks.. real cushy!!:1luvu:

RSS

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didnt expect this thread to go this way.

I guess I am one of the lucky few that has gotten to play with this many combinations this quickly.

over the weekend, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the Donek plate system. I was further surprised by how it felt on a non-metal decambered VSR board. It got me to thinking about whether or not I really would want a metal if I could only have one or the other.

I was also surprised that I did not have any of the issues with the plate that the others sighted. Low speed handling was not a problem, stopping was not a problem. I even found "flickability" to be increased as I had higher confidence that the next turn would "stick" even in the crud on the edge of a trail. . .

Maybe I just got lucky with my first set up of the plate.

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I may be wrong here, but last time I checked Bruce was pretty exclusively making metal boards. That is with the exception of the carbon fibre Angrry 160/ Madd158 that is an open secret on here.

Dave

My understanding is that there are a few well-loved modern decks out there without the metal that bruce made.

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