Boiler Plate Hits East Coast

[Jack M]

My Boiler Plate arrived on Wednesday last week. The quality of the hardware is everything we have come to expect from Bomber Industries. Once mounted, you can pick up your board with the plate on it and shake it and bend it and there are no rattles, shifts, or creaks. But the quality of the deck is downright impressive for any experienced board-maker.... never mind the fact that Bomber has never marketed any kind of composite board before!! The finish is clean and sexy, and the structure is extremely stiff. It simply does not bend when pressed by hand or foot. In theory this is what a plate is supposed to do... rigidly span the curvature of the flexing board at all times so that your feet stay on a constant plane. If the plate were to bend with the arc of the board, then what is the point?

Mounting the plate really feels like blazing into uncharted territory, as it introduces several new variables to the binding setup procedure. I was advised to put the ball of my front foot over the front axle of the plate. To make that long story short, the lesson learned there is to mark your board somehow with the old pre-plate position of your bindings so that you can get close to reproducing it post-plate. If you end up with a stance width a little wider on the plate, it's not to worry. As others have said, the plate makes it more comfortable to go wider. I went from a 19.75" stance to 20" with no problem. This is counter-intuitive because without a plate when the board bends in a turn our feet tilt towards each other, creating a more comfortable position. I believe the plate allowed me to go wider because now I realize that my stance width was previously limited by the board bouncing around underneath me, upsetting my stance.

After reading all the other plate reviews, the three questions I wanted to answer for myself were, is it worth the height and weight penalty, will I still have snow-feel, and does it improve edge hold? Short answers, yes, yes, and yes. I mounted my BBP on my Coiler NSR 185. I figured an extra ~4 pounds of ballast would make the most sense on a board that is built for speed and drawn out GS carves in lieu of playfulness and all-around snowboard performance. Of course the height and weight present themselves as immediate obstacles at first - it took several runs to acclimatize to the new altitude and payload. You have to re-learn the input parameters to the system to get the desired output. But another factor I haven't heard mentioned is that the extra effort required to tip the board up suddenly made my boots feel softer. Had to go from my usual 3 notches to 4 on my top 2 boot straps, and I'm thinking about stiffer BTS springs.

But nevermind that. The performance of the suspension action is real. There have been a lot of "innovations" in skiing and snowboarding that have made me scratch my head and wonder "does that really work?" That bulb on the tips of Dynastar Course skis. Those Rossi VAS plaques. Burton Rider Responsive Flex. K2 piezo-electric. Snow-Stix. Head Intelligence. Gimmicks? Maybe, I'm not sure. But once you figure out how to string a few carves together with a Boiler Plate, you will know without a shadow of a doubt, this thing works.

It's really quite simple - the plate stays flat while the board bends underneath. The plate rides on two axles - the rear axle is fixed and can only hinge. The front axle can hinge and slide. The plate forms a constant bridge over the board bending beneath. File this in the "why didn't I think of that?" folder. What happens when your board encounters an imperfection, a bump, a rut, a pile of loose snow? It suddenly bends. With the plate, you no longer feel that. You still feel impacts that displace the board vertically, but the board is now free to bend as quickly as it needs to in order to react to the snow surface and recover.

After one day I found snow-feel to be much better than with the Vist plate that I tried for a day. The plate is rigidly coupled to the board in the vertical direction and in torsion, but decoupled from the board in the horizontal shear direction and in bending. There are no springs; there are no surface-to-surface interfaces. Therefore it does not alter the flex or dampness of the board, and high-frequency snow surface vibrations are transmitted like always, preserving a lot of that familiar snow-feel. Bone-jarring board-bending impacts are now eliminated. This improves edge-hold because the board is allowed to flex and rebound faster, without protest from the relatively very heavy rider.

By the end of my second day with the Boiler Plate, the weight and height were disappearing. I was simply getting used to it, while enjoying the huge leaps in confidence-inspiring stability and comfort. It is sort of like when you were a kid, getting the next bigger size bike. You still knew how to ride a bike, you just had to translate your skills to bigger wheels. In short order you were tearing around the neighborhood again. Same deal here.

The plate allows a GS board to do what it wants to do - go fast! It makes skied-off or pushed-around or cut-up groom feel like fresh groom, and it makes early morning corduroy feel flawless top to bottom. I had previously thought that on hero days there would be no need for a plate. But the extra smoothness is appreciable and welcome no matter what. So much so that I am looking forward to trying it on my all-around go-to board, my Coiler Stubby 171. However non-carving performance seems to be hindered by the plate. I didn't have trouble stopping, but it felt like the board wanted to spin around backwards when skidding turns. That will take more time to get used to.

As others have said, the plate is a leg-saver. This is easily one-third of the value of the plate. My legs were significantly less fatigued at the end of the day, and not even sore the next morning. And from a weekend-warrior desk-jockey ski-school dad like me, that is saying something. This is how I am going to carve into my 70s.

Fin & Co. have hit a grand slam with the Boiler Plate. This is the next big thing.

[carvedog]

Too long. Didn't read. You liked it??

;)

[SunSurfer]

And vowing he would ne'er consent, consented!

So Jack, you're finally a believer and join the growing throng.

The benefits of a plate are not model specific, just concept specific. I was reporting exactly the same qualities in August 2010 from my home made "isocline" plate. People riding the Shred/Lowrider plate, and the Donek plate, report the same experience you've had on the Boiler.

SunSurfer

[Newmax]

Sounds you had fun with it.

One question is there, that I still have. If you're saying, that one can go a lot faster, than without the plate, wouldn't you be a bit worried? I mean, how often do we complain about people going really fast with their carving skis, that don't really have the technical ability or experience to go that fast, but the new skis allow them to? Isn't there some overlap with the new plate systems, easy to go fast, even in conditions where I was not going that fast, for whatever reason?

I'm a bit scared by these things, that might make people go faster than they should.

Just a thought

Max

[Jack M]

And vowing he would ne'er consent, consented!

Hey now, I made no such vow!

So Jack, you're finally a believer and join the growing throng.

I believed, I just had to try it for myself. I knew it would work, the concept is so simple and elegant, I was just worried it wouldn't be worth the weight. It is.

Too long. Didn't read. You liked it??

;)

Har har. So bring your laptop with you to the throne.

I'll try to get some pics next time I ride, Feb 4-6.

Sounds you had fun with it.

One question is there, that I still have. If you're saying, that one can go a lot faster, than without the plate, wouldn't you be a bit worried? I mean, how often do we complain about people going really fast with their carving skis, that don't really have the technical ability or experience to go that fast, but the new skis allow them to? Isn't there some overlap with the new plate systems, easy to go fast, even in conditions where I was not going that fast, for whatever reason?

I'm a bit scared by these things, that might make people go faster than they should.

Just a thought

Max

I wouldn't say it's like that. It's not like the plate doubles your speed or anything crazy. It's more like the plate allows you to ride to your full potential more of the time. You still have a sense of how fast you're going. More importantly, the snow-feel still allows you to have a sense of how fast you should be going.

There is a certain amount of skill required to ride a board with a plate, due to the extra height and weight. I think the people in the market for a plate are generally able to be careful with their speed and managing crowds. Besides, a new-school metal GS board already goes really fast.

[lowrider]

In theory this is what a plate is supposed to do. "Rigidly span the curvature of the flexing board" (Jacks words not mine).This statement is now the starting point for all future plate development. Rigid plates, softer flex plates and hardware placement are now on the table as far as determining the future of plates. To date there is no conclusive proof that any one will dominate. It is also clear that many are still unsure if they want need or can handle a plate for their particular style of riding. The simple answer is a plate will enhance the performance of any board as long as the plate is matched to the board. Therefore many types of plates will be necessary. For the racing crowd the Bomber and Apex will be the most desired plates for others something more forgiving. A little more flex and perhaps a longer harware stance. If you don't get on a plate soon and find out what's going on today you won't understand the changes as they develop. For the record. (Jack was willing to try this stuff before anything was on the US. market.) With a plate Jack will now be able to keep up to his son for years to come.