BlueB Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 (edited) This thread turned into a bit of flame war, but let's keep the discussion going. For those who are only after the rviews, I opened another thread in propper section: http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?41964 ... I feel privileged to be chosen by On Edge Style snowboards, from Spain, as their test pilot! Alexey has contacted me few weeks ago and as you can imagine, it was very hard to convince me ;) In no time, he produced 8 boards for me and yesterday FedEx guy showed at my door! OES (http://onedgestyle.com/index.php/en/ ) has factory in Spain. They combine over 40 different hi-tech laminates (Carbon, Kevlar, Vectran, Titanal, etc.) to create the best combo for the application! More tech info and history can be had from Alexey himself, also a member here. Hopefully he’ll chime in. Over the rest of the winter, I’ll be testing these boards, with the help of my Vancouver crew. I’ll post the reviews here, as we move along. There are 3 distinct groups of models I’ll review: RACE GS 185/20cm, 12-21m, “Shaman” SL 162/19.5, 7-12m, “Charmer” SL 157/19.5, 7-11m, “Witch” FREECARVE 178/18cm, 12-14m 170/19cm, “Training” 169/17cm, VSR “Loony” EC 168/22cm, 12.7m “Bulat” M 161/21cm, “Bulat” F All their boards have extra inserts for the Vist Plate. Race models have been optimized to be ridden with the plate. Edited March 20, 2014 by BlueB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted February 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 As I opened the box, I noticed few things: The very first thing that jumped at me was the beautiful Carbon Twill finish of the EC boards (Iï'm sucker for that kind of stuff, can't help it ;) ). Boards look massive and solid. The cosmetic finishing touches are a notch bellow Coiler/Prior, but that doesn't bother me a single bit. Tuning is fantastic, out of the box. Very aggressive edge bevel on the race boards! Peeling of the protective film was pain in the neck, but kind of exciting, like stripping your lover ;) Can't wait for the slope time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted February 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 SL 162/19.5, 7-12m, “Charmer”, was the first board to make it to the snow. Alexey recommends use of Vist for it, but I decided to take it “naked”. I took it to the night session at Cypress, at -11C and mostly man made hard pack. Conditions were smoother then expected in the evening. Some softer piles here and there, near the snow guns. At the moment we do not have anything steeper then a steep Blue (JJA – Olympic PGS run) open. Few good mild and steeper Green cruisers too. For reference, I brought my Kessler BX narrow, that has similar edge geometry, indespite of being wider and softer. Anyways… I clipped into the bindings and launched. Holy smokes! This thing has mega edge hold! Feel under foot is extremely stable, like riding a larger board. Very damp with great tracking. Easy to vary the size of the turn, too. No “bronco” effect that was typical for the old school slalom boards. It was very easy to EC the board too. Few times when I entered soft patch piled from snow guns, while fully laid, nose straightened to fall line, but as long as I kept hanging in, it re-engaged and brought me out of the carve. Compared to Kessler, SL 162 is damper, more stable and tracks better. It has better edge hold, but that could be effect of the superior tune that the board came with. Kessler has more rebound and is a bit easier to ride (initiation). The feel of the speed (no means of timing) is on par. Interestingly, the nose feels somewhat stiff, while the tail feels soft (comparatively)… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted February 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2014 Yesterday I rode the SL157 for about 2 hours and GS185 for few runs. 157 is just as great as the 162, in smaller package. I could (in my opinion) be a bit sofet overall if the target was female rider or lightweight/junior male. It carried my 82kg just fine (din't have a chance for black runs, though). Mind you, the racers are a lot fitter then old farts like me :) 185 if very interesting board. It's been long time since I broke my metaltop Kessler 185, but talking from memory, ride is similar. OES board is damper. Edge hold is hard to compare from memory. Kessler had a bit more "pop". As far as the geometry goes, it looks that Alexey applied a bit stiffer nose and more camber, then compensated by having a bit more abupt nose upturn. This puts extra edge in contact a bit later but "autopilots" the board a bit more. It seems this alowed me to load the front foot/nose and stay there, keeping the radius tight. The tail I'd like a bit less upturned, but I totaly can see how this can work well in the race course. The board worked well for me with both Bomber style and modified EC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted February 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 (edited) 178/18 Freecrve is a fantastic board! Precise, energetic yet quite easy to ride, rock solid, variable turn shape can be acheived. Nose is soft enough for board to initiate well, while stiff enough that when off ballance one can just pressure it more to tighten the turn and bring the rider up from trouble. In the PM it got bounced around a bit with cross-over technique, but held very nicely with cross-throug or cross-under. Not quite the performance of OES Titanal race boards in those rougher conditions, but still respectable. Less camber and more nose rocker would make it better in those conditions, but also less fun on the good snow. There always has to be a trade-off, as we know... I also took it over few big jumps, no problems there. Next day, In the morning I tried it in the conditions it wasn't really ment for - 7-8cm of wet fresh over ungroomed yesterday's surface. It performed pretty good! Carved the crappy snow, but a bit lighter touch was required. Stuffed the nose only once in 45min of test ride. What a board! All of OES freecarves have lots of CAMBER! The Loony is for lunatics - in a good way! First thing that strikes is the geometry - only 17cm at the waist, but that's not all! This board, as well as the 170/19, has significant flare (reversed taper) and very stiff nose. It took me about 2 runs to realise that it doesn't like finishing the turns across the hill, nor cross-under / cross-through technique. As long as I rode cross over, presured the nose and allowed the tail to do the loading-offloading, the board sling-shoted me from ege to edge in crazyy fun pace and tight turns. I found this style of riding more suitable for flatter terrain. Edited March 20, 2014 by BlueB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted February 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 I rode OES SL162 all day long, yesterday. The little board keeps on plesantly surprising me. We had a semi frozen groomed slopes on flatter runs and the same with death cookies on steeper. In the afternoon, it started snowing heavilly, developing in full blizzard by 2pm. The board held well in hard conditions in the morning, came to full life in slightly softer mid day and was not bothered at all by the huge snowfall in the pm! Tight turns, bigger drawn turns, any pitch, it just performs flawlessly. It seems that generous taper and early nose rise allows for this AM like performance. Nose is beffy enough that it never feels like folding through messier stuff. I figured out how to get more pop out of it, by timing the tail load better. It actually changed the direction ~10deg towards new turn, during the pop, without even trying to do so - fun! Still to try it with a plate... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted February 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Yesterday evening we had lots of the last morning's fresh, semi wet snow, compacted by people on the greens and pushed into moguls on blues and blacks. I had few runs on Panorama/Collins on the SL, but got fed up by crowd, so decided to hit the moguls on the steeps. Went to the racks to get the ElDiablo, but damn! the bindings were still set to the mega boot size of my last student :( Ah, well, I though, not time to waste, I'll give it a go on the SL162. So I did... I spent most of the evening riding the moguls, on the SL, on the Rainbow, our mild black run close to the Lions Chair. And the board performed great! Just a tad more aggression was reguired then on Proto or ElDiablo, my usual mogul/freeride boards. Decambered nose and taper do a great trick in those conditions too. Not a single time I stuffed the nose or stalled the board last night. Almost a perfect all-rounder! I'll have to convince Alex to produce a 21 wide version, from the same mold, with slightly rounded tail, few cm extra nose and just a tad softer flex. It would be a killer SL/AM hybrid ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b.free Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 I wonder, is there any possibility to test these boards in Colorado this winter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted February 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 I wonder, is there any possibility to test these boards in Colorado this winter? Maybe in the spring - your season tends to go longer then ours. We'll see... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Buggs Posted February 22, 2014 Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 I got an email from them, I was looking for more Free carve boards in the 20 wide range and didnt see any. At this point in my riding career >20cm boards are not really for me so I passed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted February 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 I got an email from them, I was looking for more Free carve boards in the 20 wide range and didnt see any. At this point in my riding career >20cm boards are not really for me so I passed. Ask Alexey about the SL162.5 that one is 21cm wide. If that's as good as the 162/19.5cm I've got, it's a winner. He can stiffen the nose for FC or soften for race. Or Bulat 168/22 with flex changed to freecarve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Buggs Posted February 22, 2014 Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 If I was in my 40s I would start messing with it but at 51 in a couple months sad to say my time for fooling with new boards in kinda behind me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted February 23, 2014 Report Share Posted February 23, 2014 If I was in my 40s I would start messing with it but at 51 in a couple months sad to say my time for fooling with new boards in kinda behind me Wrong ! Haven't you heard 50 is the new 20 for alpine boarders 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonbordin Posted February 23, 2014 Report Share Posted February 23, 2014 Wrong ! Haven't you heard 50 is the new 20 for alpine boarders Damn... you guys are ooold. . . . . :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b.free Posted February 23, 2014 Report Share Posted February 23, 2014 Well, I am looking forward to test some boards, like bulat 168, 185 gs and 164 sl:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted February 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2014 Damn... you guys are ooold.:lol: Hey, it is never too late for a happy childhood! Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted February 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2014 So far, most of the boards performed fantastic. I'd like impressions from local riders too. You are welcome to ride these boards when I'm on the hill and possibly some can be borrowed for a day or few. It seems that we are going to have morning hard pack this weekend. I'm planning to bring 4-6 of these to Cypress and do a mini demo session at Eagle Chair, this Sunday, starting 9am. Everyone is welcome to join. You are expected to use and set your own bindings. I will confirm this on Saturday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nils Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 EC 168/22cm, 12.7m “Bulat” M 161/21cm, “Bulat” F Exact same specs as the Extremecarver....but that is total hasard I'm sure.. ;). N Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted February 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 (edited) Hi Nils! As someone sometimes said: "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" :D You guys have started a trend, there are quite a few companies that followed... Sport is growing... P.S. "Hazards" are part of snow sports. This was more of a total "fluke" ;) Edited February 27, 2014 by BlueB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser Soze Posted February 27, 2014 Report Share Posted February 27, 2014 P.S. "Hazards" are part of snow sports. This was more of a total "fluke" ;) Hahaha, I think Nils is using the French word "hasard", meaning "coincidence" in this case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nils Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 (edited) Keyzer: gotcha...also means lucky random ;)..BlueB: what I meant is it would be maybe more interesting to improve designs rather than following trends by the mm...this said the number of real "shapers" worldwide can be counted on two hands, maybe a bit more... Edited February 28, 2014 by nils Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FortuneTeller Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 I think it's a biggest gamble I've ever seen on snowboard market. Here you can see "Bulat" in action: This board was broken during the first test. There are extremely cheap materials inside: simple wood core and no fancy stuff at all. It's easily delaminated because they use inexpensive epoxy resin. With regard to edge hold, check the edges. They are usually tuned up to -6 degrees to provide an extra grip for a short time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacopodotti Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 Fortune just the first post... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexey Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 I think it's a biggest gamble I've ever seen on snowboard market.Here you can see "Bulat" in action: [ATTACH]38132[/ATTACH] This board was broken during the first test. There are extremely cheap materials inside: simple wood core and no fancy stuff at all. It's easily delaminated because they use inexpensive epoxy resin. With regard to edge hold, check the edges. They are usually tuned up to -6 degrees to provide an extra grip for a short time. 1. This is lie. This is _not_ delaminated and this is not epoxy problem. Yes, we got some like cases before and from start on this 2014 year we changed our produce technology for fixing this problem. 2. This is lie. Edged have -2 degrees. So: lie & lie. Why ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted March 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 I think it's a biggest gamble I've ever seen on snowboard market. This board was broken during the first test. There are extremely cheap materials inside: simple wood core and no fancy stuff at all. It's easily delaminated because they use inexpensive epoxy resin. With regard to edge hold, check the edges. They are usually tuned up to -6 degrees to provide an extra grip for a short time. Sheeesh, nasty first post... I can understand the disappointment of board breakage, but let's be reasonable. The boards brake, bummer, but it happens. I broke a Kessler 185, but didn't go badmouthing the company after that - great boards. How exactly cheap materials in Bulat? Vertically laminated wood core, all carbon, insert monoblocks... Sounds pretty upmarket to me... As for the inexpensive resin, how can you make that claim? Are you a chemical engineer? Have you sent a sample to a lab for analysis? No? I thought so... I tune all my private boards at 88 (-2) side edge. OES freecarvers came to me with 88 (-2), the race boards came with 87 (-3), I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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