Gecko Posted January 19, 2005 Report Share Posted January 19, 2005 Originally posted by Neil Gendzwill Too bad the article didn't mention that the board is a Coiler, but even so Bruce is gonna have to clone himself to keep up with the orders now. great...what used to take a year now becomes two...maybe he will expand and maybe hire some help...too bad I have 4 years till retirement or I'd be interested Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Randy S. Posted January 19, 2005 Report Share Posted January 19, 2005 I've got one of those Kessler boards sitting here in my living room mocking me. I bought it 2 days before I tore my achilles. It arrived the day I got my cast put on. Now I can't ride before May and the board, beautiful as it is, is making me crazy. It is cool looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted January 19, 2005 Report Share Posted January 19, 2005 CBC reported the story but cocked it up - they claim Jasey was on the same equipment the Europeans use. I sent them a correction through their site feedback but I doubt it will do much good. Article is here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vahur Posted January 19, 2005 Report Share Posted January 19, 2005 So, does it mean, that revolution in snowboarding industry has started and "metal snowboards" are the way to go? Or was it just good athlete with help of home and bit of luck and snowboard which is just little bit better than "ordinary" in bad conditions (in good conditions probably everything that slides and can be kept on edge could be used, including bathroom door :D ) ? Interesting to see, how PSL goes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slow Eddie Posted January 19, 2005 Report Share Posted January 19, 2005 Who knew Volant had it right all along? ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hagen Posted January 19, 2005 Report Share Posted January 19, 2005 ...too bad that those Volant boards tend to delaminate. But I must say, that I liked mine a lot until I had to retire it... Hagen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pokkis Posted January 19, 2005 Report Share Posted January 19, 2005 JJ won PSL :D transmission just ended Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted January 19, 2005 Report Share Posted January 19, 2005 Originally posted by Velveeta Who knew Volant had it right all along? ;) It's not a metal board. See Bruce's comments in the World Cup Watch. It is a pretty conventional construction with a wood core and everything, but with a layer of Titanal alloy added to the sandwich for dampening and I believe torsional rigidity. Volkl actually uses Titanal already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philfell Posted January 20, 2005 Report Share Posted January 20, 2005 I'm out here on the east coast doing some training between races. How cold can it get!?!? But the reason for this post is to comment on the kesslers. I am coaching Bordy this year and he recently picked one up. He took three runs on it a Steamboat and it felt good enough under his feet to race on it. He ended up 18th with only a handfull of runs on it and none of them in gates yet. Training this week in the hard New England snow has given him some time to feel it out more. It is amazing to watch it under his feet, it tracks so well and dosen't chatter like other boards. It vibrates differently than other boards. These boards are all that. On a side note, I saw in a different thread with Bruce talking about his new board theroies with aspects to metal, but he has never played with a kessler first hand. Bruce we are leaving to go to the race at Collingwood, ONT tomorrow, and will be there Sat. and Sun. if you are in the neighborhood chase Billy down I'm sure he'd be more than happy to let you check out his board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Varsava Posted January 20, 2005 Report Share Posted January 20, 2005 I'll be at the race as I get to forerun it! Haven't run a gate yet this season so it should be interesting! I will use the first Titanal proto I built , its a real soft one. I honestly had one of the best days ever riding it last Saturday after the thaw and freeze. I was at a local hill ( Beaver Valley which has a hill called Avalanche, real steep and of course on that day real icy. The board just doesn't let you down! This one being so soft, would not be good for a race as if you get slowed down in softer snow you'd be finished as the mid section would collapse if you pressure it too hard. On steeps its a blast though. I rode that hill like never before. Later in the afternoon after 20 or 25 runs I used my race board from last season. Jasey borrowed this board and won the Canadians on it also did well at the last Jeep event and Breckenridge event on it, so its a pretty good board. No way I could hold the edge as solidly. The metal board would bounce twice and then just bite on most sketchy turns whereas the composite glass board would do small chatters and float over the ice without biting in. Jasey got the 2nd and 3rd boards and that is what he used in Whistler. I was not totally happy with the results of their construction and no doubt we will change some things to get them to work even better. My feeling at this time is that it is like when the first longer race boards came out. It didn't matter what it was like as the length was just so superior to shorter boards , you did well. Now it seems if you have the metal in your boards, you will do well no matter what the design, within reason of course. I was quite surprised at how well he did in softer conditions as I'm pretty sure in the harder stuff, these boards will rule. You just get to keep the hammer down almost all the time! I only got bounced out of one turn in about 30 runs and that was due to real bad body positioning. I was railing ice patches, landing and jamming turns on ice patches, the thing was just unreal, even though it is super soft! It seems the Kesslers have taken a direction to take things to the next level and now all others will pretty much need to go that route to keep up. Of course we are talking higher level abilities to handle these things though. Designs will evolve and most likely there will not be one design that works above all others, just too many variables, esecially conditions. We have decided to somewhat mimic the designs we have worked on for many years as they worked well and will now work better with the addition of the metal. It was quite an emotional couple days for me as I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever reach that level of accomplishment with my boards. I was actually scared to check for todays PSL results as it is just too nerve wracking! There are also a few thanks that have to go out and some may surprise a few of you Kessler lovers. First Jasey has to be praised for his ability to overcome the odds and conditions he was up against. He literally had to learn to ride the boards as he went through the heats. I can't wait to talk to him and see the races if they come up on TV. He showed huge amounts of confidence in my abilities as I tried to talk him out of getting a slalom board . I just though we were spreading our limited resources too thin. He talked me into it and of course the rest is history! His input into the design was a definite asset to getting things right I guess I deserve a little mention too as I never thought I could pull it off. Trying to get customers boards built and then developing 3 new boards in a couple weeks having no experience with this radically different material made for some interesting times! I did mange to get Xmas day off though and started the cores for his boards on Boxing day. Now heres the kicker! Chris Prior and Mark Fawcetts names came up plenty during the designing phases. Eight years ago I met Mark in Whistler while we were both competing for the Olympic spots in Nagano, of course he had a much better chance than I but I managed to get into the race somehow. I saw him in a restaurant the night before the race and he told me in no uncertain words " Bruce, put aluminum in your boards" I gave him a funny look and he returned the look and walked away. He was using metal in his board about 10 years ago and Jasey had some of the info from those designs so we used that as a basis for our design. I actually built a proto about 6 years ago but the alloy was way too weak and it flattened out in a few days. Worked awesome apparently , I never tested it but even when it was flat, I heard it still worked well! So since this material was patented in the 60s and ski guys have used it extensively, it is a surprise it took us so long to incorporate it with what could be wide success. This is just a semi educated guess but there aint no lookin back now! Cheers and see you racers out ther on Saturday. Bruce Varsava Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted January 20, 2005 Report Share Posted January 20, 2005 I said this in the other thread...CONGRATS, man. you must feel like a proud papa! ;) now go build OUR boards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Dahl Posted January 20, 2005 Report Share Posted January 20, 2005 Will there be titanal in Coilers for the masses soon? This will be an interesting subject to watch grow. Now, I've got a Volkl Renntiger that has titanal in it, but I'm not brave enough to cut it open and see how they put it all together. And, are the other manufacturers going to step up also? I wonder what a Prior WCR with Quad glass layup and a titanal damping sheet would be like? Inquiring minds want to know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Varsava Posted January 20, 2005 Report Share Posted January 20, 2005 I'm ordering some supplies so yes they will be available but most likely not till next season. Want to make sure on durability issues before I start sending them out in any numbers. So far things look good. BV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Randy S. Posted January 20, 2005 Report Share Posted January 20, 2005 Its short, and its focused on the Swiss, but here's a video clip that has a little of Jasey in it. Randy Click Here, scroll down and click on "Mondiaux de Whistler" near the bottom You Quebecers will understand some of the dialogue (I know it is tough for you to understand real French, but I'm sure you can manage ;) ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.