Korua Boards - Anybody Tried One?

[barryj]

Surf style soft boot carving sticks.....from Switzerland

https://www.koruashapes.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiAxMLvBRBNEiwAKhr-nJ7MUg2_OQ1T5Bi4FBTBNZVfbEoKt78XRz-Vk0zWPP0tIc5ILgZOARoCTxIQAvD_BwE

[Atom Ant]

Never tried one, but saw them regularly in Switzerland during the time I lived and competed there.  They are very cool.  Anticof is another from CH.

[Deuxdiesel]

I just read a review about one of their boards the other day and the big complaint was that they do not have full wrap edges, so the tip and tail get beat up quickly in lift lines.  Maybe they have corrected that?

[Emdee406]

I bought a Café Racer a couple of seasons ago, and was sadly disappointed.

My background is 34 years of riding, BASI Full Cert, raced up to World Cup level, National titles in SL, GS, and SBX  Taught for 30yrs, trained instructors for 25.

It performed fairly well on perfectly smooth, well groomed pistes of perfect snow. However, if it was at all uneven or slightly rough, it’s lack of torsional stiffness let it down. It also made that weird ‘glassy’ sound when placed tail down, on a hard surface. 

 I weighed about 180lbs back then and felt that it was too small with not enough edge, for the speeds that I wanted to ride at. At that time it was only made in one size. They definitely needed a bigger option, and in their ‘Plus’ construction, it should give better performance  

The finish was just ok, it didn’t scream quality at you. Their marketing makes them look a lot better than they are, and I think they’re very careful what terrain and snow quality they use, when they film. The shape is great, and with a decent build, it would be amazing, but alas...

After riding it 3 times, I sold it on. I put the money into a Coiler BXFR 160, and haven’t looked back. 

Edited December 12, 2019 by Emdee406
Omission

[philw]

That's a shame, although their better construction is presumably a bit better. The conditions in their videos do look extremely good, and there's no guarantee team riders are using stock stuff either.

Even so, the marketing's so good that it may at least get some more people turning their boards, which can't be a bad thing.

[z_in_nyc]

I have a Stealth. It’s a nice all mountain powder board, but it’s not a stiff carving board. I ride it w hard boots but you can’t push it too hard or it’ll chatter or buckle. The lack of a wrap around edge is indeed a problem, and if you beat up the tail it looks like it will eventually delam. These are probably made in China, because you can find very similar looking boards on Alibaba.com (see photo). So yes, you’re paying a bit for good marketing. But that’s true for many other brands too. If you like the shape / specs it could be the right board for you. 
 

[Emdee406]

11 hours ago, z_in_nyc said:

I have a Stealth. It’s a nice all mountain powder board, but it’s not a stiff carving board. I ride it w hard boots but you can’t push it too hard or it’ll chatter or buckle. The lack of a wrap around edge is indeed a problem, and if you beat up the tail it looks like it will eventually delam. These are probably made in China, because you can find very similar looking boards on Alibaba.com (see photo). So yes, you’re paying a bit for good marketing. But that’s true for many other brands too. If you like the shape / specs it could be the right board for you. 
 

Wow! Those are IDENTICAL to the Koruas! The graphics are in exactly the same place, and the black one’s look just like their Plus range. It makes sense that they’d be made as inexpensive yet as possible, it’s a company started by a handful of former mid-level sponsored riders, so I guess they didn’t have a huge amount of capital to start with  perhaps construction (particularly for their carve-specific models) will get better over time.  

In retrospect if I was to buy one again, I’d only go for one meant for powder, rather than their carving sticks, they’d be great for that.

If you could someone who was using state-of-the-art construction, to make something the beautiful shape of their larger Café Racer, it would be awesome! 

[barryj]

I was intrigued and inspired by their videos - but I'll stick with my Moss! 

[JRAZZ]

Holy cow!!!

I never knew Alibaba had snowboards. This is whacky!

 

That being said I'd rather support my local builders (Donek, Coiler, NS, etc...) than send my money to China.

[Emdee406]

58 minutes ago, JRAZZ said:

Holy cow!!!

I never knew Alibaba had snowboards. This is whacky!

 

That being said I'd rather support my local builders (Donek, Coiler, NS, etc...) than send my money to China.

Wait a minute... this looks a tad fishy. Now that I see the Never Summer Swift there, maybe Korua are NOT having their boards made there, and they’re just being copied, because obviously the NS boards are made in Colorado! 

Looks to me like, not only are they copying the boards, they’re actually using original photos, because I’m pretty sure there’s no way they are making Korua Split boards! 

Someone needs to let the Korua and Never Summer people know what’s going on!

[JRAZZ]

57 minutes ago, Emdee406 said:

Someone needs to let the Korua and Never Summer people know what’s going on!

I don't know if they know but there is nothing they can do about it. I've been in that boat before. You really can't touch those Chinese suppliers. All you can do is buy local and let your friends know. 

I don't think I'd trust a Chinese board but in all honesty, this is probably the future. I would not be surprised if many manufacturers are buying from Chine and marking up. I recently came across this: https://nobaday.com/collections/new-arrives/products/nobaday-black-board. Looks like a decent snowboard for $179. Sintered base and all. I reserve the right to be a snowboard snob and keep my high end stuff but I bet many will not. 

[Mig]

Last I heard, Korua were made by Nobile in Poland. But they could have changed factory since then, of course.

[z_in_nyc]

Ah cool. Probably just Chinese manufacturers using images from Korua. Anywho, it’s a good powder board aside from not having wrap around edges. 

[RoroSnow]

Apparently made in Poland, I just saw it written on one of their boards yesterday in the shop.....That was on a special edition board, soft boot "carving" Bullet Train Plus model....

Pretty decent construction quality but nothing impressive. Medium/hard longitudinal flex. Nice minimalist look and marketing...........!

The board seems to have a metal layer underneath the topsheet.....Titanal or not ?......website says "Titanium" (!!!.......)

Judging buy the price and the "noise " when knocking the board, it finally doesn't look so damp like a true Titanal layer can be....but I might be wrong as I didn't try that board.......I'm just judging by the look and the hand.

To be honest, I'm not drooling about that kind of board.......It is of course, a totally personal point of view.

Edited December 14, 2019 by RoroSnow

[nils]

Unless they moved, they are indeed made by NBL in Poland..As for those shapes and carving....marketing sells for sure..of course it carves, but as soon as you push it under the feet, there is no way the short edges and that nose shape can hold any pressure or big angles...it you look carefully on the vids, you can see they are never pushing it hard and linking turns...or when they push hard its frontsides and there is a editing cut so you don"t see the guy recovering. Am sure those shapes are fun in slow/mid speed mixed terrains thu....but not versatile the way I think versatile should be..I think the most difficult board to design is the perfect all terrain / riding style board...

 

[scottishsurfer]

48 minutes ago, nils said:

..it you look carefully on the vids, you can see they are never pushing it hard and linking turns...or when they push hard its frontsides and there is a editing cut so you don"t see the guy recovering.

Ive had that feeling alot since the begining where its clever editing making the riding look more impressive than it actually is

[Jack M]

On 12/15/2019 at 6:22 AM, nils said:

Unless they moved, they are indeed made by NBL in Poland..As for those shapes and carving....marketing sells for sure..of course it carves, but as soon as you push it under the feet, there is no way the short edges and that nose shape can hold any pressure or big angles...it you look carefully on the vids, you can see they are never pushing it hard and linking turns...or when they push hard its frontsides and there is a editing cut so you don"t see the guy recovering. Am sure those shapes are fun in slow/mid speed mixed terrains thu....but not versatile the way I think versatile should be..I think the most difficult board to design is the perfect all terrain / riding style board...

 

Agreed completely.  These are not carving boards by any stretch of the imagination.

[lgpresses]

I personally Love my Korua Pencil.

Best snowboard I’ve ridden in my 25 years of riding sideways (hardboot & freeride). Simply put: A game changer!

Super FUN versatile, surfy carver.

Can lay down a solid carve with style. Sets you up nicely for next turn. Amazing float in powder, super quick edge to edge & so much fun slashing powder stashes on piste edges. A real  ninja in thight powder tree runs. One board to take on the whole mountain & rip it up.

The 26.9cm waist saves me from boot out and no need for heavy riser plates.

Very good edge grip from full camber under foot.

Reasonable Pricing / great value.

Love the approach & simple pure no bullshit styling & ugly graphics. All black or white top sheet makes it so retailers don’t have to mark them down and can carry inventory from one season to the next.

 I predict Korua Shapes will be long lived & prosperous company & will be taking on a lot market shares in the coming years.

Can’t any of you hear the Bells ringing?...

[dchu]

I picked up a Cafe Racer 164 recently. Not quite 100% in love with it, but I'm liking it a lot and having a lot of fun on it. As I understand it, the second generation Koruas were built in a different factory and they now have full-wrap edges. I've heard the first gens were garbage, but I like mine. I wouldn't call it premium construction or finish, but seems reasonably given the relatively lower pricepoint.

Preface that I don't hard boot, so I probably have different expectations of a "carving" board from many on here. Most of my season so far was spend on pretty aggressive all-mountain freeride boards, the United Shapes Orbit and the Dupraz D1 6'0" Plus (my "sendy" boards). Few days on Moss Snowsticks, the Wingswallow 149 (since sold) and Swallow 162.

CR feels like a pretty good hybrid between a traditional snowboard and a more Japanese snowsurf ride. It's relatively rear-foot driven and the engagement of the front contact point is further back than I initially expected. I had a similar sensation the first time I rode a Moss U5.

Carves quite nicely. Very neutral feeling turn, which was jarring at first. It doesn't power into the next turn like most Western carving/freeride boards I've ridden, or flow into it like a Japanese snowsurf. You can CREATE pop or flow, but the board waits for rider input. I was ambivalent about it at first, but actually really like the feel after spending 4 days on the board.

At 278 mm waist, it's the widest non-volume displacement board I've ever ridden. It's wider than a I need, I only have size 10 boots at the moment (and typically max out at 10.5). That waist sucks at slow speeds... skating is a pain and it started to feel pretty unwieldy when I started running out of steep on an icy cat track. But as long as I give it even moderate speed, say 15 mph, I'm fine. Waist is also a liability in firm bumps and varaible terrain. Manageable, but I definitely feel impacts resonate up my legs more and need to be more on top of my riding. Plus side, I will never boot out. If I could reshape the board, I'd probably give it more like a 265 waist and it'd be a decent daily driver candidate for me.

Quite playful. I was actually surprised at how playful it is given it's a full camber deck and rated at 7/10 stiffness. I'd call it more like a 6, personally. Pretty easy for me to press and ollie even right out of the plastic (or almost, I am the second owner but first owner only put 1 day on it... first time I hand flexed it, I still felt and heard fiberglass breaking in). I huck a lot of sidehits on it and don't worry too much about being "on". Pretty relaxing ride. I don't need to be nearly as on point on landings or line selection as as my "sendy" boards, and it's much less physically taxing to ride than those boards (and punishes user error less).

Doesn't hold up the best at high speeds. I touched ~45 mph once, which is usually well in my comfort zone, and wouldn't want to go much faster than that. But I generally don't go 45+ unless I want to, so that's a manageable limitation.

I enjoy the CR a lot, but am skeptical whether it's an everyday board for me because of the waist. If it was a hair narrower and a hair stiffer, I think it'd be my daily driver. But I'm having a lot of fun on it regardless.

As an aside, love the plain graphic and the general philosophy of not swapping out new models every year and only doing a refresh every several seasons. Plus side, the plain white top sheet is easy to sticker up, so I'll customize the graphic to my liking.

[weather_nerd]

I got a Tranny Finder in a 157 this year and so far I think it's great. Like the two posters above, my board does have wrap around edges and seems sturdy.

I'd say it's not amazing in any particular area except for plowing through soft chunder. It feels rather heavy and damp, which helps in that area. I do think that it's a "good" carver on groomers - one of the better soft boot carvers I have been on. But not as good as my SG Force, or the Burton Vapor that I owned a long time ago.

I rode it in waist-deep champagne powder and found that I did have to lean back a bit, even with the large nose. The shape of the nose made it want to hook and sink in the powder. So, next snow storm, I'll stick to my K2 Cool Bean. But, it was still "good" as a powder board when leaning back a bit.

I recently shifted the bindings forward in the insert packs which made it feel more like a freestyle board as opposed to a true freeride board. It also gave me a longer tail, which seems to help with driving carves off the back foot. 

I'm happy with this as a daily driver softboot board. Is it the best board I have ever ridden? No. Is it a good, versatile directional softboot board that can rail carves and pop off side hits? Yes, especially after moving the bindings forward.

[MountainSlope]

On 12/13/2019 at 8:25 PM, Mig said:

Last I heard, Korua were made by Nobile in Poland. But they could have changed factory since then, of course.

Yes, Korua boards are not made in China

[JRAZZ]

Just came back from a really fun day. Still feeling out my Cafe Racer 159 but some initial impressions.

It's shiny! I like the color and the gloss. It really looks nice. The sidecut seems very much like a circular section. It rides like that too! If you've ever ridden a Donek Proteus you'll know the feeling. It's not bad, some really like it some don't. It's not a very versatile sidecut - it really wants you to do one size of turns but it does those turns superbly. On the soft  groom we had today it gripped really well and I had no problems zipping from one side to another of the run. It wanted to stay on edge.

Other than the sidecut the biggest thing I noticed is the width. The waist is 26.9cm and with my size 10 wmns boots it was a challenge to initiate a turn. It really wants to flat-base. Once it's on edge it holds nicely (though you feel the width) but when it's time to switch edges it thunks down flat and if you're not ready for it it will catch an edge. Once you are prepared it's great because it makes changing edges REALLY fast and positive.

I was also surprised that with this aggressive nature it was actually easy to get it to skid if you wanted to. It also seems very stable going through chunder and it really likes to pick up speed.

Overall I like this board. It makes me look like a much better rider than I am. It's really a pleasure to carve and I think I'll get used to the width.