Popular Post RCrobar Posted December 25, 2019 Popular Post Report Share Posted December 25, 2019 (edited) Why the Contra: When I read that Bruce was going to slow down, I jumped at the chance to get board that I was thinking about for quite awhile. I simply asked Bruce for a board that would turn tighter than my Nirvana (10.5/12.7/12) for steep, icy, narrow runs, particularly when riding centered! I was looking for another Nirvana, Bruce steered me towards the Contra, trusting him paid off in spades! As a frame of reference I'll compare my Nirvana Balance 171 with an approximate SCR of 10.5/12.7/12, I say approximate as Bruce explained to me that this board was made by hand. The Contra 166 has 148cm of effective edge and a Side Cut depth of a 10.5m SCR. Bruce sent these SCR numbers as a guideline for me: 15 nose - 9.5 front foot - 11 between the feet - 10 rear foot - 16 tail, done on a depth equal to approx 10.5m SCR. The actual Contra SCR is what I call Coiler PFM 'Pure Frickin' Magic!" Green Runs - Getting to Know the Contra. The first run on the Contra 166cm was my first run of the year, not a lot of snow means limited places to ride. So day one was on a Green run with super soft hero snow. There was zero getting used to turning the board, the centered technique that I prefer, as my best guess, meant that I did not feel any change in turn initiation at all. Turning the new SCR for me felt very natural, zero pause or change in technique that I had heard about. Doing easy casual turns on the Contra, on a Green run, made the board feel very similar to my Coiler Nirvana - Balance; it would be hard to tell the difference if I didn't know the build details. I mainly noticed the damp, smooth feeling of the metal and rubber magic that Bruce creates. Not sure, but it seemed like the new Coiler of magic rubber and metal was even more damp than my older coiler. The first time I felt something special about this SCR was doing toe and heel laydowns, where you don't get back up type Euro carves at the very bottom of the Green run. The snow was so soft that it is my guess that most of my boards would blow out of the carve as the really soft snow created trench's silly deep. The Contra 166 was able to make tight turns on the way down the run, then make a big swooping EC type laydown turn, on flat ground in really soft snow, and kept on carving like you were tracking on good, firm corduroy!! Really fun! Blue Runs - Pushing harder, the Contra feels like a trusted old Friend! When compared to my Nirvana 171 the Contra 166 turns much tighter, but not so tight that it drives you crazy or tires you out. It turns sharp enough that you can play with the natural rolls and banks in a run that are fun to slash a carve off of. If you let the board run and draw bigger arcs it does very well at holding the speed of a bigger carve, not as good as my Nirvana, but very good. Early season conditions have been a bit weird, one day in particular was characterized by a couple inches of soft stuff on top of hard stuff, mixed in with areas where the bottom seems to drop out; makes a guy think twice about making a hard turn where you might auguring the nose in deep and go over the handle bars! In these conditions the Contra requires less energy to stay in a turn and you can ride it in a surfy manner off of your rear foot. Riding off of the rear foot works great and felt very safe in crap snow conditions. I noticed quite a difference between the Nirvana and the Contra when making a turn while pressuring or standing hard on the front foot in firm snow. The Nirvana's 10.5 nose will turn quickly and hard, but at times might over turn too tightly if you get stuck too far forward, making it pretty tricky to make turns like EC turns, etc. I found that the Contra would also turn very tight, but would not over turn, it just kept on tracking a nicely shaped turn, pretty darn good for linking a couple of EC turns here and there. Crazy, turns sharper, but made bigger turns a bit easier! I think that the 3 part SCR of the Nirvana feels a more dramatic change in it's turn shape when weighting fore and aft, while the multiple SCR of the Contra feels like it is bending in a more even or symmetrical shape when centering your weight or when weighting a little more fore and aft. The Contra loves to be ridden centered, but is more forgiving if you get caught with a bit more weight on the front or back foot. The Contra SCR responds quickly for a decambered board as the tightest turning happens right at your feet. You get an efficient feel when turning, it feels like the board is not fighting itself to find an arc. When riding in a more passive way, the board feels so easy to ride. At the same time when pushing as hard as my old body could, the board would bend and rebound with the 'pop' of a fun glass board. When making a big swooping EC type laydown turn, on flat ground in very firm hero snow the Contra could make a moderately sized laydown turn that could complete almost 3/4 of a full circle! Super Size the Width I guess I pushed Bruce quite a bit with regards to his design/building data on Waist Width. I didn't realize just how much asking for a wider carve specific carve board pushed him. The trick for Bruce was to successfully go from the 20ish wide protos to a 24 wide final product when his core tolerance is +/-.03mm which is just over .001" My build was stalled as a result as he kept second guessing himself. In the end his build ideas for a wider carver worked perfect! If you prefer a wider carver, don't hesitate as Bruce has it down and the results are awesome! Custom Coiler Logo A big thank you to Nick 'Technick' for his help creating a custom Coiler logo, it was a fun process and he was a pleasure to work with Bottom Line If I could take only one alpine board to a resort that I had never been to before and I didn't know whether the runs would be steep or flat, wide or narrow, icy or soft .... this is the board I would take! The Contra 166 is a 'riders' board that is just so damn much fun at times I forget how old I am. Thanks Bruce Rob Edit: Trying to articulate how the Contra and Nirvana SCR feel different, both really nice, but different inspired a quick edit. I was switching between the two boards for fun and curiosity and have more time on both boards back to back this season. While riding on a short, flat and slow CAT track and initiating turns you could feel the following: Contra - Feels like the toes and heels grab onto the snow ... followed by a feeling that the tip and tail bend around the feet evenly. Nirvana - Feels like the toes and heels grab onto the snow ... followed by a feeling the the nose of the board grabs and steers the nose in either direction with the tail following. Edited January 14, 2020 by RCrobar 7 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgCarve Posted January 28, 2020 Report Share Posted January 28, 2020 Very interesting. So I looks like Bruce somehow magically combines 5 different radiuses from 9.5m to 16m to somehow create something approximately equal to 10.5m . I have asked Bruce to build an all mountain board which I could carve on chopped up runs, ride moguls, and occasional powder. He recommended to consider this Contra board. I am exited to see how this magical combination of 5 SRCs will work . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emdee406 Posted January 28, 2020 Report Share Posted January 28, 2020 Great review! Thanks @RCrobar I'm having a slalom board/tight turn free carve board built, and he's been talking about his Contra tech...sounds exciting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCrobar Posted January 28, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2020 Hi Guys After riding the Contra, the mind starts to go a bit wild with ideas: powder contra, softboot contra, bigger and smaller SCR contra, etc. Martin - I think considering the Contra with the 10.5m SCR as a tight turning free carve is a must! dgCarve - Bruce told me that he has been prototyping the Contra with about a 9m average SCR. I think an powder nose and tail like a maybe a Jones Hovercraft with the Contra 9m SCR could be REALLY fun as a tight turning all conditions board. I think the bigger vs smaller SCR would depend on whether you want to blast over top of and through the crud ... or slash and slarve thought it. The SCR of the Contra is actually has MANY more SCR that just the 5 list, the five listed is to help get your head around what is going on. The SCR actually changes every few cms .... like I said PFM, Pure Frickin' Magic! Can't wait to read what you guys eventually have made and how it works for you:) Cheers Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 28, 2020 Report Share Posted January 28, 2020 The Contra is apparently Bruce's version of the Thirst sidecut (contra is thirst spelled backwards...or it's Canadian for Thirst, I'm not sure). Here was Gabe's take on it when testing prototypes. Bruce is building me a 185 as I write this--a summer build rescheduled to allow for more on-snow testing and...well, apparently golfing. It will have the contra sidecut and the Shred inspired "new, improved" Monster features such as reverse sidecut, early-rise powder nose and a soft-snow flex for powder, soft groom and slush carving. At least that's what I think I'm getting. We'll see, I left it up to Bruce to make the final decisions, including the topsheet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.E Posted January 29, 2020 Report Share Posted January 29, 2020 Outside of the multi radius sidecut, is the "Contra" a model, or is it something he's applying to boards with different build types? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 29, 2020 Report Share Posted January 29, 2020 52 minutes ago, Mr.E said: Outside of the multi radius sidecut, is the "Contra" a model, or is it something he's applying to boards with different build types? Bruce offered it up as an option for my build. I suspect it might work better with some flex patterns. He said my 185 "monster" is actually an AM, with 23cm waist and maybe a rather tight sidecut for it's length ~11.5-ish. Not sure, it's going to be a surprise 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCrobar Posted January 30, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2020 Hi Mr E I asked this question of Bruce as it would affect the top sheet that Nick designed for me, the Contra is a new model. Bruce further explained to me that the SCR is just one part of the change, the flex pattern of the Contra is like nothing he has done before. I guess the new SCR is easier for him to match up the flex pattern throughout the length of the board in relation to the SCR. Hope this helps a bit. Rob 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurch Posted January 30, 2020 Report Share Posted January 30, 2020 Euler spiral perhaps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.E Posted January 30, 2020 Report Share Posted January 30, 2020 I know "models" are a sliding continuum when the product is designed for each rider. Thanks for the feedback! 23 minutes ago, bigwavedave said: maybe a rather tight sidecut for it's length Ha! my 169 from Sean is an 11-13 and 22cm. It's like Twins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCrobar Posted January 30, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2020 (edited) Hi Lurch The logo is my modified version of a Yin and Yang logo I stumble across. Nick's logo is a Yin & Yang that has rotated the original 90 degrees to also represent a wave and the sun. The meaning of the original logo is the idea that the Yin & Yang rotate, while the core reverts to stillness. I have often said that my favorite two tricks on a snowboard are turning left and right. On a good day the movement of linking turns together leads to a mind that is still, relaxed and happy ... all the while dreaming of slashing off of a wave:) Rob Edited January 30, 2020 by RCrobar 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurch Posted January 30, 2020 Report Share Posted January 30, 2020 @RCrobar nice concept! I particularly like the 'core stillness' aspect. I thought your logo might have a link to a euler (a constantly varying curve). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pow4ever Posted January 30, 2020 Report Share Posted January 30, 2020 2 hours ago, Lurch said: Euler spiral perhaps FFT/DSP wannabe here 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurch Posted January 30, 2020 Report Share Posted January 30, 2020 Are you out of your Vulcan mind @pow4ever?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shred Gruumer Posted January 31, 2020 Report Share Posted January 31, 2020 On 1/29/2020 at 7:45 PM, Lurch said: Are you out of your Vulcan mind @pow4ever?! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurch Posted January 31, 2020 Report Share Posted January 31, 2020 (edited) @Shred Gruumer you omitted the Western Grip Edited February 2, 2020 by Lurch 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pow4ever Posted February 1, 2020 Report Share Posted February 1, 2020 Don't forget jelly roll and donkey punch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgassizSkidder Posted September 9, 2021 Report Share Posted September 9, 2021 @RCrobarthats a really good review and I’m in line for a Contra myself. That’s a pretty cool logo. Is that something I can ask Bruce to put on mine or would you like to keep it as a once off for your board? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCrobar Posted September 10, 2021 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2021 Hi Agassiz Thank you for the kind words! It is a one off logo, but I don't mind if you use. Bruce should still have the file, just tell him Rob sent ya:) Cheers Rob 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgassizSkidder Posted September 10, 2021 Report Share Posted September 10, 2021 4 hours ago, RCrobar said: Hi Agassiz Thank you for the kind words! It is a one off logo, but I don't mind if you use. Bruce should still have the file, just tell him Rob sent ya:) Cheers Rob Cool. Thank you 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.