crackaddict Posted January 13, 2020 Report Share Posted January 13, 2020 To the best of my knowledge, Exegi and Donek are the only two snowboard manufacturers who can make a board with a 30cm plus waist. So, of course, I got one of each... I pretty much asked Sean and Carl for the same thing, but the boards they delivered are really quite different. I wanted something fun to ride on those in between days: too much fresh snow for an alpine board but not enough for a real powder board. We get a lot of those in Revelstoke. I told them both I wouldn't be riding ice or off piste, but I would be carving steep, challenging terrain on soft days with increasing chop, and that I wanted a fast board that I really had to push hard into to keep it turning tight. Exegi Double-Wide: 168cm long, 30cm waist, 14m scr, carbon/S-glass hybrid construction Donek Sabre SRT: 164cm long, 31cm waist, 12m scr, secret construction, p-tex topsheet The Donek came in way too soft. The thing is kind of like a noodle with very little torsional stiffness. When I read that the Sabre SRT was the winningest BX board in North America, I assumed that was the one for me, only wider. What Sean made me is more like an overpriced Knapton Twin: floppy, good for buttering and tail spins, fun on green runs but limited in its capacity to hold high speed turns on steeps. I figure that when you add width to a board you increase the leverage with which the rider applies force so it needs to be tortionally stiffer to compensate. Maybe Sean disagrees, maybe his primary wide board developer (Ryan Knapton) likes them soft, I don't know. I've had this board two seasons now, it's been fun and I've had some great runs on the Sabre SRT. I kind of figured that this was the limit for soft boot carving. The Exegi changed my perspective on that. It's been a very snowy month and I've ridden the Double-Wide more than any other board this season. About five days I brought them both up the gondi for some back-to-back testing. The results are clear; I'm now accepting offers on the Donek. I have to admit, the Double-Wide was somewhat intimidating at first. It's a lot of board and very stiff. It doesn't want to turn at slow speeds and you have to fully commit to finish a turn on steeps. It's not a board that you can just tip over and see what it does (what it does is accelerate!). My first few days riding it were last spring when only the upper mountain was open (challenging black diamond groomers in Revelstoke) and the fresh snow was never enough to bury all the death cookies. It was intense; I loved the experience but I wasn't sure I liked the board. Only in the past few weeks have the more mellow mid mountain blues been in condition and I've finally had a chance to properly feel out the Exegi, get comfortable and find its limits without risking my safety. Now it's my go-to board for soft carving days and I'm finally inspired to get out of bed early when there's 5-10cm fresh! It's a mitten killer. It's stable and fast, holds every turn. Very forgiving too, by which I mean that you don't need perfect form to keep it turning. I'm stretching out my toesides now like a surfer; I can feel the extension from the toes of my back foot right through my neck. On heelside my butt is dragging and I'm getting both hands down on the steeps. Very satisfying turns. In terms of direct comparison, the Exegi is the faster board and the better carver for sure. It's also somehow less fatiguing and it doesn't require me to over tighten my bindings or max out the forward lean. The Exegi is better in soft chop and funner off piste too with much better capabilities in trees and moguls, though neither board is really recommended for this purpose. The Donek is better for buttering tricks and carving 360s. I can come in slower and finish with a tail spin Dredman style on the Donek; the Exegi needs more speed and more space, and the tail isn't soft enough to get up on on so it's more of a flat spin exit or a straight ride out. (I'm working on a kind of spiral finish where I can dig in the tail on the toeside edge only and whip the nose around.) I don't do any other tricks or switch riding. Bottom line? The Exegi is recommended over the Donek for pure hard charging directional carving. It's better, cheaper, and probably more durable too. Presumably, Carl can make you a softer one with a more civilized radius. If you aim to ride like Ryan Knapton, switching, tricking and spinning all over the green runs, then Donek has your ride but probably buy the Knapton Twin because it's a lot cheaper than the Sabre SRT. If you're not carving hard enough to really need a super wide board, then you have many options from many manufacturers. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crackaddict Posted January 23, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2020 (edited) Here's some footage of me on the Exegi DoubleWide 168. Enough I think to get an idea of what's possible on this board. Burton Driver X boots, Drake Podium bindings (no customization on those), 12/27 degree stance. Blue and black terrain, soft bumpy snow and poor visibility storm riding, but these are the days this board was made for... Can your soft boot board do this? It's probably not wide enough. Try an Exegi. Edited January 23, 2020 by crackaddict 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonbordin Posted January 23, 2020 Report Share Posted January 23, 2020 27 minutes ago, crackaddict said: soft bumpy snow Dammit... All that snow... Your just rubbing our noses in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dredman Posted January 23, 2020 Report Share Posted January 23, 2020 Dang! Great looking turns!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted January 23, 2020 Report Share Posted January 23, 2020 Sweet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted January 23, 2020 Report Share Posted January 23, 2020 Smooth and powerful! Awesome riding, James! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottishsurfer Posted January 24, 2020 Report Share Posted January 24, 2020 Out of curiosity did you have much of a discusion with sean about the stiffness of the Saber SRT? I'm saying this as my Incline(different board i know) is tortionally very stiff but i did specify that sean build it with a very stiff core when we were discussing the specification of the board Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crackaddict Posted January 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2020 Thanks Boys! Yes of course I discussed stiffness with Sean. In Aspen and then again a week later on the phone. I told him 185lb aggressive rider, I'm only 155lbs. I rode with both Sean and Carl just prior to ordering the boards. I'm working on a better edit. That one was done entirely by the videographer at his discretion. When I see a carving video with a bunch of toesides cut together I always assume that the rider can't do a decent heelside or link deep carved turns. I want to rework it soon with longer cuts and better music in an effort to capture the flow. Stay tuned. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottishsurfer Posted January 25, 2020 Report Share Posted January 25, 2020 1 hour ago, crackaddict said: When I see a carving video with a bunch of toesides cut together I always assume that the rider can't do a decent heelside or link deep carved turns I'm glad im not the only one that thinks this lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCrobar Posted January 25, 2020 Report Share Posted January 25, 2020 (edited) Hi James Thank you for your review and video, nice turns! It is nice to see some of the Revelstoke terrain! I too am a wide board fan, but really have only turned to softies and a wide waist (28cm )for powder. It is my understanding that the problem is getting P-Tex in wide enough sheets is why it is so hard to find wide boards. I have also heard that a board that wide and softboots is too hard on the ankles with the lever created and too tiring as the effort required to lift the wide width on edge. Are you able to comment on any of these ideas, did you find these ideas to be accurate, misconceptions, true but not a big factor, etc? How wide is your double wide at the center of the rear insert pack? You also have a really cool quiver of boards, a lot to choose from. What did you find was not quite right with your alpine set ups (ie VSR AM 171) that inspired your softie carving purchase for the conditions you mentioned? Just curious:) I am really curious what specs you would order if you were to get a second Exegi Double Wide? The 14m SCR sounds really big, but the turns in the video look like a great size/ shape. Thank you again for your review, it was helpful to read and fun to watch. Rob Edited January 25, 2020 by RCrobar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crackaddict Posted January 26, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2020 (edited) Well Rob... That's a lot of questions... In the words of the great Bruce Varsava, "you don't really notice the width once you get going". I found that to be true with the VSR AM 171 with its 24cm waist (but you sure as hell notice the extra smoothness when you go back to a 19cm waist). Is soft boot carving hard on the ankles? Yes. Is it more physical than hardboot carving? Yes. Does a wider board make it harder on the ankles and the body? I can't say. I can't carve a 26 waisted board as fast or tight as a wider one, or on the steeps either, so sure it's less intense. There's going to be a tradeoff with extra width for sure, but if you're booting out and yet you want to carve harder, what other choice do you have? Lifting, canting and extreme angles? Now you might as well be riding hard boots... These boards were designed as dedicated soft boot carvers, not all mountain rides. I don't believe in "all mountain". It seems to me that in general, equipment that is supposed to do everything well doesn't really do anything very well. Hence the massive quiver. Missing in the quiver had always been something worth riding in ten centimetres on groom. That's why I bought the wide boards. Why not just ride the VSR AM on those days? Fair question... It started at Grand Targhee circa winter 05/06... I was the only carver at the hill that year. There was a well established group of senior locals who had been skiing there forever, showing up at 11am and enjoying the smooth soft corduroy all day on the empty mountain. Now, some foreigner comes in and just destroys it all first thing every morning. I was not well liked. Then someone trips in one of my ruts and gets injured and all of a sudden there's mounting pressure to ban hard boots at the 'ghee. That's when I bought power plates and started to get into real soft boot carving. I wanted to show them that my ruts are the same depth in soft boots... Anyway, within a couple of seasons @dredman showed up with the crew (@johnasmo, @bigdogdave, and @tworavens) and smoothed things over. Everybody loves Dave. There was no more talk of banning hard boots after that. But still, I find people treat me as less of a freak in soft boots. I'm more approachable. People maybe get the idea that they can do it too, that it's not a different sport it's just great style. I wouldn't change much on a new Exegi. Maybe a slightly softer tail would make it less committing and slow things down a bit, but I've adapted and I love it. So glad to have that board this season, good corduroy has been so rare and I need to carve! Edited January 26, 2020 by crackaddict Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCrobar Posted January 26, 2020 Report Share Posted January 26, 2020 James Thank you for taking the time to explain your thought process and experiences, it makes a lot of sense and helps to understand your review even more. I can't believe the idea that skiers would try to ban hardboots, unreal! What I find interesting and a bit ironic is that we have similar problems, but solved them in different but similar ways. The resorts up north are nothing like the steeps of Revelstoke, but the 10cm on top of crappy grooming on a blue slope is VERY much like what I see often as well. As I am like many on this site, old, I stuck with the hardboots until recently. Where we differ is I have spent a lot of time trying to tune my HardBoots to carve with much flatter stance angles and much wider carving boards ... or the stock 26cm wide boards you can get every where. My feet are also too big to lean hard into a hard carve on a standard SB board, so slap on the HB's and go! I think that I was very lucky to find my Northwave Point 900's about 15 years ago, the overall design smoothes out a lot of ruts. I have put so much time into adjusting the boot binding interface to match flatter angles in bumpy conditions. I don't believe that really wide hard or soft boot boards are a problem at all as long as a firmer SB interface and a softer HB interface is adjusted accordingly. I agree ... get the width you need for the stance you like:) Bruce almost had a coronary when I told him I wanted a 24.8cm double wide dedicated carver! Thanks again Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlito Posted February 7, 2020 Report Share Posted February 7, 2020 Jeez James! Looking good, considering you can't see shit riding in those conditions.... Thanks for posting this and making me look like I know something about what I'm doing! Can't wait to see an edit with both turns, linked though! ha ha. Looking over my notes, James reiterated: I have alpine boards, and I have powder boards so I don't want one of those that is just wider/stiffer, I don't want any overhang and want something to use in 8 to 10 cm over groomed. Make it stiff enough. The comparison to Donek's SRT should only be considered to a slight extent. The Double-Wide benefits from "standing on the shoulders of giants" in that I kinda already knew what James had ridden, and what he wanted to get changed. This was a fun board to build! I don't know if it is cool to do this, but am happy to answer questions concerning design choices vs. materials vs. trying to get the design envelope to where the customer wants it. Been farting around on wider stuff this year test riding a bunch of soft boot protos in my hard boots (angles both positive, around 35/25 fr/rear) It's funny, it starts off feeling really slow, edge to edge, but you suddenly find yourself switching plenty quick, and carving as deep as you want to.... It's just, well, different. Not worse, just different. The most surprising thing is that they (wider than 27) seem at their worst (that does not make them bad, just not as good as...) on blues. Greens, well who cares, but they are really quite good at carving blacks, where I thought (wrongly!) they would be hampered by their widths and consequent edge to edge slowness. Hmmmm... The biggest problems seem to be the sidecuts being a little too tight (small radius numbers). Traditional softboot sidecut geometries are not happy at the edge angles/speeds carving steeps tends to generate, and the wise carver keeps carving and maintains a "happy" speed. James' Double-Wide does not have this problem! ha ha! Thanks for posting James! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allee Posted February 18, 2020 Report Share Posted February 18, 2020 (edited) I had the chance to ride a couple of Exegi boards at the MCC, and loved them to the point that Carl will be building me one next season. I was looking primarily for a replacement for my ageing Madd BX, a 159/24 waist with a soft flex that does everything pretty well and carves like a piranha. It's my go to board for when I don't know what the mountain has in store on a given day, and it's especially good in chop. The 158 I tried was pretty much a clone of the Madd, and did everything equally as well. The biggest difference, and one I liked, was that the flex was so progressive that I could control the uphill turn and scrub speed in the carve on steeps - something I struggle with on the Madd, and on my pure carving boards. I either jam the nose so hard I stall, or I let it run away in the turn and take off on me. The Exegi was super friendly, and it did wonders for my confidence. Lovely boards for sure! Can't wait to get my new one! (PS I do not ride like James ) Edited February 18, 2020 by Allee 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b0ardski Posted February 19, 2020 Report Share Posted February 19, 2020 9 hours ago, Allee said: I had the chance to ride a couple of Exegi boards at the MCC, and loved them to the point that Carl will be building me one next season. I was looking primarily for a replacement for my ageing Madd BX, a 159/24 waist with a soft flex that does everything pretty well and carves like a piranha. It's my go to board for when I don't know what the mountain has in store on a given day, and it's especially good in chop. The 158 I tried was pretty much a clone of the Madd, and did everything equally as well. The biggest difference, and one I liked, was that the flex was so progressive that I could control the uphill turn and scrub speed in the carve on steeps - something I struggle with on the Madd, and on my pure carving boards. I either jam the nose so hard I stall, or I let it run away in the turn and take off on me. The Exegi was super friendly, and it did wonders for my confidence. Lovely boards for sure! Can't wait to get my new one! (PS I do not ride like James ) not many can ride like James, and some of them were there! glad you found a worthy replacement for the madd bx, my 172 thirst bx does everything my 168 madd bx did, but goes switch way better. Carlito will be making me a 170ish bump killer as well 2 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.