patrickfreen Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 I've gone through about 4 Oxygen protons so far, getting about 60 days out of each one before they break down. What I've noticed is that they carve really good for roughly 60 days of riding and then the tail doesn't hold the carve as well. After that the boards start to get spooky as I'll be carving a turn across the fall line and the tail will start to drift downhill a bit - I loose some forward speed and as I change edges I have caught the tail of the new edge and gotten thrown down strongly. Also they loose their rebound at about this time. Tried giving them a super tune- doesn't help. Guess that's about all the life they have in them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 The worst I've ever had is a Burton Custom 160, 99-00 model year, that lost it's pop and camber after about 20 riding days. And that was at a time when I didn't work the board very hard at all. My 2002-2003 Donek Axis 172 has been through about 100 riding days, I've folded the nose pretty badly a few times, in one case tearing a rotator cuff in the process but no loss of performance by the board. That and in the last 30 or so riding days it's seen more rocks and stumps than I care to count, and keeps coming back for more. It feels like it's softened a bit over time, but not that much, and it still has its camber and rebound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirror70 Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 My 2001 Factory Prime lost camber and pop after about 7 days. It is still fun to ride though - in fact, it's probably a great race board now that it has "calmed down." My F2 SL has about 100 days on it so far this season, and maybe 250 total. It is still fantastic to ride and has plenty of camber and pop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdboytyler Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 Originally posted by patrickfreen I've gone through about 4 Oxygen protons so far, getting about 60 days out of each one before they break down. That's about 3 seasons for me. So if my current Proton 164 GS lasts for a couple more seasons, I'll be happy with it. Even if a board is still in good condition, I'm ready to change it after 3-4 seasons anyway, just for the sake of trying something different. I've got a Burton Supermodel 161(?) that lost almost all it's camber after about 30 days of riding. Even though the board had gotten noticebly flatter, I couldn't tell the difference when riding the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rugger Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 Planned obsolescense, great marketing, incredible cult following from a mega corporation. Why change a winning money-making formula? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarvCanada Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 I've got a question I have about 30 days on a Donek Freecarve, about 2/3 of them on quality hardpack where I was able to carve really aggressively. The board ROCKS and still rocks, it seems like its broken in and as solid as it will ever be I rarely fold the nose, never to the point of cartwheeling, and only in soft snow. I've only augered the nose once (ouch! :) ) at low speed. I've noticed some visual change in the topsheet that seems to have slowly progressed over time. Just ahead of the front binding, and just behind the rear binding, there is a semi-circle of topsheet area (i have a metallic weave topsheet) where the weave has spaced out, leaving a brown tint from the underlying core, and another larger circle hugging the brownish one, where the topsheet has "compressed" and become a darker shade of blue... the weave is tight and compressed in that area. There is also a horizontal line (parallel to the waist axis) halfway between the nose's tip and the front binding, where the topsheet has spaced out and has a brownish tint. The board rides extremely well as it always has... stable, hooks into carves, lots of feedback and plenty of pop. Is this just a result of flexing the board hard? I was thinking maybe Catek Disks are so rigid that they force the board to flex in a slightly different pattern just ahead and behind the front and rear bindings? just curious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrickfreen Posted March 28, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 This is just a guess on my part, but I think the greatest stress on a carving board is just behind the rear binding and in front of the front binding. I wonder if the triaxial cloth is getting micro-shatters in that area. On my protons I think the boards are giving out just behind the rear binding and then it's time for me to dump them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 My Limited (softy) has about 40 days. It has seen some rough times (a rock or two, and riding with plates). It didn't loose the camber at all, I think. Some light rust showing on the edges. Hooger still has long long life ahead of it, hopefully :) Now talking about destroying skis (more experience :) in that), I went trough quite a few pairs, mostly Elan. One pair, that I particularly liked, I used for over 200 days until they delaminated close to the tips. I really abused them, but they did not loose much of the camber. On them I even came 3rd in a GS race, towards the end of their life. On another pair I pulled the binding screws out (cranked up bindings). Head skis appear to be tough as well. Rossi is weak, Salomon too. Some Salomons I borrowed from rental shop recently, for teaching (rocky day), did not have any camber whatsoever left... But Rossi and Salomon tend to use foam cores. Boris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted March 29, 2005 Report Share Posted March 29, 2005 is the worst ten days to noodle one at the most my Coilers are holding up well though one of which has about 50 or 60 days and its still nearly perfect slightly softer thats it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellowjonny Posted March 29, 2005 Report Share Posted March 29, 2005 Maybe your not damaging your boards because you have the soft girly man legs of a fin sailor (anyone can droop there backside over the rail)-- You would be destroying boards if you could straight leg like a Laser sailor.--Sorry had to say it i've spent to much time traveling with Fin sailors (animals). Do they still have the Waves regetta on English bay up there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted March 29, 2005 Report Share Posted March 29, 2005 Hello Mellowjonny, the fellow sailor! Let's not start the Laser vs. Finn discussion here - others are going to be bored to death :) (info for non-sailors: this is an always hot issue for single-handed dinghy sailors, somewhat like soft vs. hard boots discussions). All I can tell you is that I have sailed both classes, but with more success in the one for "animals". Most of the top Finn guys hike straightlegged these days. Yes there's still Waves regatta - I hope that I'll be sailing it this year (in Laser). To get the info check www.bcsailing.bc.ca from time to time. Boris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirror70 Posted March 29, 2005 Report Share Posted March 29, 2005 Originally posted by BlueB hot issue for single-handed dinghy sailors So that's what you younguns call it these days? :D I would have thought a hot issue might have been lefty vs righty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellowjonny Posted March 30, 2005 Report Share Posted March 30, 2005 I spent alot of time sailing with Jason Rhodes and Brad Kitchen in B.C and even lowered myself to do one CORK regatta in a fin. 89 or 90 fortunally a light air year. I came up there about 5 years ago for a pre-olympic 49er regatta nice area to sail in. As far as the topic of this thread--how quick do i go through my boards--they last quite long with a bit of wet sanding and new tiller extension once in a while.--nobody will get that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donek Posted March 30, 2005 Report Share Posted March 30, 2005 CarvCanada E-mail me some photos of this will you. The topsheet colors do tend to change a bit in UV as time progresses, but I haven't heard about or seen this one yet. I'd be curious to have a look. Sean Martin Donek Snowboards Inc. smartin@donek.com http://www.donek.com/ phone:877-53-DONEK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarvCanada Posted March 30, 2005 Report Share Posted March 30, 2005 Sure. I'll send pics as soon as I can. I posted my thoughts here since I figured it was something that happened over time to boards with woven topsheets. I'm sure that it's in no way a product defect! That board is my favorite board to date, and besides... it looks pretty cool :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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