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Kessler 162 "The Alpine"


TVR

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My son races FIS. For him this, the 162 Kessler "The Alpine", is the best board for SL, with edge hold and everything else one would want from a race board. But is this all one needs from one of these or any snowboard?

This review is more than just "how does it ride" or "how is the edge hold". My son rides the Hexagonal rectangular Allflex (NOT H plate) on his board, which is one of the stiffest Allflex plates on the market. Due to his leg strength and his weight, this was deemed to be the best setup (From his coach), and has worked well. Where this review comes in is with the mounting of the Allflex to the board.

For whatever reason (misplacement of screws, overlooking, whatever) the Allflex has been mounted this season with screws, but all the same length. We went to try an SG 185 and that is when I noticed the center connector screws were not correct, as these are supposed to be about 1mm longer than the end screws. When looking, all the screws, from all connecting positions, were the same length. What this means is, for most of this season, the center connectors to his Allflex were connected with maybe 2 threads or so in depth.

This, to me, is extremely impressive. This tells me that along with being a world class race board, and riding with the finesse that has taken so many WC podium spots, these Kesslers are also a tank. They are so well built, even overlooked mistakes will not break them.

Boards are more than just their ride. Like all equipment and tools, the quality of their construction, I would argue, is just as important as the finesse of their ride. When looking for a board, especially one you intend to literally torture with the stresses of racing, it is great to know there is the type of quality being built like this in a Kessler. I don't know much about their longer boards and how tough they are, but the 162 is a beast that will take everything you can throw at it.

Take this for what it is worth as I hope this was helpful. 

 

 

 

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hahaa... If i recall John order the same board as replacement.  I was there when it happen(early season). 

From talking to different people - There are tons of urban legend/FUD/myth on Kessler.

As TVR say:  it's bomb proof
I also heard Kessler is so damp/awesome is because it's thin and hence fragile
My guess is all board break; count our lucky star that it's the board and not our bones.
  
For SL size i wonder how the Kessler 162 compare to F2 Proto 163?

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1 hour ago, arneburner said:

It's not the board, it's the bindings that caused this. Either get f2 bindings or a plate or lifts for bomber bindings

Yeah that was true in like 1994 with the very first generation TDs with the binding elevated on the tiny center disc.  Subsequent versions of the original TDs had larger center discs and urethane bumpers which significantly reduced that issue.  TD2s and TD3s have a much larger footprint and do not break boards.  F2 bindings are too flexy for many people.

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Every board will break, if you put enough stress on it 🤷🏼
But of course there are sometimes issues with the chosen materials or production process.

For example; I saw delaminated boards (form different brands) caused by stress, nicks form crashes or even production flaws. Sometime these are hard to notice and if you don't fix it, the wooden core may be exposed to humidity, which in turn will effect its sturdiness against the forces applied to it.

Kessler's are no exceptions, but they are definitely not known for bad quality.

My last two boards I broke were both Völkl Racetigers years ago. Since then I had different F2, Goltes, Kessler, Oxess, Coiler and non of them broke, including a Kessler 162.

Edited by nextcarve
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/26/2023 at 4:36 PM, arneburner said:

It's not the board, it's the bindings that caused this. Either get f2 bindings or a plate or lifts for bomber bindings

This is the equivalent to blaming your steering wheel for the car accident you just had.  It's all about rider input - period.

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1 hour ago, arneburner said:

 

BS, The only broken Kesslers that I have seen had Bomber bindings. Sure if you don't load the nose of the board it may not happen, but that may not be the way it was made to be ridden. Bomber  bindings are not made for race boards. If they were, you would see them on the world cup.

I've owned 6 Kesslers and ridden them all with Bombers.  Never an issue.  Maybe you don't see Bombers on the world cup because there is a massive lemming mentality among racers.  I help coach a team and I just tell them all to get F2s because I don't want to hear "my kid is losing because they don't have the same bindings as everyone else" and I don't want my kids to get smack talk about their bindings from other racers with attitudes like yours.  I've tried F2s and I think they're crazy flexy garbage.  I can see why world cuppers travel with multiple backup pairs.  A former successful NorAm racer I know exited competition due to covid and went to college.  But he was still freecarving and was in need of new bindings.  As an experiment I offered to buy him a new pair of Bombers in exchange for the price of a new pair of F2s.  He could not believe how much better and more performant the Bombers were.  He's still using them.  YMMV.

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Boards are gonna break if you ride them hard enough. 

I’m up to 2) broken Coilers and 5) broken Kesslers, not from crashing. They have all made great furniture !!

I originally thought 2) of those breaks were from the vist plate pressure points and I’ll mention that was 8-10 years ago. Then 2 months ago,  I break a Kessler bx board the same exact way but K2 formula bindings and no plate, go figure. Looks like it wasn’t the vist plate after all. All 3 of these boards, the heelside edge snapped and knurled up, a 1/4” wide of base x 5” under the front foot. 
 

On another identical break, I broke one kessler sl and one coiler sl, the same way. The tail folded up, at the insert holes, not from the wide based td3 bombers. Toes side pressure, they both folded up.  
 

My point is, there’s no rhyme or reason to why they break, it’s NEVER been from TD3 Bomber bindings, although “some experts” will argue.  I can say that both manufacturers and reps have been great to deal with and have made all situations more then fair in the end. 

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  • 7 months later...
On 3/17/2023 at 3:03 PM, powdahbonz said:

TT, what caused that break? Did you stuff the nose? 

If I did it had to be the season before. I was being tail gunned by a racer and fell but that fall wouldn't have broken this board like this. It had to have already been broken. 

The racer tried to blame me but quickly changed his tune and apologized. He also apologized for my board which he probably thought he caused.

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