Jeremy Jones Comes Out With His Own Softboot Carver Line!

[barryj]

Freecarver Series in a 9scr and a 6scr  boards!   I'm gonna have to demo them!!    Of course with Binders just to mess with his mind!,  he's a Tahoe local and see him on the hill often when he's not off sleping up some god forsaken vertical bowling alley! 

 

 

[Xargo]

Those look pretty damn good! Would like to demo for sure even though I'd like to see 12000 model with 30cm waist.

In any case it's really nice to see this kind of production boards.

[Odd Job]

He has to be toning down those specs for the masses. I can't imagine ever needing a 6m sidecut, even in "you fall you die" terrain (hard no for me regardless of sidecut anyways).

Should've been Freecarver 9000 and 11000+ if he was remotely serious.

[Neil Gendzwill]

I've shop flexed the 160 9000.  It's quite a bit stiffer than a Flagship but still not super stiff.  Like all Jones boards, it's purty.

[dhamann]

looking at the numbers for both, seems pretty serious and thought out.

6000 while an extremely tight sidecut is a 3/5 flex instead of 4/5 and sized 150-158 with an ee of 1242-1318mm, full camber. 26.1-26.5w

9000 is more of a real deal directional snowboard with a focus on carving that more experienced folks will gravitate towards. flex is 4/5 and sized 152-164 with an ee of 1262-1376mm, full camber. 26.8-27.4w

the construction is basic. sustainable this and that. edges are 'serrated' and a 3D contour base/nose.

while not a custom and not for everyone, the exposure it creates and a real focus on soft boot carving is a step in the positive direction; pun intended. if anyone is going to get this to stick, it's this guy and through the platform he's created. the 3D nose is something that almost makes me noxious seeing it on this board. now i'm confused; what is it? i don't know how turn/tune friendly some of these 'added' features are.

history shows that there is a trend for mass market boards to come up with different features and technology to help the board turn for you. some features even inhibit edge contact and hold. float sounds/sells better than grip. features that just make it easier are something i tend to look away from. these types of boards have the tendency for a lower threshold of limitations to achieve a greater performance. realize that not everyone is looking for greater performance. that's the elephant in the room. if we're not growing, we're dying. that's just how it is and this board falls right where it needs to for the market. Jones is putting the vibe out and sharing the stoke. life's a garden...

 

 

[John Gilmour]

I flexed both the other day- at Wave Rave in Torrance.

I felt for my 9.5 boot with a 45 degree front angle in soft boots...this board was too wide for me. In 1992-1993 season I ran Back Bay Bikes and Boards snowboard dept. That flex reminded me a lot of the Aggression Assault boards I stocked , Like this one,

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175643870992

 

I have always believed that the vast majority of snowboarders out there would enjoy riding more if they had a directional boards with a free carve flex pattern and a powder nose.

All the way back to the F2 FII-M.A.D. which is I sold a ton of.  which is a lot like the Jones 6000. way too tight a sidecut and flexy.

I still prefer Alpine boards and great firm firm groom- but I haven't  been able to find comfortable boots or firm enough QUALITY GROOM at Aspen and so have to use more forgiving boards and boots and bindings. Beaver Creek is now a far better choice for carving.... put my money where my mouth is and bought the EPIC pass too just so I could get low on the Beaver.

 

So after flexing the 9000, and wishing I could have good consistent groom (Like say Attitash or Bretton woods back in the day), I opted for the Hoovercraft 2.0 156cm.

 

However, Jeremy Jones as a vintage racer, always has carving in his blood, - and at many mountains Jones boards outsell Burton, so Jones is the new hope for carving new blood that may eventually migrate to Alpine. 

Edited January 1 by John Gilmour

[big canuck]

I have the 6000. I just did a quick rip on it at our little hill in Calgary 2 days ago with new Nidecher Supermatic bindings(work incredibly well BTW) and love it!!! Exactly what  hoped for. You can stretch out the turns. I need a good day at a resort w  good snow to really know what it’s all about.

last thing I wanted was to have to go 30 mph before turning it like a BX board. I wanted something more playful and less “locked in”. I’m 5’11” 218 lb size 12 feet, running 30 15 angles (for now) I like the flex personally. 
 

Quality is outstanding. It’s a really nice whip. I’m stoked he’s offering a board line like this. I think it’s AWESOME and stoked to have it in the quiver. Am I keeping a handful of alpine boards? Of course BUT this is a fun alternative IMHO

Edited January 1 by big canuck

[lordmetroland]

9 hours ago, John Gilmour said:

I flexed both the other day- at Wave Rave in Torrance.

That flex reminded me a lot of the Aggression Assault boards I stocked , Like this one,

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175643870992

Oh joy! I may own the last Assault 175 to come off the press, a prototype for the next season's run that was cancelled. Maybe my favorite board ever, but clearly too narrow for my size 13s. So fun…

[rjnakata]

1 hour ago, big canuck said:

I have the 6000.

Sounds good!  How do you feel about the 158 length?

[big canuck]

I thought it would feel short but I was cautiously optimistic and when I rode it, never even crossed my mind that it was too short while riding it*

Edited January 2 by big canuck

[John Gilmour]

17 hours ago, lordmetroland said:

Oh joy! I may own the last Assault 175 to come off the press, a prototype for the next season's run that was cancelled. Maybe my favorite board ever, but clearly too narrow for my size 13s. So fun…

I sold quite a few of them IN 1992-1994 when I ran the snowboard dept. for Boston's Back Bay Bikes and Boards on Newbury St. Never a complaint on those- and of course I carried the Aggression Stealth, some close out checker pig G6, F2 Beamers, F2 Speedsters in every size, The F2 Asym freecarvers, F2 M.A.D. II (kinda like a softer hoovercraft) , so it was a good shop with carving, race, freeride, and twin tips. Jake came in one day and asked "Why the heck aren't we in this shop?" Not even realizing The Burton regional rep was taking kickbacks for doling out the right to carry Burton.  

It was pretty much us or just one other shop in NH , and the Starting gate that had anything that could carve.

That Stealth kinda had it right with deeper toeside sidecut than heelside most manufactures of asyms gave you deeper sidecut on the heelside which tended to overload.

[Cthulhufish]

 

On 12/1/2023 at 7:01 AM, dhamann said:

edges are 'serrated' and a 3D contour base/nose... i don't know how turn/tune friendly some of these 'added' features are.

Not tuning friendly  Serrated edges of course make it hard to sharpen the low points. They help with grip, but so does keeping your edges sharp. I also suspect they make edge engagement subtly less predictable but am still playing around with boards to figure that one out. 3D noses do help smooth out edge transitions. I quite like them, except that they make waxing and scraping annoying, and they make maintaining the base edge very frustrating as a base grind will not expose more edge around the contact points. Base grinding machines are made for flat boards.

As someone who is finicky about my base and edges, I don't consider either a deal breaker, but close. It's the main thing keeping me from buying another Flagship at the moment despite loving how they ride.

I can see why those features are on an ever increasing number of boards though. Most snowboarders don't tune their boards and don't get them shop tuned that often either.

Edited January 2 by Cthulhufish

[Neil Gendzwill]

Had my Flagship tuned in Whistler a couple weeks ago, they seemed to handle it fine. Magnetraction or some variant of it is very common these days, good shops need to be able to handle it.  

[John Gilmour]

The shops all use ceramic edge, grinders anyway. They don’t have much of a problem following the magna-traction. 

As an owner of 3 d bases for 40 years starting with the Sims FE Pro 1500 with similar channel bottom and also the Winterstick swallowtail ….the 3 d base is a PITA  which almost makes you go for those awful heated scotch bright waxing machines - except you get everyone’s dirty base wax mixed in .

And frankly even my Madd boards with the 3D too carbon sheet needed an insert when base grinding so you didn’t end up edge high.

For some boards it’s a joy and pain relationship.

Ive been on a hovercraft for a long time now. And the  non spoon hovercraft didn’t ride nearly as nice as the later spoon knows that came out. I’ve always felt the tail was a bit sticky on both of these models.

 

didn’t ride nearly as nice as the later spoon knows that came out. I’ve always felt the tail was a bit sticky on both of these models

 

So even though I look at those tail pockets on the new hovercraft, 2.0 with dread for. Scraping …. It’s gotta be worth it . It wasn’t worth it on the sims to have the spoon nose , but after riding the spoon nose hovercraft for the past five years, I can assure you that Jeremy Jones put it there for a reason that’s worth the hassle .

The 6000 will have no overlap with the 9000.

i wanted versatility in the made boards which is why we had a 8.8M in the 158 and a 1050 in the 170 (really a 168cm deck). And then a massive gap for the 22M 180cm.  Because if you wanted it to be versatile you had to know how to bend it… or you would quickly find it unmanageable with lesser skills - we made it that way on purpose because no dork should be going 60mph if he can’t ride well.

 

I do worry that  the 9000 for some soft boot riders unfamiliar with carving might find that deck frustrating - but for  some of the carvers (myself included) who are older with arthritic fingers - suddenly soft boots with easy closures and step in Supermatics on a 9000 seem reasonable .

[John Gilmour]

The new flagships seem more like hovercrafts with flagship tails now .

 

I do consider that to be a huge improvement .  Also I think the new mindexpander looks a bit better .

it was a big tossup between the 9000 and the Hover 2.0 , the old hovercraft was really too tight to psycho radius at 8.5 the lowest I ever felt you could go in psych cut radius and still have a board carry any amount of speed. If it was a stiffer, flexing board was 8.8 m in the 158.  Any wider than that and then the board really wasn’t useful for slalom.

But the spoon nose - might make it a quicker flick into a turn. I’ll demo one in the coming weeks - but I’m pretty sure it’s too wide for my high angles and 9.5 feet.

[MR. JOHN DEERE !]

I have the Jones freeride 158 6000. 

Fun and playful, turns like a slalom deck. I can do pop slalom turns on intermediate pitch. Also can link continuous turns without the board wanting to pick up speed like all the variable side cut decks. Nothing steep was open when I rode it, but would like to see how it holds itself together on a steep pitch. 

I'm 6-1" 220lbs, seemed soft when I first flexed it, but thankfully it rode stiffer. Torsionally its really soft, but it works.  I paired it up with the Jones Mercury bindings mediums with my size 9 boots, binding set at 30 front 12 rear.  I went with the Mercury's, cause the board is soft, so I wanted the bindings to flex with the board as well. Jones does make a stiffer binding in the Apollo, I don't recommend it for the 6000, more suited for the 9000. Jones also recommends the Mercury's for the 6000. 

This is a great size and sidecut for where I ride, I'm really happy with it. Not only are our trails narrow, they are filled with straight liners and the worst grooming I have ever seen. So you really have to pic your spots, or you'll die. Not kidding. 

The Kessler 164 x carve requires allot of real estate, and the Kessler 168 Spectra isn't much different. So keep your eyes peeled for either one of those in the classifieds section in the near future. I'm happy someone made something with as tight as a radius as this 6m, good idea ! The designer must have spent allot of time on the East Coast. 

Edited January 9 by MR. JOHN DEERE !

[Odd Job]

2 hours ago, MR. JOHN DEERE ! said:

I have the Jones freeride 158 6000. 

Fun and playful, turns like a slalom deck. I can do pop slalom turns on intermediate pitch. Also can link continuous turns without the board wanting to pick up speed like all the variable side cut decks. Nothing steep was open when I rode it, but would like to see how it holds itself together on a steep pitch.  

East Village Copper is ready for you. The snow is hard enough that it's sort of sketchy to even sideslip down the pitch. It only holds at high edge angles. Tourons were eating it trying to link basic turns today.

[Poloturbo]

Good reviews

But in Canada it's a 900$ board with taxes here at least in Quebec. 

Wondering if there's not a lot more options like Coiler or Alloy etc. That might be better.

Still good options of the shelf I guess.

[inkaholic]

21 hours ago, MR. JOHN DEERE ! said:

I'm 6-1" 220lbs,

Woah, bedda get baack ta da Jenny Craig program mista

coach ink

[Corey]

1 hour ago, Poloturbo said:

But in Canada it's a 900$ board with taxes here at least in Quebec. 

That Coiler sure sounds good when it's only a few bucks more. 

While you can... 

[Neil Gendzwill]

The Coiler 166 I just had built is not that far off a Freecarver 164. Same EE, 4 mm narrower, longer sidecut (10 m). Probably heavier, it weighs about 800 g more than my Flagship 162. 

[Odd Job]

The New Rad-Air Tanker 181 has the same effective edge as the 420 Jones Freecarver 9000 164, but with a 11.25m sidecut and a lot more stuff for float in powder.

[slabber]

@Poloturbo it's hard to compare because the Coiler is custom vs off the shelf production. 

Bruce can build something tailored to you and your needs.  Totally worth it IMHO.  

[Neil Gendzwill]

19 hours ago, Odd Job said:

The New Rad-Air Tanker 181 has the same effective edge as the 420 Jones Freecarver 9000 164, but with a 11.25m sidecut and a lot more stuff for float in powder.

If you’re in the market for a free carver you’re not looking for a pow board. Also the Tanker is pretty narrow, the Jones is 1.4 cm wider. 

[Odd Job]

Jones added a spoon 3d nose shape for all terrain performance; only reason I mentioned the Tanker. I mentioned the effective edge being the same, as Jones could have easily put in a double-digit sidecut in that shape, I think.

I would order an SBX board or some derivative of it for pure softboot freecarving performance anyways.

The Tanker has held an edge on steep pitches that were sort of scary to sideslip on. Factory tune.

Edited January 10 by Odd Job