Guest Mikef5000 Posted January 11, 2006 Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 I'm looking for some general information on it. I have a 171 Elan Ballstic, and really love it! But I never hear anyone talking about them. Is it considered to be a good board? bad board? soft? stiff? Anything at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Houghton Posted January 11, 2006 Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 Who cares what others think if you like it? Their opinions will only piss you off. :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Buggs Posted January 11, 2006 Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 I have seen a girl totally rip on a smaller one and I have seen guys struggle with the 171. I rode one 1 day during my first season and from what I can remember it was a Race slalom board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derf Posted January 11, 2006 Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 Who cares what others think if you like it? Their opinions will only piss you off. :o Exactly! I ride a Nitro and no one ever rides one or talk about them, but I like mine quite a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted January 11, 2006 Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 Back in the mid '90's, I saw Ted F. who at the time taught at Stowe (I think). Rip one of these through the bumps and kill it switch. I always thought hard boots looked great, but until I saw him do that, I did not know that the versatility was in the rider, not the board. The next season I had my race setup and have been enjoying it ever since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mikef5000 Posted January 11, 2006 Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 I know my opinion on the board.... Which is all that really matters. I absolutely love this ballistic! I can Carve hairpins or sweepers. The board seems very predictable, and the edgehold is fantastic! BUT...... I want to hear what others have to say BECAUSE I have nothing to compare it to! I've never ridden any other similar boards. I want to know what to expect to be different when I get a new board. Other boards are better at _______ than the ballistic. The ballistic sucks at ___________. Help me out! compare it to some other boards on the market! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groovastic Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 I never tried it, but met a guy who rode it and said that he was much happier with it than with his Burton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felix Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 Well Elan Austria is the biggest snowboard producer of the world (nearly 20% market share). Nevertheless they know how to build good boards. Some Austrians like SigiGrabner let Elan manufacture their boards. Elan Raceboards (unbranded - simply plain topsheet) are available directly at the factory for cheap prices and seem to have great performance. I met a group of racers 2 month ago on the mountain who were absolutely rippin on their elan raceboards in length around 185. They said that those boards are quite popular on the EC races. Rumors say that Elan Austria also produces all F2 raceboards since years (however why would Elan produce such crappy boards?). F2 Softboards are produced by GS sports (or maybe I got it wrong - the factory is near the boarder to Germany in Austria however for sure) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 Not about Ballistic - sorry. I know a guy who's got it, if I get to ride his board I'll post the impressions... However, Elan (Austria and Slovenia) is true giant of snow (and sailboat) industry. One of most innovative and quality companies around. Think Ingmar Stenmark, Kostelic, Krizaj and numerous other top skiers! One of the first fibre composite ski manufacturers, probably first in carving skis, first to eliminate longitudinal groove on the ski, first integrated bindings... As stated above, they manufacture for other brands. On skis it is Head, Nordica, Volkl, some Japanese brands and probably few other smaller companies. It is only logical to assume that the boards of above companies are by Elan too. F2 is actually a windsurf company, and more than likely they outsource to Elan. Now, if their boards are crappy, that's because they gave specs to Elan, instead of letting the pros do the design as well :) If there were Elan skis on the market in Vancouver I would be on these, otherwise I settle for Head (knowing they come from the same company). Boris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Vikking Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 I'm looking for some general information on it.I have a 171 Elan Ballstic, and really love it! But I never hear anyone talking about them. Is it considered to be a good board? bad board? soft? stiff? Anything at all? When Elan Ballistic came out, it was considerd as a good race snowboard. Perfect for intermediate users, not so stiff, but stiff enoug to hold a reliable edge grip. Good to buy as beginners bord, for a few years. But then Elan made a very stupid thing, thing that turn away almost all carves in my country (Slovenia, from where Elan is it). We where all pisted off and we don't want to buy nothing from Elan anymore. Why? Suddenly they stop producing ballistic as only race board from Elan, the demand for snowboard was. The Elan issued a statement: "we stopped producing race snowboard (elan ballistic), because is cutting down the value of the ELAN trademark. Producing race snowboard is bad for the company like ELAN." They throw at as some statistical data as: "the sales of all race snowboard in the world is just 2% other is freestyle/freeride (2003/04), In Europe lover than 3%, in North America and Japan is not even 0,5%." They throw all development in to freestyle/freeride and they say, that you can do everything with freestyle that you could do with race snowboards. So... we turned to GOLTES, the one that is not letting as down: http://www.goltes.si/default.aspx?lang=en Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mats Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 Don´t know about your info but they got their own plant and make decks for an assortment of other brands. As far as i know the percentage of warranty claims for F2 are the lowest among volume makers. Mats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felix Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 Nope F2 is only subcontracting. Boards & More has no own company. If you want I can research again on snowboard-community.de about the producing company of their softboards (including Eliminator LTD and probabely their freecarving boards) - someone from that community once even worked for that company. It is I think after Elan the second biggest board producer in Austria. However it is for sure that their Speedsters and Silberpfeil don't originate in that company. It's true that the quality sind DUOCAP isn't that bad anymore. Their old Caps didn't even make like 20 days for me (softboards - my old Cap Speedster still holds up) as I allways ripped the cap of (maybee due to some Proflex Wordcup Boardercross bindings that have a baseplate which is a bit crazy and very hard) You are right that F2 designs other boards as well (previously Duotone, still Never Summer (though not produced in Austria) and Forum (still?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felix Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 Oh and directly at the company you can still buy a wide assortement of raceboards from Elan (and allways could). They don't feature an Elan Topsheet though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mikef5000 Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 Oh and directly at the company you can still buy a wide assortement of raceboards from Elan (and allways could). They don't feature an Elan Topsheet though. Any idea how I (in the states) could go about buying an Elan race board from the factory? Can I simply find an email address on there website and Email them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felix Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 don't know. Just drop them an e-mail. However even in Austria it is very hard to get them (only go their - I don't know why they don't sell them - can't imagine it is because of their image - in that case they could have changed the name of the boards). In fact apart from the group of racers on Elans I once met I only met one single other time someone who was one a "recent" elan raceboard. Maybe those boards are sold branded for another niche-company and therefore they don't want to sell them to the public? For me this season is wasted cause of injuries. Otherwise I would 1. try out the new SigiGrabner board in Turrachherhöhe and then try some elans plus give some tomahawks a try plus the Swoard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffh Posted January 14, 2006 Report Share Posted January 14, 2006 I rode one for a couple of seasons. I liked it a lot. I had the 171. It had a very ‘turney’ side cut – I forget the exact numbers but it was some kind of ‘elliptical side cut’ like 9/10/11. It would come around real quick on transitions. All and all a very fun board and very lively. More like an SL board IMO. It actually threw me off a number of times before I came to terms with its snappy nature – You throw energy into it and it will throw it right back at you in spades. I finally learned to ride quieter and we got along quite well. I wound up trading her in for a Donek FC 171 which would handle my masher style without throwing me off like an angry wife discovering I had an affair with her sister. I weigh in at 215 lbs – perhaps for a lighter rider the Elan would be less temperamental. Regardless – I loved her during our time together. Construction was top notch and the topsheet was a beautiful pearlized green – real nice looking deck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kex Posted January 4, 2010 Report Share Posted January 4, 2010 i hope no one minds, but i thought i would bump this old thread back to the top in hopes of hearing any other reviews of the board. I obtained an elan ballistic 171 last spring and only had the opportunity to ride it for a single day. I know what I thought of it from my limited trial, but as a fairly novice hardbooter, I'd like to hear some more opinions about the board from more experienced riders who have tried it. From what Ive read so far, it seems like a good board i could get some good experience on, though it seems like the learning curve of this board might be steep at the same time. tomorrow will be my first day on the slopes this season, and im excited to get back to hardbooting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 4, 2010 Report Share Posted January 4, 2010 I've got one. Stiff and lively. Very good edge hold. Somewhat small sweet spot. Plenty of rebound if you want. Quite turny. Progressive cut. A bit more in Cypress tread... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forrestholt Posted March 20, 2010 Report Share Posted March 20, 2010 i love my elan ballistic, it is a great board for carving along with training gates. My coach let me borrow this board and its lots of pop and holds a great edge. the only complaint i would have is that its pretty old and my top sheet is starting to peal up. compared to other boards i' v ridden this one is the best by far. going shredding tomorrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valsam Posted March 20, 2010 Report Share Posted March 20, 2010 My 1,71 use to have great edge hold but after i gave it for service it cant hold edge any more,is it possible that he changed the side edge bevel ? Does anyone know if the board came with a 2º side edge bevel and could this have changed by sharpening and would it affect the edge hold? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murphy12 Posted March 20, 2010 Report Share Posted March 20, 2010 You should get your side edge done on a ceramic disc grinder @2deg. Make sure the tech knows what he's doing. If you want more, you can go to 3deg. I've ridden a Ballistic 155 at times-super turny, but stiff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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