Guest dragonsword5 Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 I've seen a kessler board before in one of the hardbooter.com videos and they were so many in the PGS races and even Rosy Fletcher was even riding one. Are they that good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotts.Scheinman Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 they must be Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 says so and so does Bordy it must be true Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex1230 Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 hmmm... 2/3 medals in mens PGS on Kessler 3/3 medals in womens PGS on Kessler I guess they really suck for racing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bordy Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Best board ever... It's almost like cheating! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tilledog Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 :lol: cheater... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jared Q Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 I made the mistake of riding one of Bordy's Kesslers. They are something special. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seb Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Who is selling of those boards in Canada or US ? I only see them with racer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gecko Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Who is selling of those boards in Canada or US ?I only see them with racer You just hit the nail on the head...unobtainium Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedzilla Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Who is selling of those boards in Canada or US ?I only see them with racer Contact Bola at www.allboardssports.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 I have never ridden one, but I believe they are supposed to be extra damp to deal with race ruts. You may or may not consider that a good thing for freecarving. They certainly look da bomb and have all the trophies to wave around, but part of me wonders how much "bandwagon mentality" is in effect here, which I believe is rampant in racing. That is, would the Olympic and FIS standings look any different if the Schoch brothers weren't on Kessler? Or what if Jewell had the only Kessler at the Olympics, would he have medalled? Just musing here, again I've never even seen a Kessler in person. And I also want a piece of this titanal action too, hence my recent Prior Metal acquisition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest team_absolut Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Kessler and Tomahawk are definitely the best boards you can get today but not for everyone and every purpose. If you know how to ride then most of us will be fine with whatever they can get their hands on e.g. Donek, Prior, F2, etc... If you want to experience the ultimate in racing/freecarving then you will need to try Kessler/Tomahawk - I bet you will like it! I am sure that most of the other board manufacturers will soon catch up - or not! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 arent kesslers super fragile though? that doesnt exactly translate to a good freecarve board Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorpio Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Tomahawk baby!....Tomahawk!....... My question about Kessler and even Tomahawk is more of a budget thing. They are a couple of the best customs out there and have some of the best riders testing and racing them. What boggles me is that even due to their small size, they have the financial resources to do r&d, test, and produce and still put out top notch decks. You would think that a company like F2 with deeper pockets should be putting out the best decks. They do put out great stuff which has yielded podiums in the past but the maker of the moment is certainly kessler. Even though they charge an arm an a leg for one of their customs, their margins must still be low. They also don't produce that many boards compared to the larger companies. Most of their cash must go into r&d. How can they make it work and still put out the best deck? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 You would think that a company like <font color="red"><b>F2</b></font> with deeper pockets should be putting out the best decks. Hah, look at Burton! Looks like deep pockets might not have too much connection to product quality... :rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gecko Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Banking...remember that kessler resides in one of the most concentrated banking areas in the world. In truth I still believe those boards to be the 2-Strokes of the Snowboard world. Great for racing but I wouldn't want to have one as a daily ride (mind you I rode a 2-stroke for 3 years in Japan). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdboytyler Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Most of their cash must go into r&d. How can they make it work and still put out the best deck? My SWAG (super wild a$$ guess) is that Kessler gets money from the Swiss government to provide the awesome race boards for the Swiss snowboarding team. I read posts that said only the Swiss riders got the latest and greatest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alakata Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 eh kesslers are probably an overrated fad like atomic metrons....... theres this group of synchronized "skiers" at my mountain, all wear metrons, no poles and carve each others lines, bunch of fruitcups if you ask me take what you can afford and ride the balls off of it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 Are they that good? Depends on your style and conditions. It's just a tool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyYT316 Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 Best board ever... It's almost like cheating! Isn't that a quote from the USASA GS at Snowbasin? Great quote though, maybe I should get a kessler within the next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skategoat Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 My SWAG (super wild a$$ guess) is that Kessler gets money from the Swiss government to provide the awesome race boards for the Swiss snowboarding team.I read posts that said only the Swiss riders got the latest and greatest. The story I heard from an Austrian friend is that the Kessler family is very wealthy and the snowboard biz is just a fun sideline. He says they are of Austrian background. Are the top sheets metal? Stainless steel like Volants or are the topsheets actually titanal? I played around with a sheet of titanal and I was amazed by the flexibility of the alloy. You could bend it right around your finger and it would spring back to it's original shape. If the Kesslers are indeed fragile, it wouldn't be because of the titanal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derf Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 Are the top sheets metal? Stainless steel like Volants or are the topsheets actually titanal? I played around with a sheet of titanal and I was amazed by the flexibility of the alloy. You could bend it right around your finger and it would spring back to it's original shape. If the Kesslers are indeed fragile, it wouldn't be because of the titanal. From what I read and from the picks, I would say the topsheet would be Titanal. I never touched any Titanal, but I once read it was like the panacea of metal (or at least aluminium) alloys. As for bending, Titanal must be like all other metals in that field, it is flexible, but once you get past the elastic bending into plastic bending, it is bent for good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donek Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 The Kesslers are Titanal topsheets. The word I've heard on the World Cup is that they have a fairly finite life and need to be replaced frequently. As for the fragility of the titanal, that's not really the problem. It's getting a bond between the titanal and the rest of the board. I played with titanla last season in our development for the olympics. My approach was really two fold. Develop a board that would help the athletes that could also be sold to the general public. Every attempt at a board with titanal in it wound up delaminating within a relatively short period (20 to 30 days on snow). I felt this was not a viable technology for freecarving or recreational riders expecting an expensive board to last several seasons. The current Olympic construction is what I finally arrived at and it's done quite well under a number of peoples feet without sacrificing durability. I am doing some more prototyping this spring with titanal, but intend to bury it inside the board where it is not prone to impact damage and resulting delamination. As for Kesslers being a better board, I'm more convinced it is more a shape thing than the materials. We built a board meant to mimic the shape of a Kessler last season for a world cup racer. This persons time in a course was a full 1.5 seconds faster than the kessler being tested (which was about 2 seconds faster than the riders existing board). Unfortunately this rider chose to go back to the original board as it felt more comfortable. This shape modification is all centered around performance in a course. It does not perform well as a freecarve shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slopetool Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 The noses on the Schoch brothers' boards were very flat and broad looking. Did anyone else notice that too? Someone would stuff the nose off the race course on those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted February 26, 2006 Report Share Posted February 26, 2006 Sean Rocks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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