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Jones Carbon flagship 168W slow?

10K views 47 replies 24 participants last post by  Seppuccu 
#1 ·
Hi All

I have just bought the above board and I am concerned about how slow it is (i can hear the howls of derision from here) but humour me. Has anyone else had a problem? At first I thought it was just an issue that my previous board - a Salomon 166W was just super fast. We had a powder day last weekend and my wife and friends who normally cannot keep up with me were all flying past me - I kept on grinding to a halt in places where I would be carving out S's with my Salomon. The board is brand new. So I rewaxed the board myself - carefully selecting the right temp wax - scrapped down and nylon brushed - I used to tune my sons alpine racing boards so I know a little about what I am doing - the board was still slow. We did a test - My wife on her hovercraft, two friends on rentals (bottoms gray from no wax) and me on my flippin expensive carbon flagship - we went down - on piste - a gentle slope that flattened out. I stopped first - my wife went almost twice the distance - and these were all people that normally cannot keep up with me. Any ideas????? What am I doing wrong? Anyone experience this?
 
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#2 ·
Makes zero sense to me. I have a regular Jones Flagship and no one even comes close to keeping up with me if they are on a snowboard. I even keep up with some of the sponsored Skier guys.

I also tune my snowboard with temp specific wax.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Very surprising to hear. I've a Flag and Mothership, hubby has a Carbon Flag and we are on and on astonished how very fast their bases are... they pick up speed immediately if you leave them - (and accelerate very quickly as soon as I crouch to a speed where I feel uncomfortable and use the wind to brake ;)). So yes, I'm astonished about your issues cos the hub's Carb Flag has done three digit km/h tempi on our short race track.

Assuming you do have picked the right way, I can only imagine that you ride hard on edge when you point it? If I wanna go fast, I ride them flat based. On edge, l feel how the mellow magnetraction drags a tiny bit and slows me a bit down. So if your wife is flat-basing and you ain't, this could make a difference :dunno:
 
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#9 ·
nearly winter again and trying to solve the problem



I doubt it as when I switch boards and go back to my trusty flat bottomed Salamon 166w she cannot keep up with me or glide as far as I can - so unless there is something about my style on the flagship - there should not be an issue. Swopping board wont say much as she is on a 161cm hovercraft - so I think at 186lbs naked I am too heavy for that board.
 
#6 ·
Based on what you said, it can only be something related to the base. You said you brushed it with a nylon brush, stiff bristle or soft?

Any chance you can get a close up picture of the base structure?

It's possible something go screwed up with they made it, and they didn't structure the base properly. I would assume every massed produced board gets the same treatment, but maybe somebody missed a step?!?

FWIW, I haven't waxed in about 50 days, and my board is still quick. I'm of the belief that it's all down to structure.
 
#27 ·
I wax but I also believe structure is most important. If it's warm and you don't have good structure you will stick, especially in the flats. The grooves are key to getting water out from under the board.

My most structured board has grooves so deep it makes a zippering sound when it slides sideways.

Get a stone grind with deep structure, it's great.
 
#8 ·
I have a 2015 Jones Aviator 160cm, and I agree with this statement.

The board does not glide well at all. I literally was stuck in powder this past weekend while my friends with their old shitty boards went along no problem.

It's definitely a fast board once you get it going, I hit 76.4mph on it, but when the trail goes flat you better have your shit together because you're going to have to work for it to keep gliding.
 
#15 ·
I have a 2016 solution spilt, took it for a few laps at the resort today. It was amazingly slow. I could probably set this thing down on a steep groomed run, base down, and it wouldn't even run away from me.

Pretty disappointing.
 
#19 ·
... or inappropriate wax/base grind for specific prevalent conditions.

One and the same board can be super fast on day A but super slow on day B. So yeah, you're actually right, it's the riders fault cos hif he inappropriately prepares the board for the prevalent conditions :)
 
#21 ·
Ehm... what size and where do you live? I've seen one on sale for 400$ when searching for a replacement one for the SO (too many shaks kill a board :().
 
#33 ·
The thing to take away from this is that all bases are not equal. Some, by virtue of the materials and processes used in manufacture, are much faster than others. The trick is to know what you're buying and factor that into your decision.

Also that manufacturing defects can slip thru quality checks and you might be unlucky to end up with a dud base to begin with...
 
#37 ·
Did you get a stone grind? Every board will stick on wet ground due to sucction if it doesn't have a structure.
 
#39 ·
It was "Ready to go". For "normal" snow conditions.

But wet snow simply is a special type of snow which sucks - literally - and needs a different preparation if you want any board to perform well. Lol, I had a demo board recently which had the fanciest race base. It was raining on that day... board had no structured base... the fancy highend base was glued to the snow.

I always get a stone grind to have structured base in spring = sucction of wet snow is reduced = base becomes faster in these conditions.
 
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#42 ·
In all seriousness have you simply tried asking Jones? Their boards are generally great but they surely realize that sometimes an imperfection slips through the cracks. You would think that they would be willing to test it out, or let you compare a demo, etc. They want people to like their boards, after all. Call them up.
 
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