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2017 Jones Flagship or Carbon Flagship

12K views 18 replies 7 participants last post by  neni 
#1 ·
So, it's finally time to upgrade my setup. I've sort of decided on the flagship or carbon flagship (altho other suggestions are welcome). But I can't really make up my mind on exactly which of one I should get. Does anyone here have any experience with any of these boards (mainly the carbon since there seems to be a shortage of good reviews on it).

I'd say my riding style is freeride/(very) aggressive all-mountain. If I do any sort of freestyle it's usually a self-built kicker in the backcountry, definitely no park riding.

The price isn't really that much of a factor to me, I've already allocated part of my budget to upgrading my setup and if I get the normal flagship it would just mean my gopro will get upgraded a year early :wink:

Any feedback is appreciated.
 
#2 ·
I own the wooden one, hubby the Carbon one.

The wooden Flagship is aggressive, stable, fast, responsive. Carbon is everything as well, just more. Question is, do you need the more? Can you backup the plus on stiffness?

I have never tried hubs Carbon (well... it's a 164, and even though I'm not shy to try long boards, I know my limits :). I simply wouldn't be able to bend that plank with my 120lb). Already the wooden one is pretty stiff... leg n weight n a certain speed needed to bend it. I could imagine that the Carbon, being even stiffer, is not much fun at slow speed (more speed in a carve means more force means more bend).

I'd say if you're an aggressive rider who carves hard and likes to ride 55mph? Get a wooden Flagship.

If you ride very aggressive alla time, lay down flat in high speed carves, straight line top to bottom just for the fun of hitting 70+ mph? Get the Carbon.
 
#4 ·
Yeah the wooden one was hard and aggressive but still manageable. I take it this year's models with the spoon tech makes it even more forgiving. Hand flexing both they seem to flex about the same, but the rebound out of the carbon one is just on another scale... I'd probably be fine on the wooden one for everything, but super poppy snappy boards are always more fun!
 
#5 · (Edited)
I own the wooden one, hubby the Carbon one.

The wooden Flagship is aggressive, stable, fast, responsive. Carbon is everything as well, just more. Question is, do you need the more? Can you backup the plus on stiffness?

I have never tried hubs Carbon (well... it's a 164, and even though I'm not shy to try long boards, I know my limits . I simply wouldn't be able to bend that plank with my 120lb). Already the wooden one is pretty stiff... leg n weight n a certain speed needed to bend it. I could imagine that the Carbon, being even stiffer, is not much fun at slow speed (more speed in a carve means more force means more bend).

I'd say if you're an aggressive rider who carves hard and likes to ride 55mph? Get a wooden Flagship.

If you ride very aggressive alla time, lay down flat in high speed carves, straight line top to bottom just for the fun of hitting 70+ mph? Get the Carbon.
Thanks for your advice, I really like the 'no speed limits' aspect of the carbon but I'm mainly worried about how it handles certain types of terrain. I do most of my riding in Davos, Switzerland which tends to have a few flat/slow spots every now and then. So I'm a bit worried about the way the carbon would handle the slower speed. Does it really handle that different from the wooden one at slower speeds?
 
#6 ·
Well, easiest way to find out id it matters to you is to demo. Take a trip to SaasFee, they have the big demo snowboardbox now and Jones has boards there as well; IIRC the Carbon in 161 but to be sure, ask rep (PM with contact sent)
 
#9 · (Edited)
@BurtonAvenger also reviewed the 2017 Flagship. So you can get a side to side comparision of his impressions of both rides.

2017 Jones Flagship

Iir,... @daveZ did a review of the 2015 Flagship on agnarchy.com. Worth a read as I don't think too much has changed about the way it rides. (...at least my read of Daves review was spot on for the way the 2016 FS I briefly owned rode!) :grin:

Agnarchy.com 2015 Jones FS
 
#10 · (Edited)
Carbon Flagship is in my quiver. Mainly use is for big mountain/steeps, etc esp. off-piste/backcountry. My go-to board for heli rides.
Secondary use is for bombing/aggressive carving all over the place. Board excels in gnarly conditions but also rewards hard riding on groomers.

It is pretty good in powder, has good snap for jumps (esp big ones) and is ok-ish for high-speed butters but I have better boards for those purposes.

Not recommended (to put it mildly) for jibbing/rails, general messing about or going slowly - speed is your friend on this board.

For a single board or small quiver, I would recommend the wood Flagship over the carbon version. You loose may be 1% of super gnar performance, but gain much more in versatility because it's way more playful and slightly better in powder.
 
#11 ·
For a single board or small quiver, I would recommend the wood Flagship over the carbon version. You loose may be 1% of super gnar performance, but gain much more in versatility because it's way more playful and slightly better in powder.
Curious to know why as both have the same shape. Due to the potentially slightly softer nose?
 
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