borlo

I need a 21st century freeriding board and would appreciate some help.

I started snowboarding last season using a 1992 Burton asym air board I got for free. I had to use it switch since I discovered that I ride goofy and this is a regular board, and since the bindings cannot be switched on this board due to holes configuration.

By the end of the season, I could take down anything but the most difficult trail(steep moguls/forest) comfortably, and survive the rest, do small jumps, and go down relatively fast while still controlling the board at all time and carving decently in not too difficult trails. Experienced friends described me as a fast learner. I am located in eastern Canada so the whole season was mostly on packed/hard/icy snow last year. I am 6'0 185 pounds.

Now that I know that I actually love snowboarding, I am ready to get myself some more interesting equipment...

At the end of the season, I did try a softer rental board after all my friends laughed at me for trying to learn on such an absurd setup. Surprisingly, I did prefer largely my switch asym air to the soft freestyle board. I got used to the rigid board which is so much stable when going faster and carved so much better then the super-soft board.

So now I went to a few shops with my old board as a reference, with the idea that I wanted something rigid and stable, more tuned for speed and improving my mountain style/technique that doing park stuff.

It so happened that nothing in the stores seemed nearly as stiff and cambered as my vintage board. So I concluded that if I could learn and progress rapidly for a season with my air asym, I could now safely go with a more advanced rigid freeride board like a custom X, T6, or supermodel X, assuming I stay with Burton.

50% of salesman agreed, 50% disagreed saying I would not be able to manage, for example, a custom X, and should go for a less rigid board like a regular custom, since I am clearly not an expert rider yet.

Any input ?

(I would like to buy now, since all the 2010 stuff is over 40% rebate, so I cannot really try them out...)

Lstarrasl

I don't know any of the burton line, but it made me laugh that you were riding that dinosaur switch all of last year.

lonestarrider

my 2 cents is to go with a regular Supermodel. That is the board that asym essentially turned into. I had a supermodel x for a season and hated it. I personally prefer the regular super over the x boards. It is way more of a relaxing ride, and still halls ass....But you also need to check out the Never summer heritage before making any hasty decisions...

borlo

Here is an image of the thing for an extra laugh:

http://burton.emptybottleworks.com/1...0Air__8338.jpg

It was quite a sensation in the waiting lines with people in their 30s. Even got modest offers from collectors.
But I will keep it for kite-snowboarding in board-trashing(icy) conditions, since I am used to ride it switch. This is why I originally got it...

Lstarrasl

I remember it well. Props for learning on that. Anything you get on from now will ride like a Lexus compared to that POS.

borlo

Yet when I looked at the boards (stiffness, shape), the X variations seemed much more similar to my current board, which I do not hate as much as I should it seems...

Thanks for the suggestion. I was mentionning burtons only because this is what I have and they sell them everywhere.

lisevolution

Gotta love the hand drilled holes for the bindings on that beast!

NWBoarder

If you can ride a whole season with that board backwards, then I would say ANY new freeride board you get is going to be one hell of an upgrade and help you out.

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thetraveler

how long was that ancient burton?

borlo

Not sure how to measure because of the cut, but something around 163.