bmies

Sorry for the same old thread, but I'm having a hard time and sales are just starting up.

I'm 5'10" 200 lbs size 11 boot

I ride everything I can trees, pow, groomers, and very minimal park

I like steep, challenging, tight lines and popping off of any natural feature I can

Been riding for a couple years now but go a few mornings a week to the local mountain so I'm pretty comfortable going down most lines here in new england. I'm trying now to ride more switch and get comfortable with 1s. Going fast and making good turns means I spend most of the time on the lift. I'm trying to take things slower and play more taking advantage of the terrain.

My current setup is a Burton Baron 167 with Drake Podiums that I found on the side of the road a couple years ago (I did try to find the owner to no avail). Its the only board/binding I've ridden and realize its long for me. Its also getting old and beat. Time for something new for when we dont get dumped on - most of the days I ride. I'm keeping the Baron for deeper snow and backcountry use (possibly splitting it into a splitboard).

Bindings

Pretty well decided on the Rome 390 or Arsenal based on what I've read and seen at the shop.

Board

Maybe something in the 159 to 162 size range. Size 10.5 to 11 boot is on the line btwn wide and narrow. I'm not growing anymore and my weight wont change. I'm looking for an "almost twin" shape.

I cant stand most snowboard manufacturers websites. Its so difficult to get the general nature of the board. Rome's site is the exception.

A Rome Slash or Agent?

Lib Tech or Gnu with magnatraction?

Any other thoughts?

sedition

You could also do well with a "diretional twin" deck. They usually have the flex pattern of a directional, but are twin shaped. Unless you are real close to 100% ability at switch (and most of us arn't), you really won't notice that much of difference when riding backwards. I'll put my standard plug in Never Summer decks (the SL or Legecy sounds like they would a good deck for you). Their decks tend to be a tad on the stiff side, so even the freestyle decks can handle speed. When speaking with NS reps, they told me that all of their boards can handle people in excess of 200lbs, so no need to worry about weight. 3-year warranty, too. Longest in the industry, and their boards are bullet proof. I've been riding for 20 years, and they make among the best boards I've ever seen.

__________________
"Nancy Ninja Nabs Nefarious Nymph. Pays Price Per Pissed Pants!" -Flick

"Up, up, my people, let smoke and flame be our sign!"
-The White Rose Society

bmies

Thanks sedition. You are right, I am far from 100% confident at riding switch, but I am trying to get more profitient just to progress my abilities in landing switch and riding it out. I think I understand your thoughts on not "feeling" the directional flex pattern when riding switch. As of now, when riding switch, I'm just concentrating on linking my turns effectively, and am not able to feel how I am flexing the board torsionally. At least by no means as well as I can normally.

The never summer boards look great and those two boards you linked are exactly the "type" of board I'm looking for. I'll look further into what I can find for pricing on the Never Summer decks. Seems to be a brand thats hard to find in the online sales.

sedition

NS is a small company, with all there stuff made right here in the USA. As part of them being small, they do not have a huge distribution. That is also nice, you'll end up with something a little different than everyone else on the mountain. I've seen a number of them up on ebay recentlly (new,too). Keep an eye out there.

__________________
"Nancy Ninja Nabs Nefarious Nymph. Pays Price Per Pissed Pants!" -Flick

"Up, up, my people, let smoke and flame be our sign!"
-The White Rose Society

PapaWood

I am a big fan of Gnu and Lib boards and MTX so I would put my vote in there.

bmies

Where the hell do I find info on what the baord is designed for though? Both the Gnu and Lib Tech websites are useless to me. I've heard great things about magnatraction and they all get good reviews, but its so hard to locate any real information on the respective websites? Making it flashy and colorful and crap is stupid when the user is supplied with a mminimum of information about their product. As of now, I would buy a Rome or a Never Summer simply because the quality of information I have found about there products is best. And, sadly, this is because of good web site design. Its pitiful that that is the case, but what is someone supposed to do?

Nivek

i would really look into the santa cruz perfect 11. super sweet board

__________________
Snowboarding Sucks.

PapaWood

The information is there on the websites it is just a little difficult to navigate. If you have some specific questions, I can try to answer them for you.

sedition

You are to make an informed decision. If the manufactures won't give you that info to do that, then they are SOL to those who will.

And yes, I agree with you that many companies give you little to no substative information. And I also agree that the Rome web site is really, really good!

__________________
"Nancy Ninja Nabs Nefarious Nymph. Pays Price Per Pissed Pants!" -Flick

"Up, up, my people, let smoke and flame be our sign!"
-The White Rose Society

zumiezrep24

imma have to say go with the 390 bindings, a rome agent because this years is more stiff than last years get a 158-160 depending on how much flex you really want 158 for more but your still not gonna get all too much like i said this years is more stiff than lasts. lib-techs are known for their insane park boards with tons of flex and pop this year so id say between the rome and gnu... im not too knowledgable on gnu's but ive heard good things.

and bootwise. depending on how much you wanna spend the dc superparks are phoneminal. but if you dont wanna spend that much 32's or dc's. the burton boa (if you were looking into boa) isnt as strong as the dc and 32's boa wiring.