caribou

So I just picked up this years 162 A-Frame for next season and it wasn't till I got it home that my eye picked up on a few details that have me concerned.

First off is the bamboo sidewalls; it seems like they have no sort of clear coat to protect them from soaking up water. Just wondering if anyone rode this board over the past season and noticed any problems with this detail and weather or not it's worth me rectifying the problem by brushing on some marine epoxy or something of the sort.

Other thing that caught my eye was the effective depth of the edge; it seems pretty damned minimal. I'm mostly concerned about how many times I'll be able to re-surface this baby before I kill the base. I can already make out a slight impression in certain spots of the base of the teeth (or whatever you want to call them) that hold the edge between the structure and base. I've only ever noticed this pattern before on boards at the shop that have been resurfaced a half-dozen times and are nearing the end of their life.

So if anyone here is familiar with the construction details on the A-Frame I guess I'm mostly just curious if what I've noticed is normal or if the board is defective. I suppose a better idea would be to fire an e-mail off to arbor aswell, but I just wanted to know what folks here had to say.

cheers

BurtonAvenger

YOu shouldn't be resurfacing a board a lot. Also the sidewalls are fine.

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caribou

wow, thanks for the definitive answer, very insightful

KIRKRIDER

I have te 09/10 mode.l. Slime sidewalls..but the board rides like a dream. THe topsheet is fragile.

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caribou

ya I heard the topsheet gets dinged up pretty easy with the bio-film finsih they use. I'm not too worried bout that though, a few scratches on top won't change how she rides. I'm sure the sidewalls are ok or the net would be full of reviews to the contrary but I just find it odd that it feels so dry to the touch, like there is nothing sealing it up.

And just to qualify my snide reply earlier I just gotta disagree with ya BA. While it's true you shouldn't be grinding down a base too often I think a board should be built to allow for the ocassional tune up/restructuring. I was willing to drop $500 on a sweet board only becuase I plan on making it last a few riding seasons, and I want to run FAST, which means when things get scraped to shit I want the option of doing a little p-tex and grinding. The boards at the rental place I work at for example tend to last on average about 3 seasons and over the course of those 3 seasons each board tends to get run through the machine at least twice, so we're talking atleast 6 overhauls. Just looking at the depth of the edge I can tell this board just aint gonna make that benchmark.

BurtonAvenger

Then you're grinding too much off, probably should learn how to use that machine right.

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Nivek

Yeah if 6 grinds on a rental is killing it, you're doing something wrong.

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