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At a lost for words

7K views 21 replies 12 participants last post by  crash77 
#1 ·
I've been snowboarding for 2 seasons. I have a 2011 Rossignol Taipan 158 with camber between the feet and rocker tip/tail. When I first started boarding I thought I wanted to be a rider that hard charges the mountain, doing mach 11 down every trail. For Christmas I bought my son a Aperture mid-wide rocker board 158 (part of a pckg deal from Zumiez). We went to Liberty Ski Resort (we live on the ice coast) yesterday and he didn't like the loose feeling of his board, so we switched boards and we never switched back the entire day. He loved the Taipan, it felt more stable when flatbasing and, TO MY AMAZEMENT, I loved the surfy feeling of the rocker board. On my Taipan, I struggled to ride switch & I couldn't land jumps, but on my son's rocker, riding switch and jumping was a breeze. I even began playing around with buttering while going down the hill. I don't know if it was a mind thing or if a rocker suits my riding techniques the best. Now I will likely give my son my board and purchase another. I don't have loads of money to buy multiple profile boards and I rarely get to demo boards. I definitely want a board with excellent edge hold. At night when the trails got icy, my son's rocker washed out on me (that hurt). How does the ride differ from a rocker vs hybrid rocker (rocker between the feet)? Could you guys give me some boards to take a look at. I know the obvious choices would be Gnu & Lib Tech due to the magnetraction. Not sure about NS vario grip. Any others?
 
#2 ·
Why not just switch boards with your son?

But yeah, landing jumps on rocker is damn near cheating. You gotta try pretty hard to fuck it up.

But yeah, for rocker with edge hold, look into NS and Mervin. Vario Grip on NS and Magnetraction on Mervin. Try to demo if you can. I prefer Vario, but many prefer Magnetraction. Both work great, they're just different feeling. I think Magnetraction is too grabby but I'm sure it's something I could get used to.
 
#3 ·
My son's board is a rocker, which I will be riding until I get another board. His board was pretty cheap and it's starting to show after just 2 trips. The top sheet is starting to chip on the tip and tail. How does the ride of a rocker compare to the ride of a hybrid rocker board?
 
#5 ·
If you like Rocker and some help with grip, have a look at the Arbor Westmark. Griptech is said to be great.

Hybrid camber boards try to combine the loose feeling (rocker) with the stability of a camber stick. It is a good compromise for many riders. Since there are a few different hybrid concepts, it would be best if you tried some of them out. But for your purposes I would recommend a medium-flex with Rocker between the bindings and Camber in the tips. To me that combo makes the most sense. Or you can stay with Rocker of course, though many rocker boards get a bit jiggy at high speeds.

Other than that I prefer Vario over Magnetraction because it is just as effective but not that extreme. I ride a Never Summer Proto CTX and the hybrid camber + Vario is pretty great. No problems on ice as long as you know how to edge properly. The Proto has great pop and is overall an incredible all-mountain deck. But it is not a butter stick.
 
#6 · (Edited)
It sounds like you want a rockered board, and if that is the case, Never Summer and Lib Tech are not what you are looking for. The profile is identical to your Taipan. Unless you went with the Skate Banana.

Check out Arbor. Coda sounds right up your alley. I really liked that board, and it is definitely surfy, but very stable at speed, and the edge tech is awesome. I think Flow has a lot of rockered boards as well.

Another profile to check out, which in my opinion is like cheating as well, would be the flat to rocker boards. Capita and K2 have a lot of boards like this. So easy to stick jumps, flat basing is a breeze. Not as surfy as pure rocker, but really easy to start getting into the park with.
 
#7 · (Edited)
I thought never summer and lib tech were the opposite of the taipan, in terms of profile? But I will def look into arbor, k2, and capita. I guess my dilemma right now is because I can't demo boards, I am relying on you guys to explain the difference in the ride characteristics of the different profiles. And I totally forgot about flat rocker tech. Can you guys in simple terms explain the difference as to how each profile?
 
#9 ·
i was at liberty yesterday i ride a 163 wide 2011 ride highlife and never have a problem bombing down liberty with it it very rarely loses edge or gets lose on me yesterday wasnt any different
 
#12 · (Edited)
For me, the pros for the rocker were the playfulness, soft to mid flex, and the over all effortless feel to manipulate the board. The cons were edge hold and chatter at high speeds (chatter didn't bother me much). Maybe I'm making this too complicated, but I just don't have money to buy multiple boards. Oh yeah..and do rocker and hybrid rocker have the same playful characteristics? If not, what's the difference? And where does flat rocker fit in with this?
 
#13 ·
i can tell you that the highlife is a much stiffer board which allow the board to hold at higherspeeds i thinks a 7-8 on rides scale and the 90a slimewalls pretty much eliminate all the chatter that you normally get plus you can find them on sale for almost half price
 
#15 ·
Yeah...I think I will stay hybrid tech, but rocker between the feet. I've narrowed it down to the 2013 NS Proto and 2013 Gnu Riders Choice. Just going off of last years reviews, the only difference I noticed was the Proto is lighter (not sure how much tho) and the carbonium top sheet, which I believe every board should have. I would hate to spend $500+ just to have some clumsy skier or new rider chip or scratch it. But I would also hate to spend $500+ on a board I didn't like to look at either. I love the new riders choice graphic and I do not like the new proto ct graphic AT ALL. If the top sheet was black, maybe I would like it.
 
#16 · (Edited)
I was wrong about tech earlier with the Taipan, but have ridden the Arbor Coda. The board is amazing. Very fast base, playful, surfy, but stable at speed. Really dialed in. And grip tech IMO was on par with NS' Vario Grip. The board is one of the best all mountain boards on the market. Very well made board. Base will scuff, but great board.

Word of caution. Never Summer boards are tanks. VERY damp. Some like it, others think it's overkill. I'm on the overkill side. I like to feel a little more under my feet, especially when working the board.
 
#17 ·
I had the opposite experience of the OP. After fatally wounding my old board (traditional camber) earlier this season I picked up two used boards off of Craigslist. One was a lib tech skate banana so I could find out what all the hoopla was about rocker boards, and the other was an older camber NS Heritage, from before the hybrid rocker camber tech was introduced. Both were hardly used and in pretty good condition.
After putting in 3+ full days of riding with each board I'm putting the banana back up for sale. I guess my riding style does not conform well with rocker style boards, I can bomb down the mountain and carve away with the banana but on the Heritage it feels so much more fluid and controllable, while it feels more like work on the banana. Also it seems like every little bump I go over is transmitted to my knees and body much more harshly with the lib tech, (using same ride spi bindings for both) I do medium jumps but no rails or other park stuff. I don't agree that jumps are easier to land with rocker, feels much easier to wash out when landing onto non-powdery surfaces.
I do realize that the heritage is more of an all mountain board compared to the banana so that may have been a factor in my decision as it does suit my riding more, but after reading so many rave reviews about the banana I was hoping to like it more than I did. Camber it is for me... As soon as I get the opportunity to try a new NS Heritage with the the rocker camber hybrid I will, really curious to see how I like that.
 
#18 ·
U know guys I was thinking, with the ice coast resorts I frequent being relatively small mountains, is it even worth spending $500+ on a high end board? Will a low to mid level board be able to handle everything these hills cam throw at it? Plus, I only get to go every other Saturday, even I'm on the hill from open to close. Is it worth it?
 
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