All mountain freestyle board

[Prill]

Hello everyone. This is my first post here on SBF and I'm sure you see dozens of threads like this every day, but I'm looking to buy a snowboard. This past winter was my first year snowboarding; I got on the mountain about 12-15 times, and while I'm far from an expert, I'd like to think I'm not half bad at this point.

The first few days I used a Burton LTR I rented from Mountain Creek and used a fairly stiff cambered Burton board that I rented from a nearby shop the rest of the season. I only did all mountain at first but got into the park about halfway through the season and really enjoyed it (overall I spent maybe 60% of my time in the park), so I'm looking for a board that's able to handle both well. I won't be encountering much powder, mostly groomers and some ice.

I am 5'10", weigh 165 give or take a couple pounds, and have size 11.5 boots. My toes seemed to stick out a bit too far on both of the boards I used, so I assume I need a wide board. I have read good reviews for the Never Summer Proto CTX and Revolver and have heard good things about the Skate Banana, Horrorscope, Riders Choice, and Blacklist as well. Unfortunately I can no longer find any on sale Proto CTXs online, only through Never Summer, but I don't want to pay $540 for a board. My budget is under about $450 for the board alone. I was planning on pairing it with some Flow bindings if that makes a difference. I'm also curious as to what length the board I buy should be.

Thanks in advance for the input.

[ilikecoupons]

I would say out of those options that the revolver would be the best, maybe a little soft. As for sizing, maybe a 152-154.

[Sudden_Death]

There is a used 153 Revolver in the classifieds a few sections down right now that sounds like it might suit you well.

[flapjack]

I weigh 165 with size 12 boots, blacklist 154 fits me great with Flow M9SE's
effective edge on the 154 blacklist is close to that of most 157's
Great board. Fun to butter around on and its more stable at speed than you would think a park board should be.
Griptech handles ice really well (i ride NY/NJ too).
heres one, don't know if still available:
http://www.snowboardingforum.com/buy...tml#post500066

[OMGdesigns]

Originally Posted by flapjack

I weigh 165 with size 12 boots, blacklist 154 fits me great with Flow M9SE's
effective edge on the 154 blacklist is close to that of most 157's
Great board. Fun to butter around on and its more stable at speed than you would think a park board should be.
Griptech handles ice really well (i ride NY/NJ too).
heres one, don't know if still available:
http://www.snowboardingforum.com/buy...tml#post500066

and for a park, freestyle, board look for a bi-flex core. They a the best and can give amazing flex picture perfect moments! Cheers man hope you find your perfect board.

[Nivek]

Originally Posted by OMGdesigns

and for a park, freestyle, board look for a bi-flex core. They a the best and can give amazing flex picture perfect moments! Cheers man hope you find your perfect board.

Bi-Flex? Of what magic do you speak?

[BiG NicK]

I'm 5'9" & 180lbs with 11.5 size boots and I have a 155cm NS Proto CTX. I bought it a month or so back for a little over $400. I just found one on Gravitee for $489.95 for you right now (only the 155cm is available). They are an official dealer of Never Summer products, so you may be able to submit a price match guarantee form if they honor that. I did that from another place (now sold out there) and got almost $100 off of my board. Good luck.

[Prill]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I think I'm going to go with a Revolver 155 and hopefully pair it with some Flow M9s.

[OMGdesigns]

Originally Posted by Nivek

Bi-Flex? Of what magic do you speak?

Its whats in the middle of your snowboard (core), some are just straight fiberglass others have wood. Your cores can either be tri or bi-flex, bi-flex gives you better pop and flex while the triangles give you a stiffer and more rigid board which most people use the latter for racing. Hows that vudoo?

[bseracka]

Originally Posted by OMGdesigns

Its whats in the middle of your snowboard (core), some are just straight fiberglass others have wood. Your cores can either be tri or bi-flex, bi-flex gives you better pop and flex while the triangles give you a stiffer and more rigid board which most people use the latter for racing. Hows that vudoo?

Umm, yeah, I'm calling bull shit on this answer. Yes what's in the middile of the board is called the core, but just about everything else you spouted off is wrong. I believe about 90% of current boards are made with a wood core. Burton and Palmer are the only brands I can think of that still do honeycomb cores. Back in the 90s a few different brands experimented with foam cores, only morrow did a foam core with any success. Bi-flex, Tri-flex and triangles? I hope what you're actually trying to refer to is the fiberglass wraps. Fiberglass wraps are bi-axil and tri-axil.

Most park and beginner boards tend to be biaxil and higher end, all mountain and freestyle boards tend to get the triaxil wraps. Again it all comes back to what flex pattern the designer is trying to give the board.

Cores can be designed with different flex patterns and added materials to obtain a certain profile/flex pattern. I can't think of one manufacturer that refers to their camber profiles as bi/tri-flex.

Edit: Can you name one board that uses a fiberglass only core? The closest thing I'm coming up with is that piece of shit plexiglass board.