stimyg

Ive narrowed down my search for a freeride board
to Yes Big City or NS F1 Premier. As I said in other threads I'm an advanced-ish rider looking to get more comfortable at high speed and generally increase my freeride skills. Any thoughts on the differences and pros / cons for each of these?

What gives me pause about the big city is some reviews, like Shayboarder, that say its a tricky and unforgiving board. For the F1, wondering about the review at goodride.com says its squirrelly when flat basing. Looking for a board that gives me more confidence at speed so both of those respective issues sound not ideal. Anyone familiar with either board care to comment on these specifically, or the board in general?

Basti

First of all, I've also read shayboarder's reviews on the yes boards and I have to say that I completely disagree with them. I own a Big City and a Pick your Line and I've found them more forgiving than the NS boards I've ridden (Proto and Heritage).

If you're looking for speed, I wouldn't go for the Big City but for the Pick your Line. The Big City is more of a freestyle stick that is good for freeriding while the PYL is a total speed machine that is damp and insanely good in powder. I prefer the YES camber profile over the NS but I haven't ridden the Premier F1. All I can say is that the PYL is the best freeride board I've ever had. It's super stable, responsive but still playful. The only thing I would improve is the pop. It's not a freestyle machine.

stimyg

If I recall correctly doesn't the goodride review say Big city and pick your line are very similar, except the pick your line is more specifically made for powder? Do I (or they) have that wrong?

While I like the bonus of having a board that's also
good for powder, being on the east coast it doesn't come up a lot.

Basti

I wouldn't take the shayboarder review too seriously. If you want an accurate review, check the goodride one.

The two boards aren't really comparable in my opinion. As I said: Big City = Freestyle jump board with a directional twin core and a very slight setback. Pick your Line = Considerable setback, freeride machine that does great on groomers and pow. Very damp, forgiving, fairly stiff and just overall comfortable at high speeds.

EDIT: I just saw you talked about the goodride review. I've only read the one about the PYL and I found it very accurate. Riding the BC on my local mountain I've gotta say it's not that much of a freeride machine.

chub11

I'm really disappointed that yes isn't continuing the big city for 2013, love the look of that board.

Basti

That's exactly the reason why I bought it. That was the niche between freestyle and freeride and they're not even offering an alternative for 2013. One major change though: the boards will be built by Elan in Austria from the coming season on, not by Nidecker in Switzerland anymore.

chub11

Does that mean better quality for the 2013 boards?

Basti

I'm not sure about better. Elan makes boards for a lot of big brands but I couldn't find anything wrong with the Nidecker-made boards so far.

chub11

It's just that I've heard a few negative things about their board quality, and wasn't sure if it was a common problem or not.

BoardWalk

The BC rocks, it's my go to quiver board. They're crazy for dumping it.