Nivek

Do you mean step ins vs staps? Cause step ins are dead, no one makes them anymore.

If you mean hardboot vs softboot... depends on you. I think most riders nowadays need the little bit of give that softboots offer over hardboots cause they have to battle for the same lines. Hardboots don't allow for much wiggle room when it comes to body position vs where you board goes. Softboots let ya twist around a little more without it transferring to the board.

Look for camber, stiff, directional, deeper sidecuts, and carbon. I'd stay away from bumpy sidecuts, there's a reason they aren't used on BX specific boards. They cause extra drag, and with stiff camber and good technique you don't even need them. For Bindings, Raiden Machines, Ride El Hefe, or Flow NXT-FRX. That's what I'd look at. The Machines got too gnarly for even manly man Eero, he's been using Phantoms lately. El Hefe's are gnarly stiff and the canting will be nice to drive out of a turn. Flow's concept genuinely speeds up edge to edge and now with fully functional full ratchets you can get them as tight at you want every run.

Expect to pay $600-$800 on a board and $280-$400 on bindings, same for boots. This is one case boot stiffness will make a big difference, you need stiff. Make sure they stay comfortable though cause you do still have to ride in them a lot. Ride Insano's, Burton Driver X, Salomon Malamute, Flow Hylite, K2 Thraxis or UFO.

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MarkLIVE

interesting, thanks for that. Def have some info to go off of. I wasnt thinking at all at doing hardboots, but yeah, thx

Argo

Donek Snowboards - Saber

Another race specific board......

oefdevilvet

Ran a quick price check, $1400 on just a snowboard is over the top not a full new setup(plank, binders, especially if boots are included). The Lib Cygnus x-1 is $2500 new($2000 right now) for last years shit, I don't even get why things like that are on the market. I am also very hesitant to think spending that much money on a board really means the new one you are getting is THAT much better.

Buy the board suited to your needs, unless you plan on playing with the pros this coming season or just haven't found a board ever that you liked, I'm not sure this is the best choice.

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When I was in the Army I knew a man who had 3 rules about sex, one of them was "quantity not quality". I really regret not asking him what 200 pound twins would classify as.

MarkLIVE

Well I hear you on the price, I overhear somewhere though Kessler Cross goes on sale for $699 on some group buying gig, I've yet been able to find that deal, if you know what they are possibly talking about, then please let me in on it, I love buying

This season, since I'm new to cross, ill be just looking at normal freestyle boards...etc, just to get into the sport and then if it goes well and get into comps, then I might just make the investment into the sport, who knows.

timmytard

I had the Shaun Palmer board in the pic below, I just sold it last year.

I've owned more than 100 boards & it was probably the fastest most hard chargin' board that I've had. It only went super fast.

It holds an edge probably similar to Kessler & Donek boards I'd imagine. It was built specifically to win BX's, & it did.

Shaun Palmer History - YouTube

He may be a Dinosaur now, but back in the day he won everything.
Nobody could touch em', hence the crown.
He even went in the Skier-cross & took the gold in that too.

Check out bomberonline.com, it is a hard boot euro carvin' forum.
Lots of BX-ers on there.
If you do a little search, you'll see that the high end Palmer boards are pretty sought after.

I know the higher end ones are pretty steep, but you might be able to find a cheap used one?

The exact same board was in the Vancouver Craigslist a few months ago, it's not any more.
It was brand new, probably 8 years old but brand new $100.

TT

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transplantlife

mark~take a look at the Burton custom x or the NS Raptor i think its called or you can always go to kessler

MarkLIVE

thanks, checking them out now! But does anyone know that group buying website for snowboard stuff ??

UPDATE: That burton is wicked sick, and great reviews all around for it. I'll be adding that board to top 3 for sure, before i make a purchase. I'm not making an investment of $1500 for Kessler (just yet), if i know I can find them cheaper somehow.

oefdevilvet

Sorry man I don't know anything about deals on Kesslers. On the NS Raptor, I have a 159. I'm 5'11" 200lbs and I have zero issues with that board it's paired with a set of Ride El Hefe's I have a size 12 boot(I wear K2 Maysis). Great in powder, excellent edge hold, stiff and kinda heavy though. Only surface I had trouble with was frozen hardpack/ice, because of the huge rocker it felt extra loose, that was my only thought but since I only rode it once on that kind of "snow" what do I know, it's my powder/tree board so it never has to deal with that shit anyways. I think you would be better off without a full rocker for boardercross however, I really think you'll appreciate some type of camber. I can't speak on the Custom, only Burton board I have is a 63 Sherlock.

__________________
When I was in the Army I knew a man who had 3 rules about sex, one of them was "quantity not quality". I really regret not asking him what 200 pound twins would classify as.

havin_a_ball

I don't know where you will be competing so this may not be relevant, but maybe so. When I started competing, I used what I had and then once you start winning and placing well you should be able to get a sponsor which will lead to the nice gear. wax, start, and technique make a much bigger difference than the difference between a kessler and a burton when you are just getting started.

I recommend a salomon burner if you can get ahold of one or an atomic for a cheap fast freeride board to race on. Freeride Burtons & palmers are also great choices.

Do it!