New-ish Boarder, buying board.. Skate Banana?

[lonerider]

Originally Posted by poutanen

Fair enough, I wouldn't buy a 5 year old used board either my bad.

I have a '95 Kemper Freestyle. It rails. I know what you'll all say so I'm prepared with my flamesuit, but it's actually quite narrow, stiff, and fairly damp. I've still got the thing was thinking of taking it out one day just to remind myself what I grew up on. I used to race the thing back in the late 90's! (against guys in sperm suits)

Lol... I stand by my nostalgia theory.

[poutanen]

Originally Posted by lonerider

Lol... I stand by my nostalgia theory.

Scarey thing is I rode it right up to 2010 or so. So I spent 15 years on that board! Changed bindings and boots 3-4 times over that period, but kept the board.

Of course I noticed a massive difference moving into my current setup, but it's also 6 cm longer, about .5 cm wider, and 1/2 pound lighter (along with being a fair bit stiffer).

I tried friends boards all through the late 90's, and 2000's and always felt better on my old beast (and I've always been faster but that's more likely experience than equipment).

[lonerider]

Originally Posted by poutanen

Scarey thing is I rode it right up to 2010 or so. So I spent 15 years on that board! Changed bindings and boots 3-4 times over that period, but kept the board.

Assuming an "average" 20-day season... there is a 0% chance the wood, epoxy and fiberglass haven't broken down / started to de-laminate after the first 100 or so of the 300 days you've been riding that board.

[poutanen]

Originally Posted by lonerider

Assuming an "average" 20-day season... there is a 0% chance the wood, epoxy and fiberglass haven't broken down / started to de-laminate after the first 100 or so of the 300 days you've been riding that board.

You're vastly overestimating the amount of boarding I got to do in Ontario.

A good year for me was 15 days, but in general I was probably a 10 day a year boarder. There was a period of about 3-4 years where I only went once or twice (and then I came to my senses!)...

Not to start a breakdown debate, but the only organic material in the board is wood (and even then I seem to remember it containing some kevlar) and wood won't start to rot unless it's subjected to the elements for long periods of time. Epoxy and FG should last almost indefinetly.

Unless you're just saying that the board itself should start coming apart from the inside out. In which case I'd notice that by it getting soft, right?

edit: By the way, I've got approx 55 days on my current board and there's not a chance I'll get rid of it at the 100 day mark! Metal core though so maybe it's got more lifespan than wood?!?

[lonerider]

Originally Posted by poutanen

You're vastly overestimating the amount of boarding I got to do in Ontario.

A good year for me was 15 days, but in general I was probably a 10 day a year boarder. There was a period of about 3-4 years where I only went once or twice (and then I came to my senses!)...

Not to start a breakdown debate, but the only organic material in the board is wood (and even then I seem to remember it containing some kevlar) and wood won't start to rot unless it's subjected to the elements for long periods of time. Epoxy and FG should last almost indefinetly.

Unless you're just saying that the board itself should start coming apart from the inside out. In which case I'd notice that by it getting soft, right?

Yes, I mean the laminated layers will start to delam after that many years - especially with the primitive horizontal lamination techniques they had back then. The nineties era Kempers had a kevlar layer. Once the layers start to separate, it will lose a lot of it's springiness/snap. Put your board flat on a ground base down... there should be around 3 centimeters of space between the middle of the board (board had a lot of camber out of the factory back them). If it is less than 2-3, then your board has "lost it's camber". This is how we used to judge the condition of a board back when there were only cambered boards (tougher to tell in the new rockered camber era).

Even if the wood doesn't rot, the fibers start to break down with repeated bending (nothing lasts forever... just ask your knees).

Ok, so only 100 days, that is more reasonable - but still the difference in stiffness and pop should be night and day when compared to a new board. I get around 30 days a season now, and I used to get around 40 days per season back in the day if you include the summer.

[poutanen]

Originally Posted by lonerider

Yes, I mean the laminated layers will start to delam after that many years - especially with the primitive horizontal lamination techniques they had back then. The nineties era Kempers had a kevlar layer. Once the layers start to separate, it will lose a lot of it's springiness/snap. Put your board flat on a ground base down... there should be around 3 centimeters of space between the middle of the board (board had a lot of camber out of the factory back them). If it is less than 2-3, then your board has "lost it's camber". This is how we used to judge the condition of a board back when there were only cambered boards (tougher to tell in the new rockered camber era).

I'll have to measure when I get home, it's still got a good camber hump from what I remember. Also I was about 125 pounds when I got the board (it's a 153) so maybe I was easy on it for years?

BTW I know Kemper is long gone and a bad brand in many memories, but I loved that board for a long time!

I'm up to 30+ days a year now, hoping to include some summer riding too when finances allow. Probably another reason why I'm into alternative materials.

The T7 I've got now has an aluminium honeycomb core which should handle a lot of use, and I'm not sure how the Virus' stands up to years of abuse but IIRC it's got a bunch of CF and Kevlar in it (although the core is still Ash wood).

I think I might have the best/only example of a '95 Kemper freestyle left in existence! lol

[BoarDom13]

here's a question that maybe I should have went with before asking about the Skate
Banana.. What's the best shape to ride? I'm still trying to figure out the difference between rocker and cambered but I think I got it. I am an all mountain boarder so far, with little park but I do like hitting the occasional jumps on the sides of the runs. I'm hearing good things about GNU and of course Burton, but after thinking about it and reading what everyone is saying, I may buy new or last years model. I have bindings, and boots, although I will get new ones eventually. I don't want to spend over $300 for a board, but I want something that I can have a lot of fun hitting all of the mountain, having a lot of control and being satisfied for a couple years.

[lonerider]

Originally Posted by BoarDom13

here's a question that maybe I should have went with before asking about the Skate
Banana.. What's the best shape to ride? I'm still trying to figure out the difference between rocker and cambered but I think I got it. I am an all mountain boarder so far, with little park but I do like hitting the occasional jumps on the sides of the runs. I'm hearing good things about GNU and of course Burton, but after thinking about it and reading what everyone is saying, I may buy new or last years model. I have bindings, and boots, although I will get new ones eventually. I don't want to spend over $300 for a board, but I want something that I can have a lot of fun hitting all of the mountain, having a lot of control and being satisfied for a couple years.

Hybrid camber - Never Summer calls it R.C. Tech, Lib/Gnu calls it C2BTX, Arbor calls is Mountain System, etc... Avoid anything that sounds like "Park Rocker, Park/Jib System, Pure Banana Tech" etc.

Update:
Actually backcountry.com is selling a used SL 155 for $230 on their used gear site GearTrade.com. Remember I'm roughly the same height weight as you (5'9" 150 lbs) I have ridden three SL 155 over the years and highly recommend it.

[Wiredsport]

These are some broad strokes that might be helpful:

http://www.snowboardingforum.com/boa...g-between.html

[lonerider]

Originally Posted by BoarDom13

I don't want to spend over $300 for a board, but I want something that I can have a lot of fun hitting all of the mountain, having a lot of control and being satisfied for a couple years.

I just found the perfect board for you a used Never Summer SL 155 for $230 (I have no affiliation with seller).

I have ridden three Never Summer SL 155 over the years and it is a great board.

Here is a video of me laying out some turns on it. My technique is a little funky because I'm using a regular digital camera and it's hard to fit yourself into the frame so I was compressing myself a bit to get all of me in the frame. At the end (around 1:08) you can see that the trenches I'm carving are visible from the chairlift.



Jump to around 0:48, you see me doing a ~40 ft jump on a 2009 SL 155: