Board Purchase Help!

[Bobby]

Hey looking for advice from someone other than the guy selling me a board haha. Afraid of them pushing a board on me they want to get rid of!

Anyway. I've been riding for about 6 years. I have a k2 Zeppelin for about 5 years, and I feel like it's time to change, and explore some new technology. But after reading a lot about camber/rocker/hybrids, all-mountain/freeride/freestyle, I am more confused.

90% of what I do on the mountain is throw my iPod on, and fly down with as much speed as I can handle, stopping sometimes to play with a small jump or carve around. I like to go fast and I like to maneuver a lot. Then for maybe an hour or two I might go to the park to hit some rails and such. I really don't go in the pipe (yet?).

Also I mostly am in PA, sometimes in Vermont, but I'm going out to Vail this year, and may start going West more. ( Iunderstand there are considerations in board for nice powder vs crappy east coast snow (ice).

So I want to choose a board that let's me continue to go fast, has a lot of control for carving and tight turns, but also that I can use to play around lightly in the terrain park (but not a trick rider by any means).

So what do you think? All help appreciated. As for price, I can probably afford what I need, but obviously don't want to pay more than I need to.

Thanks so much!

[Skier's Edge]

Rossignol One MagTek
Ride Machete
Burton Custom

[sheepstealer]

Surprised no one's mentioned the Proto yet...

[Bobby]

Skier's Edge- thanks I'll check them out. But really more than specific boards I am looking for a little explanation if someone doesn't mind taking a minute. What style/shape (Freeride/camber? etc) board am I looking for and why?

That can help me search through different boards easier

sheepstealer - why do you say that? inside joke I'm not in on?

[matty19]

Because of your affection for speed and carving, I'd stay away from pure rocker boards. A straight camber board is better for that (tracks more easily at speed, edge locks into a carve more firmly, etc). The hybrid camber boards are somewhere in the middle, and many are tweaked to be more aimed at freeriding (often directional shapes, a little stiffer flex, probably not super fun on rails), all-mountain (jack-of-all-trades: decent float, can charge and carve, playful and forgiving enough for the park - but there are better purpose-specific boards for each application), or park boards (soft, forgiving, often lower-priced and made of more inexpensive materials). Burton's Flying V, NeverSummer's RC, YES/Jones/Nidecker's CamRock, Lib Tech/Gnu's C2, and Capita's Freeride FK are all examples of hybrid camber. The idea is to get the playfulness and pow float of rocker, while still getting some pop, straight-line tracking, and carving ability from camber.

Some manufacturers have also started to make flat, zero-camber boards. The Capita Midlife and K2 Happy hour are good examples.

I agree with the recommendation of the Burton Custom. It's the board that defines the "all-mountain freestyle" category for a lot of people. Always a dependable choice. I also like the Machete. You may want to check out the GT version for a little lighter weight and more pop. I'm unfamiliar with the Rossignol Magtek.

You might also want to consider:
The LibTech TRS
Gnu Riders Choice
Capita Midlife, Outdoor Living, and Defenders of Awesome
K2 Happy Hour

Lots of great boards out there these days!

[phony_stark]

People LOVE their neversummers around here, that's the joke.

I think a hybrid camber or a flat/mostly flat board would be good, if you wanna rail turns and then fuck around in the park. These will be able to make awesome turns, be stable at speed, and have full edge engagement when making a turn, so you can rail.

I'm an all or nothing person and want to keep snowboarding simple. I've stayed away from hybrid camber profiles, and would either go full camber, full reverse, or flat. Others really like hybrid camber and will be here shortly to tell you about the benefits. (HI MATTY!)

I say go flat/zero

A coupla flat/mostly flat boards worth checking out.

Capita Outdoor Living/Mid Life Zero
K2 Happy Hour (all flat) FastPlant (mostly flat, but more playful)
Dinosaurs Will Die - Bogart/Genovese
Smokin Team series has some flats.

What are your measurements?

[ShredLife]

Originally Posted by phony_stark

Wired will come up with a lot of great suggestions. I'd also like to throw in the GNU carbon credit. I put in around 25 days last season (my first season as well) and the board handled everything I threw at it, pow/slush/and ESPECIALLY ice. I enjoyed it a lot.

if you have only been snowboarding for two seasons what makes you think you are in any way qualified to give people advice on the sport?

[Skier's Edge]

For the board style, I would want to put you on either a hybrid (blends good features of camber and rocker) or a camber board. Camber is the traditional shape board designed for more performance/more precise turning and pop. They are not as playful as a Hybrid or a Rocker but it all depends on the person.

Since you love speed, you will need a stiffer board so there won't be much chatter at higher speeds. The stiffer board will be much easier to control down the mountain but in a park they will not be nearly as fun just because they are so harder to flex.

All of these boards are great for charging the mountain at high speeds and are on the stiffer side so they won't have much chatter but will not be ideal in a park. It seems like you aren't nearly as concerned about the park so they would be fine.

Rossignol One MagTek - magne-traction helps to carve in icy/hard packed conditions (lots of people tell us that once they try a board with this they will never ride a board with out it, hybrid rocker

Ride Machete - hybrid rocker, long flat spot throughout the center for stability and rocker on tip and tail for more float/harder to catch an edge, has won awards in recent years for being an amazing moutain board

Burton Custom - full camber board, amazing all around board, i believe the most popular board of all time, can handle higher speeds well

Hope this helps a little more!


www.skiersedgeproshops.com

[Bobby]

Huge help. I knew this forum would be helpful! Sounds like maybe a Machete is a good call. Everyone recommending a stiff board for me makes sense, but at the same time I don't want to screw myself for when I AM in the terrain park.

I'm also one of "those" people that isn't too into buying the generic board...so a Burton Custom just doesn't sound like a fun purchase, even though I know it is what it is because it's good at what it is ha. Would love to find a board to satisfy my needs that is more boutique. Butttttt I know, I know...get the board that's best for me despite it's name.

[Bobby]

Oh and so which Neversummer would seem to be right for me? I'm looking at the site and there's a lot of overlap on the boards. Suggestions?