NS board opposite of the Skate Banana

[lonerider]

Originally Posted by LoEdge

As far as the feel your talking about (from the skate banana to the cobra) from my understanding the skate banana if a fairly soft board then the cobra is more on the stiff side, what will the major difference be?

So I've only ridden a 2009-2010 Skate Banana... and I'm guessing on the Cobra feel base on my expriences with the SL and read about the Cobra.

Skate Banana is roughly a 2 or 3 on stiffness and dampness. A Cobra is like a 5 out of 10 on both stiffness and dampness.

The Skate Banana is a true twin, where as the Cobra nose and tail are design to give you more float in powder and also more effective edge to allow more control at higher speeds.

The Skate Banana is flat-rocker-flat (Bananatech) which is very extreme variant of rocker and will make the board feel very boaty (like the board can pivot really easily without touching the edges). The Cobra is camber-rocker-camber so it will have less of the pivoty feeling and behave more like a cambered board once you get it up on edge (more control). In my opinion/experience, the mini-cambered sections will definitely give the Cobra more pop for jumps and turns.

The softer/rockered Skate Banana is easier to press and boardslide on a rail/box with (less likely to catch an edge on a rail too).

The Skate Banana has Magnatraction which you must have notices bites into the snow very early once you've engaged the edge. The Cobra will have a much more gradual bite feel (but I bet it will have greater overall edge hold as it is not as soft, more damp, and has a longer effective edge).

[Sudden_Death]

Surprised no one has suggested the Heritage as a NS alternative. Most companies have something like what you are after. YES pick your line, Capita BSOD, surely Burton have something, Smokin' KT22. There are tons out there.

[lonerider]

Originally Posted by LoEdge

Also, getting away from never summer, what other boards would you recommend for what im looking for

Well there are a lot of boards that are not like the Skate Banana.

The question is whether you like BTX/MTX and want to stick with a Lib/Gnu board?

My experience with boards (boards I've actually ridden) outside of Never Summer is somewhat out of date and relatively freestyle oriented... Ride and K2 make good boards, as well as Salomon. Do you have a chance to demo anywhere? That's going to be your best bet.

[lonerider]

Originally Posted by Sudden_Death

Surprised no one has suggested the Heritage as a NS alternative. Most companies have something like what you are after. YES pick your line, Capita BSOD, surely Burton have something, Smokin' KT22. There are tons out there.

If he's never riding switch, I feel like he would benefit from the directional shape of the Cobra, Premier, Raptor more.

As for other brands, I haven't found many good Burton freeride boards that were reasonably prices. Smokin is an option as is the BSOD... but I'm unfamiliar with them. Part of the issue is that the subject line mentions Never Summer... so most people reading this post own Never Summer boards.

Maybe Rome Agent or Anthem? I really liked my old 2006 Agent (I've recommend that if the current models are similar) and demo'd the 2007 Anthem and it was solid (could have been a little more playful have used more pop though)

[BigmountainVMD]

While those videos are cool, you don't need a Raptor to do any of that. You could do it on a Proto or an SL if you wanted to.

[lonerider]

Originally Posted by BigmountainVMD

While those videos are cool, you don't need a Raptor to do any of that. You could do it on a Proto or an SL if you wanted to.

I've actually have to agree. That slope wasn't very steep, the person wasn't going very fast or carving particularly hard.

I own both the Proto and the SL... this is me riding the SL (Proto isn't be able to do this). TBH, I wish the Proto was slightly stiffer between the binding (the Cobra is like this I'm told).



These guys are riding a lot faster and carving a lot harder than that guy (or me). Jump to around 0:45 to see actual riding... notice the person is riding switch at 2:00... I hate it when people say you can't ride switch on stiffer, longer directional board with setback.

[KungMartin]

the guy after the guy at about 0:45 also fell flat on his ass

[LoEdge]

Hey lonerider how about the SL for my needs, how do you like it? for the most part thats what i do as i go down the mountain. but still i don't plan on doing any park, apart from the occasional small jumps and such (no tricks, just up and over (i get some air though))

[lonerider]

Originally Posted by LoEdge

Hey lonerider how about the SL for my needs, how do you like it? for the most part thats what i do as i go down the mountain. but still i don't plan on doing any park, apart from the occasional small jumps and such (no tricks, just up and over (i get some air though))

SL would be a good choice as well. While I mostly ride it on groomers (as seen above), I also do decently big jumps and some basic jibbing with it. It is very similar in general stiffness and dampness to the Cobra. As I mentioned, I wished it was a hair stiffer between the bindings (which both the Cobra and the Heritage are) for freeriding on slopes.

I think the directional shape of the Cobra will make it better for riding in powder (that's the main reason I suggested the Cobra instead of the SL or Heritage).

[lonerider]

Originally Posted by KungMartin

the guy after the guy at about 0:45 also fell flat on his ass

An instructor once told me "If you aren't falling... you aren't pushing yourself enough."