King_Pin_Rich

Hi All,
So, I’ve been lurking around these forums a while just soaking up some of the awesome know how. You guys have already helped me loads, so thanks for that.

Now I have a question if I may,
I would consider myself an intermediate boarder, and am starting to play with more advanced things like Carving and Dynamic riding, I occasionally venture into the park trying to get the hang of straight airs off the smaller kickers.

Up until now I’ve been riding a second hand 159 Burton Dominant,(circa 05/06). I typically fall into the mess about, do a bit of everything camp, and as such am after a shiny new All Mountain board. I like the look of the Bataleon Goliath but the TBT tech is an unknown to me (only ever ridden my board which is traditional camber as far as I know). It seems logical to me that TBT would render the board washy on the flats and would need cranking over at larger angles to achieve comparative edge hold – but it can’t be so bad as I see the board often gets praise on here, right?

Any other suggestions for a one weapon board? Yes – Basic? K2 - Happy Hour? The Bataleon is the limit of my budget really.

Stats: 5’10 , 150lbs (70kg) , US Size 11 Boot

Thanks again all, keep up the good work.

(P:S anyone know the center insert width of a Goliath 158?)

mjd

I rode the Riot last year. My take is that TBT is a gimmick. The only positive thing about the board is that it is super squirrelly and feels like your riding a cardboard trampoline. I loooove that feeling.

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BottleOfSause

I have a 156 goliath.....but i havent ridden it yet so I'm useless. BUT.. it does look cool. I would be at around the same stage as you so i hope it works for me. Ive read quite a few good reviews on it and that its a really fun board but im sure you've read that too. interesting to hear peoples thoughts on this stick.

super-rad

I picked up a Jam this summer, hopefully riding it for the first time next week. I'll post a review if I do.

NWBoarder

I rode a Whatever last season and wrote a little review about it here on the forum. I'd link you to it, but I'm on my phone right now. Anyway my quick take on tbt is that it's excellent in powder, not meant for groomers, and good for jibs. The tbt makes the nose plane in the powder similar to the way a boat planes in water. You do have to lean it over more to lock in the edge on a groomer, and that felt weird to me, but I did get used to it. I just didn't like it. That being said, a powder board with tbt in the nose would be the bees knees. :-)

Sent from my SPH-D710 using VerticalSports.Com App

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blunted_nose

Camel toe. Bingo.

extra0

TBT does take a tiny bit more lean to carve, but that becomes second nature fairly quickly.

the only aspect of snowboarding I think TBT is lacking is on some flatground tricks where you deliberately want to catch the edge in the snow...on the plus side, TBT becomes very smooth and relatively worry free

I'm guessing most neg reviews are from flatground enthusiasts, or people who either really didn't ride TBT long enough, or maybe people with a neg attitude who subconsciously didn't want to like it. I'll be the first on this thread to highly recommend TBT

snowklinger

I bought a last years Bataleon a couple years ago at full price trying to help out a local retailer. Ended up hating it. I like the idea but you should ride it(read demo). That spoon tail is fucken sketchy as you boost into the air but obviously some people can own that shit and make it work for them.

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hktrdr

There are some technologies/features that are pretty much undisputed as being beneficial - for instance, most improved edge hold technologies, sidewall construction, carbon inlays, triax/quadax fiber glass (esp. pre-stretch) or even basalt construction, blunted tips in most circumstances, etc.
Others have some benefits and some drawbacks and everybody needs to decide for themselves whether the former outweigh the latter. TBT is firmly in this second bucket and the pros and cons are pretty well known:
- Main benefits of TBT are a relatively forgiving ride and improved turn initiation and edge-to-edge speed, while maintaining the pop and most of the straight line stability of regular camber.
- On the downside, it requires more board inclination to get good edge engagement (the fact that Bataleon does not have any other multi contact point edge technology does not help) and there is a real learning curve with TBT for most people (especially for spins and jumps). Also it is still regular camber, so pow performance will not measure up to rocker or hybrid profiles.

Really a personal decision and it is generally a good idea to do some thorough demoing if you have not ridden a TBT board before.

King_Pin_Rich

Thanks for the input guys, most appreciated.

I'm due to head up the Alps this weekend, Cervinia Resort. Not sure if there are any shops that offer demos but i'll have a look.

Failing that, I'm now quite undecided Seems to draw quite Polar opinons. Bataleon certainly seem convinced its the way forward. I wonder if they continue to refine it on next years boards.