Rocker Board for my Small Hill
 

Hi all. I've only posted on this forum once or twice but I've been a long time lurker.

I am strongly considering getting rocker board or some variation (camber-rocker-camber, rocker-camber-rocker, etc) and am looking for advice. I want to see if it is possible to get everything I want from one board.

I live in Southern Indiana so the only place I have to go snowboarding is a small hill called Paoli Peaks. They rarely get any real snow so the hill is always covered with man made snow. My wife and I do go on at least one trip almost every year to a real mountain. (This year it was Whistler :D) I go to Paoli as often as I can while the weather lasts.

I'm not into a lot of park features like rails and whatnot. I do like hitting jumps and have gotten comfortable doing 180s of rollers and kickers.

I am currently riding an Atomic Alibi (camber) from a few years ago. I have it set up duck and symmetrical because a couple of years ago I decided that I wanted to get really comfortable riding switch. Since then I really like being able to ride either with no difference in my stance. That probably not ideal for my board, though.

Here is what I'm looking for:

1. good pop
2. is easy to spin
3. has somewhat forgiving edges while landing spins
4. has enough edge grip for the icy conditions I ride on most frequently
5. is a twin
6. can also handle all mountain riding when I get to go to a real mountain
7. is somewhat capable for butters

Is all this possible on one board? Does it sound like a rocker is the way to go?

I will be on the hill this Sunday and may try to demo a rocker. I would like to have a more specific idea of what to ask for before I do. My budget is flexible.

try out a GNU pickle or strange trip. I ride a strange trip now, and it does all those things you want, pretty well. I opted to get it in 156, and it's a very flexible board, tons of pop without having any kind of pop rods. The asymmetrical edges make holding on hardpack and ice really easy and forgiving for landings, in many conditions. I ride that board comfortably on the park, groomers, moguls, walls, glades, etc. It's definitely a knee bender and excels when ridden very low, very responsive. it's prob my fav board i've ridden.

Best three that cone to mind are the Flow Verve, Echelon Rounds, or an Arbor Draft.

What is the downside of pop rods? The more pop the better, right?

The asymmetrical sidecut looks like a really cool idea.

to be honest, i don't know of the downsides of pop rods, haven't ridden a board with them for an extended period of time. for what it's worth, forest bailey won the ollie contest @ mt hood with the strange trip, beating out some pros on poprodded boards. just a testament to who and how you ride it.

An ollie contst has more to do with how strong you can jump. I've watched a friend ollie a slow sign on a noodle that was also too small, with no speed.

If the Pickle or Impossible say anything of the way the Trip will ride I wont be too much of a fan. Neither were taking advantage of the asym the way they should. They have a softer core on the heelside that just didnt holld as well as I wanted. Shorter and deeper is enough, they shouldnt soften the core too. On top of that you can fairly easily over load the board snapping off a roller or whatever. Everytime I'd load up the tip would just sorta much out. Skate pop only, and its ok there. Not great, not bad. Overall Mervins for me are just plain easy to ride. Magne means you dont have to pay attention to edge control and no carbon means they arent super energetic rides so if you're not always on it the board wont buck you. But if you really wanna push it there are other boards that give you more response and energy.

Personally I wanted some of the same as what you are looking for and went for a Rome Mod Rocker. Flat based with raised tips and it seems to be quite stable when I want it to handle carving/freeride, but also ollies like crazy, lands off sidehits pretty catch free even if I land off balance.

Handles moguls/tight trees well too. Love the damn thing!

Was also checking out a Ride Machete which is similar and have heard the Capita Indoor FK is good too.

The Mod Rocker and the Machete both look like just what I am looking for. Hopefully one of them will be available for demo.

It looks like these boards are flat between the bindings and raised at the nose and tail. So, are they considered rocker-flat-rocker?

It looks like the Never Summer Proto CT gets thrown into this group of boards as well. Any reason I shouldn't consider that one too?

In my opinion rocker helps for beginners, loosens the board up a little bit for easier learning. It also helps in Powder for extra float and allowing you to ride a smaller more maneuverable board. Rocker can be a bit over rated though as far as the park boards, it's good for selling boards and is a nice playful forgiving feel but Camber gives you the most edge control and precise control of your snowboard. I can tell you as far as the ice goes magnetraction is a beautiful thing. Shit just grips ice. some times a little too much. careful. If your mostly into just killing the groomers and a little free riding I might think about a cambered. And if your not hitting rails and barely hitting the park why do you want a twin for your all mountain experience. I'd defn go with a directional all mountain board in your circumstances. You can still go switch and all that but you wont sacrifice sweet quick speed turns when your riding the the whole mountain and get those set back directional cut turns.

Depends on what your idea of handling all mountain is. Coming from the cambered Alibi, a rocker isn't going to compete with its aggressiveness.

That being said, I'd recommend the NS Proto. It's got good ollie power, good torsional stiffness, its a true twin, butters effortlessly, and the hybrid profile of camber tips adds edge stability to the rocker flex.