K2 Raygun – Rome Tour – Forum YoungBlood Doubledog
 

Hello all!

First things first: What an amazing forum?!:eusa_clap: Wow! You guys are fantastic. This is my first post here and I’m hoping for some help. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. I’m looking to buy my first snowboard.

A little background first:

I’m snowboarding in Europe, mostly in France for 5-6 weekends a year, and maybe 1 weekly trip to the Alps. This is what I did last year and it looks like it will be next year’s schedule as well. I have linked my turns, I’m comfortable in blue and I’m riding reds (although not perfectly yet). I tried a couple of jumps in the park (on the balloon) but I don’t see myself spending time there anytime soon. I would like though after a bit more practice to start doing my first jumps/buttering on the slopes. I mostly ride on groomed pistes but I very often find myself in less than ideal conditions (i.e. ice). This means that I would need a good edge hold but not too much to work against me.

My size is: 185cm (6 feet), 85kg (187lbs) and my shoe size is 14US (48,5 EU) (I have to get a wide model).

I do not have the luxury to try many boards so I have to base my decisions on the internet. After a bit of search I ended up between the K2 Raygun, the Rome Tour and the Forum YoungBlood Doubledog. Any ideas or suggestions? :dunno::icon_scratch:Of course I’m open to any other model that you may think would be a better fit.

Thank you very much in advance for any help.

Have fun!
George

if you are worried about ice, get a MTX board, Arbor, Rossignol One Magtek Wide, Lib Skunk Ape are good choices as well.

Hey Tougeo, I'm 6'3" / 200 lbs, size 14 shoe and I rode the Raygun 160w throughout my first season and absolutely loved it. It took me from linking my turns confidently, to hitting the park and grabbing air off anything possible, to bombing down groomers (alpine replay clocked me at 50mph.) Basically it is a great board to progress on. It's 70 % flat camber so it's nice and easy to flat base on without feeling catchy. Rocker in the nose and tail lets me ride it lazy at the end of the day without worrying to much. After about 30 days on the snow it's seen only minor scratches to the top sheet, the base held extremely well despite a lot of east coast spring riding as of recent. I really can't recommend the Raygun enough, especially for the price.
http://i.imgur.com/ac7vt2s.jpg

You can't go wrong with Raygun or Tour. I've ridden on my Tour 6 times now, as a new rider, and it really did make it very easy to learn. I've started dynamic riding on easier blue runs, and haven't had many falls since learning the basics. It feels very comfortable, although I can't really compare it myself to anything but a learner Burton. From what I've read, the Raygun and Tour are fairly similar, although the Tour gets better marks in some areas - refer to TheGoodRide for specifics.

Probably wouldn't do poorly to go off of looks at this point, they're both good boards. I am 5'10, 165lbs, and I picked a 156cm regular size board. Works great.

Re: K2 Raygun – Rome Tour – Forum YoungBlood Doubledog
 

I have the double dog and enjoy it but its very much a quiver board. Its for days where conditions aren't great or when I spend my day taking it easy with friends and family.

Its reverse camber between the feet and this may take some getting used to on icy conditions. Very playful board that needs concentration but its a lot of fun.

Wow, thanks very much guys! Very good to know that people have been satisfied with these boards. What is not clear to me is exactly what are the pros/cons of one vs. the other. I have seen the reviews in the goodride and in sbreviews but, if I understand this correctly, they are not to be trusted too much. So far what I have gathered is that K2 Raygun is a bit stiffer tending towards a more freeride board whereas the Rome Tour is a bit towards freestyle. At the same time though, Rome Tour seems to have a bit better edge hold on ice.

The prices I can find at this point are:

K2 Raygun: 270 eur (~$350)
Rome Tour: 230 eur (~$300)

Looking forward to any other advice.

Thanks again,

George