Review: 2013 NS Cobra, Raptor, Heritage, Premier F1 & Proto - Page 4 - Snowboarding Forum

Cam · 09-29-2012, 10:03 PM

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the welcome; it is awesome to talk snowboarding with people as addicted to it as me. Sorry if my formatting for forums is a bit off, this is new to me (I try to spend as much time on snow so I don’t have free time to get in trouble). If you have recommendations for how I can clean things up please message me and I will be happy to fix it.

Awesome to see rugby players around. I actually got benched in a match for hitting a guy too hard (running with the ball, and head down around me - bad idea).

dreampow: I have never had the chance to ride in Japan. But from what I‘ve seen you get lots of very light fluffy pow (color me jealous!)? The Summit would be right at home in those conditions. I think it is a great option and a bulletproof durable pow ride.

Biocmp: I really like the DMCC’s on my Proto. With my size and riding style I like a really responsive binding with a stiff highback. Add how light the DMCC’s (compared to other bindings I’ve ridden) with the Proto are and it feels like I have a feather attached to my feet. Especially after a day on my GS board which weights in over 26lbs (12 kg) – board, riser plate, and binding. If you are lighter, and/or want to spend more time on boxes/rails you may find a softer Flux binding more forgiving. But if you are looking for a binding that will do it all, and give you great feedback through your feet the DMCC’s are an amazing choice.

One thing I will add I am super stoked that NS is putting out a shorter Raptor. This will allow a lot of my smaller, younger riders to get and a great board for SBX. In the past I have put them on the Lotus/Premier/ or Heritage as they did not have the mass for a 159. Being my nutty self I might even go further. There might be some tiny people out there who love to go fast that might even like a 150 Raptor (I have a few on my team). But I am not sure how that would fit in with the NS line. Would it be a pain to manufacture, or crossover into target riders for a different model?

Full disclosure: a large number of my team riders are riding NS boards now. We made a team order and were given a discount. Not sure if this makes me biased. What does though is that I tried NS boards, demo’ed others, rode them for 2 seasons before I recommended them to my team. I rode the Titan, and then held out to try the Raptor before I recommended the boards to my team. The riders who are on NS boards are all smiles. Then next step board wise for these riders would be custom SBX specific boards (Oxess, Kessler, Donek, Coiler, Prior) costing $1000 - $2700 Cdn. These custom boards are good for only SBX course, and nothing else. Plus, spending that much money for a rider still growing isn’t realistic for most parents. NS boards allow my riders to get a board that can Freeride like a champ. Then when they need it to drop in to an SBX, Slalom, or GS race and take Podiums they are still good to go.

First Pic: Team Rider Sarah – riding the NS PremierF1 157 – In Women’s 11-13 year old SBX
She won every heat last year until she got to nationals where she took the bronze. This pic is from Ontario Provincial Champs

Next: Team Riders Lucas: riding the NS RaptorX 169, and Michael riding the Lotus 146 (shortest directional Freeride board I could find – he was 11 and 75 lbs) – In Men’s 11-13 year old SBX. This pic is from Ontario Provincial Champs

Can you see why I got Michael the 146 Lotus? He is too tiny for anything else and he was able to rail on this board.
http://www.snowboardingforum.com/mem...-why-i-got.jpg

Team Rider Eric Riding the NS RaptorX 165. He can euro carve on this board. He did not crash right after this shot was taken; he can consistently ride his Raptor this way every time.
http://www.snowboardingforum.com/mem...rider-eric.jpg

For those looking for more pics I have loaded them into a public album (I hope). I have to get myself in gear and convert/render more video and get it on YouTube. The first video is a 14 year old rider on my team riding the Raptor 159 through our training SBX course.
2011 01 16 BV Training BX Kevin - YouTube

The next one is him riding on a legit Black Diamond carving like mad (he was 13 at the time).
201012.22 - Beaver Valley Snbrd Race Team - Kevin on Avalanche - YouTube

Hope this helps, Cam

dreampow · 09-30-2012, 03:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cam

dreampow: I have never had the chance to ride in Japan. But from what I‘ve seen you get lots of very light fluffy pow (color me jealous!)?

You mean pow like this?

Yes, we are fortunate to get lots of powder, only a short wait before I get back in the white room

.

jarppa · 04-10-2013, 02:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cam

Hi Guys,

I would love to throw in my 2 cents

Here are my specs
Weight: 270-295 lbs (123-134 kg – played football and rugby prop)
Height: 5’11” (180 cm)
Shoe Size: Size 12 stuffed into a 10.5 to reduce toe and heel drag)
Surefoot custom orthotics
Riding History: Riding 17 years, instructing & Racing 16 years, Coaching 15 years
Average 100 days on snow per season
Results: 8-10 (sorry I can’t remember) time medalist at USASA Nationals in GS and SL
Personal History: Studied Mechanical Engineering at University till I dropped out to become a full time Snowboard Coach (specialty Alpine and SBX)
Qualifications: CASI Level 2 & Carving Instructor, Canada~Snowboard Comp Intro Advanced Certified, Development Trained and Intro Learning Facilitator

Boards I Ride
Freestyle (FS): Never Summer ProtoCTX 160, Flux DMCC Bindings, Celsius Opus 6 Boot (modified)
Freeride (FR): Never Summer RaptorX, Bomber Power Plate Riser system, Technine LM Pro Binding (modified), Celsius Opus 6 Boot (modified)
SBX: Donek Saber 170 Custom -can’t ride any more as it breaks every binding ever put on it including:
- Burton C60 – 1 run (they refuse to warranty anything for me anymore)
- Flux DMCC – 2 days
- Neidecker Carbon 900 – 2 weeks
- Head PX10 & PX5 – 2 Days
- Technine LM Pro - 2 days
Powder: Never Summer Summit 172, Flux DMCC Bindings, Celsius Opus 6 Boot (modified)
Slalom: Custom Coiler NSR2 166, Vist Plate, Bomber TD3 Sidewinders Binding, UPZ RC10 Modified boot (lasts half a season)
GS: Custom Coiler NSR2 189, Bomber 5 mm Custom Boiler Plate, Bomber TD3 Sidewinders Binding, UPZ RC10 Modified boot (lasts half a season)

I am a big fan of the RaptorX 169 for all around freeriding. It took a little getting used to the Rocker-Camber (RC). I found narrowing the stance just a bit and riding with slightly wider knees really helped; I was able to engage the tip and tail more and get the responsiveness and stability most think is not possible without traditional camber. Sorry the YouTube video isn’t as good as I would like, the hill was too flat to really get the Raptor up to speed and carve aggressively at the same time. When i am out in Colorado i can really push the board and it answers.
2011 01 07 Squeeky Cam F 02 - YouTube

For float in powder I tend to just grab the NS Summit 172. The wide and more pointed shovel tends to promote more float, and I don’t have to spend time taking the riser plates off, or setting my stance back. I find that bigger guys can ride smaller boards in powder if you set your stance back a bit. The tail will sink, it’s a bit of a trade off, and I find it helps relieve stress on an injured back knee. And the shorter boards are a lot more maneuverable around rocks or in tight trees. If you don’t spend much time riding switch (less then 15% I don’t think the set back is much of a loss). But with the large soft shovel the effective edge suffers. So carving on Groomer is not as fun as the Raptor (duh it’s a Powder board). With this board I don’t need to search for a 180 cm plus board or a swallow tail (I have a bad habit of snapping off split or swallow tails).

For a fun toy I have the Proto, it can do everything regular and Switch. See my previous post.

I tend to like the NS boards as they use a pre-tensioned pre-impregnated glass and carbon fiber. This means as soon as the board flexes the tension is take up by the glass. With wet laid glass the initial tension is taken by the resin, then the cloth. This leads to a lot of resin fatigue (my experience with Burton, Rossi, Nitro, Lib Tech, and Winterstick), creating a soft or noodle-ie / dead / unresponsive feel a lot faster. In demoing other boards I ended up going over the nose at some really inopportune times – where if I was on an NS I would have been fine. I also found NS boards give back what is put into them. On groomed runs I could hammer the Raptor into any carves and it wanted more. The Summit was looking for powder as much as I was. And the Proto just put a smile on my face.

Here is a quick shot of me on the RaptorX 169

I am riding NS RaptorX 165 and could not agree more, it is great board for freeriding and freecarving (whatever that is). Not the best board for park IMO, but you can take some kickers with it if needed.
For pure pow days I ride Prior Khyber 170 (rocker-camber-rocker profile) and I just love it: it does not matter how deep I cut into the snow and the board just pops up, I think I have not got any nose dives with my Khyber.

For next season I am getting NS HeritageX 166 that I hope will replace my LibTech T.Rice.

BTW: I also like Flux bindings, DMCC is the best binding I have had so far.

(mainly I am shredding Swiss Alps, unfortunately I get only 30 something days in a season)

09-29-2012, 10:03 PM	#31 (permalink)
Cam Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 3	Thanks for the welcome / yeah rugby players / Responses Hi Guys, Thanks for the welcome; it is awesome to talk snowboarding with people as addicted to it as me. Sorry if my formatting for forums is a bit off, this is new to me (I try to spend as much time on snow so I don’t have free time to get in trouble). If you have recommendations for how I can clean things up please message me and I will be happy to fix it. Awesome to see rugby players around. I actually got benched in a match for hitting a guy too hard (running with the ball, and head down around me - bad idea). dreampow: I have never had the chance to ride in Japan. But from what I‘ve seen you get lots of very light fluffy pow (color me jealous!)? The Summit would be right at home in those conditions. I think it is a great option and a bulletproof durable pow ride. Biocmp: I really like the DMCC’s on my Proto. With my size and riding style I like a really responsive binding with a stiff highback. Add how light the DMCC’s (compared to other bindings I’ve ridden) with the Proto are and it feels like I have a feather attached to my feet. Especially after a day on my GS board which weights in over 26lbs (12 kg) – board, riser plate, and binding. If you are lighter, and/or want to spend more time on boxes/rails you may find a softer Flux binding more forgiving. But if you are looking for a binding that will do it all, and give you great feedback through your feet the DMCC’s are an amazing choice. One thing I will add I am super stoked that NS is putting out a shorter Raptor. This will allow a lot of my smaller, younger riders to get and a great board for SBX. In the past I have put them on the Lotus/Premier/ or Heritage as they did not have the mass for a 159. Being my nutty self I might even go further. There might be some tiny people out there who love to go fast that might even like a 150 Raptor (I have a few on my team). But I am not sure how that would fit in with the NS line. Would it be a pain to manufacture, or crossover into target riders for a different model? Full disclosure: a large number of my team riders are riding NS boards now. We made a team order and were given a discount. Not sure if this makes me biased. What does though is that I tried NS boards, demo’ed others, rode them for 2 seasons before I recommended them to my team. I rode the Titan, and then held out to try the Raptor before I recommended the boards to my team. The riders who are on NS boards are all smiles. Then next step board wise for these riders would be custom SBX specific boards (Oxess, Kessler, Donek, Coiler, Prior) costing $1000 - $2700 Cdn. These custom boards are good for only SBX course, and nothing else. Plus, spending that much money for a rider still growing isn’t realistic for most parents. NS boards allow my riders to get a board that can Freeride like a champ. Then when they need it to drop in to an SBX, Slalom, or GS race and take Podiums they are still good to go. First Pic: Team Rider Sarah – riding the NS PremierF1 157 – In Women’s 11-13 year old SBX She won every heat last year until she got to nationals where she took the bronze. This pic is from Ontario Provincial Champs Next: Team Riders Lucas: riding the NS RaptorX 169, and Michael riding the Lotus 146 (shortest directional Freeride board I could find – he was 11 and 75 lbs) – In Men’s 11-13 year old SBX. This pic is from Ontario Provincial Champs Can you see why I got Michael the 146 Lotus? He is too tiny for anything else and he was able to rail on this board. http://www.snowboardingforum.com/mem...-why-i-got.jpg Team Rider Eric Riding the NS RaptorX 165. He can euro carve on this board. He did not crash right after this shot was taken; he can consistently ride his Raptor this way every time. http://www.snowboardingforum.com/mem...rider-eric.jpg For those looking for more pics I have loaded them into a public album (I hope). I have to get myself in gear and convert/render more video and get it on YouTube. The first video is a 14 year old rider on my team riding the Raptor 159 through our training SBX course. 2011 01 16 BV Training BX Kevin - YouTube The next one is him riding on a legit Black Diamond carving like mad (he was 13 at the time). 201012.22 - Beaver Valley Snbrd Race Team - Kevin on Avalanche - YouTube Hope this helps, Cam __________________ Cam Why can't it be -5 or colder and snowing every night of the year. With Blue Bird days.

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