I hear you. My favorite shapes from Korua are the Pencil and the Obelix. The classic line is really cheap. I've been looking for an addition to my current board and they are definitely on the radar even if I find it kind of stupid to buy a board with p-tex edges and no side cut to speak of.
Who rides a Korua?
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No that was a typo. The concept boards don't have metal edges.
I didn't mean to blurt out that I think the classic line is cheap in the middle of another topic... :grin:
Just rode my Pencil Plus for the first time. -8C and blue skies.
I rode it on perfect groomers and some above the knee deep pockets of really nice but semi dense powder.
I was worried it would be hard to get on edge and to turn because of the width but the moment I took my first turns I realized this is a really nimble board.
Easy to get on edge and easy transitions. Easy to make short radius turn but also feels nice doing longer accelerating s-turns. You can slide around on it but it's not really the best feature of this board. Going down steeper runs I had a tendency to put it on edge instead of sliding the turns and it just kept accelerating like crazy unless I checked my speed. The steeps felt a lot steeper than on my old board... haha.
It's really fun carving though. I put my angles at 18/3 with lots of forward lean on the highbacks. The heel side grip felt surprisingly good and leaning into the toe side turns felt awesome. The groomers were ridiculously good so maybe any board would have had that grip though. I will definitely increase my angles further to 21/6 next time.
My former board needed a lot more back leg in the powder so at first I stalled going into the deeper parts because I just pressed the tail into the snow. Once I realized I wasn't going to sink putting weight on my front foot it was a blast charging through the powder. The base seems durable because my third run into powder I banged into a log or a rock and I thought the base was done for. Just some very mild scratches, luckily.
I'm a heavy guy so this board doesn't feel very stiff at all. If anything maybe springy and playful. Can it be playfully aggressive?
Not sure about the top sheet quality though. All in all I'm very pleased with it and I see this as a very nice daily driver for riding both alone and with my kids. A having a fun day on the mountain kind of board for just turning and looking for pow.
I rode it on perfect groomers and some above the knee deep pockets of really nice but semi dense powder.
I was worried it would be hard to get on edge and to turn because of the width but the moment I took my first turns I realized this is a really nimble board.
Easy to get on edge and easy transitions. Easy to make short radius turn but also feels nice doing longer accelerating s-turns. You can slide around on it but it's not really the best feature of this board. Going down steeper runs I had a tendency to put it on edge instead of sliding the turns and it just kept accelerating like crazy unless I checked my speed. The steeps felt a lot steeper than on my old board... haha.
It's really fun carving though. I put my angles at 18/3 with lots of forward lean on the highbacks. The heel side grip felt surprisingly good and leaning into the toe side turns felt awesome. The groomers were ridiculously good so maybe any board would have had that grip though. I will definitely increase my angles further to 21/6 next time.
My former board needed a lot more back leg in the powder so at first I stalled going into the deeper parts because I just pressed the tail into the snow. Once I realized I wasn't going to sink putting weight on my front foot it was a blast charging through the powder. The base seems durable because my third run into powder I banged into a log or a rock and I thought the base was done for. Just some very mild scratches, luckily.
I'm a heavy guy so this board doesn't feel very stiff at all. If anything maybe springy and playful. Can it be playfully aggressive?
Not sure about the top sheet quality though. All in all I'm very pleased with it and I see this as a very nice daily driver for riding both alone and with my kids. A having a fun day on the mountain kind of board for just turning and looking for pow.
After a few more days on the Pencil Plus, I have to say I'm still pleased with it. It's lively and not very forgiving but so much fun to ride.
The Goodride complains that it's more of a "drivey s-turn" board, but I find that laying this sideways it just takes off across the piste like crazy. Maybe it's my weight letting me flexing it more, but I suspect it's just a matter of pushing it. It's more of a problem with not having empty slopes because it turns so much that you cut into other people's paths. Another fun feature is that the board doesn't wait to turn. When you lay it over it just immediately takes off into the turn. What I completely agree with is that it likes picking up speed in the s-turns.
My first thought was that it's fine riding at all speeds and it is fine doing that, but it's not very fun riding it like that and at slow speeds it feels a little catchy and dull. So although you can cruise around on it, it's not what this board was meant for.
The Goodride complains that it's more of a "drivey s-turn" board, but I find that laying this sideways it just takes off across the piste like crazy. Maybe it's my weight letting me flexing it more, but I suspect it's just a matter of pushing it. It's more of a problem with not having empty slopes because it turns so much that you cut into other people's paths. Another fun feature is that the board doesn't wait to turn. When you lay it over it just immediately takes off into the turn. What I completely agree with is that it likes picking up speed in the s-turns.
My first thought was that it's fine riding at all speeds and it is fine doing that, but it's not very fun riding it like that and at slow speeds it feels a little catchy and dull. So although you can cruise around on it, it's not what this board was meant for.
The metal edge wraps around the tip of the tail on my Pencil Plus so I'm not much worried about the tail. I asked Korua about why they didn't make it wrap around the entire tail and they said it's because they use the same mold for several boards. So it's the best they can offer for now.
In general the quality of the board seems fine, unless you get a faulty one. I received a board that had a faulty top sheet and I ended up ripping the entire top sheet of the board, after talking to the Korua guys. I've been riding this board like I stole it since I'm getting a replacement board and so far everything else seems to hold up just fine. I just ride it wherever I want and today I ran nose first into the world's toughest ice boulder in high speed speed and the nose held up just fine, even though I was thrown several meters from the collision. The base seems solid as well.
From the little powder I've managed to run I think it's an easy turner and it floats really well. Sadly the weather hasn't been great and there's been a lot of windswept icy hardpack off piste and in the trees it's mixed dense powder and tough crust. I'm riding high altitude birch trees when I don't ride open faces and the pencil is easy to turn in the trees. It's more my own ability that hinders me in trees.
I've turned my angles to +21/+6 and I think that's what I'm sticking with on this board.
Despite the faulty top sheet I have nothing bad to say about this board and the guys at Korua have been nothing but forthcoming. I decided to wait for a replacement board because it just rides too good to return it for a refund or another model.
Indeed it does and I've been eyeing both the Trenchdigger and the Cafe Racer. When I get my next board it's most likely another Korua if I don't go for an Amplid.
The Goodride compared the Pencil Plus with the Puzzle. They said the Puzzle was more off the tail and surfy. That it liked going from side to side etc. And the Pencil Plus was more front foot driven and "drivey" and that it liked accelerating turns. The Puzzle liked going across piste and the Pencil just wanted to be pointed.
I don't disagree with the board being front foot driven. In my short experience I've found it to like s-turns and that it picks up speed doing that. The board has a longer sidecut radius towards the tail. What I meant was that I find that it likes to take off in sharper turns when you increase the board tilt and drive into it. And that when you do that it really takes off into the turn from the beginning. The radius seems to be shorter in the front (I know it's longer towards the tail from asking the Korua guys) so that when you press into the start of the turn it immediately launches into it if you commit to the turn.
After a few days of riding and having tried my First Call 162 in between I find the Pencil much more demanding and that the tail is a bit washy unless you ride it just right. Last night it started to dump it kept on snowing with -7C all through the day and I've had a full day of absolutely awesome snow. The Pencil is a blast in the powder and I find myself going into trees that I didn't enjoy riding before. In the powder it's so surfy and easy to ride it is ridiculous.
For the record, I've never tried the Puzzle. I also enjoy watching the Goodride reviews in general even if I sometimes fast forward through some of the bantering between friends. Mostly I like the parts where they show the boards on the table.
It's not very relaxing in the resort chop. When I went back to try my softish First Call it was like sunshine and puppies for my knees.
A guy at a shop said the classic version was more on rails and the plus was just more fun and lively.
It's the rocket ship that took me through time and space :grin:
I took a little hike up some mountain top and the wind was screaming, but I couldn't help myself sticking my Pencil in the snow and playing Space Odyssey before swooshing back down the mountain.
Final verdict for my Pencil Plus is that it's a great powder board that you can take all over the mountain.
It's ok even for a second season rider like me. I've taken it down black diamond pistes and similar open powder faces, both wide and narrow. It's very easy to move around on steep slopes but it also feels stable just letting it go at higher speeds in powder. After a few days on it I felt confident taking it through denser alpine birch trees and it's nimble enough for a bigger rider at least. It also has great float.
The edge hold on windswept icy surfaces off piste is ok but not fantastic (note that I'm only comparing this with my experiences as a skier and one other snowboard, so maybe it's actually great.... or lousy).
It's great fun carving it but the tail is a little washy for me and I think the board is a bit chattery on icy pistes and not great in choppy resort snow. On fresh corduroy it's really fun and you can turn it however you want. I think the washy tail might also be a bit of a problem with my inexperience and that I like to shift my weight back on the tail as the turn progresses. One funny thing that I've experienced with this board is that if I'm too enthusiastic when I initiate a carve in softer snow the front part of the sidecut will dig into the snow too much resulting in a a nice faceplant. Also perhaps because of my inexperience.
As for riding with the family it's good in the sense that it lets you have fun on the side of the piste without having to change board. It's nimble enough to chase around the narrow forrest trails with the kids even if it would be easier if it was a bit softer.
I love this board, and they will pry it out of my dead frozen fingers before I let it go. Not sure this can be my only board though... I might need a couple of new ones for the next season. Maybe that Cafe Racer... and something to ride with the family. :wink:
Yes, it's getting to be a bit of a chore watching 1-8 every single day... I definitively need to have 1-9 now... :grin:A new turning vid would be nice too
I don't know what the Pocket Rocket is, I saw it in some magazine. https://issuu.com/source_magazine/docs/source-n95-en-web-pages
And I'm not stoked on the Escalator. The specs looks odd and it would have made more sense with a Pencil Plus split I think.
Maybe flex? Otherwise it's just a matter of location of surface area and effective edge, right?
There's a review of the Tranny Finder plus on Whitelines. I ride the Pencil plus and I found this little quote fitting:
Admittedly I'm only an intermediate rider with bad knees but the Pencil plus was murder on my knees last season. Although great in powder and on fresh groomers.
Yes, I would say so too.
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