[Yeahti87]

Picked up the 60 Dart at the beginning of this season. It took me a while to really learn to appreciate it, but once I "unlocked" it I really started to enjoy it over larger parts of the mountain. The board sure doesn't seem to like variable terrain, and you'll feel it in your knees, but in the right conditions it is hard to beat. On a nice groomer, or in some decent powder, this board will put a big smile on your face. Really hard to choose between my DD and this recently.

The good things aside, I have had some issues. My main gripe at the moment is with the nose grabbing on warmer snow. On flatter hills or traverses it can be a little like hitting a brake when more of the nose contacts the snow. Is it my issue, board shape, or the slower classic base? I'm riding reference with maybe one step further towards the tail, so I'm not sure what I can do to prevent it aside from keeping it waxed and on the steep.

Curious about these Dart 160 and CR 164 as these have pretty different geometry. I’ll test them next season.

On the uneven terrain - I’ve ridden the CR 159 with double forward stance on some steep mogul run once and I was swearing under my nose so hard being thrown around. For me riding with -3 in the back foot helps a lot in moguls with much more stability on the CR and I keep it double forward only on nice groomer days.

About the nose - I ride it with some little setback from the center inserts (I see no ref mark on my board). I haven’t noticed the grabby nose issue at all with the CR being a worse floater than the Dart due to the extended camber there. I rode my friend’s Surfari and my CR this Sunday in some warm later afternoon shitty bumpy slush. The Surfari was easier there as the rocker starts right past the front binding but the Korua did very well too. It can feel ‚grabby’ only if you initiate the carve too hard from the front foot.

On the base - I don’t find it slow or grabby at all, it has a decent glide waxed. Very much the same as my Yes, Endeavor, Amplid and Rossi boards or my friend’s Nidecker or GNU. Only the Capitas beat it as these have this nice structure that drinks so much wax every time I hot wax them.

Get it a nice waxing and maybe add some structure (I did so with my Unw8 163 and the performance unwaxed is so much better now).

 

[Yeahti87]

I've found swallow tails sink pretty well. This is great in deep powder. It's not so great with a few inches of fresh on top of variable chunder. The tail sinks right down to that unpredictable snow layer.

That’s where the Archetype with its ‚unswallow’ swallow tail shines.

 

[Yeahti87]

Same here in Europe unfortunately. Shit is hitting the fan now properly and I can’t imagine this to change in time to get some more snowboarding in this season.

Totally agree on the Dart though. It’s so much fun in pow. I’d love to try the pencil in deeper stuff as well but loved those quick turns so much...

Next season gonna test 160 Dart/CR 164 for sure. So curious how such a fat waist with Koruas turny sidecut would work.

 

[Yeahti87]

10,7 m on the Trenchdigger is huge when Jerries show up. Plus it’s quite narrow at the back foot with that taper. I want to keep my boots no more than 0,5 cm overhang each side to really lay it over Eurocarving and I’m not a fan of steep double ++

 

[Yeahti87]

Size 9 burton photons

My friend is 155-160 lbs 9 US Tactical (though I push him into 8,5 he also has if he gets custom insoles) and he said my CR 159 is very similar to his Amplid Surfari 157.
For me (185 lbs 9,5 US Tactical) the CR 59 is a board I can push hard at carve but I can also slow down and carve between Jerries. I don’t need open groomers for it. Like a daily resort carver that I can ride 4 days 7 hours in a row.
At your weight I believe it would be a little carving rocket but not something you cannot handle for sure as the turn initiation is really easy.

 

[Yeahti87]

It is basically a full camber, quite stiff and quite heavy so handles chunder well.
My last day this season was on the CR, I do it it very rarely but at the end of the day when the wet sticky slush was hard to carve on I straight lined a few red slushy runs with big moguls and it handled no problem. It was pretty retarded but fun. Just keep your knees bent.

 

[Yeahti87]

I’m also surprised you guys sized down to 159 Pencil. I have Cafe Racer 159 (so Pencil 164) and fighting the urge to buy 164 CR to test it because the CR 59 is for me what you say about 159 Pencil. What boot sizes do you have? It might be that you prefer normal width boards or just less taper.

 

[Yeahti87]

Indeed looks like bugs, they should rather add a bigger choice in the Plus line first

 

[Yeahti87]

I don’t think so. It would make sense if they followed the regular manufacturer sizing and scaling progression. Dart 164 would be like 28,2 ~ cm at the back foot if we keep the typical Korua ‚weird scaling’ thing that still makes the next size up much wider. That’s not a big market imo.

 

[Yeahti87]

„Collect moments, not things”*



*Does not apply to collecting snowboards

 

[Yeahti87]

There ought to be someone having reviewed the Bullet Train besides the Good Ride...

It seems that they got a concept model early on, directly from Korua. At the very start of the review there is Nicolas Wolken on the Dart.
For a while I thought how the fuck they have such a stylish carver in the review team and he doesn’t speak at all.

 

[Yeahti87]

Ok, so again weird scaling and basically the 160 with an extra 4 mm width in the nose but 5 mm more taper. Same sidecut radius.
All in all, very similar width underfoot to the 160 but more effective edge.

I don’t like it because I like it very much.

I was pretty much set to get a CR 164 and compare to my CR 159, now I have a dillema.

 

[Yeahti87]

Definitely the best name!

Do you know what was the codename for Cafe Racer? YOLO Racer hah

 

[Yeahti87]

Pentaquark 158 is very close to 130 cm ee. For reference here is CR 159 with 120 cm EE according to Korua, both aligned tail to tail EE, white paper is the end of it.

I wouldn’t worry about being over the weight recommendation as it is a very stiff board.

Endeavor Alpha and Nitro Pantera (bigger sizes) both have even more edge (full cambers with the listed running lengths and similar sidecuts).

@Scalpelman owns/used to own the Pantera.
What you did you like and what not about it when you compare it to the Diamond Blade (clearly not the same profile and construction-wise but still)?

 

[Yeahti87]

The concepts don’t have steel edges, only Ptex. That’s a deal breaker.

 

[Yeahti87]

The Pencil is mazing in powder and I'm sure the Darts as good or better. On proper snow the turning is really fun but on icy snow it's not so fun. Maybe the smaller radius in the front makes it a bit more twitchy and unreliable on ice?

If I were to find a downside of my CR 59 (apart from the obvious ones like bad switch), it would be icy moguls and being rather twitchy due to the very rapid initiation if you lose your balance and push strong on the front foot like you say rather than being hard to ini.

 

[Yeahti87]

Thats why I have a Supernaut. Best board ever on concrete snow and bulletproof ice. Can hold a edge were other boards fail. One of my all time favorites.

I haven’t been on any Fullbag yet. The Supernaut is a solid board for sure (looks very similar to Korua Tranny Finder) but if I were to pay all the shipping and taxes and the full price, I’d grab the Diamond Blade for sure.

As far as my CR 59 is concerned, I don’t really find it lacking grip on ice. I’d call it 4/5 edge hold when my Amplid Unw8 is like 5/5 (Pentaquark and Nitro Pantera should be also top but I’m yet to take them out, they all beat the CR with the effective edge). It’s just twitchy in icy moguls when you lose balance because the board is very turny (not like Yes Optimistic). At my stats and my riding style I’d call Koruas very turny if you drive it from the front. Putting the pressure on the front foot to initiate the turn works on any board but I haven’t been on a board that it’s so apparent as on the CR.

For the perspective I’d take my CR 10/10 times to ride on ice over my Mercury or Kazu I had even though technically they have the same EE.

@JDA has Endeavor Archetype too and my 160W Archetype has a similar grip level to the Cafe Racer 159 for me (obviously it’s easier to overpower the tail).
I think the torsional flexibility of the Dart’s tail might be the factor.

 

[Yeahti87]

I've heard some criticism (though maybe criticism would be slightly too strong a word) that Korua bases aren't amazing (talking about the 4000 sintered bases of the regular white boards). What do you guys think? I've only barely ridden my TF, not enough to have a view on it really.

Typical sintered bases for me, like Yes, Endeavor, Amplid, Salomon, Rossi, Niche etc. Can’t complain. So far Capitas are the fastest I’ve been on (edge bevel plus structure). I’ve heard that K2 stand out as well, I’m gonna try Simple Pleasures next month.

 

[Yeahti87]

Big boy quiver
Pencil 163
Dart 164
Otto 161
Cafe racer 164
One is not mine

Who’s your daddy CR? 😁

 

[Yeahti87]

Today on my CR 59, some runs on K2 SP and Flagship. Tomorrow some new stuff.
Later this season we will compare with @dudi_wroc and the other bud like 5-6 Koruas for sure.
Cool to be back on snow.