advice on board and binding

Posted: 20 April 2010 11:05 PM

hey guys

since i´m from germany please don´t mind if my english sucks evry now and than…

i´ve been trying to find the right board for the last couple of weeks.

measurements:
hight: 5´8
weight: around 160
boots: Flow rift 2-zone boa coiler, size 10.5 (euro 44)

i haven´t been riding for all that long, but since i live like 50 meters away from the lift i´m learning quite fast. basically i´m using whatever the conditions offer: powder, piste, but mostly park.
so i need a decent allmountain board, preferring a little stiffer flex.
been trying the völkl riot sqd recently and i plain hate it… got the flex of a sheet of paper…

i thought of a k2 darkstar (but sadly quite hard to find this time of the year, mostly sold out), a capita quiver killer, ride crush, nitro misfit or a nitro swindle.
but i´m still free for other suggestions.
so plenty of choice and i really don´t know what to do ^^
the length should be around 150 to 155 max… and since those flow boots are f*cking huge i think i´m gonna need a wide board. (got problems on my 157 nitro venom, the völkl and they barely fit on my friends burton either…)
right now the ride crush is my favorite… comes as the 153 wide, maybe a little softer than i prefer but with a price of 266 euro hard to beat.

which directly leads to my next problem: finding a binding.
they don´t fit that good into my nitro bindings and the burton cartell.
i was thinking of maybe testing a flow binding… but i heard a couple of bad thinks about that whole step-in system…

due to the fact that i´m a student my budget i a little limited…
i´m willing to pay about 300 to max 350 euro on the board…
all the boards i named are way below that, except for the misfit which comes at 364… (actually it´s the 155 wide…)

thanks for your help
twix

Posted: 21 April 2010 03:39 AM

Welcome man…

OK, you ride all over but mostly park…  you should be looking at a park board that can work with other conditions.  K2 has a good line-up for the season, not bad prices here in Canada but I dunno about in Europe.  I have a Parkstar which is a flattened out version of the Darkstar, and I love the pop my board has…  I can rip all over the mountain and it’s really peppy off jumps.  I can’t really comment on the other boards you listed but perhaps a reverse camber board will be better for you…  they are more forgiving in the park with edges and the extra lift on the nose will help you glide over powder.

Now your shoe size is tricky…  you “probably” need a wide board but it depends on the model.  You would need to take your boots with you to see how much hang you get on your toe/heel edges.

Binding wise I’m digging Rides.  Aluminum bases, really adaptable toe-straps and cheap!  I hate Flows, so my vote would be to avoid those.

I hope that helps…  sounds like you know enough of what you like and dislike that you’ll pick a winner for you.

Posted: 21 April 2010 02:09 PM

Hi Twix,

If you are not happy with the Volkl Riot Squad, you could always try the Squad. Tom rode it a couple of weeks ago and rated the flex at around a 6/10, so perfect as a slightly stiffer park board.

Other boards I would look at would be the Amplid Declaration 157; Amplid don’t make super soft boards, they know that to get to the park you have to ride all of the other terrain to. Built absolutely bombproof and definitely one of the coolest brands out there. Also has plenty of width for your feet.

The Nitro Rook which is a mid-wide board and has plenty reinforcement in it to help stick big landings and deal with bad snow conditions. Basically it’s the Swindle in a higher spec package… cool ltd edition graphics too.

I think the Nitro Swindle and the Ride Crush are going to be far too soft for you, but the Misfit and the Quiver Killer could be ideal boards, kind of on the all-mountain, park pipe and powder side of things. Another board worth looking at like these is the Stepchild Corporate.

Bindings wise, I’ve ridden Flows and I didn’t like them, but it’s personel taste, they’re certainly very different to conventional strap bindings. I’d take your boots into a shop and see what bindings you could find that fit your boot.

Rich

Posted: 21 April 2010 06:48 PM

Actually the Amplid does sound awesome… but sadly its almost impossible to get here in Austria. Or way out of my budget…
Plus i think 157 is quite long for me… been driving one for the whole year and think a shorter board will suit me better.
the stepchild is quite as hard to find as the amplid…

So i´ll forget about the crush (although i really like the changing ink^^) and the others… which basically breaks it down to these three:
i could get my hands on the quiver killer (155), the rook(152), and the misfit (both, the normal one (152) and the wide(155))... out of those which would you suggest?

what you both said about the flow bindings is basically what i´ve heard everywhere so far… so no flow. guess just going to the shop will be the cleverest…

Posted: 21 April 2010 11:37 PM

Twix, if you’re absolutely 100% about going shorter (which will limit the boards performance out of the park) I’m thinking the T1 wide is the best option. Has plenty of width for your big Flow boots and has vero camber which will improve float in deeper snow and lock on to rails.