Advice on a new board

Posted: 25 September 2010 07:30 PM

I’ve been riding the same board ever since I can remember and it’s time for a new one.  I’m 5’10”, 185lbs, size 11.5 boot and have been riding a Evol 156 Rob Dafoe design.

I’m really good at just cruising down the mountain but I’m getting bored with that and want to start learning jumps, butters, and just playing all over the mountain.  But I also like to cruise so I’m looking for a good all mountain board.  And I ride on the east coast with the exception of a trip out west every once in a while.

I was looking at the 154 Parkstar Wide, 155 Sierra Reverse Crew (might be too narrow), and the 157 Rossignol Angus (just because the review was good on this site). 

Do you guys have any advice on a good all mountain board and the size I should get?

Posted: 26 September 2010 06:25 AM

I’ll +1 the Parkstar.  Freestyle oriented but performs well on the groomers.

Posted: 26 September 2010 01:40 PM

I think standard width boards are going to be too narrow, so you need to look at boards in the mid wide range.My initial thoughts, much like your would be to try a reverse camber board, zero camber or a hybrid, just to loosen up the ride a little. The Angus would be a great board if charging around is still very important to you, these boards can handle big carves and drops and float well in powder, the Angus comes in a 158mW which would be a good fit for your feet. Alternatively, and staying in the Rossi range the Rossignol One this year features Magnetraction edges and the Amptek profile it also comes in a very slightly shorter 157mW. These boards are medium firm flexing so if you want a board with a little less reinforcement the Taipan 158mW might be the ticket, it just one a Transworld Good Wood Award.

The boards that use camber between the bindings and rocker at the nose and tail are a good compormise between the grip of camber and the forgiving nature of rocker. Unfortunately Signal who make the Omni which would be a great choice don’t make a wide board and either do YES, built by Nidecker… it might be the case that Nidecker build a wider board with Camrock (same as Amptek) but I won’t have their boards on the site for another week.

The other hybrid rocker/camber combination is using rocker between the bindings and camber at the nose and tail. This method is different to the previouly mentioned profile in feel, it feels a bit more lively in short carves and a bit more poppy for jumps, but I don’t think it feels quite as agile or a planted on long carves. THey’re both good, which is better, I’m not sure, but Amptek/Camrock is more like camber and RC tech / C2 banana / Gullwing is a touch more like simple reverse camber.

Boards you could look at with this type of reverse camber could be the Nitro Team Gullwing 157W, a high spec freestyle snowboard, reponsive and poppy. If you want to spend a little less there is the Nitro Addict 156W which is softer flexing and I think more progressive for intermediates who want to start aquiring some park skills. Other brands that use this technology: there’s the Never Summer Revolver, which is a wider version of the EVO, the winner of our King of Jib competition (see snowboard review TV), this board has a medium flex and will work from the pipe to the piste and in the park. GNU and Lib Tech also make a good range of boards using BTX (Banana rocker and Magnetraction) and C2BTX (the same profile that I’ve just been talking about with Magnetraction). Their Wides are properly wide but you might find that the Park Pickle tickles your fancy, it’s a little bit more park focused because there’s no camber in the rocker, but it’s a great board if you want to start hitting rails and playing around on jumps, however it will also take the most adjustment to riding coming from camber.

Check those out and let me know what you think.

Rich