Jones Flagship, Rossi Experience, Never Summer Heritage X, or Legacy

Posted: 15 December 2010 09:48 PM

I am having a hard time on selecting which board I want for this season. I spend my winters in Colorado and I have been riding for 12 or so years and would consider myself a strong intermediate/advanced rider.  I am 6’2” and about 205-210 lbs and wear a 12 or 13 boot. 
I pretty much never venture into the park and ride alot of sidecountry and a some backcountry via snowmobile.  I am looking for a one board quiver and am pretty much sold on the Jones Flagship 163W, however I have also thought about a Rossi Experience, or the Never Summer Heritage X or Legacy.  I have Burton CO2 bindings that will be mounted on the board. 
Any insight or comments would be gteatly appreciated!
Cheers,
Nick

Posted: 16 December 2010 09:48 AM

Hi Nick,

I’ve pretty much answered your question in this thread -Similar thread

I did miss out the Jones Flagship though, so I’ll run you through that. Essentially it’s an almost identical board to the Rossi Experience. There are a few differences though. The Flagship has Mellow Mag edges instead of Full blown Magnetraction, people who find traditional Magnetraction too grippy and a bit catchy are raving about it. The Base on THe Experience is immense, I’ve ridden a lot of boards but the Rossignol 4400 sintered base is easily one of the fastest out there… yep the Experience has a 7500 grade base! Saying that, Nidecker bases shift too but Rossi know how to make fast bases thanks to their ski racing heritage, there are benefits:) I believe the Experience is a touch more aggresive, but both boards are manageable for anyone who is confidently riding backcountry. To be honest they are two pees from the same pod. Jeremy Jones developed the board at Rossignol and Rossi let him take his design with him to Jones where he tweaked little aspects of it. If I bought a Jones I’d be straight down to the hardware shop to get some Marine rigging varnish to keep that wood topsheet in tip-top condition.

Posted: 16 December 2010 08:34 PM

hey rich - i was wondering about the topsheet on the flagship - i am already noticing quite a few nicks out of mine - can you explain a bit more about any suggestions on protecting it?

cheers

t

Posted: 16 December 2010 09:11 PM

Of course I can help on this question. Unfortunately i don’t have any pics but if you want to see the finished article I can get some tomorrow in the daylight.

I bought a Rossignol Twilight about a year ago. It’s an awsome board, all th usual Rossi goodness like a 4.4k sintered base, carbon and kevlar reinforced core etc etc. Lets just say if you fin yourself in powder in the trees this board is incredible and it only cost me £100 new off ebay!

What’s the catch? Well it “had” a raw bamboo topsheet which looked amazing, but there’s something about untreated wood and water that don’t go together all that well. I looked into a load of finishes that I could apply to it and nearly every one that looked suitable had Tung oil in it. This oil keeps the wood in good nik and protects it from damage. Unlike a lot of varnishes, varnishes with tung oil are flexible, hense they use it on boat rigging… it’s also pretty tough.

THis is what I did - (I’ve pinched it off a thread I created on goneboarding.co.uk to get some advice)

I started by sanding down the bamboo topsheet with some 360 grit to rmove the loose bits of bamboo and to round of the edges of the top sheet which were rough to say the least.

Having sanded the topsheet I took a tack cloth and removed the dust. Took some masking tape and made sure I covered the sidewalls and filled in the inserts.

Having prepared the board, (note I didn’t use any acetone as I’d planned, in the end I was worried that it would have a deteremental effect on the board so I didn’t bother), I mixed Rustins Satin marine varnish with about 25% white spirit (I’d warmed up the varnish by placing the tin in a bowl of warm water, it makes it less viscous). I then painted on the varnish and left it for 48hrs near-ish a radiator to dry out!

After waiting 48 hours for the varnish to dry, I sanded the first layer down (quite a lot) and then rubbed it down with a tack cloth. Following the first layer I repeated the process for another 2 layers gradually mixing the varnish with less white spirit.

I’ve ridden the board about 10 times and the finish is still mint and I’ve ridden in -20 and had no cracks appear. Regarding the finishing, a couple of tips or lessons I’ve learnt.

1) If you can afford a new brush for each coat, it’s worth it. A night in Whitespirit and the brush i was using still had crap in it from the previous coat

2) With the Flagship you’ll want to get the sidewalls in too as they’re wood.

3) Make sure you’ve got a week before you go riding again as it can be a little bit of a lengthy process.

4) Don’t do any fewer than three coats.

5) I went for satin, but if you have the skills to get a good finish, Gloss will look amazing.

THat’s about it. It wasn’t hard and I reckon it’s extended the life of my Twilight a lot!

Rich

Posted: 16 December 2010 09:46 PM

Hey Rich,

wow thats an awesome response… thanks so much. Just one last question, should i do anything about the nicks that I already have in the topsheet first, or just go straight in with the process you outlined above?

I will have to post some pictures when i get this done… unfortunately, have to find a block of time where i have a week between rides… but i guess i could take the old agent out for a few days if I have to.

thanks again

t

Posted: 16 December 2010 09:51 PM

I guess you could use some wood filler in the gaps and sand it down… alternatively if they are only small niks you could try a standard Araldite epoxy and sand that down, but don’t use too much hardener otherwise it will go yellowish.

Two secs, I’m just going to get a pic of the board and you can decide if you like the finish.

Posted: 16 December 2010 10:05 PM

Here, some pics, afraid the light isn’t very good. Overall I think the Varnish enhances the grain of the wood amd makes it more detailed. As long as you sand down the varnish and do lots of thin coats, make sure you use a tack cloth and make sure there is no gunk on the brush you can get an insanely good finish.

Oh and remember, varbish in inserts or on the base = bad news :)

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Posted: 16 December 2010 10:09 PM

Oh, just had a thought. I have rubber dampening pads under my bindings, it’s standard on all Drake bindings. If its straight metal or thin plastic webbing in the bindings foot print you might experince a bit of cracking under the pressure points. I don’t know for sure because my bindings are varnish friendly.