Alternative to Jones Flagship / Nidecker Megalight

Posted: 04 January 2011 06:42 AM

Hi Guys,

After what seems like months of research i’d finally narrowed my choice for a new ride down to the Nidecker Megalight 167W or the Jones Flagship 168W only to find that i can’t source one from anywhere. The Nidecker seems almost impossible to find (Emailed Nidecker and yet to recieve any kind of reply) and the Jones is pretty much sold out worldwide and the odd place that has one won’t ship it to where i live !

Anybody have any other alternatives theyd like to throw into the mix ?

I’m about 182cms tall, 90kg and a size 11 (US) boot. This board will be predominantly used for big mountain / backcountry / powder. Not really looking for a total powder board as i want something solid underfoot for those wind scoured / crusty entries into colouirs which is why the Megalight/Flagship were at the top of the list

I had considered the Rossi Expereince but would prefer to stay clear of the bigger ski brands (I can remember the days when they didn’t want a bar of the snowboard market)

Cheers
Steve

Posted: 04 January 2011 10:33 PM

Yeah Nidecker are hard to get hold of and jones have all but sold out this season… have you checked the Jones Facebook page to see where the last few are?

Ok so before you write-off the Rossi Experience, you ought to have a look at the interview I ran recently with Arno from Rossi. Rossignol has been making boards since 1987 which is 10 years before I picked up a board. And although the company has made some dubious business decisions in the past.. A Boards, the snowboarding side of the business is pretty tight. I don’t think Mr Jeremy Jones would have ridden for them for all of his professional career up to now if they’d been a bad company. Oh and Nidecker is really a composites company, they build canoes and other composites goods too, they also build skis for some big fashion brands.

If you still can’t get over the old preconceptions then Prior make some pretty mint freeride boards that use a similar profile (camber between the feet and rocker at the nose and tail) as do Unity and there is a new German brand called Good Snowboards that are building some great freeride boards with that kind of profile.

Rich

Posted: 05 January 2011 12:42 AM

Hi Rich,

Thanks for the prompt response. I’ve already had a bit of a look at prior and the range looks pretty good although i couldn’t find too many reviews for them.

From what i can make of the web site there are probably 3 boards which might fit the bill which are the MFR, Khyber & Spearhead.

Have you have any expereinces with any of the range ? I did email the guys at Prior just before Christmas but haven’t had a reply yet

Cheers
Steve

Posted: 05 January 2011 10:10 AM

Personally I haven’t ridden any Prior boards myself but a lot of readers of Snowboard-Review have gone down the prior route and love the boards and the service they get from the brand. Unfortunately, because they hand build each board in their Whistler and I am based in Austria the chances of testing the boards is slim. I get the impresion though, if you give them a ring or an email, they’ll talk you through the boards and help you to make the right choice for the kind of terrain you want to ride. I beleive the MFR is the board for riding gnarly exposed faces, and for charging groomers; it has a stiff flex and zero taper, but this year it has rockered tips which should make turn initiation easier and float better. The Khyber is the board for a more surfy feel; it has a tighter sidecut and a tapered shape. if you are riding trees and like to get right to the back of the board for slashes this is the board. The Spearhead is the deep powder bomber, slight taper and a pointy rockered nose for keeping on top of the deepest pow and a stumpy stiff tail for stomping back seat landings. I’m riding a Rossi Twilight at the minute which is a similar shape to the Khyber taper wise (unlike the Khyber it’s 100% camber). I find that for any lift accessible freeride terrain it is perfect, a super surfy feel, tons of float, responsive in short turns and stable in long turns at high speed. On hard groomers the tail can slip out sometimes if I put too much weight through the nose of the board, but in pow it is effortless.

Posted: 05 January 2011 11:27 PM

Hi Rich,

Thanks once again for the prompt reply. I have emailed prior and hopefully i’ll get a response from them soon. Another company that caught my attention is venture. They seem to similar to prior in many ways albeit scaled down with a back country focus.

The Storm looks like a pretty awesome piece of kit for tackling serious terrain. The only thing i’m not sure of is the whole zero camber thing. Coming from a full cambered board i was thinking more along the lines of a hybrid design

Any expereinces with them ?

Cheers
Steve