Best Free-Ride boards

Posted: 02 February 2011 06:22 AM

Hi,
Before I ask for feedback on a good free-ride board for myself I’ll give a little run down about me.

I’ve skied off and on for 20 years. For years I’ve wanted to try out boarding and finally went through with it last season in spring ‘10. It was awesome and all it took was that one day and this last fall I went and bought a board set. I’m 5’-10” 170lbs and size 9 feet

When I went shopping I explained to the guy the key things I’m looking for:
*I like to go fast and carve hard, almost like when I skied it was like a giant slalom type that i do.
*I’m not really into tricks like rails and half pipes as I cannot afford to get hurt.
*I also like taking off into those narrow trails through the trees and am getting better at landing short drop offs.
*Basically I’m a bit of a speed demon and when I carve I put some force behind it so I need something that holds.

Now the board I ended up with is the Artec - Gabe Taylor 155. I’ve been out a few times this year with it, but just this last weekend I was in Panorama, BC and as I’m progressively getting better I noticed some of my falls may be because of my board and not only me. I understand I am still figuring a few things out but this board at times seemed to not want to carve. It was mostly on really hard areas when I would get the chatter and fall on my ass. I’m sure its a bit to do with my technique but after reading some reviews on this board on this site that was one of the cons - chatters. And it seems to be more of a park board than anything. Am I right, can it be the board? Do they really differ that much for one another?

A couple boards I’ve looked at are the Rossignol Angus and Never Summer Raptor. Haven’t had much time to look at others but I’m open to suggestions and questions.

I like my Flow NXT AT bindings and would like transfer them to my next board. I should ask now about boots. I have Bonfires, don’t know much about them other that they are comfy. Maybe a stiffer boot will help for my style?

Posted: 02 February 2011 09:45 AM

Hello Nate!

I think the chatter is mostly due to your skills. If you put your centre of gravity (CG) to far from the board (tailward or tipward) it will build up to much of tension inside the board. This will give you chatter as the board will twist torsonaly in order to realese the tension built up and the board says goodbye to your body right under your feet. Stay closer to the longitudional centre of the board and I think this problem will go away. The most common place for this to happen are on steeper areas when you probably take the board in a angel almost perpendicular to the fallline in order to controll speed.

Carve a smoother arc and I think the problem will go away. If you ride harder areas you have little contact surface with the snow and in order to controll this situation you need to put you CG more towards the tip of the board.

Having that said: I had the same problem with my first board. A really soft Canadian board called “Caribou 984”. Then I bought a K2 Eldorado. K2 don´t produce that board any more. A really stiff board. I did indeed get a lot less chatter incidents. But the problem didn´t went away beafore I learnt how to carv a smoother turn.

My riding style is quite as yours. And I am also a converted skieer. Mostly in ski mountaineering / freeride.

I like my Rossignol One. Really a fast board. Other boards I have looked to is Voelkl Coal, Salomon Burner or Salomon Special. Nidecker Platinum. I would not recomend this boards to you yet. As a beginner the K2 Eldorado was to hard for me to progress in jumping. I really got a boost when I bought a smaller and softer K2 DarkStar 155. And to be honest: that board carvs pretty well to.

Boots: go for a stiff boot I would say. Salomon Malamute. Burton Ion or Driver X.

Good luck with your riding!

Posted: 03 February 2011 12:16 AM

Thanx for the feedback Mange!

I will definately try carve a little smoother and ride out the season before making any hasty decisions. My prob is I’m impatient and just wanna go go go and forcing my carves. I have a couple more good trips planned this season so wanted to hear if anyone knows if its this board then I can replace it before my next trip.

I think I will end up with a new board but I can wait till summer and get it for less. That NS Raptor is sick! But yeah technique first.

Posted: 07 February 2011 09:39 PM

Sure. Tech is king. If you can try a stiffer / bigger board on your next trip that would be the next step I think. And I would also recomend you to try some park stuff to. It´s good stuff. It´s just that park riding around here isn´t that big so the parks are a bit soggy. So I don´t go there to often. Only on “down” days.

I have, by the way, got my hands on the stiffest board I can imagine. A friend that´s a beginner bought it and can´t ride it at al. So I can use it and he can use one of my softer boards. Nice deal!

The board is an ICON Aasgaard. 165. If I thought the Eldo was stiff this board is carved out from a rock. I look forward to ride it during the winter. Fun in the right conditions.