About to buy a new board on a whim - would love some advice before hand!! Thanks guys

Posted: 03 February 2010 03:17 PM

Sorry to be a pain but I could really do with some advise.  My mates are all doing seasons and are recommending I get on the band wagon and buy either a skate banana or a Bataleon Evil Twin.  I’ve read extensively on both and just can’t tell what to do.  I think the ET would be better for me. My mates say the won’t go back to normal boards.

My problem is I have what is quite a good board.

I have a Burton Baron ES, 164.  It is a wide board, I am 6’2 -13stone (about 180pounds) and size 11 feet so a wide board is useful.

I used to have a gun 159 carbon (wide/high?)beam, wide board. this board was very fun, poppy, and good flex but was a bit unstable at high speeds.

I upgraded to my baron es two years ago and immediately noticed it being a more solid bored, much stiffer and is a machine at high speed on, very stable, not many edge catches, and it powers it over the flat too.

Anyway, I like the stability at speed, but I do miss the distinct fun that I got from my shorter more flex board.

My mates say i should change this season to banana tech or TBT but they are always so busy they never really say much to help me decide between the two.

please could you guys give me some advice if you have any experience on these?

my prefered riding is all mountain and I love hitting natural kickers, cliff drops and other features.  I like jumps and slope tricks but dont spend much time in the park.

Is it worth investing in one of these above boards, is there a wide version of one of these boards i should consider? or is the baron es worth stickin with simply cos these wont be much better?  any thoughts would be greatly appreciated and sorry to bother you all with probably a question that has been well covered!

Thanks

Mac

Posted: 03 February 2010 03:52 PM

Hi Mac,

No need to appologise for using the forum, it’s exactly what it’s here for.

Regarding your board situation, I’ve never been one for the one-board-fits-all category. It’s blatantly obvious that a board that guns chop and powers through carves isn’t going to be any good on rails or for progressing on kickers. Thats why board bags are so big… get your quiver in there!

Personally I have 3 decks currently to choose from a 158 Rossi JDub for big jumps and general charging, a Rossi Twilight 164 for pow and a Dominant 152 for rails…. I try not to get boards too similar, because I end up leaving one in the rack all the time.

I see your predicament, the old Baron ES is an absolute monster. I think there are definitely boards that are going to be more playful and that still perform on an edge and off cliffs. To be honest, you’ve gone from one extreme to another.

First two boards I’d look at are going to please your mates:

160 Pheonix Lando - Take the Skate banana, beef it up a little, keep the magnetraction edges and the banana between the feet and make it slightly more directional so you can charge on it… you have the Pheonix Lando… of course if you want a more park focused ride then you might want to consider the Skate Banana.

161W Batalion Goliath - Bataleon’s do it all deck with a freestyle bias. Tripple base is fun for spinning off jumps and landing those spins. I rode the Evil Twin and loved the cartch free feel… although I wasn’t blown away by the response. I believe the Goliath has a slightly narrower flat section in the TBT which should help erradicate that lag… but it might be compromised a bit on rails. Tyler Chorlton rides one, and he’s pretty good.

162mW Rossi Angus - A suprise package from Rossignol that’s picked up more awards than any other board this season. Check out tom’s recent review on it, suffice to say, it carves well thanks to the camber between the feet, but has the buttery feel in the nose and the tail thanks to the rockered nose and tail… oh and it floats well in pow too. Transworld gave it their sub $400 award for all mountain decks… so well priced.

159W K2 Slay blade - Quaite an easy deck to ride because of the zero camber. Fun and poppy but minimal chatter thanks to the Harshmellow damping. I rode the Slayblades older and wiser brother the Zero and loved it’s smooth refined feel… don’t think this apple fell too far away.

Check those out and let me know what you think.

Rich

Posted: 03 February 2010 05:31 PM

Hi Rich,

Thank you very much for your prompt and informative response, really appreciate you taking the time to help!

I’ve never previously considered having more than one board before because I only manage a couple of weeks a year, but i guess it now looks the best way to go. as you say it is hard to find one board the covers everything and i am definitely looking for something light hearted and fun for a change.

Perhaps I should hold on to the baron and get something a bit different for an alternative.  the Angus certainly sounds good.  do you have any differences between the goliath and the evil twin?

also, what on earth are the differences between an evil twin or any TBT and banana tech? I can’t figure it out.  Most reviews say similar things - less toe catching, easy to spin, easy to butter, decent on straights, decent on rails.  my mate said BTX is great in powder too better than TBT but TBT better for just ripping about!

haha…sometimes too much info can give too much to think about i guess!1

thanks

mac

Posted: 04 February 2010 01:29 AM

Hi Mac,

Ok so TBT is a 3D form on the base where as Lib Tech BTX is reverse camber between the feet. To explain TBT it’s best to go on the bataleon website where they have great explanation videos .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). To summarise it briefly TBT raises the start of the effective edge off the snow making the board less catchy, it makes a standard cambered board less catchy… but you still get the performance of a cambered board in carves. The BTX reverse camber helps floating in pow because the reverse camber means that even when you’re stood with you weight centered on the board, you’re nose is raised…. kind of like a wakeboard I guess. The X stands for magnetraction which is a wavey edge that creates 7 pressure points along the edge. THese pressure points increase edge hold kind of like like using a bread knife on tomatoes. I think they’re both great.

The Goliath is more all mountain than the Evil Twin, quicker edge to edge response slightly more directional shape… just designed for more than just lapping the park.

Posted: 04 February 2010 03:08 AM

Hi rich, thanks for all this info; it is really useful.  Think I have a better understanding now.  Are tbt boards still as good as ur average board in powder. Eg it isn’t like they are bad in it just the banana’s better? Now I know why some guy said in the board shop to wait till next season for the boards that’ll come out combining tbt and reverse camber!!!!

Posted: 04 February 2010 09:11 PM

Ha.. I don’t know about combining TBT with reverse camber! It’ll be like riding a sausage (in the snowboarding sense… just making sure there’s no confusion). Actually Volkl are kind of doing this with the Cashew which combines reverse camber with their freebase technology… which is like a very subdued TBT.