Jones Flagship - 2011
Despite having similar aesthetics to the Experience, Jeremy’s pro model at Rossignol, Jeremy is keen to stress that the Flagship is the evolution of his work at Rossignol, the next step. Blunted tips and tails reduce the effect of drag in fresh snow, directional Camrock helps cut down the risk of catching an edge and makes initiating turns at slower speeds a piece of pie. Convinced that full Magnetraction edges were too aggressive for smooth riding, Jeremy has pioneered Mellow Mag, providing the extra grip in the case of an emergency, Carbon & Kevlar reinforcement reduces chatter and provides the guts for stomping monster cliff drops. Jeremy is also the founder of the POW (Protect Our Winters) charity, you can rest assured a huge amount of time and effort have gone into creating a sustainable and green option for big mountain shredders, the Flagship leads by example in this department.
Manufacturer's Description:
The premier big mountain weapon.Ideal for speed, stability, stomping airs, charging down the mountain. The apex of 25 years of freeriding experience, rigorous testing, and the latest construction technologies, the Flagship is a battle proven weapon for all-mountain attacks. The Flagship combines Magne-Traction, directional rocker and camber underfoot for the highest overall performance in even the most demanding terrain and conditions.
Jeremy Jones’ Thoughts:- Stepping into the mountains you never know what you’re going to encounter. The first two turns may be waist deep followed by ice through the crux and chop in the outrun. The Flagship is my go-to board for fast and confident freeriding in any conditions. I have designed this board with directional rocker and a blunted nose to keep the tip up in the deepest of snow, camber underfoot and Magne-Traction for edging on ice, a longer radius sidecut for speed and railing turns, a shortened running length for maneuverability in tight spaces, and a freestyle tail to land switch in powder. This board has no speed limit and no boundaries. This is the Flagship of our line and my life’s work - the ultimate freeride board. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself thanking this board at the bottom of a line.
Recommended for freeride riding.
Recommended for big mountain riding.
High cost $
Available in MidWide.
Rocker Construction.
Freeride Specific.
Green or Eco Friendly Construction.
Year: 2011
Available Lengths (cm):
158, 161, 164, 162W, 168W
Riding Style: Freeride
Specifications:
Full FSC sourced Poplar and Beech wood core
Wood Veneer Topsheet
Reclaimed Hickory Wood sidewalls
High Grade recycled sintered base
Directional Camrock rocker
Blunted Nose and Tail
Mellow Magnetraction
Carbon & Kevlar Reinforcement
Similar boards: Rossignol Experience MagTek - 2011 Never Summer Raptor & Raptor X - 2011 Nitro Pantera LX - 2011 Compatriot Commissioner - 2011 Salomon Burner - 2011
Snowboard Review:
It wouldn’t be right to test the Flagship without a healthy helping of powder.. although the weather on the board test was nothing less than consistently appalling, we did have the benefit of a Wednesday evening dump. The car park was filling up as we arrived at Kaunertal, boots laced up and tight… check… liftpass… check… goggles and gloves… yep. I was all sorted, so I ran down to the TSA tent and pounced on the Jones Flagship. Jeremy and Nidecker deserve some serious credit for producing such a cool looking board, the untreated wood veneer topsheet and Hickory hard wood sidewalls just ooze class. After hurriedly mounting my bindings I ran to the gondola and peered though the windows at the infinite lines below.
Strapping into the Flagship, you immediately notice how setback the stance is, how the nose of the board is relatively stiff and the tail although still firm is little bit softer. Tight turns felt easy to initiate and grip was impressive even on harder conditions, I really enjoyed the transition between edges… this board loves being turned. So the Jones Flagship likes being turned, but it’s also a board that Jeremy and his Jones team mates use when they’re turning up the speed to eleven. As soon as I released the reigns and started charging, the Flagship was in it’s element. Straight lining steep terrain was a bit of a doddle and in the pow I felt like I was flying. As I mentioned before, I was testing the flagship on 12 inches of fresh heavy snow. The rockered nose worked well, staying catch free with absolutely no worry about going over the handlebars or sub-marining, even in the afternoon when the snow was tracked and choppy. So you’ll hear lots of reasons for using Camrock, sure it helps with float and helps with straight line confidence, for me the main reason for Camrock is to make the board more agile regardless of the boards stiffness. If the Flagship was like Jeremy’s old cambered decks on Rossi, then I’m sure it would be a bit of a handful, but it isn’t at all. I really believe that if you can carve, then you’ll get on with the Flagship.
I’ve got to give Jeremy credit for the Flagship. The Flagship is agile, the Camrock works brilliantly to help even inexperienced riders initiate tight turns super easily and the slight Magnetraction and firm torsional flex holds carves like a vice. When you crank up the speed the firm flex and camber between the bindings means the Flagship holds long carves well and when the snow gets choppy the nose rises up and the board is damp enough to deal with those unwanted vibrations. One of the best qualities of the Flagship was that it stomped powder landings on command… although I won’t be dropping any 40ft Jeremy Jones size cliffs in the near future, the Flagship certainly goes some way to explaining how the living legend does it.
Posted by Rich Ewbank in • Jones
User Snowboard Reviews
Want some advice, or have a question about the Jones Flagship snowboard, or whether it is right for you? DON'T POST HERE! Head over to our snowboard forums and our community will be happy to help.
Seriously - READ THE ABOVE..., the snowboard forum the best way to get your question seen by all of our community and an answer, rather than just those who happen to view this page.
However, if you have ridden this snowboard and want to share your feedback, then please add your experience below. It helps to add as much detail as possible, e.g board length you used, bindings, rider stats etc.
on November 16, 2010 at 10:10 AM
Hey Etsi,
Glad you went for the Flagship! Quality shred. You’ll definitely notice that it’s suprising agile for a firmer board, it’s all about the Camrock! I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it once you’ve laid down a few turns.
Rich
on November 26, 2010 at 08:25 PM
Thanks for the great review. This board is a top contender along with the NS Raptor.
Any concerns with the wood top sheet and long-term durability?
on November 29, 2010 at 11:00 PM
I was up in Whistler yesterday and brought out the Flagship 161 for the first time.
About me: 5’11” - 185lbs - 30yrs old - advanced rider, usually get 35 days or so on the snow each year, been riding since 2004 (started late) - like to charge down runs, search for steep powder, tree lines, chutes bowls… basically whatever interesting terrain I can find. Don’t ride park at all.
Conditions/runs I rode: Mixed - Hard packed groomers, some sketchy windblown steeps, chunky chopped up powder, and some gnarly tight treelines with powder covering some nasty rocks an branches. Basically the whole gammut other than deep deep powder runs.
I like to go fast down runs… my first impressions of the Flagship: “holy sh!t, this board is fast!”. At High speeds my Rome Agent would usually get unstable and squirrely before I would get close to speed levels that scared me… When I pointed the Flagship I started getting some serious speed in no time and the board would be totally stable and locked on - its the first board I have ridden where I have backed off because of the speed rather than the lack of control… AWESOME!
I half expected the longer sidecut to make the board a bit hard to maneuver in trees and carving around at slower speeds which was one reason I went for the 161 instead of the 164. I still think the 161 was the right choice for me, however the 164 would not have been a problem in this respect. The board was really easy to whip around in the trees and initiated carves really easily, which I guess was down to the Camrock profile. Once you start to bomb you really appreciate the longer sidecut… the board wants to ride straight down the mountain and was really responsive edge to edge when doing so. All in all the longer side cut combined with the early rise profile seems to be a great combination.
For me, the Mellow Magnetraction is the perfect version of this technology that I have ridden so far. In honesty I have not been a big fan of Magnetraction I have ridden in general - I have found it a bit too catchy, but certainly appreciated its grip on icy terrain. On the Flagship I didnt notice the MellowMag at all for the vast majority of the day (you can barely even see it visually). The one time we ventured down some steep windblown icy/hard packed slopes, I noticed that I still had great edge hold, and had enough confidence to ride pretty much uninhibited down the face. When our group got to the bottom my buddies all commented on how much they were sliding out and losing control on the ice, which hadn’t happened to me at all… So I gotta put that down to the MellowMag despite the fact that I hadn’t really noticed it in the same way that I had when riding regular Magnetraction.
Whenever I did hit powder the board floated really nicely and was really quick to steer… most of the time I was plowing though a lot of chop and the nose really dealt with everything in its way keeping the board really stable, I never felt bucked around despite going over some some pretty chunky terrain.
The last thing I noticed was how tough the base is. I went over some nasty rocks and roots that were hidden under some dusting of powder, and some of them I hit pretty hard (much to my dismay!). I was surprised and happy to find that when i looked at my base at the end of day there was only one superficial scratch on the whole thing…
All in all I am really happy with this board, and it is definitely gonna help me take my riding to another level… It would be really interesting to compare this to some of the Rossi boards that have a similar profile but with more camber between the feet (the Flagship is very nearly flat). I am just gonna have to remember to speed check now and again, now that I dont have my usual signals like crazy chatter and lose of edge control :D
on December 04, 2010 at 05:47 AM
From what I’m hearing this board may fit my style of riding perfectly. My current board is the Nidecker Ultralight 161 which I’ve been riding for the past 3 seasons. Can anyone offer some advice on the comparison between the two. Buying a board that rides exactly like my Ultralight isn’t what I’m looking for.
I’ve been hooked on nidecker for the past 10 years and am surprised he lack of attention they get here in the states. I’m lovin that Jones has brought some attention to the brand.
on December 04, 2010 at 12:29 PM
I’ve ridden both the Jones and the Ultralight. What is it about the Ultralight that you want to change?
on December 08, 2010 at 12:27 AM
Hi Rich, could you describe what you see as the main differences between the Ultralight and the Jones boards (on groomers and in the powders)? Thanks
on December 08, 2010 at 03:39 PM
I absolutely love the Ultralight. It’s a great board. I’m more interested in some of the technology that’s gone into the Jones boards regarding Melo magnetraction and Camrock and how they compare when riding. As Rich has asked.
I’m also curious how to tune edges with melo magnetraction?
on December 08, 2010 at 04:22 PM
Fred - Now the Ultralight uses Camrock, I can’t imagine they are worlds apart. THe Ultralight, as the name suggests is light and with all the composite construction feels precise and agile. The Jones feels a touch damper, but equally as agile. I think the base is a higher grade on the Ultralight and it does have this cool nose that is purely composite and super thin. When you are riding groomers you don’t really notice it, in deeper snow and crust it puts the board right on the top of the snow.
Taylor - A lot of riders who use this site are raving about Mellow mag, because it doesn’t have the aggressive feel of normal mag which can feel like over kill sometimes. The Camrock makes a longer board much more manageable and any board lot less catchy. I was riding some pretty terrible conditions today with my Rossi Angus which uses Amptek (the same as Camrock really)and the start of my effective edge was well out of harms way when it got dodgy. You don’t sacrifice on effective edge in a carve… it’s a great profile. You can buy a shorter file from Mervin which runs within the radii of the Mag.
on December 11, 2010 at 04:07 AM
hey guys and gals…i’ve been trolling the internet for months to decide what new board to get, i looked at almost every brands freeride boards and finally decided on the 68 flagship. i’m so happy so far…..granted only 3 days into my relationship with this board, but so far so good. i’ve got prophecy bindings, driver x boots and this board is amazing with them. i have ridden in all conditions really. from ice to powder, slush to corduroy and it has performed with style and composure at all times. at speed it is stable and will hold until your legs buckle, i layed down almost full circles with this and it felt amazing. in powder and chopped powder it handled like a dream as you could imagine, its camrock is something else. when its tight it can still be thrown around which is essential when the shit hits the fan eh. the mellowmag was great in hard and icy conditions, traverses were not as dodgy as they can be sometimes when i was on this board. i’m not a freestyle rider by any stretch of the imagination but i rode switch on piste a few times and was surprised as to how easy it was even with the offset hole pattern and slight taper. all in all the best of the best in my opinion. chur chur
on December 12, 2010 at 12:28 AM
Thanks for the review Nick. Your review is consistent with what I’ve read. Could you tell me your weight. I am 78kgs (171lbs) and would like to know which size would be the best for me. Also, could you confirm that the board is really great on groomers on hard snow even when you go fast? Thanks
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