165 or 169?

I am looking to buy a new snowboard. one that will last a few years.
I am looking at getting a Donek Wide(I am leaning toward a Donek
because of all the good reviews and the great customer service).

At 6'4" and around 195/200lbs, would i be better off with a 165? or a
169?
I just freeride. i am thinking that the 165 might be better - easier
to maneuver around. what do you think? Any opinions will be
appreciated!

Rick.

Rick,

I would go with the longer of the two, the one 169.
I'm 6'4" and 200lbs, do mostly freeriding.
Currently ride a Liquid 164 wide and find it too short for me, it has probs
keeping me afloat in more than 5 or 6 inches of powder.
Just bought a NeverSummer 168, which is also very highly rated in both
reviews and customer service. Haven't had a chance to ride it yet though.
Also note, I don't know how Donek measures their boards.
My Liquid is 164 tip to tip, but my NS is 168 along the base and only 166
tip to tip. So this is something to keep in mind. If Donek measures via
the base, a 169 may not be as long as you think. That's my two cents.

Ed


"=JT=" wrote in message
om...
I am looking to buy a new snowboard. one that will last a few years.
I am looking at getting a Donek Wide(I am leaning toward a Donek
because of all the good reviews and the great customer service).

At 6'4" and around 195/200lbs, would i be better off with a 165? or a
169?
I just freeride. i am thinking that the 165 might be better - easier
to maneuver around. what do you think? Any opinions will be
appreciated!

Rick.

We do measure material length, basically along the base of the board. The
other technique is called cord length. Very few manufacturers actually use
it. It is, however, common to find boards that claim to be one length and
in no way can you obtain that length measurment from the board. Our 169 has
a laid flat material length of 169cm. This is the case with every board we
build.

Sean Martin
Donek Snowboards Inc.

http://www.donek.com/
phone:877-53-DONEK

"Edward Arata" wrote in message
...
Rick,

I would go with the longer of the two, the one 169.
I'm 6'4" and 200lbs, do mostly freeriding.
Currently ride a Liquid 164 wide and find it too short for me, it has
probs
keeping me afloat in more than 5 or 6 inches of powder.
Just bought a NeverSummer 168, which is also very highly rated in both
reviews and customer service. Haven't had a chance to ride it yet though.
Also note, I don't know how Donek measures their boards.
My Liquid is 164 tip to tip, but my NS is 168 along the base and only 166
tip to tip. So this is something to keep in mind. If Donek measures via
the base, a 169 may not be as long as you think. That's my two cents.

Ed


"=JT=" wrote in message
om...
I am looking to buy a new snowboard. one that will last a few years.
I am looking at getting a Donek Wide(I am leaning toward a Donek
because of all the good reviews and the great customer service).

At 6'4" and around 195/200lbs, would i be better off with a 165? or a
169?
I just freeride. i am thinking that the 165 might be better - easier
to maneuver around. what do you think? Any opinions will be
appreciated!

Rick.

(=JT=) wrote in message . com...
I am looking to buy a new snowboard. one that will last a few years.
I am looking at getting a Donek Wide(I am leaning toward a Donek
because of all the good reviews and the great customer service).

At 6'4" and around 195/200lbs, would i be better off with a 165? or a
169?
I just freeride. i am thinking that the 165 might be better - easier
to maneuver around. what do you think? Any opinions will be
appreciated!

Rick.

Hey Rick, I've had my Donek Incline for a few weeks now and I really
like it, pretty much the best board I've ever ridden. I'm on 5'8" 145
with size 26.0 feet so I ride a 155. My main thought is that the Donek
Incline is an extremely narrow board. My feet are small and I still
have to ride 36/30 angle (maybe more). Wide is somewhere in between a
regular board and a wide board... and then there is the Sasquatch
(bigfoot board). My suggestion is to call/email Donek (www.donek.com)
and talk to Sean Martin (the guy who designs and makes the boards for
Donek) and just ask him. He roams the newsgroup as well, but this is
more direct. That's part of the cool thing of buying from a smaller
company (would be like calling up Jake Burton himself).

--arvin

have to ride 36/30 angle (maybe more). Wide is somewhere in between a
regular board and a wide board... and then there is the Sasquatch
(bigfoot board). My suggestion is to call/email Donek (www.donek.com)

I have a wide 161, and my feet are imbetween size 10 and 10.5. Even on
the wide I have to use fairly high angles to avoid overhang. Most of
that is because my bindings (salomon spx) have a thick ring of
material that goes around the heelcup. Other bindings might let you
get away with less. I started on the 161 as a novice, and definately
felt it wasn't very maneuverable. That's all changed now that I know
what I'm doing. If I was to order again today, I'd probibly go longer
and also consider the sasquatch. Longer and wider may not be as
maneuverable, but for me, as my skill has improved, I've mostly
overcome it, and I don't want to give up the advantages of float and
stability. If I jibbed, I'd probibly want a shortie, but for all
mountain, I'd say don't be afraid of going longer.

At 6'4" and around 195/200lbs, would i be better off with a 165? or a
169?
I just freeride. i am thinking that the 165 might be better - easier
to maneuver around. what do you think? Any opinions will be
appreciated!

I'm 5'10", 190 pounds, and own a Wide 161 (as well as a couple of their
alpine models).

The choice of length really depends on your skill level and exactly what
kind of freeriding you do. If you ride in lots of powder or "mashed
potatoes" like the spring snow common in the Northwest US, go longer.
The extra length will float you on top nicely. If you like trees,
narrow chutes, and/or moguls, go shorter - I'm only a bit lighter than
you, and the 161 supports my weight even in powder just fine, and is
plenty stable.

If you do everything, you might make the choice based on how well your
carving skills are honed. These boards all have mellow sidecuts and
slightly longer than average effective edges for their length, many
comment that they feel slightly longer than they are when riding on
hardpack / groomed runs. I agree - my 161 "feels" like a lot longer
than a Burton Custom in a 160.

Also, what size are your feet? I bought a Wide, after having the
narrower Incline, even though I have size 8 US Men's / 26.0 Mondopoint
boots. I have a solid carving technique (I do a lot of alpine riding
too which helps immensely) and since the boards are very stiff
crosswise, edge changes still happen fast. Others think the idea of me
on a board that wide is silly... I don't like overhang at all though.
All I'm saying is, give it some thought.... you've got three widths to
choose from!

Last but not least, talk to Sean @ Donek. He was very good about
answering all of my questions and explaining my choices.

Mike T

thanks for the info everyone! Considering all the advice, i think the
longer board will do me better, since 169 is the length before the
board is bent...



before i buy, i am giving NeverSummer a serious look. a few stores
around me have them in stock. they also get great ratings by users,
and their boards come with a 3 year warranty.

anyone have any experience with NeverSummer boards? the Legacy(wider)
or the Premeir T5? my foot size is 11.5 but maybe i could get on a
T5..

THANKS!

Rick

Ed,
How do you like your Neversummer? Did you get the Premier T5? the T5
seems to be close in dimensions to the Donek Wide. is it heavy(this
is one thing i have read about neversummer board, but i don't know if
it is true for the T5)? I wonder how much weight difference their is
between a Donek Wide 169 and a Neversummer premier 168. anyone know?

Rick.


"Edward Arata" wrote in message ...
Rick,

I would go with the longer of the two, the one 169.
I'm 6'4" and 200lbs, do mostly freeriding.
Currently ride a Liquid 164 wide and find it too short for me, it has probs
keeping me afloat in more than 5 or 6 inches of powder.
Just bought a NeverSummer 168, which is also very highly rated in both
reviews and customer service. Haven't had a chance to ride it yet though.
Also note, I don't know how Donek measures their boards.
My Liquid is 164 tip to tip, but my NS is 168 along the base and only 166
tip to tip. So this is something to keep in mind. If Donek measures via
the base, a 169 may not be as long as you think. That's my two cents.

Ed


"=JT=" wrote in message
om...
I am looking to buy a new snowboard. one that will last a few years.
I am looking at getting a Donek Wide(I am leaning toward a Donek
because of all the good reviews and the great customer service).

At 6'4" and around 195/200lbs, would i be better off with a 165? or a
169?
I just freeride. i am thinking that the 165 might be better - easier
to maneuver around. what do you think? Any opinions will be
appreciated!

Rick.

Rick,

My NeverSummer is the Premier T5, it's probably about 2 years old. ('01/'02
season maybe) I bought it used for like 75 bucks. Yes, I have read that
the NS are heavy as well. I can't give you my feelings on it yet as I
haven't ridden it yet, still waiting for the good snow here in Switzerland.
Just threw it on a scale to check. Anyway, it's the 168 cm model of the
Premier T5 and it weighs 3563g or 3.563 kg or 7.855 lbs. That's just the
board, no bindings no stomp pad. That seems heavy, but just to compare my
'01 Liquid 164 is 3343g or 7.392 lbs and it is 4 cm shorter. (NOTE: that is
with probably a 60g stomp pad, however there is probably 10-20 grams missing
from the base last week, oops!)

As for dimensions concerning feet size, my NS is 30.5/26/30.5
(nose/waist/tail) which appears to be almost exactly the same as the Donek
wide 169. Also my NS is 1.5cm thinner than the Liquid I ride now. I'm
gonna throw my size 13s on there with a large set of Flow bindings, so I
will let you know how that goes. Hope this helps.

Ed

I have the Neversummer Evo 155, which is their park/pipe only board.
As such it is soft between the feet for good ollie flex (however this
will lead you to washing out at high speeds), has a narrow sidecut
that lets you make quick adjustment when lining up for jumps. It have
a very snappy nose and tail. The Evo was made lighter and less damp
than the regular NS board and it's still not a extremely light board,
the regular board will probably be heavy.

Sorry I couldn't provide much relevant info, but I'll say I do like my
Evo.

--Arvin

(=JT=) wrote in message . com...
thanks for the info everyone! Considering all the advice, i think the
longer board will do me better, since 169 is the length before the
board is bent...



before i buy, i am giving NeverSummer a serious look. a few stores
around me have them in stock. they also get great ratings by users,
and their boards come with a 3 year warranty.

anyone have any experience with NeverSummer boards? the Legacy(wider)
or the Premeir T5? my foot size is 11.5 but maybe i could get on a
T5..

THANKS!

Rick