LIB TECH JAMIE LYNN PHOENIX SHIP 157W SNOWBOARD

Hi,
I have been riding one board only for the last years. It's an all
moutain model from Forum and size is 162. I have been satisfied, but
now I am thinking about getting a new freestyle smaller (157, 158 or
159) board to advance on freestyle tricks, mainly jumps. I have also
started riding the pipes, which I can get to the lip, but not much past
it.
I also would like to improve switch riding. I can only go straight.
So, I do want a freestyle board, but I dont' spend all day in the park,
I do wanna ride all mountain.
Note: I have big feet - boot is 12.5, heigh 6.1, weight 180 lbs

I was thinking about spending about $250-300 and get a board. I saw
options like Burton Twin, Never Summer System, GNU Altered Genetics
(although might be too narrow for my feet).

But a friend of mine found these GNU Carbon High Beams for $160, so he
said "just get that one, it is good, and get another binding or a put
the rest into a powder board"


What do you guys think? Is it a good board, at least enough so I can
improve my riding?

Would you suggest another one?

I really apprciate your help.

Thanks so much

wrote:
Hi,
I have been riding one board only for the last years. It's an all
moutain model from Forum and size is 162. I have been satisfied, but
now I am thinking about getting a new freestyle smaller (157, 158 or
159) board to advance on freestyle tricks, mainly jumps. I have also
started riding the pipes, which I can get to the lip, but not much past
it.
I also would like to improve switch riding. I can only go straight.
So, I do want a freestyle board, but I dont' spend all day in the park,
I do wanna ride all mountain.
Note: I have big feet - boot is 12.5, heigh 6.1, weight 180 lbs

I was thinking about spending about $250-300 and get a board. I saw
options like Burton Twin, Never Summer System, GNU Altered Genetics
(although might be too narrow for my feet).

But a friend of mine found these GNU Carbon High Beams for $160, so he
said "just get that one, it is good, and get another binding or a put
the rest into a powder board"


What do you guys think? Is it a good board, at least enough so I can
improve my riding?

Would you suggest another one?

I assume you read my reply to your post on Friday, which was nearly
identical to this (if not use Google groups to search). Basically, my
opinion was don't get the GNU CHB, Alter Genetics (it probably is too
narrow), or the Burton Twin (too narrow). Lib Tech Phoenix 157W looks
like a nice board as I mentioned before.

Neversummer are nice, but the Neversummer System is like the GNU CHB is
an entry level model and so isn't that much of an upgrade and I serious
doubt you are going to see that much benefit. It is also too narrow -
go with the Titan or the Revolver instead because they are wider.
Neversummer boards have a more all around riding ability but I
personally found the Evo (their park board) to be too park oriented...
fun if you stay in the park the *entire* day.

Forum snowboards are already very freestyle oriented (to the point that
I don't think they are very good for freeriding/big-mountain riding).
It already should be good enough for your to practice jumps on and work
on switch riding in particular. Unless the board is super-stiff or
dead, any board will be fine for basic park riding as you are in the
air or on a rail most of the time. If you are going to get a powder
board, I would just stick with the Forum and go get a powder board
(Burton Fish or Malolo, Prior Khyber, Rad Air Tanker, I didn't like the
OSin 4807 that much). What is really going to improve you freestyle
riding is practice, practice, practice... you are not going to improve
that much if you just go in there for 4-5 lift runs and do some basic
jumps. You really should hike a jump/rail/pipe with some friends and
just work on it over and over for at least half a day. If you have the
money, a camp like High Cascade (www.highcascade.com) or Windells is
well worth money spent (again if you are determined and disciplined to
learn).

I'm *not* a pro, but I can ride park/pipe/rails decently... here are a
few examples just so you now that I'm not just some poseur.

Jumps:
http://tinyurl.com/fhr52
http://tinyurl.com/kvhq4
Pipe riding:
http://tinyurl.com/zk8lv
http://tinyurl.com/z85w3
Rail riding:
http://tinyurl.com/h5rwh
http://tinyurl.com/ffww4

To read my personal board suggestion, go search Google groups to see my
previously reply. Anyways, I'm sure you want more than one suggestion,
someone else with some freestyle background on the newsgroup can also
chime in. LeeD? NeilG?

Hey Man, thanks a lot for your suggestions. I did read the other one.
That's why I scratched the CHB off my list, and I am more inclined now
towards the Lib Phoenix. I am just not sure it's a all
mountain/freestyle board. They say it's for fast freestyle, whatever it
means.

I do agree I need to [practice. But my current board is 5 years old. I
suppose it lost a lot of pop. I also think that a smaller one would
make grabs easier. Agree?

Cool pictures.

Thanks again.

Skuba wrote:
Hey Man, thanks a lot for your suggestions. I did read the other one.
That's why I scratched the CHB off my list, and I am more inclined now
towards the Lib Phoenix. I am just not sure it's a all
mountain/freestyle board. They say it's for fast freestyle, whatever it
means.

I do agree I need to [practice. But my current board is 5 years old. I
suppose it lost a lot of pop. I also think that a smaller one would
make grabs easier. Agree?

Cool pictures.

Thanks again.

Yea, it's hard to say as I've never ridden a LibTech board, but the
specs look good (157W has a 25.9cm waist and a 8.75m sidecut). I don't
know about the Volcanic Basalt being 90% stronger than traditional
fibreglass, but they did use less of it so the board will probably be
very light (making it easier to grab and spin). To answer your question
a *lighter* board is easier to grab... a shorter board would only make
nose and tail grabs a little bit easier (less distance to reach), but
they tend to be lighter as well... so easier to grab. However, the
distance difference is a mean inch or two... so grab-wise you aren't
gaining much... but that difference is noticeable in terms of the
stability and edgehold on the board in faster conditions. From what I
read it is on the stiffer side, which will be good because you are
sizing down from a 162 as it will help maintain stability and edgehold
despite the lost in effective edge. Also review say it has a lot of pop
which is obviously good for a freestyle board as well.

Fast freestyle, all-mountain, big-mountain... it's a lot of marketing
spiel mixed in. With the longer sidecut (over 8.5m) and the
stiffer-flex I would say it's an all-mountain/freestyle board that's
decent for freeriding. Many park-only board would have a sub-8m sidecut
and a softer flex and in my opinion those specs are fine if you are
spinning a lot and doing a lot of rails... but for bigger, faster jumps
and big halfpipes I think they are a bit flappy and squirrelly
underfoot... I would go with something stiffer and a longer sidecut.

Yes, five years on a board is a decent amount of time, especially if
you've been getting at least 10 days a season with the board. It's
definitely lost a bit of it's pop by now (there are some bands that
supposed have very durable boards... but I don't consider Forum to be
one of them). I think if you get something like the LibTech Phoenix
(again I've never ridden the board so I cannot personally vouch for
it). You will be pleasantly surprised as the the cumulative incremental
changes that have been put into snowboards (that is to say there hasn't
been a huge change, but lots of little changes in the past couple of
years).

Hope this helps and good luck.

PS There are some decent deals on boards at dogfunk.com.