Board Review: Madd TT158

A few days of riding it in several types of terrain and snow conditions
I have to say I'm liking my Madd TT board more than more. My very first
thought is the race base (waxed by Mike Santis PTC who some of you have
heard of) is *extremely* fast, I was already blazing on blues and it
took me a few runs to get use to the added speed on the steeps although
this was a super nice feature in the park and pipe as you could get
more speed and air without having to think about it.

Saturday morning I hiked up to the peak of my home mountain (Photo of
the hike - http://tinyurl.com/fjf9a, wide-angle photo of the Peak in
the distant backgronud http://tinyurl.com/kkdlq) and its soft nose
floated easily in the heavier Sierra powder without much setback (1")
for lighter, deeper powder (was only 2 feet deep) and in the trees I
would probably move my bindigns farther back.

After that it was the groomed runs and again the board is very *fast*
with a good wax job. Despite going at like 1.5 times my normal speed
down this semi-steep
run the board was very smooth and damp even when I rode through some of
the
ungroomed chop. I was particular impressed that I could ride out some
really
bumpy stuff after doing some small cornice drops. I like the springy
nose/tail - it allows for an smooth carve entry while the stiffer
mid-section holds you in the carve extremely well, and then the springy
tail will really give you some pop for mid-air edge changes

Some photos of me:
http://tinyurl.com/hm2z9
http://tinyurl.com/f96pd
http://tinyurl.com/fnq6u

Finally, we hit the park and pipe. Despite being a 158 and I'm used to
154-155cm, the board didn't feel that hard to spin (overall the board
is lighty). I suspect the carbon fiber tip/tail keeps the swing weight
down. While the board is medium stiff, the springy nose/tail lets me do
do tailpresses and switch noserolls, although I was never good at
butters.

The superpipe had icy wall with a soft middle with very "firm" walls...
and the Madd just rode it with confidence. I'm only an average
park/pipe rider... but with the icy walls...
I was one of maybe 6 people I saw getting out past the lip of the
superpipe
(all the others were local team riders, although they were going a bit
higher than me... and spinning a heck of a lot more). My friend has
some videos of me riding the pipe, I'll post my ugliness when he gives
them to me.

Overall, the Madd TT is the board I've been looking for... from powder,
to
groomers, to park and pipe... I was never thinking "oh... I wish I was
riding my..." etc. I have the Madd TT158 with the race base. It's a
twin tip with a nearly centered stance, for those people with more
freeride orientation, there is the Madd Freeride in a couple of sizes
(it's a medium wide board too). Officially I think they are selling the
boards next season... but if you bug Joe Franklin at
(http://www.maddmikes.com/Contacts.htm) he has some leftover -
including a few with a texalium topsheet (aluminum/carbon fiber weave)
that supposedly stiffens and dampens the board very well (with less of
the durability issues that Titanal have... but that's what they say...
I have no idea if it's true).

I like board reviews and would like to see more of them maybe they
would keep the group more active? i wonder how other people would feel
about that? The review above has a link that may bother other members
,hope no one is trying to sell anything. I find snowboarders feel
really strong about a board or brand like a religion or worse a mac
person, but i find reviews help me learn about board characteristics
etc...grg

wrote:
I like board reviews and would like to see more of them maybe they
would keep the group more active? i wonder how other people would feel
about that? The review above has a link that may bother other members
,hope no one is trying to sell anything. I find snowboarders feel
really strong about a board or brand like a religion or worse a mac
person, but i find reviews help me learn about board characteristics
etc...grg

Normally I wouldn't include a link to the place where you can buy it...
but that website is literally the *only* place you can buy a Madd
snowboard. If you are looking for negatives... Madd is a very, very
small company and so their quality control is uneven - the topsheet on
my board isn't perfectly bonded - there is a little space near the tail
and another near one of the inserts. However I did buy a pre-production
board off of them so hopefully they will have that all figured out by
next season... also the topsheet graphic is a bit "retro-artisty" to
say the least.

Last year I was one of their most vocal critics in that 2004-2005 run
of alpine boards since they were super slow to reply to emails or phone
calls, shipped way later then they said they would and even knowingly
sent boards with the topsheet on backwards (so it said "bbaM") to
customers - quietly hoping they wouldn't mind. People said I should
keep quiet because the Madd founders put all their time and money into
the company and that they were pushing the envelope of the sport. To
that I replied that just because they are great people doesn't mean I
can't criticize them for being unprofessional in having 1-2 month
turnarounds on emails and delivery boards 4-5 months late. Thankfully,
after all that criticism, I think they made an effort to be more
professional - tripling their staff from (ok, from two to like six) and
are much better at handling purchase requests and customer issues.

So you have been warned... but I still like their boards and after
riding most of the board under the sun - I was still looking and
willing to give them a second chance.

lonerider wrote:
A few days of riding it in several types of terrain and snow conditions
I have to say I'm liking my Madd TT board more than more. My very first
thought is the race base (waxed by Mike Santis PTC who some of you have
heard of) is *extremely* fast, I was already blazing on blues and it
took me a few runs to get use to the added speed on the steeps although
this was a super nice feature in the park and pipe as you could get
more speed and air without having to think about it.

Saturday morning I hiked up to the peak of my home mountain (Photo of
the hike - http://tinyurl.com/fjf9a, wide-angle photo of the Peak in
the distant backgronud http://tinyurl.com/kkdlq) and its soft nose
floated easily in the heavier Sierra powder without much setback (1")
for lighter, deeper powder (was only 2 feet deep) and in the trees I
would probably move my bindigns farther back.

After that it was the groomed runs and again the board is very *fast*
with a good wax job. Despite going at like 1.5 times my normal speed
down this semi-steep
run the board was very smooth and damp even when I rode through some of
the
ungroomed chop. I was particular impressed that I could ride out some
really
bumpy stuff after doing some small cornice drops. I like the springy
nose/tail - it allows for an smooth carve entry while the stiffer
mid-section holds you in the carve extremely well, and then the springy
tail will really give you some pop for mid-air edge changes

Some photos of me:
http://tinyurl.com/hm2z9
http://tinyurl.com/f96pd
http://tinyurl.com/fnq6u

Finally, we hit the park and pipe. Despite being a 158 and I'm used to
154-155cm, the board didn't feel that hard to spin (overall the board
is lighty). I suspect the carbon fiber tip/tail keeps the swing weight
down. While the board is medium stiff, the springy nose/tail lets me do
do tailpresses and switch noserolls, although I was never good at
butters.

The superpipe had icy wall with a soft middle with very "firm" walls...
and the Madd just rode it with confidence. I'm only an average
park/pipe rider... but with the icy walls...
I was one of maybe 6 people I saw getting out past the lip of the
superpipe
(all the others were local team riders, although they were going a bit
higher than me... and spinning a heck of a lot more). My friend has
some videos of me riding the pipe, I'll post my ugliness when he gives
them to me.

Overall, the Madd TT is the board I've been looking for... from powder,
to
groomers, to park and pipe... I was never thinking "oh... I wish I was
riding my..." etc. I have the Madd TT158 with the race base. It's a
twin tip with a nearly centered stance, for those people with more
freeride orientation, there is the Madd Freeride in a couple of sizes
(it's a medium wide board too). Officially I think they are selling the
boards next season... but if you bug Joe Franklin at
(http://www.maddmikes.com/Contacts.htm) he has some leftover -
including a few with a texalium topsheet (aluminum/carbon fiber weave)
that supposedly stiffens and dampens the board very well (with less of
the durability issues that Titanal have... but that's what they say...
I have no idea if it's true).

Wow, didn't take long to replace you tanker eh?

So care to compare and contrast?

--Matt

Matt wrote:
lonerider wrote:
Wow, didn't take long to replace you tanker eh?

So care to compare and contrast?

--Matt

Oh, I still have the Tanker. What I sold was my Reto (last Friday) and
my 4807 (today). Now I'm just down to three boards and I'm probably
going to sell my Fish as well... which would bring me down to two
boards.

So comparing... the Madd TT is a freestyle/freeride board whereas the
Tanker is a powder/freeride board - while both are unusually versatile
as I've had fun riding the Madd on groomers and on powder and I've
ridden the Tanker in the park/pipe. The Madd is very damp and able to
take steeps well... but it's still a 158cm board and the 172cm Tanker
is going to be more stable and carve better at speed and is more surfy
on deep bowl powder. The TT is more nimble and a little easier to
handle in the trees... which is needed because you have to be going a
little bit faster to float the board... whereas the Tanker will float
in deep powder on low-incline stuff with ease. The Tanker's stiffer and
longer nose blasts through chop even better than the TT, but while it
is light for it's size... it is always going to be a little long and
slower to swing when doing airs in the park and pipe.

If I had to pick just *one* board it would be the TT... but the Tanker
is pretty awesome... I would probably like it even more if I were a
bigger guy as board quality tends to go down hill once you go over
165cm. I'm not so big and pretty "medium" sized boards in general.

lonerider wrote:
Matt wrote:
lonerider wrote:
Wow, didn't take long to replace you tanker eh?

So care to compare and contrast?

--Matt

Oh, I still have the Tanker. What I sold was my Reto (last Friday) and
my 4807 (today). Now I'm just down to three boards and I'm probably
going to sell my Fish as well... which would bring me down to two
boards.

So comparing... the Madd TT is a freestyle/freeride board whereas the
Tanker is a powder/freeride board - while both are unusually versatile
as I've had fun riding the Madd on groomers and on powder and I've
ridden the Tanker in the park/pipe. The Madd is very damp and able to
take steeps well... but it's still a 158cm board and the 172cm Tanker
is going to be more stable and carve better at speed and is more surfy
on deep bowl powder. The TT is more nimble and a little easier to
handle in the trees... which is needed because you have to be going a
little bit faster to float the board... whereas the Tanker will float
in deep powder on low-incline stuff with ease. The Tanker's stiffer and
longer nose blasts through chop even better than the TT, but while it
is light for it's size... it is always going to be a little long and
slower to swing when doing airs in the park and pipe.

Yeah, I don't do park stuff. I am just now thinking about starting to
do
strait jumps, and I am pretty certain I will never be a part rat, got
that stuff
out of my system years ago on skateboards. I'm thinking my Tanker is
going
to be my all around freeride board, but I am going to play with the 170
Sasquach
as well. Not sure where that puts Phoenix. I think it might be my
favorite tree
board still, but it is hard to say. I suspect I have given myself to
many choices.


If I had to pick just *one* board it would be the TT... but the Tanker
is pretty awesome... I would probably like it even more if I were a
bigger guy as board quality tends to go down hill once you go over
165cm. I'm not so big and pretty "medium" sized boards in general.

Yeah, as one of the bigger guy crowd, I find my choices a bit more
limited. The
boards with a narrower waist aren't really an option, I have almost
forgotten that
edge changes can be quicker at this point. rad-air, donek, madd, prior,
and all the
other little shops I'm forgetting at this point are my only real
choice. I have this
obsessive desire to try everything I hear people talk about. I need to
beat this
desire out of my system. Speaking of which, my Nidecker 800pros should
be here
any day now.

--Matt

wrote:
I to have been thinking of buying from smaller companies actually from
Venture snowboards thier ethical conservation business practices apeal
to me but havent heard much about the boards.
The boards top sheets are made from a natural topsheet and are lighter
than average,anyway tired of supporting big corps like burton (i ride a
burton)who dont need my help getting rich when they already have 30
percent of market share

Yea, I moved off the radar of big companies (although I still like
Salomon) about 5 years ago. Since then I've been riding boards by tiny
board companies that tend to have less than a dozen people working in
them.

I've looked at their website. Their construction methods look topnotch
- I just don't know how their boards ride. Donek has been making boards
with many similar features (bookmatched poplar/ash cores, triaxial
fiberglass, quadriatic sidecut, durasurf base, inlaid or die-cut base).
Actually if you compare the two tech pages, Venture snowboards has a
LOT of things similar to Donek.

http://www.venturesnowboards.com/ind...struction.html
http://www.donek.com/tech2.htm

I mean Venture snowboards point out they use "sustanable harvested
wood," but it's the same woods (poplar/ash) as Donek. However they DO
have a HEMP topsheet which Donek doesn't offer and they facility is
wind-powered (neat). Donek maker Sean Martin recently just mention he
was always interested in ecologically "renewable materials"
(http://tinyurl.com/rn549).

Hey, I didn't know if you noticed it... but RedLodge mentioned another
company that's really info conservation, ethical business practices,
etc... http://www.compatriotsnowboards.com/giving.html. Although I'm
not so sure about giving away some of the money I just paid them to
their own private charities... I prefer to donate it myself.

Matt wrote:
lonerider wrote:
in deep powder on low-incline stuff with ease. The Tanker's stiffer and
longer nose blasts through chop even better than the TT, but while it
is light for it's size... it is always going to be a little long and
slower to swing when doing airs in the park and pipe.

Yeah, I don't do park stuff. I am just now thinking about starting to
do strait jumps, and I am pretty certain I will never be a part rat, got
that stuff out of my system years ago on skateboards. I'm thinking my Tanker is
going to be my all around freeride board, but I am going to play with the 170
Sasquach as well. Not sure where that puts Phoenix. I think it might be my
favorite tree board still, but it is hard to say. I suspect I have given myself to
many choices.

So yea I love to ride park/pipe. If the snow weren't so good, or if I
still rode on the east coast, I would be in the park/pipe most of the
time. While I really like the stability and the edgehold of the
Incline... I never really like it's stiffness or it's lively feel (both
the Madd and Tanker are damp boards). Again, I strongly suspect that's
because I'm a lighter rider and stuff tends to bounce me around more. I
liked the Phoenix a lot more... but I think I got too short a board
(should have gone for the 160cm because of the softer flex).

If I had to pick just *one* board it would be the TT... but the Tanker
is pretty awesome... I would probably like it even more if I were a
bigger guy as board quality tends to go down hill once you go over
165cm. I'm not so big and pretty "medium" sized boards in general.

Yeah, as one of the bigger guy crowd, I find my choices a bit more
limited. The boards with a narrower waist aren't really an option, I have almost
forgotten that edge changes can be quicker at this point.

I have this obsessive desire to try everything I hear people talk about. I need to
beat this desire out of my system. Speaking of which, my Nidecker 800pros should
be here any day now.

--Matt

Yea, hopefully I'm coming out of tunnel now that I started five years
ago. It's all Mike T's fault... when I met him in 2000, I had been
riding the same model board for three years... and I heard about ALL
the board he had demo'd and how he finally decided that he like the
Doneks the best. I figured I had to go try out some boards myself...
but they are like potato chips... you can't just try one.

P.S. I really like my Nidecker 800 Pros and prefer them over Catek
Freerides, but then again I'm a smaller rider and all the bigger guys
like the power and adjustability of the Freerides compared to the damp
smoothness of the Nideckers.

Bamboo core? i ve heard of bamboo topsheets but cores? i love to try
new things ,i bought flows before many people and became a the town
idiot ,anyway the last time i tried an experiment with a core was,( i
think) 1997 with a division 23 board with a foam core ,i think back
then morrow also had foam cores and it almost (understandably) killed
them when wood became the standard .
The division was a pile of **** ,it was amazing how bad it rode and
would think twice about messing with anything other than a wood core
without a lot of reviews. grg

Yea, hopefully I'm coming out of tunnel now that I started five years
ago. It's all Mike T's fault... when I met him in 2000, I had been
riding the same model board for three years... and I heard about ALL
the board he had demo'd and how he finally decided that he like the
Doneks the best. I figured I had to go try out some boards myself...
but they are like potato chips... you can't just try one.

My fault, eh?

So do you still have your alpine boards or are they gone too??

Mike T, proud owner of too many boards







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