Board recommendations?

Hey all, you probably get this all the time.

I like to carve a lot and jump a lot and am not really into speed - the
more you carve and the slower you go means more time on the slopes and
less time on the lifts! I enjoy riding park as well, although my
friends aren't so into it, so I generally spend about 80% of my time on
the mountain riding behind them looking for kickers anywhere I can. I
drag them to the park a little bit and watch them fall of rails. It's
fun.


Vitals:

Height: 5'10"
Weight: 78kgs
Boot Size: 11 (UK) 11.5 (US)

I currently have a Salomon Prospect 157, which I really enjoy riding.
It is incredibly light - which I like. The only problem with it is that
it does lack a bit of pace, especially in powder.

I'm currently looking at the following boards and I wonder if you had
any opinions or any further suggetions:
K2 Union 159
Ride Theory 159
Never Summer Legacy 159
Burton Custom 158

Thanks, enjoy your seasons!
Mike

The Salomon Prospect is a solid board, but you are kind of pushing it
in terms of weight (you barely within the 80 kg max suggested weight).
I'm not sure what you mean by "pace" but for powder, but the narrow
profile combined with your larger feet and mass may make it sink and
slow to turn in powder.

If you search this newsgroup via groups.google.com you will see that
I've posted extensively about my favorite freestyle/freeride board, the
Donek Phoenix (www.donek.com), you might be able to go with the 156
Wide as well (WAY STIFFER though) Here's a link to posts on the Phoenix
in this newsgroup - http://tinyurl.com/acsp3

I wouldn't go with the NS Legacy if you like park, the Neversummer are
all very heavy boards (I use to own an Evo, which was designed to be
lighter specifically for park/pipe, and it still was a little heavy).
Neversummer boards are very damp freeriding boards for high speeds in
my opinion. I'm not impressived with the K2 Union as it only uses
biaxial fiberglass (nearly all good snowboards use triaxial...
including many of the better boards in K2's lineup). Ride Theory is a
weird model according to the Ride website, but the 159 sounds good for
the type of riding you like to do. I personally don't like the softer
flex of the Burton Custom (especially compared to a Salomon), but it's
not a bad board persay. Since you don't go fast anyways, you might not
notice it's lack of carving stability at higher speeds.

Hope this helps,
--Arvin


Michael Bartlett wrote:
Hey all, you probably get this all the time.

I like to carve a lot and jump a lot and am not really into speed - the
more you carve and the slower you go means more time on the slopes and
less time on the lifts! I enjoy riding park as well, although my
friends aren't so into it, so I generally spend about 80% of my time on
the mountain riding behind them looking for kickers anywhere I can. I
drag them to the park a little bit and watch them fall of rails. It's
fun.


Vitals:

Height: 5'10"
Weight: 78kgs
Boot Size: 11 (UK) 11.5 (US)

I currently have a Salomon Prospect 157, which I really enjoy riding.
It is incredibly light - which I like. The only problem with it is that
it does lack a bit of pace, especially in powder.

I'm currently looking at the following boards and I wonder if you had
any opinions or any further suggetions:
K2 Union 159
Ride Theory 159
Never Summer Legacy 159
Burton Custom 158

Thanks, enjoy your seasons!
Mike

"Michael Bartlett" wrote

Height: 5'10"
Weight: 78kgs
Boot Size: 11 (UK) 11.5 (US)

I currently have a Salomon Prospect 157, which I really enjoy riding.
It is incredibly light - which I like. The only problem with it is that
it does lack a bit of pace, especially in powder.

I'm currently looking at the following boards and I wonder if you had
any opinions or any further suggetions:
K2 Union 159
Ride Theory 159
Never Summer Legacy 159
Burton Custom 158

Take a look at Nitro's offerings. You want their top or next to
top of the line boards, depending on how much you
want to spend this or last season's. They're extremely light,
very snappy and not too stiff. I'm puzzled as to how can you live
with a regular board and size 11.5 lasts. Check out Shadow for
a board that is a bit wider than normal or a Saber if you want
to go full wide. Shadow is heavier and a bit more damp than
Saber (still on the light side). Compared to Custom Shadow is
quite a bit more "sharper", a bit stiffer. If Custom is M-B, Shadow
would be a BMW

I personally think that Nitro boards with hypracore are the best
deal now, they're almost as light and snappy as the top dogs like
T6, but you can find them cheap if you look around. Last year's
Saber can be had dirt cheap and it's as good as it gets in wide
light boards.

I ride a Never Summer Legacy and love it!! I have to agree with Arvin,
it is a bit damp. But if you like speed, the NS Legacy is a rocket.

Since you're not into riding fast, I would look for a board that is a
bit more freestyle than freeride. It sounds like you would have more
fun on a board that has some more pop (flex) than a stiff
freeriding/big mountain board.

With that said, I would say the Burton Custom may be more of what you
are looking for. The best thing to do is to demo one. You'll know
after a few hours whether or not it's the board for you.

Cheers,

~J.

Arvin, thanks for your response. One of the challenges, and perhaps I
should have mentioned it before, is that I like in London and the
smaller brands are very difficult to come by.

Donek Phoenix only appear to have one size available in wide, and it's
the 163w - unless their web site is missing something. Do you have any
thoughts on the K2 Nemesis
(http://www.k2snowboards.com/products...sp?productid=6)?

Cheers
Mike

mydigitalself wrote:
Arvin, thanks for your response. One of the challenges, and perhaps I
should have mentioned it before, is that I like in London and the
smaller brands are very difficult to come by.

Donek Phoenix only appear to have one size available in wide, and it's
the 163w - unless their web site is missing something. Do you have any
thoughts on the K2 Nemesis
(http://www.k2snowboards.com/products...asp?productid=
=3D6)?

Cheers
Mike

From the Donek website
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3 D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
If you're living in the EU and want to buy one of our boards, we've
ironed out the details in regard to shipping and import duties and
taxes and the rest of the nonsense that often accompanies international
purchases. Instead of hassles, we offer special all-inclusive
(board+shipping+taxes) pricing to our EU customers.

Twin: =80515
Phoenix: =80515
Incline: =80430
Wide: =80430
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3 D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

Donek is going to update their website in a few days and they might (I
have heard nothing that suggests this, I'm just guessing) have some
more wide versions available. It is definitely a bit more of a chore to
buy from them, so definitely consider other options.

As for the K2 Nemesis, it looks interesting, the bulit in riser pads
with dampening material sound interesting, although 2-4 mm doesn't help
with boot drag that much (good enough I suspect since the board is a
mid-wide as well). The Nemesis is listed as a freeride board, so I
suspect it will be stiffer, particularly between the feet. The
specifications overally sound good. I can't really say more as I'm not
really familiar with the board, but it looks like it would be worth a
spin (IF you can get it on sale). There are very few boards that I
think are worth paying full-price for.

--Arvin