Recommendations for my next board

Mike T wrote:
Another
company I personally always suggest is Donek - particularly their
flexy twin-tip jib board (http://www.donek.com/01_products/twin.htm).
Call/email them and they can probably send you a board to demo for free
to see if you like it.

I will certainly second lonerider's recommendation of Donek as a company.
My wife and I have 7 of their boards between us, an assortment of Freecarve,
Axis, Incline, and Phoenix. I've never ridden their softer boards so I
cannot make specific comment on the twin-tip. But I've always had great
experiences with both product and customer service, the personalized service
you get dealing directly with the owner is fantastic.

As not everyone has search capability on this newsgroup. I should
probably reiterate some things I've said before. The first is that I'm
not affliated with Donek in anyway and they indeed do make some boards
that are extremely well made, but that I didn't end up liking.

The main reason that I recommend them over and over again as that they
are the only company that I know of that actually ships its boards to
people to demo for free (well you have to pay to wax it and ship it
back). I think this is an extremely useful thing for people trying to
find a board they like. I haven't ridden the Twintip, but I own the
Phoenix and Incline and it is much softer than my old Donek Incline
which didn't fit my riding style. The other brand I really like is
Salomon, but their boards are always somewhat stiff and so I didn't
recommend them for someone who wanted to a soft freestyle board. I'm
not a super big fan of Burton, although their boards are decent for
freestyle (I've ridden the Dragon, Custom, and Fish).

As not everyone has search capability on this newsgroup. I should
probably reiterate some things I've said before. The first is that I'm
not affliated with Donek in anyway and they indeed do make some boards
that are extremely well made, but that I didn't end up liking.

I will take lonerider's cue and reiterate some similar disclaimers, since
there seems to be an annual "shut up about Donek" post.

I'm not affiliated with Donek in any way either. And I also have ridden a
couple of their boards that I didn't dig so no, i don't just ride because of
the name. And I do own and thoroughly enjoy some boards from other
manufacturers as well.

My fervent recommendation for the company comes from several things... great
customer service, a committment to developing products that answers to real
riders' needs and not image or hype, a commitment to quality and durability,
and the fact that Donek builds products for the "under-represented" parts of
the snowboarding population: alpine and "adult freerider" in particular. I
also have a soft spot for small businesses and being able to discuss product
with the brains of the operation.

My first Donek turned out to be the catalyst that got me through the
"terminal intermediate" barrier and exposed me to the part of snowboarding I
love most, carving.

So if you think I recommend them too often, please remember I'm just a very
satisfied customer and that's all. I just paid full price for my new FC
175 Olympic - $850 - and it's worth every penny.

Mike T

















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lonerider wrote:
If you were riding one of those Rossi rental boards with the
retro-style graphics on it, I totally agree that's a crappy board.

Wow.. you're good, man. Do you do parties?

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 00:46:09 GMT, "lonerider"
allegedly wrote:

As not everyone has search capability on this newsgroup. I should
probably reiterate some things I've said before.

You mean not everyone has access to google groups? Amazing.

- Dave.

--
The only powder to get high on, falls from the sky.
http://www.vpas.org/ - Snowboarding the worlds pow pow -
Securing your e-mail

The Snowboard FAQ lives here - http://rssFAQ.org/

Switters wrote:
On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 00:46:09 GMT, "lonerider"
allegedly wrote:

As not everyone has search capability on this newsgroup. I should
probably reiterate some things I've said before.

You mean not everyone has access to google groups? Amazing.


Exactly... if people were to use it and search before posting... this
newsgroup would hardly get a new post. If they went to the FAQ after
that.... well...

Actually I didn't even bother searching. It's almost impossible to find
anything useful in a search for anything snowboard-related because of
splogging and keyword spamming. Plus, I figure if something's good
enough that people would take the time to mention it, it'd at least be
worth looking to. I can go to a ski shop and hear the canned answers
for "what's the best snowboard" if I want to. Plus I didn't think
there'd be enough questions exactly like mine to make it worth
searching.

So I really appreciate you guys taking the time to reply over and over
even if it feels like you're wasting your breath, or keystrokes, or
whatever. I found it helpful.

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 22:43:09 GMT, "
allegedly wrote:

Actually I didn't even bother searching. It's almost impossible to find
anything useful in a search for anything snowboard-related because of
splogging and keyword spamming.

Nonsense... google archive the threads posted on this newsgroup
irrespective of whether someone posts using google groups or not. The
archives don't get mangled, and this group doesn't really get spammed that
much.

I can go to a ski shop and hear the canned answers
for "what's the best snowboard" if I want to. Plus I didn't think
there'd be enough questions exactly like mine to make it worth
searching.

Certainly the "best board" question seems to be the most common, along
with "is this board right for me". The problem is that it's impossible to
answer in the FAQ because there are so many variables.

It's still worth while doing a search though. It might not give you the
answers, but it might give you some ideas.

Overall though, even though the questions are the same, it can bring up
some interesting thread drifts.

- Dave.

--
The only powder to get high on, falls from the sky.
http://www.vpas.org/ - Snowboarding the worlds pow pow -
Securing your e-mail

The Snowboard FAQ lives here - http://rssFAQ.org/

For the sake of those who search archived messages, I contacted Donek
and learned that demo by mail is no longer something they do.
Apparently they had problems getting the boards back; fancy that.

I had gotten all jazzed at the prospect of putting my own graphics on
my board, too.

If you're in the neighborhood though (CO), you may be able to drop by
and borrow a board in person.

wrote:
For the sake of those who search archived messages, I contacted Donek
and learned that demo by mail is no longer something they do.
Apparently they had problems getting the boards back; fancy that.

Alas, that was one of the coolest things about Donek in terms of
customer service, their boards are some of the best I've ridden... but
I prefer it when people get to try them out for themselves and decide.