Many thanks to Ben and Hamish for their co-operation and of course to Twistlift for
providing the goods.
By Hamish Scott
When I first looked at the web site for TWISTLIFT my initial reaction was
"...ahh...another boarding gimmick. Perfect for Japan!"
Then the box arrived and even before opening it I knew I had a serious piece
of hardware on my hands...it wasn't light. I havn't weighed it but my guess is
that the twistlift is going to add about 3kg to your setup. The weight
corresponds with a super sturdy product. It really is solid!
Getting it set up on my board took 5 minutes. The aesthetic effect (all
important here in Japan) was complimentary...these things look pretty sweet on
your ride. It gives your rig a bit of an industrial hardcore look with 2 chunky
black plates under the bindings. The release handles come in the shape of
wiggling sperm which may or may not be to your taste. I thought it was kind of
funky. They do look the part.
Now..the all important mountain test. The snow conditions at Naeba were 30cm
of fresh on piste with deeper stashes in the gullies. Basically the test was
done half on the groomed and half in the gullies.
The first thing I did after arriving was to point the front foot forward and
practice a bit of skating. The most obvious advantage of the product is being
able to skate over the flat sections with your front foot forward. I was a
little surprised to realise that in fact it is just as diificult.
Finding somewhere comfortable to put your back foot when your front one is
pointed forward is not as easy as having your feet sideways. There is also less
directional control with the front foot forward...I fell off at one point while
skating!
On the first run down I set up a new stance. The time to adjust the bindings
was less than one second! Once they locked in place they didnt move at all.
It felt just like having a pair of bindings screwed directly to your deck.
About half way down the run I decided to change my back foot. I did this
while riding. It wasn't at full pace but I didn't have to stop. It was really
simple and the new stance was instantly comparable to the old one. I thought
that this was the best overall feature of the product.
I've been riding on and off for a long time. In that time I've never changed
my stance more than once a day and then only slightly. Twistlift gave me the
freedom to experiment with my stance and to really compare the advantages and
disadvantages of each. For a learner or even someone who has done a season or
two, this opportunity can really give you a new perspective on your own riding.
However! The stance angle was all I could compare. For my second run I
decided to hit the powder. I really wanted to push my stance towards the back
of the board as I'm a bit underpowered in the length department. This would
have meant undoing and re-setting two sets of screws and was ultimately the
reason I left my stance width the same. The thought of mucking around with two
layers of screws was considerably more daunting than adjusting my binding
position in the normal fashion.
After jumping into a suitable gully and ending up face down in a powder
drift for the second time I noticed the extra weight on my feet. Trying to get
the board in to take off position from head down took a bit more effort than
usual. The effect while riding was to raise my feet slightly so this may have
had a positive effect in terms of snow drag but I really didnt notice. Other
than that no discernable difference to performance in the powder.
I was a little apprehensive about the lifting effect of the product. Ive
always felt that feet closer to the deck have more control and a "feel" for the
board. This turned out not to be a problem at all. There was no difference in
sensitivity and performance. I guess this is becase the base plate is tapered
out from your binding giving a wider foot touching the board. In theory this
should also lessen the risk of pulling the screw holders out of the deck when
crashing or snapping your board around the binding mounts as I've done on one
occasion.
The snow was too nice to spend much time in the park. I did one run and
easily changed my stance to duck which really helped on the rail. One thing
I didn't test was the final rotation tweak when landing a spinning jump. I
imagine that the extra weight may make this a little sluggish although its not
that much extra. I did notice it when popping 180 ollies though.
A big benefit was also the double chair. I set the binding froward and had a
very comfortable ride up with the board on the footrest usually only available
to skiiers. Bliss!
In summary the Twistlift is a really well made product that can benefit
almost every rider by allowing instant comparison of stance angles. It makes
riding the park much easier and riding chair lifts with foot rests far more
comfortable. The main disadvantage lies in weight. I think that I will use the
Twistlift for at least two more days just to do a full stance comparison. After
that I will probably shed the extra kilos.
Hamish Scott (32)
New Zealand Boarder living in Japan.
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It should be
noted that there are two versions of Twistlift - Standard and Pro.
The models tested by Ben and Hamish were the Standard model. The Pro
model has a weight advantage over the Standard model weighing .78lbs
compared to the heavier 1.25 lbs of the Standard model. |
 |
