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I demoed one of these last weekend at the
4:20/Grenade Games (thanks, kyled!), so I'll write
what I found with my few runs on this board.
On inspection, the board
appeared light and sturdy. The rocker between the
bindings was subtle but noticeable. The nose and
tail are flat and somewhat stiff, while between the
bindings is the reverse camber-type rocker, which is
noticeably softer than the tips.
The first thing I noticed
was that the board rode more or less normal. This
was a good thing, as I was curious if it would wash
out more with the softer center. I forgot to pay
attention to whether it chattered or not with the
softer center, but it did ride smoothly when ripping
through the chopped up banked turns.
I've heard others say Lib's
toned down the Magne-Traction a bit recently, and
they might be right. I was still able to wash out
once on this board, but it took some serious leaning
over to get to. (The MTX itself was pretty rad.
Normal feel and turning, but a firmer edgehold. I
could still more or less lay out carves just fine.
Spinning flatland three's, I sometimes over-rotate
and revert around on my Stairmaster. Not here - as
soon as the rotation continued past the fall line,
digging in the uphill edge, the MTX stopped me
immediately with solid control.)
Ollieing felt a just a bit
different with this reverse camber-type rocker in
the middle. Normal ollies yielded about normal
heighth for good pop, but once I boned my rear leg
out slightly more than I normally do for pop, the
Banana had just as much boost as my old Riders
Choice (which had the most pop of any stick I've
tried yet) and yields more pop than my beloved
Stairmaster.
Jibbing was utterly
ridiculous. Period. My Stairmaster is a jib board,
and I have probably 40 days on it, so it's softened
up. The Skate Banana could out-press/butter my
Stairmaster, easily. On the groomers though, it did
not really ride like a noodley jib stick. Nice.
Late April at Summit West
yields no deep freshies, but these boards reportedly
kill it in pow. With the concaved rocker between the
bindings and stiff tail, I can see some truth behind
the hype, and I hope I'll have a powder day on a
Banana next season.
The only con's I could find:
The board was in dire need of some wax, as last
weekend's wet and warm conditions probably took a
toll on the previous wax job, so I never got to find
out how fast or slow the UMHW sintered base is.
A minor complaint, if
anything. Other than that, the default stance
location on the 156MTX is a bit narrow. I had to use
the widest inserts with my disks almost maxed out to
get my standard 24-inch stance. With such jibbing
potential, hopefully Lib moves the inserts out a
bit.
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