Ippy's Guide to Buying a new snowboard

[NoFakie 45]

Ippy mate you've forgotten the most important bit.

 

NEVER PAY RETAIL

[Schneebored 0]

Hey ippy...I like what you are doing here. And I agree with many of your comments!

 

Have you considered setting up a blog page (or simular) to document your guide in more accessible way?...your common sense should be out there for all to read, as it suppasses alot of the drivel currently on the interweb.

[SnowJapan 178]

On that subject ippy, I did send you a mail to your registered email address but didn't hear back from you. We would be happy to talk about turning this into some kind of Feature on this here site if you are interested. If so please do email me at editor@snowjapan.com

 

About the editing issue - I have made a few changes... can you try again and let us know if it is working now please?

 

Cheers.

[ippy 66]

Since i posted it here, you're free of course to use it however you like Hell you can even change the title to SJ-David's guide if you want. Still, there's three more sections to go and that's a long time for it to go from useful--->useless!

 

And I would love to turn it into a blog schnee, but there's MUCH better and more detailed info out there. What the world probably needs less of, is people like me telling you 'how it is'. The aim was really to take what I'd learned and try and smash it all together into one big chunk to create one small thesis that paints a big holistic picture: 90/10.

I doubt i'd have anything else worth mentioning after that in truth

 

 

PS. Just checked. Looks likle i can edit stuff again

[Schneebored 0]

Originally Posted By: ippy

but there's MUCH better and more detailed info out there.

Really??? yet to find it.

[Jynxx 4]

Ippy, the Capita guys will luv ya ! Hope you score a demo board

Really, It would have been great if the boards were explained to me that way when I started. There are info but it's all over the place... I was jumpng from one site to the other, (A-B-C of snowboarding, Teton gravity, Transworld ..) but a lot of them are park orientated.

No one talks about flex, and how it relates to your own weight, and I was looking at female boards most of the time because that's how much I weigh. EXample: NITRO Pantera- great Freeride board I can ride now but then in the beginning, too stiff.

Or, how you can create a side curve by flexing the board. That was how we did it in skiing, old school. Don't lean, put your weight on.

Fair enough, freestyle boards are the intro-boards and you just gonna butter and slide most of the way in the beginning.

I wanted to learn switch from the beginning but I wasn't going to Park, and I think of NZ snowbaording instruction method of including Park as a requisite is just an easiy way for the instructors to kill their time. Sure if it's flat where you live and don't have a mountain ...

I wanted to board the mountain from the beginning and use all the experience from skiing so I had a different picture.

I'm not the person who'd like to put things into catogories but that's the way I'd put them, and I reckon you did a good job. Hope the rest will follow...

[ippy 66]

haha, if they are reading this, ill have a horroscope or bsod thanks, i already have an indoor, charlie slasher and quiver killer oh, and forces. Lets just say im a paid up member of the C3 fanclub!

 

You are right though, it is a bit capitatastic. i mean i realise i was following their formula, but even the flex pic is last years horrorscope.

 

And yep, it should suit you probably because a lot of the direction of it is now massively influenced by what you were suggesting earlier in the thread and i think you were right to have me move that way instead.

 

As for park decks (and assuming theyve trended towards reverse in teh last coule of years), truth is, i think people should be on a camber deck precisely because getting a good edge hold is the cornerstone of building technique, and i think reverse camber (lets say), kinda prevents you getting that lock in your carve that will help you learn to ride an aggressive edge. This will stunt your speed and control a bit precisely because you learned to slide into your carve a bit more. This is the whole 'loose' feeling that you get with those types of decks. Naturally, it'll be part of the whole reverse/camber discussion which i'll do in a few days.

 

Im a big fan of camber, i popped on my mates deck at the end of last season (a head team), it was way too small for me and had crappy bindings, but man compared to the indoor, the thing LOCKED IN and i felt really confident opening up. Went back on my deck in the afternoon and tried opening it up again, and went straight back to washing. In fact it was that experience that made me buy the quiver killer. So expect that event to play a big part in what i'm going to say about camber. Hopefully, for people like you and me who knew we just wanted to bomb the mountain the second we strapped in, it will make the case that camber still has a really important place.

 

But i do recognise that nothing compels you to get on a camber deck at any point in your snowboarding life, and reverse camber is to put it bluntly, way more fun initially just because its not scorpioning you (and is really forgiving). We all like quick success and especially in the early days of riding reverse gives you that in spades. So the case should also be made for reverse.

 

And then theres hybrid... and now im crying into my cereal because dear god its so complicated and im dreading trying to simplify it. I also dont have first hand expereince of riding hybrid so in many ways it will be like someone who's never eaten meat telling you what a steak tastes like In that case, i guess i might just point to the techs and leave it to the reader to go find out for themselves.

 

Though if there is one definite trend on the more aggressive (and expensive) lines of most manufacturers, it is hybrid. So i really really want to get you stoked on it.

 

Ah that'll do, im almost writing out the damn thing already.

[Jynxx 4]

I reckon Camber will always be there in selected models - but with rocker in the front tip of the directional board - talking about Big mountain board.

 

Anyone can grasp the idea of a rocker in the tip will give you more float in pow so I think this will be a standard thingy in the all mountain/resort orientated board, too. The question is, translating that into a twin tip board gives you all these hybrid combinations.

Funny thing is, this banana design works well with the loose freestyle trick crowd and because you can really shorten/lengthen the overall board at a given effective edge length. With magnetraction, you are increasing the contact points (of the edge and the snow) so there's LOT'S of combinations here... The manufactures can advertise and say you can ride a shorter board, but the opposite is true, too.

 

Maybe you wanna add some explaining about magnetraction.

The biggest LibTeck contribution... I don't do rails but I wonder if they catch. I reckon if you have camber + magnetraction, it will.

So, here is the reason, IMO, they have hybrids so that the edge doesn't catch so much, banana, or put a curve in the width of the board so the centre is higher that the edge. Or make it flat between the bindings and rocker in the tips.

I think having a pipe and rail in the same park is actually very challenging aspect of the board design.

[ippy 66]

i think that whole "ride shorter with reverse cam" thing was a consequence of the good old days before 2008

 

Common knowledge was this:

 

You want an all mountain deck, ride your reg size.

You want a park deck, drop the size.

You want a big mountain deck, you ride a bigger size.

 

I think what happened was that reverse gave you more float so people started advising you to size down forgetting of course the consequences to effective edge and stability because the contacts were raised. The line of thought was that if it floated that meant you didnt have to worry about that, so if you sized down youd end up with a park size deck that allows you to float. Hence they suggested you could size down a rocker board and do it ALL with one deck.

 

Only it wasnt all. You sacrifice stability at speed or on less than perfect terrain. Hence why reverse cambers tend to wash.

 

This of course led to some attempts at solutions. Magnetraction was one direction. Stability with more contact points for charging. But the real big attempt is in the hybrid cambers.

 

This is where you get stuff like cam-rock, c2, r+c, and capitas own variation, freeride FK it also comes with a reverse side cut in the middle acting as a third contact for stability which theyve called 'death grip'.

 

Each one has a different principle (the mervin and burton stuff pivots in the middle, and the nidecker/yes and i believe capita all have standard camber between the inserts, but then rocker at the contact), but they all seem to be attempts to give the forgiveness and float of a reverse camber, with the stability and pop of regular camber. In effect, they recognise the trend towards smaller size decks but also realise the problem when you raise your contacts off the snow and trim down your effective edge

 

And then theres Bataleon's TripleBaseTechnology just to make it even more confusing

 

Luckily though powder specific camber is pretty damn simple what with it being specifically directional - float at the front, power at the back, which gives you pow specific S-camber type shape (the burton name for theirs). The capita (as if i wouldnt mention that ) is rc after the front insert, but zero in the middle (FK) in the middle and a contact at the back instead of raising it after the inserts like they do on the rest of their FK line.

 

As for magnetraction in general, you also have a much mellower magnetraction with the C2, i think one of the big complaints was that it was a bit grippy for most people, so theyve spent some time dropping it down a bit.

 

Gah, theres just too much and im running out of reserved spaces! i should have reserved like ten of them Guess ive got a stack of research to get on with though. I mean, i can do the whole reverse/non reverse answer in my sleep, but the hybrid one is going to be a massive PITA for me

[Tubby Beaver 209]

Ippy, well done with writing so much about this. However I'm just as confused as when I started reading!! AND I snowboard!!

Its just as Jargon-heavy as the blurb that comes from the manufacturers. I think this is a great idea to lay everything out, just that I've become confused with all the blurb

[ippy 66]

dang, i was hoping i was keeping it simple? Do you mean the two posts on the front page, or the stuff in the thread? The stuff in the thread is pretty jargon intensive because we're chatting about all the stuff surrounding it, but the aim for the thread itself was to keep the jargon restricted. Ill have a look through it and see where i can clear things up. Thanks for the heads up

 

PS. If its stuff about shapes or camber profiles, thats still to come so hopefully that will make things clearer. Then when youve got through that, you can read through the first post and know what im referring to when im talking about it being a directional tapered deck for example.

 

But you should be clear on flex and sizing, so if theres jargon in there, then ill move to squish it! Again, thanks for pointing it out.

 

Spotted a couple: effective edge; washing... looking for more

[Metabo Oyaji 71]

I know zero about snowboards, and thought what you've written so far is very informative.

 

Wouldn't mind seeing someone write something similar about skis, actually.

[ippy 66]

The first post (especially the freestyle explanation) is FULL to the brim of jargon But i figure i won't go into explaining everything in it yet since really a lot of it should be explained by the other posts. Once I'm finished those though, I'll definitely go back and run through it to make sure nothing is left hanging. I have gone through the second post and noticed several terms that could do with clearing up so shoved in a brief explanation at the very start to pre-empt them. Hope this helps

[ippy 66]

finished a rather overly long discussion on sintered versus extruded. If you feel its too long, please do tell. I know i can break it down into shorter points, but its 2.40am and im clearly in a yappy mood

[HelperElfMissy 42]

Interesting re: Sintered Bases. My Troop has a sintered base and I have gouged that baby big time! I am sure I am not dropping off rocky ledges - but it has big deep gouges all over the place. Rides well still ... but not looking pretty. My old Luna didn't get half as many gouges on the base. I had wondered if the base was softer, but obviously not - maybe I am just a very naughty rock hopper after all.

[Jynxx 4]

Mamabear, it does make sense. Our Burner and Vinyl are both sintered but the Vinyl is very soft. I p-tex it before we go to a new resort so every 3~5 days the candle is lit. It also absorbs wax a lot.

On the other hand, the Burner has zeolite (aluminosilicate) in it and it's very hard. Can't remember if it has carbon, but I use flakes with carbon in it and iron to repair the base. It doesn't absorb wax as much.

As for performance, the Burner is faster provided that the base wax is really scraped off well, and a thin coat of paste wax is well buffed.

And after the wax is gone. Probably the zeolite effect which has absorbed the wax in its pores.

I am actually amazed how fast the Vinyl goes.

Some people say the sinter base advantage is only when the snow temp is in between a certain range, when it's slush it doesn't matter... I'll try and find out ang get back on that.

[ippy 66]

hey SJ-david, the edit time has apparently expired again (got a pop up this time ). If you wouldn't mind releasing it I'll crack on with section 5 on boards i reckons.

[thursday 1]

Maybe you should maje this into a featured article Ippy and get it outta my face.

 

Not that I care, I ski. But what you have done is ace. For knuckle draggers anyway.

[ippy 66]

STEP 5: BOARD SHAPES

 

Of all the sections this is possibly going to be the shortest and also the simplest to follow. Effectively there are 4 types of deck out there so it's not too big a deal to grasp. (I'm going to steal the images from the one place because nothing explains things better than a picture).

 

Type 1: True Twin/Twin

 

 

Imagine if you will, there is a line going north to south through the centre of the deck. If you measured from the far left tip to the centre it would be the same distance as the far right tip to the centre. It would also have the same flexibility in the tail as the nose, and the inserts would be equidistant from the middle. Basically each side is the mirror of the other. And that's pretty much the sum of it The big advantage of these decks is you can ride them in switch just as you would in regular. Obviously then these are the best boards for anything involving spins in the slower/smaller features in park - such as rails/boxes, and small jumps (category 1 and 2). It's also a really nice shape for cruising the resort and just mucking about on natural features. Thus, a great many of the decks in the ALL resort section (3) are also true twin.

 

Type 2: Directional

 

 

Cut one of these in half in the same way (smack bang between the inserts) and youll find a few things: first, the tip-to-centre is likely longer than the tail-to-centre. These decks usually have what's known as a 'set-back'. A set back means the front of the board has a bit more area than the back. This provides the board with a bit more float.

 

Second you'll find the tip is often softer than the tail and the angle at the side (the sidecut) is often more extreme at the tail than at the tip. These two things combined result in two things:

 

1. little resistance at the start of a turn. You can get on your edge easy to change your direction.

 

2. An AWESOME transfer of power at the end of a turn. Think about it this way: when you go into the start of a turn you want a soft resistance, but as you're moving through the turn your force is getting pushed into less and less area. The stiffer tail plus a *progressive* sidecut (the sidecut is designed for the progression in a turn) helps absorb that pressure allowing you to have a smooth perfect turn without things feeling bulky or washy.

 

This means that directional boards perform better riding in one direction rather than the other, hence they aren't really the best for tricks or park features and landings. These things are ultimately for big long turns, stability, and speed. You won't really find them so much in categories 1, 2, and 3. But you will in the others.

 

Type 3: Directional Twin

 

 

The central aim of the directional twin is to allow the versatility of the twin shape, with the power of the edge transfer from the directional board. They are usually twin shape and more than likely have a progressive sidecut. Also likely the tail will be a little stiffer than the tip. Naturally they'll ride a little more effectively one way, but for the most part won't feel too different. If you want a deck then that handles speed, carves, take offs and landings on either foot, then likely this is what you want. These decks are for bigger feature freestyle action and for the most part sit in category 4 (though you can also find them in 2 and 3).

 

They are aggressive rides for people who want to get a bit more performance and speed in their run ups, or want a bit more power coming into a spin leaving the vert of a pipe.

 

Type 4: Directional POW:

 

(tiny image )

 

Take a directional board, add a taper (more width at the nose than the tail), give it a bit of a setback, and make the sidecut gigantic (but progressive) and you have your tapered powder stick. Pretty much all the decks in category 6 are tapered powder boards. Their single reason for being is float in powder. You ride these things for the most part in one direction and you get buzzed off it. That's about all there is to say on them. They have one function and they are built almost entirely to deliver that function in spades.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS:

 

As you can see the movement pretty much goes from true twin through to directional Pow. Which one you should buy is pretty much restricted to what you want to do, but in summary:

 

- if you want a simple easy forgiving ride that gives you easy switch riding and some good smaller features as well as cruising the resort, you probably want to go with a twin.

 

- If you want to open up the mountain a bit more and fancy hitting up a few of the larger lines out there, but don't mind the deck feeling a little different in switch than regular, then grab a directional twin. Like twins these are pretty forgiving rides for the most part, but they can be a little spikier than their counterparts the true twin.

 

- If you want to progress into carving and back country and don't care all that much about tricks or riding in switch, then obviously you're looking at a directional board.

 

- Finally, if you want a pow board and if it doesn't have taper, you're doing it wrong.

 

Really, if this is your first deck, you can't go wrong with any of the shapes (other than pow of course), but if you want something a bit more technical and aggressive then verge towards a directional, and if you want something looser, more playful, and forgiving, head towards a twin.

[ippy 66]

Originally Posted By: thursday

Maybe you should maje this into a featured article Ippy and get it outta my face.

Not that I care, I ski. But what you have done is ace. For knuckle draggers anyway.

hahaha! i'll see if anyone wants to use this after ive finished the final section on cambers. I held this one till last because i have a strong strong feeling it's going to be enormous! I reckon it may be the breaking point for everyone, so maybe no one will want to make a feature of it after that

[Jynxx 4]

Hey, man.

Are you gonna be a snowboard writer?

[ippy 66]

haha! no way dude, maybe if i keep this up for twenty years. But 3 years of actual experience as i say makes me an authority on just about nothing. Im just really interested in (capita, neversummer, and bataleon) boards for some weird reason

[Jynxx 4]

Man, I met a travel writer and she doesn't travel. I mean she writes about places she has never been !

 

Think about this, A medical doctor could be practicing for 20 years but he might not be up to the current standards, doesn't read any journals, stopped studying and just running a business, meaning you might be getting treatment from a dinosaur.

 

I suspect anyone who calls himself, or considered being an authority.

Still you can write about stuff you have limited understanding (and what others understand as facts) and people will understand about the article without knowing you limitation.

[ippy 66]

When we come to hybrid camber, i'll be doing the same thing Thanks though for the vote of coufidence. I hope its pretty accurate, but it can all change in the next section

[ippy 66]

Number 2 on the list of frequently asked questions:

 

STEP 6: CAMBER VERSUS REVERSE CAMBER

 

Of all the sections of the guide, this is going to be filled with the most accidental errors. Even suggesting that reverse camber is loose or 'skatier' in its feel will result in a few people bashing me on the head to say it feels perfectly fine thanks. The trouble here is that when I come to explain the pros and cons I'm dealing with not entirely objective facts, but rather a difference in 'feel' for the ride. This is why this section can not be answered by reading this thread alone. As the two time Olympic Halfpipe silver medalist, Soren Kiekegaard remarked 'you just have to try it out and see if you like it'.

 

Actually this applies to really everything in this guide, but nowhere is the debate as furious and polarizing as it is about reverse camber so I throw in the qualifier now. If you want to really know if camber (or reverse camber) is better for you, you strap in, ride it and see how you like it.

 

That being said, this won't stop me trying to stoke you on switching to reverse, (nor will it stop me from reminding you why camber is awesome). This is a guide, and the point is to give you as much information as I can, even when the subject matter is furiously debated. Take heart though, I am nothing if not as undecided about it all as you probably are!

 

Camber

 

(images borrowed from transworldsnowboarding).

 

What is camber and how does it work? Well, it's rather simple: the board arches up in the middle at rest, then when you stack your weight on, the pressure is pushed towards the point where the arc pivots at the tip and tail of the board. These are your boards contact points, and the shape of camber is designed so that the pressure goes directly onto these contact points. This results in your boards grip when riding on edge or turning. Most boards have 2 contact points on each edge caused by the curve which keep you locked in on a turn.

 

A second feature is something called 'loading the camber'. If you push all that weight onto your back foot, the contact stores all that force in that one spot (the pivot point - the contact). Thus, when you release this pressure (for example in a jump), the board springs back to its original shape. How powerful that spring is, often determines a boards' 'pop'.

 

That's pretty much it. Camber boards have two big things going for them: stability and pop.

 

Reverse Camber

 

 

Rocker boards come in many variations, indeed my sierrascope (capita indoor FK), is zero camber (flat between the inserts) but then kicks up raising the contact points off the snow. In a sense then its a reverse camber board, but it looks only a little like that picture, but functionally its reasonably similar.

 

Some key things to note is that when you step on one of these, your weight is spread from the central pivot throughout the board. It therefore wants to snap back to the pivot in the centre of the board. This means 2 crucial things: you do not have the same grip you have on a camber board because pressure is not forced into your contacts and secondly, you cant load it. When you jump then, a lot of the force comes from YOU and the power of your own two legs.

 

But thats not why you want one of these. Imagine if you will 2 decks. They have the same shape, same flex, same everything, but one is camber and one is reverse camber.

 

What you will find is that because the reverse camber has raised contacts, it doesn't feel as 'catchy', so its a lot more forgiving. If you are a little off on your landing, or your weight isn't quite where it needs to be in a turn, or you're just happy bombing the mountain on the flat part of your base, the lifted contacts mean you'll likely get away with it. This means one very important thing: no more edge catching and no more scorpions (well, not exactly true, but let's just say the threshold for them is much less likely than on a camber board).

For a person new to snowboarding a more forgiving ride means a less vicious learning curve, less broken wrists (why aren't you wearing wrist guards!!!!), and quicker early progression. All of this spells one thing: F.U.N.

 

The second thing is that the board is in a pre-press position. This has three effects. The first and most obvious one is that you don't have to work so hard at presses making them great for rails and boxes. The second effect (mentioned briefly above) is that instead of riding your edges ALL THE TIME, you can just cruise on the base of the deck without fear of a catastrophic edge catch. You just don't have to be on point so much which is why a lot of these boards have the subtitle "hangover friendly".

 

Finally the third effect is the impact it has on flex. Even though these two imaginary boards are the same in every detail, including their 'flex'. The reverse is just going to feel a lot more flexible. EVEN THOUGH IT ISN'T!!!

This is really important for one reason. Reverse camber boards have stability issues (you can probably see that already just from reading the part on effective edge, flex, and it's design), stiffer boards naturally offset that. But reverse camber offsets stiffness by being in that pre-press position. It's almost having your cake and eating it.

 

But it isn't!

 

Camber Versus Reverse Camber?

 

Well now you can probably see for yourself the advantages and disadvantages of both. Camber offers more stability, it feels more locked in on turns and ESPECIALLY turns at speed, it also can be loaded so you can use the physics of the board to get spring from it which you can't really do so well on reverse camber. This means if you LOVE jumps and the pipe for example, you might want to hit up a camber deck.

 

But if you aren't on point, you're likely screwed. SO if you love jumps, you probably want to be on a reverse camber, because these boards are forgiving, offer quick fixes to progression issues, and they give you buckets of confidence to try new things. And did i mention? Throw in the raised nose and you have a POW machine as well. These are the noob friendly all resort killers! You get an easier time of it EVERYWHERE. Its fun on a stick. Sure they have stability issues, and sure they can't charge as well, or leave beautiful pin like tracks behind them (for most people), but well, that's not what they're about. They are about you having a stab at everything and not feeling bored or hemmed in.

 

But let me tell you a story. All last year I was on my sierrascope. I LOVE that deck, sure it washed, and yeah, it hates chop, and it does get thrown around a lot from the terrain, but oh, the fun we had!

 

On my last day of the season, as a nice present to my mate riding his lame ass head true deck (151 i think) with his crappy bindings, I wanted to let him get a feel of what a fun board was like, so we swapped out. Naturally he loved it. But the surprise was, so did I.

 

I'd spent a year on reverse camber, so I expected coming back to camber was going to involve twitchy edge catching, and an all round lame ride. I was completely wrong. I got this sudden (and rather novel) feeling that I was completely locked in on my edges. So as an experiment I started opening it up expecting a disaster (remember, this board is WAY too small for me). It was honestly incredible to have camber under my feet again. Turns felt springy and fun, and my edges felt completely locked in. I was seriously bombing.

 

The biggest thing was this though:

 

I never realised I was holding back on my scope. A few too many washes meant that I'd (without realising it), decided where the boards limitations were, and rode it up to that point and no further.

 

Well naturally the first thing I did when I got back on my scope was to open it up... And so, I spent the afternoon washing. I tried sitting lower, I tried being less feisty, but it kept bringing me back to that same conclusion. It was the design. Sure, an extra few cms would have made all the difference and I'm sure that would have given me much more stability, but I didn't have that. I was on a 156 and even this 151 budget camber deck with AWFUL noname brindings just rode way cleaner. Don't get me wrong, the scope outperforms it on almost everything else, but this one thing stuck with me. So I went out and bought the Quiver Killer because I knew what I really wanted was a much more aggressive ride at the end of the day.

 

I tell this story to not only illustrate the differences between the two styles of ride, but so you can understand this: If you never get on a camber deck in your life, you will never feel what you're missing and vice versa. There is no right and wrong answer at the end of the day. Each board comes with its own plus points, and its own minus points. There is no quiver killer out there... well, except the quiver killer.

 

Every board you buy will trade off some things for other things. When you take your scorpions like a man you learn from the sheer memory of screwing up, not to screw up again. This in turn makes your riding tighter and the confidence from this allows you to ride that edge more aggressively. Your turns will be longer, your control will be sharper, and you'll feel more on point. Finally you will smash through almost all terrain. You are not nature's bitch. Hence these decks encourage you to go into steeper, gnarlier terrain because you are completely in control of your edge and thus the ride.

 

On a reverse camber deck, you'll get bounced around a bit more, and you'll get thrown about a bit, and you'll wash, and you'll ride with a looser edge and shorter radius turns. At speed you'll likely sit lower down than a camber deck just because you'll have to and you'll likely reign it in a little bit more because you likely have to. But when you find that sweet spot of what the board can do, and how you can control the board, again, you can ride anything you like. Fancy charging that ridiculous line up there? Likely you're not beating your mate on his freeride down, but you'll look more stylish doing it.

 

It doesn't really matter ultimately. Neither is better at the end of the day. Both offer good points and both have weaknesses that you, the rider, will compensate for. Indeed, it was learning to charge on a washy board that taught me invaluable techniques for getting even more out of my camber ride. It is in fact the weaknesses of the deck that teaches you how to overcome them and get the absolute most of it. No matter what the drawbacks are, you will overcome them and be able to ride anything you like no matter what you learn on. You'll learn to carve faster and control your edges on a camber board, but you'll get a faster initial learning curve on almost anything you try outside that on reverse camber.

 

So if we pop back to the schemata on the first post we have an idea of where this stuff sits. Camber boards, because they are for longer lines, more aggressive feisty springy edge movements, and all round unknown terrain dominator's, tend towards freeride (categories 4 and 5). You will however find them EVERYWHERE in the line because it is tried and tested for performance all over the mountain - the stairmaster being a great example of camber still flying the flag in the park.

 

On the other hand reverse camber tends to die out after category three. They are awesome soft jibby boards, they also make incredible 'do it all' boards which is why you'll find many of the decks in category three (all resort freestyle), are reverse camber. They offer a forgiving, gentle, varied, and above all fun ride, which is why they are fantastic choices for people who don't really know what they want to do. They complement the jack of all trades boards fantastically.

 

But why do they die out at section 3: There is a reason for that though and we haven't touched on it yet.

 

Hybrid Camber

 

Much like a directional twin, sometimes you want to have your cake and eat it too. Sometimes you want a nice deck you can load, but thats still capable of gliding across some nice fresh pow. Well, this might be what you're after. I, however have no real life experience of this, so if I mention anything about the 'feel' of this, know I'm purely making a conjecture.

 

Actually, let's not make a conjecture. Let's add someone's direct opinion on the matter:

 

Quote:

youve got two basic kinds of rocker/camber combos.

 

Mervin:C2 Banana Power; NeverSummer:R+C; Burton:Flying V

 

 

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The first is what you described with neversummer, flying v, and c2. rocker between the feet, and it goes back to camber around each binding, but overall the tips are still lifted when the board is unweighted. riding-wise, i personally like this style more for a true performance hybrid. They still feel playful like rocker in the middle, but you also get full edge contact with the cambered areas because they press into the snow when you stand on the board. Finally, you also get pop from camber on each tip like normal. it nails all the aspects, in my opinion.

 

Nidecker, Yes, and Jones: CamRock and Capita:Freeride FK

 

 

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The other main hybrid is the exact opposite: camber in the middle with rocker after the bindings. I have ridden this as well, and while I do like it, I don't feel it offers as much as the other design. You get camber in the middle for carving, but without full edge contact, also the camber does nothing for pop. Overall i feel like c2/NS/flying v/etc offers more than the other design.

 

[in summary], if you just want a loose playful board that floats well and you just want to mess around on, the camber-middle/rocker-tips hybrid [camrock] might be for you... but if you want a performance-oriented hybrid with the power, pop, and edge hold of camber, AND the float and playfulness of rocker, then rocker-middle/camber-tips [C2/R+C] is probably for you.

 

This is a very neat comparison on how those two feel which I honestly couldn't give you from my own personal experience. It should not only help illustrate the performance you can expect, but also how successfully the two styles achieve their goals. It shoudl be noted, their goals aren't necessarily the same. The C2/R+C design seems built for more aggressive riding across deeper and more complex terrain and in a sense overcome the limitations of camber (float and forgiveness) and rocker (stability and pop). The camrock design on the other hand, seems to be more like a slightly more aggressive rocker design than anything. Of course, these boards extend across the entire flex range and shape range, so it would be nothing short of bizarre for me to say that a twin with a 4 for flex and C2 is going to ride more aggressively than a 7 on the scale directional Camrock deck. You have to map the whole thing out for yourself. As with everything else, it's only a part of the picture.

 

If you are looking at a hybrid though, naturally they are going to work pretty well in category 3 and 4. But also a lot of decks in freeride are moving towards hybrid camber precisely because they do give that perfect combination of float, stability, pop and forgiveness... and well, fun. Sure, it's not at a point that it can beat a camber deck for solid control (I assume, of course), but we are still in the first couple of years of all this, and the tech has gone crazy in that time. Sit tight and you might find hybrid moved out of the high end charging type decks, and into beginner decks. It's radical times and if the price (and flex) starts falling, expect hybrid to be at the forefront of the game in the next few years with rocker and camber consigned to the niches. (Hehe, why not say something controversial after 6 pages?)

 

Powder Rocker

 

 

I love explaining powder boards, and the reason for that is they are so EASY. Everything in a powder board is built to maximise float and make you glide over the top of 10 foot stashes. Just look at it. Did you? Now you know everything there is to know about it - mad float at the front, and a tail at the back for your weight to get a grip of the snow. There you go: powder rocker. Camber at the back. Rocker at the front, f*** yeah bro!

 

Zero Camber

 

 

Last but not least (because rook reminded me I didn't mention it), is zero camber. Again, I haven't ridden one of these (Flatkick raises the contacts so although its a flat base I assume it's nothing like it) so it's hard to give a genuine account, but from research the idea is that when you load a deck in camber you're creating a heavy downward force on the contacts which both grips and slows the board down. This puts a great deal of pressure on your legs to compensate and drive those turns through. Zero camber counters this by distributing your weight neutrally throughout the board (the edge is also good and long meaning it won't suffer the same problems of washing as reverse camber). With a reinforced tail and nose you can still kind of load the board for a bit of a pop when you want it (though truth be told this is the part of the design I'm struggling to understand).

 

The result is a kind of mellow camber: you lose a bit of pop, you also lose a bit of grip, but in turns, your edges still hold up far better than on a reverse camber, you don't entirely sacrifice pop, and more importantly your edges won't catch so much and feel quite so twitchy and dug in as they do with camber. Finally and possibly above all, because you're not constantly having to be on point with loading/unloading, things are a little more loose and playful. What this amounts to then is a great half way house that retains many of the benefits of camber, whilst gaining some of the loose playful feel of rocker.

 

The revenge of Camber: Triple Base Technology

 

 

Camber isn't finished. Not by a long shot. In 1997 some crazy Norwegians looked at snowboards and thought "hang about, why are they flat? Shouldnt they have three parts? A bit to ride flat in the middle, and the edges raised slightly at either side so they are released when you don't want them, but can be locked in when you do?" And so they invented Triple Base Technology.

 

How does it work?

 

 

If you look at the picture you see the middle is nice and cambered, but as you move to what would be the contact point on a camber deck, the edge starts lifting much like in a Flat kick deck lets say. Only Its still camber rolling through the middle of the deck. So what you potentially have is a deck that has the pop of camber and the forgiveness of a reverse camber deck. The edges stay out of the picture until you actually need them and because they are raised, getting on your edge is a piece of cake. I haven't ridden one, but if there's one positive i hear over and over again, is that edge to edge is LIGHTNING fast.

Anyway, because it's such a radical tech and you really really need to see what it does to understand it, (and because these guys have an awesome sense of humor), I'm going to give you something to watch for a change:

 

 

So is this it? The reverse camber/camber/hybrid camber killer?

 

Unfortunately no. For some it's the holy grail, but for others it feels sluggish and slow. It's one of those tech's that absolutely divides opinion, and unfortunately the decks are pretty expensive so it's hard for someone who hasn't already ridden one to justify dropping that much cash on it. Really, aside the float, I can't see a single flaw in it. But then again, I've never ridden one, so my opinion means jack.

 

From personal experience though I want one. I really really want one, and the day I see a 2009 evil twin (the greatest board graphic in history btw) in a second hand store for about $150, it's mine. But for you, the person thinking about buying a snowboard, or just trying to get your head around them, just understand it's definitely a tech to check out if you ever get the chance.

 

The nice thing is that these decks actually run the entire gamut, from jib right through to big mountain. So no matter what your preference, there's a TBT out there that might suit you. Definitely get on one of these if you can, but don't hand over your cash until you know its definitely for you.

 

And I guess that's sound advice on every single tech this section has talked about. Camber isn't for everyone, reverse camber isn't for everyone, hybrid camber isn't for everyone, and TBT isn't for everyone. Before you lay down your cash, see if you can hit up a demo because no matter what I write here, it's still just an outline. You have to see for yourself if you like the deck and if it suits your style.

 

Final Thoughts on Camber: AKA - TL;DR!

 

 

- Camber decks dominate the entire range from jib all the way through to powder, but they are increasingly being pushed into section 4 and 5 (the big mountain sections) with the hype on reverse camber. You will also find them in section 2 because they offer great performance jump decks. Primarily though, they suit riders who want perfect edge control and a really aggressive fiesty ride. They're also for guys who LOVE loading up and launching.

 

- Reverse Camber boards are really fun forgiving, and playful decks. You will find them primarily in the first three sections though because they start to lag behind a bit in aggression and stability once you get to big mountain stuff. You can find them in 4 and 5 but it's not really their strongest suit. Really they're for people who want to play on teh smaller park features, or who want to hit a bit of everything but haven't quite decided where they're going. They also make excellent cruiser boards which makes them really suited for the entire resort.

 

- Hybrid camber decks are closing in on all the ranges. They offer stability, performance, forgiveness and control in a single package. They also make exceptional all mountain decks. The trouble at the moment is that the tech is pricey, (but I expect it to come down in the next few years). When it does it will likely challenge camber as the dominant style of deck with most people. As I say, the price and tech means you don't have too much choice and diversity at the moment, so they tend to be in categories 4 and 5 restricted to a companies higher end line. But this is likely to change.

 

- Powder Rocker decks are very specific for powder boards. If you're buying 1 deck for all mountain/resort, avoid this! it's a quiver deck for a very niche type of riding. This is not the rocker profile you want because it's very singular in its function.

 

- If you find camber too catchy and a bit like hard work, but also think rocker is a bit too loose and lacking in bite, then Zero Camber might be a good alternative to the straight hybrid cambers out there. It's a bit inaccurate to call it a "mellowed down, loose and playful camber" but screw it, that conveys what it's trying to do more than any other phrase I could use.

 

- Finally, TBT is worth keeping on your radar. You may find it a gimmicky piece of crap, or you may love it. It seems to be the whole package but opinions vary WILDLY on the matter. Indeed, if it was the whole package, Bataleon, and not Burton, would be the number one name in snowboarding. They're not, so it likely isn't. Take it on a demo and find out for yourself if you can. But know that it is a significant tech out there and well worth checking out. What's more, it crosses all the ranges so there is already a board out there for you regardless of what you like.