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Nice, was just looking through the Evo catalog last night and saw the Powder Snake, a good looking board. I've got a Jones Hovercraft 160 on order.

But I'm like you, haven't had the chance to get out there and use one yet.

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I've been tempted by a secondhand (few seasons' old) Burton Fish that I saw for sale the other day but even though it's pow-specific, my Machete handles the pow so well (for an all-mountain board) that I may have to resist! Maybe!! :D

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Out of the 4 board we (me and my missus) have, we ride the Salomon Burner and Atomic V-tail most of the time. Most of the time we choose to ride has been on powder, and I chose these boards for powder and steeps. We are 55-60kg and our board are about 160.

My opinion is that since we are riding on our back foot in powder and not continuously on the center of our stance, although it does give us float, I am reluctant to say it is a ripper powder board. I think any board under 170 cm (even for our weight) does not deserve to be called a powder board. We think our boards can do with another 10 cm. Since we have small feet, mid wide boards are shitty. Go long instead of wide - is true for us light weights. The idea of weight per area, substituting length by width is false.

Having said that, reducing the area behind your back foot, by swallow tail, v-tail, setback definitely help sink the tail and the result is that you find yourself on the back foot. All I am saying is : you can´t put pressure back on your front foot - your nose will dig and make you cart wheel. Why do I want to put pressure on my front feet ? Well, it´s bloody steep. I don´t want to lean back and go fast and steep. Also bumps and jumps and changes that throws you back. OK. I admit I´m not all that good on pow, but I don´t think a so-called short powder board is going to fix that.

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I had a Rossignol 60 before and it did great in the powder for me. My current board of choice, the Burton Hero 55, just doesn't float like the 60 does. The Powder Snake isn't the longest of boards I could be riding, but it is a hybrid board (twin wiith directional inlay) so I'm hoping to do some powder buttering this year, something that a board any longer might not allow ;)

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It suits your style of riding - Cool :friend: :thumbsup:

 

When I started snowboarding, I wanted to ride switch and all that, but now I never do it.

Don´t feel all that comfortable on fakey nowdays.... strange ideosync. is that I ride my longboard (skateboard) fakey

The tools I use do set me into a certain form, not always transferable,

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Nice, was just looking through the Evo catalog last night and saw the Powder Snake, a good looking board. I've got a Jones Hovercraft 160 on order.

But I'm like you, haven't had the chance to get out there and use one yet.

 

Same same, I picked up a jones hovercraft 2010/11 in the sales at the end of last season. Probably one of the only shops that hadnt sold out but it was a shop

in England...

 

From what Ive read and researched the hovercraft is well suited to riding powder in tight trees, but Ive yet to put it to the test.

 

i also noticed that Jeremy Jones rode his hovercraft during his last trip to Hakuba and he was hitting all sorts of crazy steep lines with it too.

 

Im pretty confident it will will rip but Id be interested to hear how you get on with it too.

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BM, Fish No Board can be picked up really cheap. Like $150. They are not built the same. Cannot convert the NoBo to bindings.

 

Actually, my Fish is the model the year before the No Fish was made. It's slightly different than the No Fish. It doesn't have a swallow tail and is a little stiffer. I've seen the pad that can convert a regular Fish into a No Fish because I don't really want to buy any of the No Fish boards.

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Yes mate, had a demo of one at Kagura back in March and loved it, despite the Spring conditions. Also loved the design, which I know shouldn't be a factor but invariably is! ;) The only thing against it is the price - Ride's most expensive board or thereabouts!

 

Thanks for confirming that BM - that's the same as the one I've seen for sale near me, though a 156 in blue. Time to see if it's still there, me thinks! :D

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You guys seen the elan wave rider?

wave-rider.jpg

 

20mm taper, front rocker but goes flat from the end of the toe inserts all the way to the tail.

 

 

Funny, that's the board I am looking at ordering. :D

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Elan makes quality boards. I like them. Their factory makes boards for other brands.

This one is similar to Voekl Soulsurfer. The 20mm taper is too much IMHO, (if you like going fast on gloomers, the tail washes out)

Actually boards like Burton Malolo, Ride Slackcountry, Abour etc.. all have similar spec boards at a similar (high-ish) price

Salomon Burner rules !

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its pretty similar to the charlie. Not entirely surprising given that elan press capita. :) It is quite stunning to look at though and would definitely be one of those decks that few people are going to be riding. It also has a 169 which is sweet.

 

Just comparing the two, the big difference is in the sidecut. Since elan have omega and capita dont, capita has a single radius sidecut whereas the elan board has the cut going flat in the tail (thats the omega sidecut - its basically a flattening of the radius a couple of inches before the contacts (and just after the inserts). The purpose according to their own spiel was to give you a narrower shape whilst not gimping your ride (omega is supposed to take the energy from the board going on edge and distributing it a little wider than a single narrow contact point you get on most normal cambered (tight radial) sidecuts in order to prevent the board from hooking or catching into your edge: for example on a squirly landing you might land on your front toe edge a bit more, and the board will yank you around that carve when you just want to ride straight from the landing causing a bail. The omega's design was to stop that hook by making it flatter and less pronounced thus giving you a bit of breathing space to engage the edge when you need it).

 

204.gif

Anyway, on this board they only put it on the tail for the following reason:

 

This design feature enhances the rider’s overall control and improves the transfer of energy from edge to edge by reducing the widepoint of the tip and tail, while not reducing width through the waist of the board.

 

Sounds fun. Not sure how that changes the feel of a ride from your standard taper mind you (since they both have a 20mm - actually the charlie is 164 charlie is 22). But the wave rider has a tighter radius and isnt as wide in the center. Possibly this gives it an advantage in sharper turning over the charlie. The charlie has a slightly longer effective edge, and is generally fatter all round (wider at all three points) so it has a bit more area to it. Other than that, both boards are pretty damn similar.

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Elan makes quality boards. I like them. Their factory makes boards for other brands.

This one is similar to Voekl Soulsurfer. The 20mm taper is too much IMHO, (if you like going fast on gloomers, the tail washes out)

Actually boards like Burton Malolo, Ride Slackcountry, Abour etc.. all have similar spec boards at a similar (high-ish) price

Salomon Burner rules !

My charlie never once lost its edge on the groomers. In fact it blazed them like youd expect to rip on a standard freeride. I also learned to cross under carve on it which is a massive feather in its cap! This is a board way bigger than im used to and its edge to edge was phenomenally fast. Now it might be the size keeping me stable, but i promise you this, i never once felt like the board was squirly. It felt as solid and locked in as my quiver killer and thats a pretty high complement to give it since that thing eats crud, chop and ice like its first tracks on a beautifully mown bit of corduroy.

 

Honestly, i think from my own experience, the word taper sends people into fits of panic that its going to ride weird. But the charlie felt very muhc like your standard charger. I didnt really adjust my ride on it all that much and it was fine. I wasnt tripping over the taper, and in switch i wasnt feeling like i was going over the handlebars. It felt like a normal snowboard to all intents and purposes.

 

(ps. im specifically referring to its performance on the groomers and in the crud. Its performance on pow and in the trees was obviously phenomenally good fun. It never runs out of steam (unless of course you really do end up in a looooong flat bit - but thats a navigation issue rather than a board one), its really lively, and finally, it puts up some amazing spray!... And spraying is what its all about in the pow! :p

 

ETA 2: Even though i just got a bataleon riot (the board i havent shut up about since i first heard about it nigh on two or so years ago), its the charlie that i cant wait to get back on :)

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haha, i just wanna talk about capita :p

And bataleon.

And pow

And ripping.

And why isnt it january yet? :(

And why have i gone two and a half months without a pay cheque and how am i supposed to afford this season on my dispatch wage :'(

And im getting too old for snowboarding.

And when the season comes, ill start getting fed up with snow after a few good pow days. And then ill take the rest of the pow days for granted like i do every season and suddenly decide if its only 5cms extra im staying in bed.

And then when i really want to ride again itll be 20 straight days of thawing. :(

I hate snowboarding. Maybe ill get a proper injury this season to serve me right! :)

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