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Well i dont wanna spoil your fun :)

 

I also have no idea about the board in question (other than its a prior and its a khyber). Sounds like the malolo i think... but honestly this year i aint got nothing on tech. Im out of the loop :)

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and your address is........

good luck, ippy.  

Yeah, good luck on the jobhunting front. In the meantime you can get vicarious thrills from the fact that I have just bought a NEW BOARD!!

Can i declare an interest? I have a mate, well, more an e-friend. He now builds snowboards and just started his company. Theyre pretty small scale at the moment with only 3 rigs in their line, but they cover the basics. Boards are built in taiwan at playmaker (atomic and lower end nitro) but they were always awesome for warrantying as sierra (its the same dude - mike harrosh - bank rolling it along with doug fagel (engineering).

 

The three decks are:

 

1. The Thrive Accomplice.

 

2013-accomplice-152-top-base.jpg

 

Its basically a jib board. Reverse camber, pretty much banana by the sounds of it (continuous rocker from the middle). Not entirely stoked on it to be honest, but i have a feeling they really liked the sierra stunt so created their own version of it. Doug was always a firm beleiver that beginners should pick up the stunt first and learn on that, i kinda always felt people should learnon a medium soft camber ride like the stairmaster. Hes the snowboarding instructor and im a dude whittering on the forums so obviously youre gonna believe me. Still, i think thats why this deck is in their line. Its going to be fun and easy early doors and also will be pretty plush for park rats. It comes in a 152 and 156 with a medium-wide WW (253 and 256mm), so a nice fat steady platform to sort of, well, not entirely stomp since its bananad. But you get the idea... Not much to say really, no bells and whistles. Itll be too soft to do more than hit up the park with it or once you start pushing beyond basic carving, but should be fun on muck about days.

 

2. The Thrive Relentless

 

2013-relentless-158-top-base(1).jpg

I love the graphic on this one but alas i dont need it. This is their hard charging twin. Doug's a big fan of twins (ive been trying to educate him on his obvious error, but to no avail yet :p).

 

Anyways, its camber, comes only in 1 size (158) again with a medium-wide shape (258mm), and a max stance width of 26.2 inches. Since i havent ridden any of these, i cant really say a great deal about it, but i assume that this is pretty much an update to the sierra crew. When they say "hard charging" its probably closer to think of a burton custom rather than the T6 or supermodel. Its just your standard do it all camber rig. Truth is, i think those mid decks are better with flat and a few little extra tweaks for pop and edge hold. But i didnt design it. Still, if youre after a standard camber ride thats not tooooooo stiff and will probably mellow over time then this might be the board for you. It comes with a v stringer array (i think) from the core to the edges (ive harassed them for clarifcation on this), and not yet sure about the base. Id like to think they put a sintered base on it at the price its running at, but i have a feeling its not. Ill edit this though when i find out.

 

Finally, the board that theyve bult their fortunes around:

 

3. The thrive renegade.

 

2013-renegade-157-top-base(1).jpg

 

Flying V/R+C/gullwing whatever you wanna call it. Rocker in the middle, camber under the inserts and rocker just before the contacts.

 

This is the deck theyve clearly put their energy into. I say that because they insist theyve extended that camber part a bit further than youll find on mervin and neversummer and also thrown in stringers to give it a bit more snap to it. Out of personal loyalty im likely going to pick one of these up. Ive never had flying v, so might as well experiment with this one and help a mate out. Again though, nothing reaaaaaalllly groundbreaking here if im honest. A slightly extended effective edge than you might expect elsewhere (all the tweaks seem to be enhancing the camber and stability side of things). Two sizes (154 and 157) with once again a medium wide shape. I guess they love their bigger feeted dudes. (they recommend up to size 13US is fine - 255 and 259WW). In truth if youre size 13 id probably look for a wide deck. Up to size 12s should be fine though.

 

Now for the entertaining part.

 

First, these decks are restriction free, so they will ship it to pretty much anywhere. The dude who runs the company used to run sierra and has massive clout on shipping rates, so $62 to Japan which is nice and 68 to melbourne (just had a check).

 

MUCH more important than this is the memory of things passed.

 

Sierras own product has always had a massively inflated MSRP. There is a reason for this. It makes the board look like an awesome bargain when they slash it to 50% mid season.

History has always ALWAYS shown with those dudes that they will cut it to 40% within 2 or 3 months of release and then cut it to 50 as the season is well underway.

 

Indeed, just signing up to their forums scores a 10% discount, whilst you can get 20% just for getting 300 points (or just putting in the coupon code team2012).

So ignore the msrp. Right now the realistic MSRP price is about $100 lower than the stated retail price. :)

If i was a betting man id say theres a bloody good chance by mid season itll be around 40% (probably black friday/cyber monday theyll reduce it for a "limited time!"if i was the aforementioned betting man).

 

So really, im putting this out now just as a future option. The msrp right now is too high for what youre getting, but for folks on a budget or just looking to supplement your quiver im fairly certain that once they start putting the decks on "sale" these boards make a decent shout for your quiver.

 

Anyways, thats my infomercial done. :)

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& there was me thinking that you were trying to reduce your quiver! ;) Interesting stuff though and good to see a new name on the scene albeit one run by the ex-Sierra guys.. Will be interesting to see how they fare and look forward to seeing the Renegade as and when you pick one up. :thumbsup:

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Sierra. One of the biggest fark ups of a business ever. If I were them I would be trying to be low key not promoting the fact that its them.

 

:lol: Glad to see you sitting on the fence with this one!! ;)

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in truth they are being pretty low key about it. Doug is the main person behind it, and harrosh (sierra) is the one bankrolling it (i assume), I just like giving details so you all know whats what. Plus i loved sierra. I actually hate and loath the core scene to be honest. Im one of those people that hates walking into a snowboard shop. Cant stand local stores :)

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Hi People,

 

I'm looking for a new snowboard for this season and was hoping for some advice. I've been riding a 160 custom i bought 2ndhand 2 seasons ago and it was good to learn on but now I want something a bit more fun. The main thing I want from my new board is the ability to go everywhere. I love playing in the trees and hitting the fresh pow stashes when I can but I also need something that is fun on groomers and also able to play a little in the park. Last season I did about 1/3 of my riding in Gifu and Shiga (prefecture) where there wasn't always powder stashes so that's why I want something that is still fun on groomers and in the park.

 

So far I've been looking at the Ride boards, and I really like the look of the Machete GT but I'm not sure if that is going to be advanced for me.

 

Any advice?

 

Cheers

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Hi People,

 

I'm looking for a new snowboard for this season and was hoping for some advice. I've been riding a 160 custom i bought 2ndhand 2 seasons ago and it was good to learn on but now I want something a bit more fun. The main thing I want from my new board is the ability to go everywhere. I love playing in the trees and hitting the fresh pow stashes when I can but I also need something that is fun on groomers and also able to play a little in the park. Last season I did about 1/3 of my riding in Gifu and Shiga (prefecture) where there wasn't always powder stashes so that's why I want something that is still fun on groomers and in the park.

 

So far I've been looking at the Ride boards, and I really like the look of the Machete GT but I'm not sure if that is going to be advanced for me.

 

Any advice?

 

Cheers

 

I know of a much-loved, do-it-all, award-winning, still in good condition Machete that may be for sale - PM me if you're interested! :D

 

Ordinarily ippy would be champing at the bit to give you lots of advice on board choice but as he's busy chaffing his backside somewhere in Nagano (I think), have a read of this post, which contains lots of his advice:-

 

http://www.snowjapanforums.com/index.php/topic/20987-best-rocker-boards-drop-some-knowledge-on-me/page__hl__board+guide__fromsearch__1

 

For my part, board technology seems to have come on so much in the last 5 years or so, that you now have a decent range of genuine quiver-killers to choose from. I was in a similar position to you a few years ago, wanting an all-mountain board that would be good for everything and ended up choosing a Machete because I liked it's "lowrize" rocker, which is flat between the bindings and lightly rockered in the tip and tail! I loved the way it rode, so can definitely recommend trying one of those. As the name suggests, the Machete GT seems to be a more aggressive version of the Machete, which may suit you depending on what type of rider you are. As you've probably read above, the Berzerker also gets a lot of love and last year's model can still be found at decent (for Japan) prices. I have to say that I'm a little biased towards Ride boards (and K2, it's sister company) but that's because of my good experience with the Machete. There are obviously loads more choices out there, so keep reading the reviews (on here and elsewhere) and if you get the chance, try to demo a board before you buy it - unlike me who has just bought a powder board online!! :shifty:

 

Happy hunting! :thumbsup:

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Not got that much time to elaborate (lucky you!), but as far as i gather the GT is maybe a bit too stiff to just enjoy. If youre after a nice board for big hits in the park then it might be what you want, but honestly unless youre a pop fiend and really like a nice solid board under your feet (with lifted contacts), then maybe it would be better to look at the machete. Its going to be a crap load more fun when you just want to dick around. Plus its going to give you pretty much what it sounds like yorue after.

And if hes not trying to rob you, and depending on its coindition, you might score a decent deal on his machete.

 

As for an alternative choice, DEFENDERS OF AWESOME by capita is the board id recommend right now to someone looking for a nice first do it all board. Its the board we've all been harasing them to build over the last few years: indoor everything with bsod profile. Basically a slightly less nimble bsod, but a much more stable and poppy indoor fk.

 

Thats the two things off the top of my head just to push you in fun directions. Spenser on EasyLoungin also loved his happy hour by K2. It doesnt hurt that its utterly styling.

Alas theres just a million boards out there that pretty much cover what yorue after so its hard to go through them all. Maybe id also add that if you want a ride and the machete isnt for you, id look at their dh before i look at the GT. The GT has a very specific type of rider in mind (someone who does hit up big features for the mot part of their day). Its not really for someone just looking to kill it all and have a blats riding... though of course you can do that anyway... you can do that on whatever the hell you ride.

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  • 2 weeks later...

looks like the spark edison system wont be getting a public release until probably after summer next year. Just saw a press release on Easyloungin saying that theyd be getting some beta versions out for select pro riders for the start of next year, but they wont be on general release until 13/14 season. So i assume after summer, also the prioce tag is looking pretty hefty. The talk on splitboard forums is $600-800. I guess if you hike ALL THE TIME worth it, but otherwise i think ill stick with their obsolete bindings once these drop. :p

 

And of course, you’re probably eager to hear about the progress we’ve made with the Edison Interface since we showcased its prototype at SIA and ISPO. The Edison is the summation of our years of experience in the backcountry and the factory. In case you missed it, our new interface design provides the fastest transition between ride mode and touring mode, and solves one of the biggest complaints of splitboarders ... adjustability. Stance width and angles are easily adjusted independently and quickly to get your split setup ‘just right’. Light weight is maintained and moving parts are kept to just two. Not to mention, it works with factory splitboards, DIY splitboards (using original factory inserts) and solid boards (!).

The Edison is on its 5th rendition now and we will continue to tweak and finalize the design by SIA and ISPO tradeshows in Jan 2013. We will have a limited number of beta sets available for select pros later this season. Edison protos will not be released to the general public this time around. Looking down the pipeline, the Edison will be available to the splitboarding community as a limited edition for the 13/14 season. Stay tuned!

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