SJ Gear Reviews 0 Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 A new snowboard review has been posted on the site by db. SNOWBOARD: Dupraz: D1 The review can be found here: http://www.snowjapan.com/e/gear-reviews/snowboard-review-004-dupraz.html Discuss it here... Link to post Share on other sites
tsondaboy 0 Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 Great review Spud, D1 looks realy tempting. Did you get the 164 that you were talking about? Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 Interesting looking board that, db, never seen that before. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 I have a 164 on order, they are yet to ship. Will be a very interesting board, possibly even a dud. Link to post Share on other sites
tsondaboy 0 Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 I realy look forward to read your review on that. Link to post Share on other sites
1 4 Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 Me too. Good reviews folks, looking forward to reading more. Link to post Share on other sites
SerreChe 2 Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Nice stick and very nice review Spud. Can't go wrong with a Dupraz. Link to post Share on other sites
SerreChe 2 Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 I am waiting for the first dough boy review in this section. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 I'm keeping an open mind for the 164 deck. The length is such a reduction from the D1 winning formula that I can't really see it as being the same board, just shorter. I think it will be a unique board in its own right. It may also be not so great as I am guessing that it will not have the testing and development history that the 6 foot model has had. I am in two minds: if you don't want a 6 foot D1, then buy another style of board, don't just scale it down. There are plenty of good powder boards at 164cm. But no matter what, it will make a good powder gun for my girlfriend for deep days when I ride my full sized D1. D1 marketing vid A Swiss guy came 7th in the Verbier Extreme last season, he is a Dupraz team rider, but I don't know if he rode the D1 on Bec-des-Rosses. Link to post Share on other sites
bushpig 0 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 That looks pretty sweet spud. Looks like it rides very differently to a standard board. I wouldn't mind trying that out Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted October 31, 2006 Share Posted October 31, 2006 I will be putting the banana to it this season. The new 06/07 short Dupraz has been released. Take a good hard look at this baby. Oh god, I'm excited. Dupraz 165cm Link to post Share on other sites
woywoy 0 Posted October 31, 2006 Share Posted October 31, 2006 Looks SICCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK db. Link to post Share on other sites
smellyfeet 0 Posted November 1, 2006 Share Posted November 1, 2006 That does look good. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted November 1, 2006 Share Posted November 1, 2006 Hey, stinkfoot, a name change for you. The short white D1 does look very nice. Mine is on order, none have shipped yet. Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 Good review. I was looking for other reviews on the web for this and did consulted the google (!) with dupraz d1 review - and this came up top! Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 Thanks d-stick. I really do like the board and the concept. Dear Snow Japan, regarding google results: I kind of wish that didn't happen. It makes me uncomfortable. I am just a humble intermediate snowboarder using a D1, I'm not a global authority on it. Popping up as a google number 1 result gives my little opinion way too much focus and weight. I don't mind my words and thoughts being online in the google index, but I don't like that headline type of attention at all. And reviews hitting number 1 on the google results list so fast makes me feel like the personal efforts to contribute are too quickly recycled into promotional google fodder. Is it SJ.com property? Can I paste it into my own gear talk section on my website? Link to post Share on other sites
thomas_m 0 Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 Hi All. I'm actually in Washington State, USA not Japan but I did live in Nagasaki for 3 years in the 1990's... Like Dumbstick above, I stumbled on this thread via google when looking for info on the new Dupraz models. You might want to know about the new D1+ which will be stiffer, especially in the nose. I rode a bright red D1 all season last year here in Washington. The D1 got about 20 of my 38 days of riding and was used on everything from our maritime 'heavy pow' to refrozen 'Cascade concrete'. It's definitely a winner! The only time I wished for something else was in tight, steep trees. However that is probably more an indication of my skills (lack of) than the board. Other boards used were a RadAir Tanker 200, LibTech SnowMullet 160 and a custom alpine board made by Happy Monkey Snowboards with hardboots. If my wallet can stand it, I'm planning on a new D1+ and maybe the D15'5" for 06/07. Y'all should check out the extensive D1 review and video over on the Handbooter.com site: http://www.hardbooter.com/video/dupraz.php Best, T. Link to post Share on other sites
SerreChe 2 Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 Welcome onto the forum thomas. Dupraz, Rad-air, Libtech... Quite a quiver you got there (do not know Happy Monkey). The gear review section just started a couple of weeks ago on this forum, I think we could do with a Libtech review to add to the collection Where in WA do you usually ride? Link to post Share on other sites
thomas_m 0 Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 LOL, my wife thinks I'm insane... Here's a recent 'family quiver' shot. We've actually added a second Fish 150cm since this was taken for my 12yr old daughter (who charges and scares the crap out of me). And then there's the Steepwater 170 that's loaned to a friend... http://www.crowmountain.net/Snowboard/quiver.jpg Happy Monkey is a local one-man shop custom builder. The one he built me is a wide all-mtn alpine board. For this season, he's building me a slightly shorter/fatter freeride board modeled on the Pogo Longboard template. It's a sickness... http://www.happymonkeysnowboards.com/ I'll post my thoughts on the Snow Mullet as the Tanker 200 as I have owned both a 2002 model and currently the 06/07. We have passes to Summit at Snowqualmie, spending most of our daylight riding at Alpental and Hyak. We also hit West/Central a couple nights a week. When the snow's good, we usually hit either Crystal Mountain or Mt Baker, occasionally Stevens Pass. Planning on doing a lot more splitboarding and lift accessed slackcountry this season. Currently working on a trip back to visit the inlaws in the Winter rather than our normal Summer sweatfest in Nagasaki. I need to swing north for some pow in trees without death-trap treewells to worry about! T. Link to post Share on other sites
SerreChe 2 Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 And I was thinking the only sick pow stick this man does not have is a pogo, turns out you got a custom Happy Monkey based on a Pogo shape . I think Pogo has got the longest pow boards at 213 or 215. I could not stop laughing when I saw you quiver, you've got 11 boards in there! Dude I think your wife is right! The Happy Monkeys sound cool although only 10 boards per year. Maybe I should get a Rad-air type board massively wider under foot from them. Would love to hear your comments on the rad-air 200 and the libtech. Most of the resorts you mentionned are unknown to me unfortunately although I have heard good things of Mount Baker. Come back and visit us on the SJ forum when you have a chance. Looks like the Japanese season is gonna start early again this year. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Hey Thomas, its good to hear from another D1 rider Link to post Share on other sites
Kumapix 0 Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 what a quiver! how on earth do you decide what to ride? Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 Hey Thomas, did you read the D1 review in Couloir Magazine? It was so-so. The review is small, you could print it on a cigarette pack. The details are also rather light and the board doesn't appear to be ridden across the spectrum of terrain of which it is capable, nor in both soft and hard boots. If it was, then they didn't bother to mention any of it. Most of the reviews in the magazine were short and so lacking in detail that they struggled to be useful. Magazines need to be aware that they have influence and testing these boards and then giving very incomplete reviews can have an unfairly negative impact on the perception of the board. Big thumbs down for Couloir Magazine's review technique for 06/07. I doubt any of the boards got the full and meaningful description and attention that they deserved. In fact, the entire section was closer to a waste of print than an informative review section. If you are going to review a board you need to give it a lot of time across everything it says its made for. And then explain, in detail, why or why it did or didn't do what it said on the wrapper. If I were a board maker then I wouldn't want Couloir to review one of mine. For what its worth, the ski reviews in the same issue were 10 times the quality of the snowboard reviews. Anyway, the bullet point summary of the D1 review: 1. reviewers were divided 2. small riders who enjoy tight radius turns, the D1 inspired unrivalled confidence in powder for tree runs and steep terrain and opened up at speed when moving their weight forward 3. for the rest (of riders, presumably heavier): the D1 was a low speed cruiser 4. Conclusion: technique and style play a big role with the D1 5. Almost classic, but too easy to turn too fast 6. expect bottomless charger, get low speed cruiser instead 7. Fun in tight situations 8. Loads of pop and energy like a freestyle board in the powder (with a huge nose) There are some pints of truth in there. But its only a small fraction of the board's capabilities. I suppose they were reviewing from a pure back country perspective (and forgot that back country does not always equal powder) Also, I guess the testers looked at its shape and expected a big mach-10 powder gun. If they read the wrapper they would have known it is 75% of a big powder gun that can still out-blast most standard free ride boards on piste, something a powder gun cant do so easily, if at all. And the boards that the D1 cant beat on-piste would fail miserably in powder from the get go. I agree with the hooky feel it has at really high speed on powder, especially inconsistent pow and thin unsupportive crust. It has a lot of side cut, more parabolic than most boards its length. If I went to Alaska to do big powder lines then I wouldn't use this board. This board is for surfing mountain terrain, eeeaaaassssy powder riding and amazingly powerful piste carving. It would have been useful if the review said "it turns too easily compared to..." Link to post Share on other sites
thomas_m 0 Posted November 25, 2006 Share Posted November 25, 2006 Yeah, I saw the review. My take was they probably didn't spend enough time with the board to get used to the riding style. For me, it doesn't ride anything like my other snowboards and it always takes me a few turns to get used to it. They probably saw 178cm and thought 'powder gun' but it's really not that at all. It has a very short effective edge, something you'd find on a medium sized freestyle board. I'd agree 100% on your final characterization. For my favorite surfing the mountain type of riding, the Dupraz works great! I'm already in line for a D1+ later this season. This shot is from this morning at Crystal Mtn, WA on a sweet, steep tree run known as Upper Exterminator. It's of me catching a little air off a powder pillow slasher. It was a great day for the Dupraz! http://www.crowmountain.net/Snowboard/11.24.06/thomas1.jpg On the flat run in to the lift I was carving and practicing riding switch (I suck), try that on a powdergun, especially one with a nose like the Dupraz... Best, Thomas Link to post Share on other sites
Kumapix 0 Posted November 25, 2006 Share Posted November 25, 2006 Spud I'm looking forward to the day you let me ride it for a run Wishful thinking, I know, but for a board with a style that 'you need to get used to', I would definitely not buy it without trying it. So, until I find a dupraz demo somewhere, I will just have to wonder about it Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts