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maybe I should chime in as well...

 

I am the proud winner of the sj dirtsurfer contest!!!yay!!! and now own my very own ds as well...and as ocean says, it is a blast....my learning curvrve seemed to match oceans' description to a T...

being a skier, this riding sideways thing was all new to me...and I recently found out from a friend that I am riding fakie,it just made sense to me when I tried to get on the thing...

 

anyway, the feeling is quite like what I imagine snow-boarding would be like...the first time i lined a toe-turn with a heel-turn was quite exciting (the first few efforts resulted in some nasty scrapes and bruises...)

 

unfortunatly, the kanto plane does not offer that much for riding...I am basically limited to a small hill at park near where I work...long enough to get enough speed and make 2 turns before taking a swim in the pond...and yes, it is an attention grabber...at one point I had a crowd of about 10 people watching and saying "sugooooiiii" in the unison fashion that only the japanese can do...although no pretty young girls in my cheering section...

 

I have a long narrow winding road from my parking lot to my apt.. and have successfully navigated some sections...but have yet to make it top to bottom....

 

as ocean said, you spend far more time hikking with the thing then ridding it...summer ds resorts with lifts is a must....it is a bit awkward to carry, and is very big...the braking system is suprisingly intuitive, and like ocean, the better I got at using the brakes, the less I wanted to use them...

 

all in all a fun toy, although not so practical without hills! I managed to really screw up my left knee though...some awkward dismounts led to that...and now I am resting, waiting for my powder turns in a few weeks!

 

cheers!

 

danz

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Thanks for the comments.

 

The speed compared with snowboarding? Well, you can get it going up to 70 km/h or more, not that I have yet. But I've been pretty fast on grass. If there's enough space, then going very fast is no problem at all. But if you bing at really high speed, there are going to be some consequences methinks.

 

What you really need I reckon is a bit of organization - a few people buy boards, share a car, and go somewhere where you can get a really good long ride down. Tsugaike was good from that point of view (but meeting a kei-truck at speed was a sobering experience). It would be great to ride with other people.

 

The other thing that would be good is if land-owners provided a few simple facilities like a good long slope with a few jumps and stuff, and a fast rope-pull to get back up. Wouldn't cost much to set up, and you could charge for use and rentals. If more places see Dirtsurfers being ridden, this sort of idea might occur to the right people.

 

The price of the board I and danz have is US$399 including shipping to Japan. Footstraps, which you really need to get the most out of it, are $25.

 

'kicked around and pushed around, always a lonely booooooy, tralalaaa' Dunno what you're on about rach, liebling ;\)

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Yes.

 

My snowboard cost about the same amount, including shipping, and it's not a fantastic board. The amount of materials and engineering that go into the Dirtsurfer make it cheap in comparison. When my snowboard has gone limp, the Dirtsurfer will be the same as ever, and if parts do break, they can be repaired.

 

And I can ride the thing all year, without necessarily going anywhere special.

 

I think it's worth it.

 

But I'd be interested to hear any other opinions.

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