The BOARDWORLD Forums ran from 2009 to 2021 and are now closed and viewable here as an archive
What are some good hybrid or loose and agile all mountain snowboards.
Very broad question mate, where do you do most of your riding, what’s your level like, weight, shoe size etc. The more you tell us the better the info will be
1) search this section for related question
2)use that info
3)if then nothing comes up then ask
For all-mountain versatility, look for a mid flexing board - anywhere from a 4-6 on the standard stiffness scale. You can maybe go a little softer if freestyle is your thing, or stiffer if you’re all about fast freeriding.
As far as the hybrid thing goes, rocker/camber/rocker or rocker/flat/rocker core profiles are becoming quite popular, and I reckon they’re the way of the future. You get the control of camber (or flat) with the ease and playfulness of a rockered tip and tail. A few good brands to consider for this are YES, Jones, Capita, Signal and Burton.
I have an all mountain board and hate the thing. I personally think you are better off getting a softer board for fun and harder stiffness for powder. Even if you invest more money in to the sort of riding you like more. Get a new park board and a second hand powder/all mountain board if you want to ride rails and kickers. Vise versa if you want to ride more powder.
Hey wazza128,
Where do you ride? What level rider are you? What’s your style of riding? Weight? Boot size? What boards have you tried previously?
With more information we will be able to assist you better.
One thing to keep in mind, wazza, is that due to the nature of each rider’s preferred riding style, different boards can be “all mountain boards” to different people.
Arbor Grip-tech boards. They do it all. Turn, spin, carve, pow, park, street, ice, slush etc. Best of all…. they hold an edge on ice like nothing else. I’m happy to elaborate if you need me to.
Basing this on 25 years riding. 15 years of testing, buying and selling boards for a living. I’ve ridden literally hundreds of boards in my time.
Rode a board the other day that came close but not quite… Very new brand, their first batch of boards. Can’t tell you though. It’s a secret.
Should also mention…. Obviously I haven’t ridden every single board ever made so not trying to sound too “matter of fact”.
And no I don’t work for Arbor.
Just get the Arbor westmark or Coda already !!!!
Have to agree with you on Arbor there. I just got my first (I got the Draft, though)...and I can’t imagine ever getting a different board now, at least not one without Griptech or maybe the Mervin brand’s Magnetraction (I have no attraction to any of the mervin brands though so will prob stick with Arbor)
My husbands last board was a Draft, and he got the DC Ply this time as he didn’t want to be boring getting the same board twice. He thought it was okay at first, but now he just misses his Draft.
The griptech is epic. I went into the riding of my draft with zero expectations of it making much difference, but now as I said, I can’t imagine buying a board that doesn’t have that tech.
Hi cords,
So glad that you an your husband are stoked with your Grip-techs. I totally agree 100% with everything you said. I can’t imagine ever wanting to own another board either. Like your husband though, I’m always searching for the next big thing, still trying lots of different boards…as many as I can.
I’m a big fan of serrated side cuts and have owned a few Mervin and Rossi Magtek boards (Gnu Park Pickle 2010, Gnu Carbon Credit 2010, Rossignol One Magtek 2012). Although I still love all those boards, the Arbor’s tech just feel flawless to me. It’s quite difficult to articulate the subtle differences between Magnetraction (pre C2), Magtek and the Grip Tech. One point that a lot of Arbor riders make is that the Grip Tech feels slightly more intuitive than the Magnetraction/Magtek boards. By that I mean that the Grip Tech holds an edge really well if you just lean on to the edge with minimal pressure (and you can get it to drift if you want too), but when you really push down on the edge, like your old camber boards, it REALLY holds. I’ve never feared that my edges would slide out from under me and can ride on most icy of days with absolute confidence. The fact that the serrations of the edge are right under your bindings makes perfect sense to me…. That’s where your edge pressure is going to be concentrated when you put the board on edge. Seems pretty logical.
Personally I’ve never really been too concerned about my board “popping” out of a turn but I understand that’s very important to some riders. Although I wouldn’t say that the Arbors are the snappiest boards (out of a turn) when compared to cambered boards like the Ride DH, you can get it to pop quite nicely if you really lay down the edge with lots of pressure. I put this down to the width of the tip and tail (relative to the significantly narrower waist) , and the tapered core profile where the board is narrower underfoot and in the tips than it is under the bindings. I find it’s rare to get huge pop in a turn with most parabolic rocker boards. I’ve ridden a few flat boards recently (drake Urban Flat 2012, K2 happy Hour and Slayblade 2012) and find them to really lack pop. The K2 Ollie Bar (internalised positive camber stringer between the feet) is a really cool concept but I think that I’m not heavy enough (73kg) to really get the full benefit out of it. I must say though, the ollie/nollie pop on the Draft, Westmark and Coda is phenomenal. Those things just launch off jumps!
Another big plus is the Arbors performance in trees and at speed. They’re very nimble zipping through the trees on that you can pivot the boards of their center axis. If you’re going straight for that tree, you can spin your hips before putting the board on edge… That has saved me a few times. You can also really surf them in the deep powder… Steer with your back foot rather than the edge. I’ve totally adapted my riding style to suit these boards. At high speeds, the parabolic rocker has never felt “washy” or unstable to me. With a constant desire to ride faster though, I’ll probably look at getting the Element RX next year. I think the softer board in the range (Draft, Westmark) weren’t really designed with straight lining in mind That said, I’m amazed at how stable they are for softer flexing boards.
Geez, what else? The epic base of the Coda, the butterability (is that a word) of the Draft, the speed of edge to edge transitions….. The list goes on and on. Great boards!!! I haven’t net anyone yet that doesn’t love them.
tl:dr
btw how about a quiver photo in the quiver thread? let’s see all these arbors
Please use paragraphs, it’s really hard to read that. Let’s see your Juice Wagon photos Gamblor! :D
Hi skip11,
Having completed high school English class, I’m familiar with the concept of paragraphs. I even used them when writing my reply.
Sadly, my ancient Nokia mobile phone does not want to comply with my use of paragraphs.
If you really find it that hard to read, I’ll try to fix it for you next time I’m near a real computer.
I really like it. a bit wide, but stable, still freestyley, stiff.
Yeap, I can.
Yep powrider.
Love the Draft. It has it all. Supposed to be their buttery soft jib board, but I really enjoy carving on it and don’t feel that it is too unstable at high speeds either. I only just got this one, but I think my next board will probably also be a Draft!