signal epic
G’day boys and girls. Time has come to stop lurkin and post. Sure enough it’s a question.
I’m looking closely at this board but something bothers me. It’s narrow as! The waist on a 160 is 247 and 294 nose. It has a huge setback so I imagine it’s a surfy pow board which is cool but at those specs would you think it’s more backcountry than resort slackcountry? I’m innerested in this for Japan and at this stage I’m the later type rider.
I ride a capita tfa now and it’s great in boot deep stuff but the DEEP stuff is a workout for this old fart.
So what’s u reckon..too narrow?
Cheers all
Firstly deebs, welcome to Boardworld!
Secondly, what size boots do you wear? As there’s no such thing as a narrow TFA, I’m guessing a larger size?
From Signal:
New for the 2012-13 season is the EPIC! This twist on an old school powder board is modernized by adding wavelength technology. The topsheet is made with a hand-stained wood laminate like our ETT Netherlands and Kidwell episodes. And to make it even more epic, weve added the split board as yet another option. Powder has never looked so good!
All things to all mountain riders! Rocker and camber blended together create Wavelength technology.
• Camber between your feet
• Five degree Rocker from your feet out to the tip and tail
• Rocker keeps your nose up in powder while the camber provides edge control while you carve
• The transition point provides an additional contact point that engages even before the edge
• Less surface area on the snow equals a faster board!
• Old school powder shape, directional stance
• Directional sidecut
• Poplar cores with “Standard Profile”
• Biaxial glass top and bottom
• Durasurf sintered base material
• Laminate maple topsheet not only adds a different look and feel to the board, it also adds tip to tail strength and replaces any need for carbon stringers
• Standard or Split options
Hey chucky, I’m a 10. I know there will be overhang which makes me think it’s really for backcountry pow and not really for resort pow. I reckon on the groomers to get to stashes may be the trip?
The next size up is a 166 with a 165ish waist. I see that as a haul ass board. I’m 80kg btw.
The width of the tfa seems fine but I will say you gotta go fast do crank it through the fluffy stuff. So on some of the lower gradient Japan stuff it’s an effort to turn. That’s ok though coz I reckon it makes for a more aggressive rider which I’m trying to get to.
You think the epic is a size up board instead of a size down ala fish, hovercraft?
“less surface area means faster”..? On hard snow yeah but deep? Floatation would be down wouldn’t it which means no?
Geez I hope my numbers come up soon, I’ll just take one of each and discard the rest
If your size 10 boots have some kind of ‘shrinkage’ tech, the 160 would be, well, epic! By way of comparison, I’m a size 11 boot (with shrinkage, so the footprint of a size 10) my Signal Park Rocker has a waist width of 249mm, and it’s got awesome float in pow.
If I were you, however, I’d be looking at a Slash Straight 159 or 161. You say you’d like to be a “more aggressive rider” and you’re already used to the stiffness of the TFA, so the Straight would be killer!
As far as pow performance goes - if the Slash Straight is good enough for Gigi to place second in the Red Bull Supernatural last year and win the Red Bull Ultranatural this year, it’s easily good enough for the rest of us!
Inneresting board. That one slipped through the radar on google smashing. Gets a good review as powder lover. The specs show no taper, hows ur thoughts on that?
Thanks for the input chucky
Yeah mate, no taper on the Slash Straight. That means it’ll be much more capable when you’re not riding deep pow - and let’s face it, that’s most of the time. Especially with slackcountry riding, you spend most of your time getting to and from the secret pow stashes, so it should be a consideration. The Slash Straight is similar in spec to the Jones Flagship, but the Straight is the more powder-oriented of the two.
Taper is definitely a bonus in the deep stuff, and in that regard the Capita Charlie Slasher is worth considering - for the fact that unlike many tapered pow boards, it’s got a full tail, so it works really well as an all-mountain freeride board as well.
The Signal Epic looks awesome! For a pow board like this you probably wouldnt have your feet square to the board anyway would you? You would have them on a pretty big angle, say 21 degrees, cos you would be charging pretty hard and not riding switch. This would therefore buy you a bit more room in terms of width, cos the more angle your bindings are on, there less width you need. Does that make sense?
Yeah for sure . I guess my biggest query is rideability. Not so much toe drag. Its a narrow nose and waist compared to other pow boards like fish hovercraft Charlie, and opinions on this boards are high. My guess is super surfy but im just guessing. Having never ridden surfy boards im a bit on the outer
Gotta say the Charlie 161 for this year is on my mind also.
Hey Deebs, if you want ‘surfy’ get one of these bad boys!!
http://www.powsurf.com/boards/
I have been looking at them for a while now, and I am VERY tempted to get one.
Anyone her tried one??
can i suggest a YES 420? I spoke to a guy who I rode with on a pow day in Whistler, and he said ti was a dream. Floated amazing, playfull as hell and still carved amazing on groomers. He was suprised. Surfy too.
So if you were after something for slackcountry pow it could be a goer. And seeing its super wide, boot size is no issue
Powsurfer swallow tail looks awesome. I guess you have to ask for inserts as the photos are all noboards.
Yes 420 looks fun
Gotta say the Charlie 161 for this year is on my mind also.
For your weight and boot size, the 158 Charlie is more than enough. I’ve got quite a bit of weight on you, and my 158 Charlie has awesome float in pow AND is a dream to ride inbounds and on piste as well. It actually carves better than pretty much every other board I own!
Yes 420 looks fun
Yeah, but I reckon it’d be a painful nightmare in anything but fresh snow - so that rules out getting to/from the good stuff. The waist width is 286mm!!!
they guys I spoke to in Whis said it was actually good to ride around resort. And it was fun in spring conditions too. One dude rides it up Blackcomb glacier in spring/summer for mucking round on