JAPAN GRABS - Hakuba Blog 2013 / 2014
I would have thought if you were going for tech undies with sweat-wicking etc etc then something like these would be the go. Also because they’re wool, they could potentially be worn for more than one day if you needed to do that for some reason (eg. abject laziness).
Wool is too warm for your nether regions, especially for a strenuous sport like snowboarding. Just my opinion. Why would you want merino wool when you can wear something light, wicking, much cooler, and just as breathable? I’m only talking about undies/boxers here. Plus the boxers are looser fitting, which is my personal preference for snowboarding. Merino wool is also comparatively more expensive, usually.
So all of what you have said above would also be arguments for WEARING grundies under you merino thermals! 
Personal preference, but I’ve never liked wearing merino wool anywhere on my body (except for a 25% blend in my socks). I prefer the technical fabrics like DryRide etc.
I don’t like merino either!!!!!
Dacks made from that would make my balls itch!!!!!
Someone had to say it. 
I love merino for regular undershirts, but yeah I prefer synthetics for riding. I DO prefer merino socks for riding though. The smartwool ones are soo nice. The BW 25% merino ones are good too. Haven’t put them through the ‘walk-through-a-river’ test yet though
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Juice Wagon Review
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First off, watch this video of Stephan Maurer explaining his board. I find he’s on point with his comments.
- no gimmicks
- simple old school kind of board
- fish-inspired nose
http://ugc1.mporatrons.com/videos/7e8OaM7s6_640.mp4
This is a medium-stiff cambered board with 12mm of taper. The nose and tail have sharp ‘ellip kicks’, which are good for powder and also make the board ride shorter. Burton describes them as, “This elliptical tip and tail shape promotes pop while providing added float and clearance when riding pow and variable conditions.”
For the longest time, I wouldn’t consider the Juice Wagon as a purchase, as the waist width is kind of wide - 258mm for the 163. And you know what? my first impression on the board was, “man, it’s wide”. My second impression was, “weird, it turns quite easily”.
The first time I tried a pow 360 I ended up spinning 540! Tight turns down a ridge with thick bushes on one side and a drop off on the other - no problems making precision turns.
So then, I was thinking, “hmmm, wider boards are really solid when landing jumps!”, which evolved into, “now that I’ve ridden this board all day, I don’t really notice the waist width anymore”.
In terms of float, I’m not 100% sure yet. I guess it’s good with it’s bigger size, mid-width, 12mm of taper and the fishy nose. At first, I was leaning too far back, treating it like a non-powder board, then little by little I started to relax on it. I do need more powder days to play with it more, but I still have room to slam the bindings back all the way to get a massive nose. So I think I can safely tick off the ‘does it float?’ box.
Switch: I didn’t do any real switch riding. However, I did throw a spazzy back one and landed tail-heavy. I was expecting a tumble but the tail popped out of the snow and stayed up! It’s moments like this that make you think, “woah, this board is special!”.
Sizes. This board only came in a 157, 163 and 170 last year. In 2014 they have added a 153 and dropped the 170. I would recommend sizing up from your regular size by 2 or 3cm. If you get your regular size or even size down, you’ll be missing out on the pow float. For those of you in between sizes…you miss out. My friend sizes up to a 58 or 59 for pow, so the 63 would be too big, and the 57 too small. Burton really needs to make a 160.
Price: Burton brought the tech down in 2014 and lowered the price. Missing in 2014 is: downgraded core (superfly II to superfly), sintered WFO base down to just sintered. Ellip Kicks, Jumper cables Hi-Voltage, Carbon I-beam are gone too. I’m not sure how the ellip kicks can be gone, but I plan to take my 2013 into the local shop where they have a 2014 to compare the tips.
So, lots of tech missing, but the price is now only $450 USD which is crazy! (it’s dropped from $699.95AUD to$ 549.95AUD - not sure if that is crazy or not) The board should be a touch softer, but I didn’t notice anything significant from just hand flexing it in the shop. I really like the new graphics too. Note: for those of you looking for a 2013 163, I found one on an aussie site for 36% off.
Conclusion
Cool. This is a keeper for me.
This is a board that gives me peace of mind: whether it be sitting in the first gondy on the way up to a heavy powder day or looking down a gnarly chute with a must-make turn, I know that the JW will have my back.
It is nimble enough for a park run at the end of the day, especially at the Happo Banks park!
So anyways, watch the long version edit of the recent vid and watch how the Juice Wagon behaves in the deep and steep.
About me:
I’ve ridden many powder boards:
Burton Fish (camber & s-rocker)
Burton Malolo (camber & s-rocker)
Burton Stellar
Burton Barracuda
Burton Con Artist
Burton Cheetah
Burton Spliff
Burton Freebird
Burton Sherlock
Gentem Slasher
Capita Charlie Slasher
Prior Khyber
K2 Gyrator
K2 Panoramic
K2 Ultra Dream
Fanatic Royal Fish
and probably more that I’ve forgotten. That’s not including all mountain boards like the Rossignol Experience, Yes Greats etc.
Anyways, while I do enjoy boards with crazy float like the fish, I prefer a board which acts like a regular freestyle board with extra float, and still will handle all conditions on the mountain. If you guys have any questions like board A vs board B, hit me up.
Thanks for the review Marc! I’m just not sure with the full camber but only 12mm taper, I always feel that rockered nose board is the best for pow (not that I’m going to buy the Juice Wagon anytime soon). I’m planning to go on a cat trip to powder mountain in Whistler in around 2 weeks time, do you think it’s better to rent a Fish or try the JW (NS Proto HD 154 is my main board, too lazy to bring my YES 56 PYL)?
1) Rockered nose - well, what is a rockered nose anyways? It’s basically an early start to the nose. With the ellip kicks, the JW does have a nose that starts early and goes up quite sharply at the end. I will take pics. I think another company would call these tips rockered.
2)Fish vs JW/PYL etc on your cat trip
To generalize, the fish is a cruiser and the JW/PYL type boards are all mountain boards that can handle the powder. The Fish is effortless in pow, but the lack of tail makes it more cruisy. If you want to do more freestyley riding, grab the jw/pyl board, grab the fish for more soulful surfy turns.
@Marc:
1. Rockered nose meaning, it starts rocker up past the front inserts and contact points are lifted up (e.g. PYL, BSOD, Charlie, Fish). Where as Juice Wagon as I understand it has full camber with contact points touching the ground. Looking forward to the pic.
2. Thanks for the tip. I’m not a good enough rider to to freestyle stuff in powder haha, just gonna stick to slashes. I’ll prolly just gonna rent a fish then, depending how deep the snow will be (if it’s not really deep I might just ride my Proto to save money).
Yeah, what I meant about the rockered nose was whether it’s rockered or cambered with early rise, it’s all relative isn’t it? I will take the pics tonight to double check where the nose starts
Ok, so for your cat tour, there’s the cost of renting too. Have you ever ridden a fish? If not, it could be a special time to try one.
By freestyle, I just mean doing 180’s - you won’t be riding switch very far on a fish in pow.
I’ve only ridden a fish on groomers on a spring day (demo day) never on a pow day, so yeah riding it on a cat trip is a good idea haha. Let’s just hope Whistler is going to get dumped soon.
ah, no fresh snow is another factor, eh. If it’s variable and not deep, don’t rent a fish
Just some rough pics of the nose, length and tail.
you can barely see the white family tree logo right next to the binding. That should give perspective when looking at the catalogue pic.
