New board time with some pow capability
Hey guys been a while as life has been pretty bloody busy. Got a question for you guys that I’m hoping might throw up some new boards I might not have looked at for my upcoming USA trip.
I’ve been riding a DC Ply 159 and really enjoy it and it will be coming to the US with me but I’m tossing up if I should grab a more pow specific board while I’m there. The parameters for me are that the board is light, has a waist width over 252mm, true twinish as I love to ride switch and centred stance. With that said I’m not too sure if there is really anything out there that might fit the bill and be different enough from my exiting quiver to be worth buying. With that said I don’t want something I won’t ride again till I head back OS either.
I currently have
T Rice 157
Skate Banana 159
DC Ply 159
The banana is pretty old right now and was always on the heavy side.
THe T Rice I reckon will too small for the powder I hope to get in Utah, bearing in mind I’m just under 6’3” and 95kgs with a size 12 hoof
The Ply is actually ok in powder but I think something rockered might be a better bet.
I thought maybe something in the Yes line might be ok, Burton I’m sure probably has something as well as a lot of other brands I guess. Anyways let me know our thoughts.
I’m just gonna list some boards. You will get YES recommendations 99% of the time here, so I will only suggest other brands. True twin and centered stance doesn’t really go well with powder. If you want true twin or directional twinish, boards with rocker in the middle will probably have better float and CamRock type boards imo. But as I said before, almost everybody here love camrock and YES boards so to each their own. So on top of my head here are some boards you might wanna look at.
Freeride/pow:
Burton Flight Attendant
Burton Landlord (these 2 has burton balanced freeride geometry so they ride like a twin on hardpack. But the tapered shape only comes in play in powder. I can attest to this, I have the flight attendant)
Lib tech Speedodeeps (true twin, 26ish waist width, comes in longer sizes as well)
Lib Tech Lando (my favorite board right now, it has 1 inch setback and the 160 has 257ww, directional twin)
Lib Tech Banana Magic (has their most rocker and true twin)
Never Summer Cobra, Snowtrooper, ProtoHD, Heritage, Ripsaw (these are they’re more all mountain shape, only the Proto is true twin, others are directional twins, comes in wide options as well)
Bataleon Jam, Goliath (these are their true twins)
Cheers Skip, well aware of the Yes love on here, maybe not quite as ardent and fervent as Mizu with Flux bindings but love nonetheless ha ha!
Lib stuff I’m very familar with, would probably opt for the HPTRice, TRS or banana magic as they’re the lightest and IME Libs are on the heavier side. Will investigate the Burton stuff you mentioned.
I rode NS Proto HD last season. Never summer has more rocker in the middle than libs. It floated great for a true twin. Rode in a 20-30cm day and has no problem. So don’t discount the never summers 
. Demoed the 2015 HP T.Rice last spring. So much better than the 2011 T.Rice I used to ride, you’ll love it.
http://en.k2snowboarding.com/snowboards/ultra-dream
depends if u wanna ride a wide board or normal board.
Ever K2 I have picked up are always super light
@K2: That’s a directional board though. He wants a twin or twinish board.
EDIT: nvm, just looked it up, it’s a directional twin. I got it confused with the Peace Keeper
Yeh pretty sure its twin with set back.
But in all honesty, how much switch will you ride NGB in the pow? Besides the occasional switch landing or the odd turn here and there. I dont know, im not accusing, just curious. {edit: just re read your original post better which answers my question kinda}
Cos i think it would be a great board for you. Its twin-ish with out being a dedicated pow board
Even though it is set back, I doubt it will affect your ride too much.
If I were to offer another K2 that is twin and will slay the fuck out of pow and be freestyle, the Turbo Dream. Watch any vid that has k2 riders in it over the last 4years and almost all of them are hucking the turbo dream in pow and off bc booters and down pillow lines
Turbo Dream is also setback 3/4inch.
Ill throw up something a bit leftfield, Ive been riding these boards for the last few seasons and rate them very highly. Try the Catalyst twin cam rocker, its a true twin, its pretty much my go to board for anything but super deep days, I like to ride switch a lot and find the cam rocker profile pretty easy to control in all conditions.
I know most companies will have a rockered twin, so its pretty much lottery as to what will feel the best for you when you get on.
I’m gonna throw out a couple other boards here. All of em has 0 setback on the sidecut but have 1cm longer tip length than tail length. If you’re looking for a “true” twin that can float in the deep stuff, I think Arbor might be your best choice since they have full rocker.
Arbor Coda (pretty generous waist width)
Arbor Element (58 and above has 252ww or more)
Arbor roundhouse (wide version of element)
The K2 I looked at on TGR and decided that turbo dream is the pick for me there, want to see one in the flesh to see what u think. The Yes boards I’ve squizzed would probably be very similar to the Ply in that they have similar hybrid camber profiles.
Had a look at the arbors, capita, Rossi and Rome as well but not really grabbing me at this stage. I think it might end up being an impulse purchase if and when we get a dump over there cause I’m probably more confused than I was when I first thought about it!
Hey Mike,
Sorry, I’ve been a bit MIA at the moment. Halfway through a trip through the U.S. myself. When do you leave?
In the Rome range, check out the Mod Rocker. This is a super high end board and one I’d totally buy myself. Flat between the feet and rockered tips. Super lightweight. The 159 has a 256mm waist and I think this board would really suit your style and current needs. Worth having a look at.
Wasn’t sure what exactly you’re looking for.
You say you want a pow board, but you want a true twin(ish,) centered?
That sounds like all mountain/whatevs with has some pow capability to me.
Or the other way I read it is that you’d like something to take that’s different to what you currently have but will help moar when it dumps.
I’m surprised your TRice is shorter than the banana. I’d do it the other way around.
But anyways, go a zero or flat camber, that’d give you something different and still work for pow. As Jez said, the mod rocker is a great idea. I’ve got a mate who has a few boards and she uses her mod rocker 90% of the time. Goes with everything.
If it were me I’d just bring the TRice or Banana with me just for something different if I don’t get a zero camber board.
Also note that in general the heavier the board the more indestructible it is.
Neversummer make one of the more heavier boards in the industry, and they pretty much never die and can always be fixed.
Let us know what your decision is dude! =)
Hey Mike,
Sorry, I’ve been a bit MIA at the moment. Halfway through a trip through the U.S. myself. When do you leave?
In the Rome range, check out the Mod Rocker. This is a super high end board and one I’d totally buy myself. Flat between the feet and rockered tips. Super lightweight. The 159 has a 256mm waist and I think this board would really suit your style and current needs. Worth having a look at.
Hey Jez, been way more MIA than you lately ha ha ha. We leave for the US 20 Feb, we 3 days in Vegas, 3 days SLC (riding park city and Brighton), 2 days in Huntsville (riding PowMow and maybe snowbasin), 4 days Tahoe (probably Northstar, Heavenly and maybe Kirkwood), 1 day Mammoth and then two days Big Bear and then 3 days in LA and home again. If it was just me I would probably do every single day snowboarding but I have to indulge the other half somewhat. Even though she loves boarding she still wants to do some other activities so we have grand canyon, night out in Vegas, death valley drive, surfing Malibu and Disneyland on the cards as well.
Wasn’t sure what exactly you’re looking for.
You say you want a pow board, but you want a true twin(ish,) centered?
That sounds like all mountain/whatevs with has some pow capability to me.
Or the other way I read it is that you’d like something to take that’s different to what you currently have but will help moar when it dumps.
I’m surprised your TRice is shorter than the banana. I’d do it the other way around.
But anyways, go a zero or flat camber, that’d give you something different and still work for pow. As Jez said, the mod rocker is a great idea. I’ve got a mate who has a few boards and she uses her mod rocker 90% of the time. Goes with everything.
If it were me I’d just bring the TRice or Banana with me just for something different if I don’t get a zero camber board.
Also note that in general the heavier the board the more indestructible it is.
Neversummer make one of the more heavier boards in the industry, and they pretty much never die and can always be fixed.Let us know what your decision is dude! =)
Hi grunge, yeah mate I’m well aware that I basically asked for a board that does everything ha ha ha. I have no diea if we’ll get any pow at all based on our dates but you live in hope I guess. I bought my boards at different stages in my riding and they all helped my riding at the stages that I bought them I spose but grouped together they probably seem a little weird. I’m quite a big fan of the cam rock style hybrid camber that my Ply has and to be honest it does go ok in Aussie “pow”.
If I’m honest with myself a more directional powder board setup would probably be fine as who really rides switch doing a tree run, it would be just for the odd natural hit take off and landing but in open spaces I would ride switch a fair bit so I’m still confused!