Gnu Park Pickle or Lib Tech Skate nana?
Well just to update, I have a new 159 Lib Tech Skate Banana with Ride EX bindings sitting in my spare bedroom, one could say that I am extremely keen to get up the mountain ASAP! Anyone heading to Buller in the next few days?
Awesome man, enjoy the new setup. Let us know how it goes.
Well just to update, I have a new 159 Lib Tech Skate Banana with Ride EX bindings sitting in my spare bedroom, one could say that I am extremely keen to get up the mountain ASAP! Anyone heading to Buller in the next few days?
Wow nice ride. I might but im depending on the weather to clear up. For now, forecasts predict rain so i dont think i will. Otherwise, i might go up on satty for a day.
Bad weather probably won’t stop me to be honest ha ha! I think Saturday was sposed to be the worse of the two but now seems like it might be much of a muchness between saturday and sunday.
Bad weather probably won’t stop me to be honest ha ha! I think Saturday was sposed to be the worse of the two but now seems like it might be much of a muchness between saturday and sunday.
Thats what we all say and then we spend 1 run in the rain and then say “f this”. If i did have a skate nana in my room, i’d probs brave the bad weather too….
Went riding at Buller yesterday on the new banana so I thought I would share my thoughts on it with you guys. The setup of the board is a lot different to my previous board, this one being a full twin with centred stance. This board I had setup with a slightly wider stance and 15degrees both front and back so essentially it would be the same riding normal or switch, something I hadn’t tried before. First strapping in it felt really good, when I started off with the little nollie shffle to get off the flats the extra flex was apparent.
Took me a bit of getting used to the fully ducked stance, coming from a surfing background I have a tendency to drop my back knee in towards the front knee more like a snowboarding carving stance. I had to wrestle with my inner demons of that most horrific of surfing atrocities and embrace the poo stance, having seen that’s it, that’s all I was comforted in the fact that this is actually cool when applied to riding sideways down a mountain and a functionality requirement of freestyle boarding. The first few turns were different, the edge almost set itself into the snow and maintaining it was easy. After a few runs I got used to the differences in carving with this board and I realised just how much better it was, I tried a few flat spins (butters??????) and they were incredibly easy, never felt like an edge was going to catch just around and around smooth as. The extra flex seemed to help with this as well but my limited knowledge of the technical aspects of snowboarding means I cannot say why this is.
After a few runs the Holden Express opened up and we went straight over to LBS, it was out of the wind and the snoguns had obviously been hammerring away for some time cause there was a heap of fresh snow on the surface. The board went really well in the powdery stuff, edge to edge transition easy as and maintaining an edge I found is probably the biggest difference between this board and my old one. The first few runs I probably would have thought that this board may have been a little slower but that thought seemed to dissappear pretty quickly.
I started doing a few 180 ollies and they were so much easier than previously, I found that the edge holding ability made it a lot easier to prewind especially backside, something I had been having troubles with previously. Frontside was a breeze and easier than before and when landing you could over rotate a fair bit and still land it with no problems. Later in the day a few kids had shaped up a kicker off the side of LBS just after the turn before the long straight down to the cafe, this thing has been there in various guises every time I have been up this season. These guys had got a bit carried away with the lip, too much upwards projection, great for getting some height but with a pretty flat landing I would have preferred more outward than upward. The approach is toeside for a natural and previous to this board coming off a toeside run in I would have been limited to straight or frontside 180/360. The ability of this board to hold an edge meant that I was able to prewind for a backside spin without worrying about catching my heelside edge. This is probably basic for a lot of ppl but for me I think a combination of the board and getting my head around helped a lot.
Overall the board is everything I hoped for, the day not so much, very cold, snowing almost constantly, windy and the terrain parks which I was keen to have a good go at were just a broken/twisted something waiting to happen. There were a few guys doing rails but I have zero interest in them and just wanted the kickers but these looked like the result of an earthquake at your local ice skating rink, glistening hard hurting machines. Yeah it might sound a bit soft but that sort of landing doesn’t do it for me. Anyway my recommendation for what it’s worth is the skate banana is an awesome bit of kit.
Nice review! Been thinking about getting a skate nana in the US in January. I think you just confirmed my suspisions it’s a killer board!
Thanks for the review.
What was your previous board? So I know what you are comparing it against.
The old board was my first setup, Rossi Contrast 161 directional with sims somethingorother bindings. I guess it’s like going from a Proton Satria to an Aston Martin so it was always gunna be better, don’t have much else to compare it to other than my 1996 Rad Air that is still under my parents house, that’s like comparing a Datsun 180B to the Lamborghini Murcielago so probably less relevant.
Still have the Rossi, I am sponsoring the vast majority of my mates who don’t own boards. I don’t mind that much if it makes it a less expensive exercise for them to board as it means I get to board with a mate. Having said that, after this weekend it seems my gf is probably better than most of them anyway, she lacks nothing in the way of commitment, I was watching her pretty much bomb straight down LBS equal parts impressed and worried she was going to eat it.
I was lucky enough to demo the nana this year and yes it is a great board. I just loved the fact that it is so easy to muck around with. yet when you did hit powder it wasn’t a struggle to ride through it and just have fun.
On saying that i wouldn’t mind trying the gnu pickle but will still have to say i am still keen on the lib tech jamie lynn.
CJ, do you find it difficult or uncomfortable to board in your red swimsuit and enormous ta ta’s?
CJ, do you find it difficult or uncomfortable to board in your red swimsuit and enormous ta ta’s?
not at all in fact its super easy cause its all in slow mo. so i can throw myself around and be totally prepared. it is annoying though having two black eyes at the end of the day.
CJ, do you find it difficult or uncomfortable to board in your red swimsuit and enormous ta ta’s?
Ahahahahaha. 2 black eyes by the end of the day….. is that innuendo or literally 2 black eyes?
CJ, do you find it difficult or uncomfortable to board in your red swimsuit and enormous ta ta’s?
Hahahaha that just made my day… 
just got back from the snow and the only thing i heard from all and sundry is that whether you ride the banana or the pickle, banana tech is the only way to go…i now feel very inadequate with my shredstick…