Revel 8 Blades ?

[Bad Wolf]

I know I'm going out on a limb here, but the forum is kind of in the doldrums with the end of the season, so......

We keep talking about what the future of skiboarding is, what new boards should be produced and how to increase the popularity of the sport. The classic story is of skier who tries out skiboarding in frustration and suddenly discovers he can conquer the blacks in a day. The attraction of skiboarding used to be low cost, ease of use and instant success. But, I'm not sure our current product line up can make that happen any more. Most of our boards are wide enough to require some skill acquisition before they can be mastered and you are looking at close to $450 for a new set up. Although we enjoy the versatility of interchangeable boards and bindings, it can be somewhat confusing for the uninitiated.

I know I've said it before, but the internet is full of blades and mini skis for $100. When I made the change I chose mini skis over a huge layout for a product I didn't understand, at the time. Now that I'm paying attention, I do see a lot of folks on short skis at out local resorts, but they are mainly on blades, not modern skiboards like RV8 or Summit.

I can't help but think that if RV8 make a quality blade/mini ski, we could grab a huge part of that market and then use it as a gateway to our other products. Something under 100cm, slim, with a factory binding for less than $200? We want wide boards for powder and park and backcountry, but most folks new to the sport just want to carve the groomers and play in the bumps, plus they want that feeling of instant success. I think that is why the MNPs still sell so well, they are the perfect groomer cruiser.

Blades were our foundation, but now we tend to shun them as being unworthy. Perhaps it's time we embraced them and used them as a tool to grow our sport.

These were my first boards, the ones I found instant success on;

[Wookie]

For my two cents .....

I am not sure that quality blade/mini ski and a $200 price point are mutually compatible. You can make a cheap blade and you can make a quality blade/mini ski but can you join both at the same time?

For me I started with this: http://www.levelninesports.com/Defia...l-100-Bindings. They are listed for $207 now but this is the end of the season discount price. I think I paid around $300 for them once a slight discount was factored in. They were a good wood core, quality binding gateway to higher quality skiboards.

For those cheap $100 blades I have seen plenty of guys playing with them in the park at my local hill and a ton of guys walking down the hill with broken blades in hand. I think to get to a low price point you have to push the envelop on durability and safety (foam cores, cheap bindings, etc..). With that you run the risk of turning people off from the sport.

A better way to get people engaged in the sport would be rental access to higher quality boards/bindings.

[FightingForAir]

My introduction to the ease of skiboarding came through Head 94s, but my love for skiboarding was born from the Revel8 KTP.

It seems a common theme that inexpensive, limited capability tools may draw us in, but higher quality and capability Revel8 and Spruce boards are what get us addicted.

Blades, to me, are a gateway drug to the whole 'nother experience that is Revel8 and Spruce.

I don't really know what I'm trying to say here other than while inexpensive blades may be enough to get some of us out of port and on the way in the journey, it is not long before most will need to ditch the dingy for the destroyer.

[Bad Wolf]

Blades, to me, are a gateway drug to the whole 'nother experience that is Revel8 and Spruce.

I don't really know what I'm trying to say here other than while inexpensive blades may be enough to get some of us out of port and on the way in the journey, it is not long before most will need to ditch the dingy for the destroyer.

Yes, I agree 100%. I was just thinking that a RV8 dingy will make sure they end up in a RV8 destroyer.

[FightingForAir]

Yes, I agree 100%. I was just thinking that a RV8 dingy will make sure they end up in a RV8 destroyer.

...

[wjeong]

Most skiers don't have a problem shelling out $800 for a pair of skis with bindings. Spruce offered the 120 and Sherpa package for $309 this season. This was a great deal. Even at $450, R8 and Spruce products are a great deal. I don't really think a low quality board from R8 or Spruce will help our sport. There are already plenty of cheap options out there that work.

[valmorel]

The primary reason that 'Blades' sold so well originally was that they were so readily available. They were literally everywhere. They were marketed at impulse purchase price points and right there on the shelves in front of people. I don't really know why manufacturers dropped them. Most skiers I know bought them as a kind of accessory to the main sport. A Blade day often became a feature of a family ski holiday.
Without that kind of marketing I suspect an R8 blade would founder some.

Go Nexus

[kirk]

I couldn't see Revel8 ever getting into the "blade" market. Mass produced blades represent everything that we don't want: cheap plastic fixed bindings, foam cores, impractically narrow design, asymmetric shape, etc. All of these are limiting factors that give people the perception that skiboards are just a toy or gimmick. I would feel much more comfortable putting a first timer on a pair of Tanshos or Slapdashes than a narrow blade. These boards share the super lightweight maneuverability with blades, but in a much higher performance package that can take you on the whole mountain. @BadWolf, it seems like you have had great luck on the Jades and Slapdashes this season, and I doubt that you ever spent a day riding them thinking "I wish I had those narrow blades on right now!"

The price is unfortunate, but top line skiboards are still about half the price of a decent pair of skis. One thing I would love to see would be a high quality composite binding priced a bit cheaper. Canon Skiboards used to make a composite binding that I really liked for ~$99 - though the SnowJam binding is priced pretty close to that.


Spruce actually made an attempt at this market years ago with their Edge board. 99cm, 10.5/8.0/9.6, asymmetric, set back bindings, priced very aggressively.

[valmorel]

The Edge DID have the quality right. Wood core plus inserts. Those Catek composite bindings were nice too, and very light. Good stack height and screw adjusters.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

[kirk]

The Edge DID have the quality right. Wood core plus inserts. Those Catek composite bindings were nice too, and very light. Good stack height and screw adjusters.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

I actually almost bought a pair of them because when you got a pair of them w/ the spruce bindings, it was virtually the price of the bindings alone...

I do miss those bindings too... the screw adjustment was so nice.

[Bad Wolf]

@BadWolf, it seems like you have had great luck on the Jades and Slapdashes this season, and I doubt that you ever spent a day riding them thinking "I wish I had those narrow blades on right now!"

Well, almost.

After my "instant success" on the 5th Elements blades, I really struggled on the wider Summits at the beginning of the season. I found the edge transitions to be really slow. I had decided to go back to the blades for a while, but then found the MNPs online and gave them a go. Being slimmer, I could really get them on edge and carve. They proved to be a great stepping stone from the blades to the wider skiboards.

Although I feel really at home on the Slapdashes now, I never would have made it there without my time on the blades first. They were my gateway into modern skiboarding.

[Bad Wolf]

Most skiers don't have a problem shelling out $800 for a pair of skis with bindings. Spruce offered the 120 and Sherpa package for $309 this season. This was a great deal. Even at $450, R8 and Spruce products are a great deal. I don't really think a low quality board from R8 or Spruce will help our sport. There are already plenty of cheap options out there that work.

I understand the concern that blades have a reputation for being cheap, and RV8 may not want that association. The market we are looking at here is not the skier with a fat wallet, but the guy on rentals trying to find an inexpensive way to enjoy the slopes. It's a huge market.

My mini skis were inexpensive but certainly not cheaply made. They have wood cores and are well finished, just like a comparable full size ski. The bindings are composite, which is probably where the savings come from, but I have never had issues with them. The composite bindings on my wife's Fischers have lasted for over seven years with constant use.

Maybe the key to this, as Kirk suggests, is to build a less expensive binding compatible with our boards.

[Wookie]

I understand the concern that blades have a reputation for being cheap, and RV8 may not want that association. The market we are looking at here is not the skier with a fat wallet, but the guy on rentals trying to find an inexpensive way to enjoy the slopes. It's a huge market.

I'm not sure that the demographic that gets into snowsports but is trying to save $150-$200 bucks on what they ride is a "huge market". Sure it may bring a few people into the sport but if $150 is holding you back you might have a hard time affording any snowsport. Let's face it when you add in lift tickets, tuning, clothes, boots, and other gear it's not cheap. You need to have a little disposable income or be pretty resourceful to afford to even get on the mountain. There are tons of blade options out there but I am not seeing tons of them on the slopes.

My other question in this debate is are we mushing together to points?

- Point #1 -- A more affordable skiboard would bring people to the sport
- Point #2 -- A more "Blade-like" skiboard by one of the top manufactures would bring more people to the sport

For the first point, skiboarding is about the most affordable way to get on the mountain. If there was a huge market segment out there locked out of skiing and snowboarding by their own financial limitations and dying to get on the mountain than skiboarding would have a massive following. I don't think there is. What there may be is a group that is skeptical about skiboarding and does not have a reasonable option to try before they buy. Your reach this market the way ski and snowboard companies do with rentals not with a product that is cheap to buy.

For the second point, the progression of the sport seems to be away from blades and to fatter boards with more aggressive sidecuts. This forum is the core of skiboard enthusiasts but I have yet to see a wave of requests asking Greco or Jeff to make a short skinny blade.

[SkaFreak]

You can get the 99cm SnowJams with bindings for just over $200 from the SBOL store right now. But I'm betting that they sell way more Revel8 boards. First time people buy boards, they are either going to go the cheapest route, or research. Either way, Revel8 is not going to be the lowest price without sacrificing quality, so making a cheaper set of boards wouldn't change the demographics too much.

[kirk]

You can get the 99cm SnowJams with bindings for just over $200 from the SBOL store right now. ...

Good call - I completely forgot those existed. That would be the best bet right now for a high quality "blade-like" pair of skiboards. 4x4 inserts and a wood core in the skinny shape. I'm glad Greco was able to get SnowJam to keep making boards with inserts for SBOL.