Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Noob Skiboard Qs

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Noob Skiboard Qs

    This is my first season on the snow in any form, and I've now gone four times. First time was to Crystal Mountain on skis, second and third time were to Snoqualmie on my girlfriend's K2 Fattys (which, I know, many here wouldn't call skiboards), and yesterday to Mt Baker again on the Fattys.

    As I've started to contemplate buying my own set of skiboards, I've been looking a good deal at the longer ones, and after experiencing powder at Mt Baker yesterday on the 88cm Fattys, I can definitely see why some people say 90cm is the minimum for powder. Plus crud gives my balance a serious run for its money, and I gather that longer boards are smoother over rougher surfaces.

    Right now I'm basically just doing downhill stuff, but as I continue to get more comfortable with control and speed (later in the season or next season), I may start trying jumps and simple tricks. I will probably mostly be skiing groomed blues and greens, along with some blacks (again, later in the season) and powder. Right now the two boards I'm looking at most intensely are the Line Pro 98cm and the Snowjam 99cm. I'm also thinking about the Line 90cm boards, both the Fly and the Pro, and the Snowjam 90cm. These choices are largely based on lurking around in these forums, so I think these boards are all pretty well regarded, but I'm just not that sure what would be best for what I'm doing now (I'm perfectly willing to shell out later for a second pair of boards once I advance).

    I'm 5'8", 165 lbs, and the boots I'll be using for the foreseeable future are Salomon Performa 2 7.0s (gotten for cheap on clearance, they seem decent enough). I not a super aggressive skier, I will probably never be doing intense tricks or such things, so I'm mainly looking for something that will be good for downhill groomed runs and powder, but I still think I want a more "real" pair of skiboards than the Fattys.

    Between those I'm thinking about, any suggestions? Anything else I've missed.

    And as a related question, my initial plan was to wait until the post-season sales to get myself a pair of skiboards, but looking around on eBay there do seem to be some of the eBay stores that sell at least some of the skiboards I'm looking at for cheap. It's a bit tempting to just get some new skiboards now from such a source. Any recommendations on this?

  • #2
    Opps

    And of course I just realized I probably should have posted this in "New Rider" forum, sorry about that.

    Comment


    • #3
      for your size and what type of riding you're going to do your first season i'd recommend the snowjam 90's and then next season you can swap out the bindings for longer boards if you'd like because snowjam uses 4 binding holes instead of 8. the line boards you metioned actually aren't highly regarded here because all the new line boards are 8 hole. read this thread for more info about 4 hole vs. 8 hole boards.

      g

      Comment


      • #4
        Snowjam 90s

        Greco, thanks for the quick reply (and moving my post to the appropriate place).

        Good point about the 4 vs. 8 hole bindings, I've been reading about that in threads here, but forgot about it in my post.

        How is the speed on the Snowjam 90s? They look so wide for their size, I'm a bit hesitant of them for that reason. I'm guessing the wider boards are better for powder, but for all around downhill speed, are they slower in any substantial way than 98 or 99cm boards?

        Also, as far as crud is concerned, how much of a difference will there be between the Snowjam 90s and, say, the Snowjam 99s as far as stability is concerned? I really don't like how shaky I feel on the 88cm Fattys on crud, and I'm guessing a longer board will help, but just the quality and design difference of the Snowjams 90s over the K2 Fattys might help there too. Not sure how much a difference 2cm of length makes though.

        Comment


        • #5
          wider boards are better for powder but that's not the only thing they are good for. width doesn't effect speed that much. in fact i prefer wider boards for the torsional stability they provide. today i rode the loken ct8's which are 15cm wide and i was flying as usual. length however will effect how fast you can go while carving. shorter boards will chatter and lose their edge before a longer pair of boards, but we're talking about going pretty fast before this happens. i figured since you're a beginner you wouldn't be approaching this speed until later in the season if at all. also, i forgot to take into consideration your feelings about crud. longer boards will definitely give you more stability in uneven snow conditions. so if you're up to the longer boards i'd say go for it because of your desire for speed and crud stability over maneuverability.

          g

          Comment


          • #6
            Further Questions...

            Thanks for all the info so far.

            If I were to go with the 99cm SnowJams, what would I be giving up compared with the 90cm SnowJams? Obviously the 90cms would be more maneuverable, but to what degree? Looking at the skiboard comparison chart, it does look like the 99cms have an especially large turning radius, even for long skiboards. But how does that translate for downhill runs on groomed stuff or powder? How much better are the 99cms than the 90cms for crud? How much better are the 90cms for powder than the 99cms?

            At this point, I'm kind of leaning towards the 90cms since they're close to the Fattys I'm using, but the crud issue still kind of gets to me.

            And another question: I've looked at various threads on here about metal vs. plastic bindings, and since both of these SnowJams are available with plastic bindings and various higher end metal bindings I'm curious about something. My gf, who got me into skiboarding (despite the fact that she rides snowblades right now, hey hey, be nice) says that the metal bindings she's tried were hard to adjust and just generally a pain. Now I get the feeling that a lot has changed since she tried metal bindings, but is this still a problem with bindings like the Extreme IIs? And for just downhill and minor tricks, are plastic bindings really a hinderance?

            One last questions (for now): how big of a sale is there usually on skiboards at the end of the season?

            Comment


            • #7
              if you get the right metal bindings you shouldnt have much of a problem. grooves...no way. i have mine and i hate them. the clip moves from side to side and then dont move to clip you boot. good ones are extreme 2s, any old line bindings like ff pros, bombers.

              www.lokenindustries.com

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Further Questions...

                Originally posted by VaticDart
                Thanks for all the info so far.

                If I were to go with the 99cm SnowJams, what would I be giving up compared with the 90cm SnowJams? Obviously the 90cms would be more maneuverable, but to what degree? Looking at the skiboard comparison chart, it does look like the 99cms have an especially large turning radius, even for long skiboards. But how does that translate for downhill runs on groomed stuff or powder? How much better are the 99cms than the 90cms for crud? How much better are the 90cms for powder than the 99cms?

                At this point, I'm kind of leaning towards the 90cms since they're close to the Fattys I'm using, but the crud issue still kind of gets to me.

                And another question: I've looked at various threads on here about metal vs. plastic bindings, and since both of these SnowJams are available with plastic bindings and various higher end metal bindings I'm curious about something. My gf, who got me into skiboarding (despite the fact that she rides snowblades right now, hey hey, be nice) says that the metal bindings she's tried were hard to adjust and just generally a pain. Now I get the feeling that a lot has changed since she tried metal bindings, but is this still a problem with bindings like the Extreme IIs? And for just downhill and minor tricks, are plastic bindings really a hinderance?

                One last questions (for now): how big of a sale is there usually on skiboards at the end of the season?

                Mostly, 99cm boards will be less maneuverable than 90's and 75's. This can be evident in the lift line, but on the slope, you'll find 75 and 90 riders turning on a dime while the 99'er radius is slightly larger. Of course, all sizes of skiboards will be turning much faster than skis.

                All skiboards work very similarly on groomed runs. It's the imperfect conditions that will shine different skiboard types.

                Crud and powder - give shorter skiboards a harder time than longer ones. All skiboarders will make it down a cruddy mountain, but the 99 rider will get there before the 75 will. It doesn't surprise me that Revel8's do well in crud and SJ75's suck at it.

                But generally, crud gives a hard time to just about anything.

                The only all-metal bindings that give people a hard time are the Groove X-1's (Frankenbindings), which are not even on the same level as all the other 4-hole bindings. Vissere Bindings (Snowjam Extreme II's) are wonderful bindings as I've found out this year was my first year on them. Probably what I can see of a pain is adjusting any bindings so other people can use them. In that case, only the Snowjam quickadjusts come to mind, as all 8-hole bindings are just too cheap to consider.

                Yes, 8 hole plastic bindings are that bad. If you look carefully at the construction, the greatest flaw are the points behind the forwardmost and forward of the rearmost screws-those points are their vulnerability, and probably where they'll break if they do.

                4-hole plastic bindings (Canon TD-1), on the other hand, are great.

                It's not so much the material in 8-hole plastic bindings as much of the way they are designed that make them inferior.

                Last edited by zenderfall; 01-02-2006, 08:52 AM.
                Snow Jam 90TT

                Comment


                • #9
                  Thanks a Bunch

                  Thanks to all of you for the info. I ended up being bad and buying a pair of the 99cm SnowJams this morning from skiboards.com (sorry Greco, I'll probably buy my next pair from you, but the free bag was just too good to pass up) with the SnowJam Slider bindings. Should be here by Thursday, in time for me to take them on a trip down to California to try out at the Tahoe (if conditions are good enough). Evil evil credit cards... oh well, I'll have it paid off pretty quick.

                  I ended up picking the 99s just because of the stability issues. Since I'll be doing most of my skiing at Snoqualmie (I live in Seattle, and Snoqualmie is an hour away, plus they have cheap mid-week season passes, and night skiing) and their runs are primarily groomed, as they get torn up they get cruddy fast. Coming down an intermediate run at full bore on the less steep parts, the chattering of the K2s really got to me, and I'd guess the problems with the 90s would be somewhat similar. Even if the 99s are only a bit better, I think it'll be worth giving up the maneuverability.

                  I'm still not exactly clear what are better for just downhill runs in powder, but I kind of gather that the 99s would be better for what I'm doing now. The K2s felt pretty unstable on powder, but it was my first time and they are pretty narrow and short.

                  So I'll see how the 99s are. I'll post again with a report of my first time on "real" skiboards (even though the 99s have asymmetrical tips and non-centered bindings). Thanks again to all.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    we would have matched skiboards.com's offer.

                    g

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      snap.

                      www.lokenindustries.com

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Sorry About That

                        Didn't realize you guys did stuff like that. Plus my whole instinct with web shopping is to Froogle it, dig around, figure out whose reputable, and buy the best deal. Don't usually check with companies to see if they'll match another company's deal, actually I don't think it's ever occured to me. I'm sure I'll be upgrading the bindings to the Extreme IIs at some point before next season, and probably buying another board at some point in the not too distant future (the Spruce 120s sound awesome...), and I'll definitely check a bit more closely as to whether you'll match prices and deals.

                        Skiboards.com has lots of good info on their site, but the info here and on skiboardsonline.com definitely seems more advanced and honest. Plus the help on this forum is phenomenal.

                        I know your price on the SnowJam 99s with the Slider bindings is the same, so here's what I'll do. I'll go ahead and cancel my order with skiboards.com if you can ship a pair of out by tomorrow via 2-day, so they'll get to Seattle by Thursday (since I'm leaving early Friday morning for California), match their S&H price of $30 and change, and include the free bag. I know it's already pretty late over on the east coast, but Greco, if you see this tonight, and can do this, I'll leave them a message and canel my order and buy through you.

                        Sorry about this again. If I had known you would match their offer, I would have bought from you, no questions.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          wow. thank you very much for the chance at getting your business. no problem getting them out tomorrow via 2day at that price with the bag. please place the order online and in the special instructions block type "vaticdart" from the forum. i'll know what to do when i see that.

                          any questions you can email or call me.

                          thanks again.

                          g

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Awesome

                            I'm at work, but in a bit here, I'll take a break, call skiboards.com and cancel my order. Expect my online order shortly.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              alright. i'll keep an eye out for it and give it my top priority.

                              g

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X