Snowboarders - I need a new Ride

[Abominable]

Seeking recommendations from any of you that follow all the new tech and trends.

Current deck is a 2012 Ride High Life UL, 167 cm. Really liked this deck, especially when I got it on sale for 160 bucks, shipped (Dec. '12). Basically a cambered deck but they had some gimmicky way to refer to rocker up front, camber between the feet, "Hybrid All Mountain Camber." Felt like an old carver in a lot of ways, but lighter.

Unfortunately it suffered a career ending injury this past season.

I like to go downhill at Tunaspeed 3. I don't ride park, I rarely even ride switch, I keep something of an old school stance with both feel slightly forward and my shoulders squared forward. Almost hardboot style but not quite. The trend seems to be that any longer boards are also the wide models... tough to find a tall but still not wide deck. I think I like these direction freeride boards.

But I also like a deck that is not punishing on moguls, woods. Great thing about the High Life is that it was totally solid at speed on a.m. groomers, but then when you got into mushy afternoon stuff it powered through. Despite its rating of "stiff," you didn't bounce around on stuff - you could bend your knees and really push snow. Hard to explain, but I liked it a lot. And it was light.

Looking for a similar deck, trying to find something on sale, obviously. I guess my question for those of you with similar riding styles and preferences, what are some brands I should be considering?

I like Ride. They still make the High Life, in a 164 (think you'd notice 50mm difference in effective edge?). No deals yet.

Rossignol Magtec - Love the sound of an XV Magtek. If I could find a 167 for 200-250 right now I wouldn't be writing this. Anyone ride these edges? Comments on that tech? They have a 159 for 300 bucks at backcountry... not seeing a 167 for less than 400 anywhere. I'm almost considering spoiling myself here. Sort of what prompted this post - sanity check.

Arbor - love the look of 'em. Like the description on the Steepwater. Not cheap.

Jones Brothers - I like the 'idea' of this company, for whatever reason. They also do the Magtec.

Never Summer is another brand that was always cool; never ridden 'em though.

Don't care for Burton (mainly because of their proprietary binding stuff), Solomon (mainly because they all delaminated in the 90s). I could ride a K2; my first board was a K2 20+ years ago. Lots of brands out there I know nothing about - Lib Tech (park boards?), Capita, Rome... etc.

I welcome any comments.

Specs on current board to be replaced:

Size (cm) 167
Effective Edge (mm) 1305
Tip Width (mm) 260 (this must be a typo - figure 311-ish)
Waist Width (mm) 260
Tail Width (mm) 311
Sidecut Radius (m) 10.45 / 7.95 / 8.95
Stance Setback (in) .75
Width Regular

 

[the_awesome]

That is a massive board...I wouldn't be afraid of stepping down. Snowboards are more weight based than height. I ride a 157 Rome Mod Rocker and weight approx 182 pounds and it does everything I ask it to. That being said have you ever ridden alternate cambers? They can be a much different ride if you are used to a large, stiff and cambered ride.

What conditions are you most likely to ride in?

The Magtec XV is a full rocker big mountain powder board designed for/by Xavier De Le Rue. K2's utilize a lot of flat cambers, similar to Ride who now use "micro-camber". All Never Summers are Rocker/Camber combos, but the opposite of your current Ride. They are rocker in the middle and camber on the tips (most Lib Techs/Gnus have the same camber type which they refer to as banana camber). These can ride much different then a traditional cambered boards...especially when it comes to engaging a turn and might not work best with your stance/riding style as it's much easier to wash out.

Here is a good high level overview on camber types

https://whitelines.com/snowboard-gear/buying-guides/camber-rocker-snowboards-differences.html

If you're more an old school camber, mostly east coast (hard pack/ice) rider that likes to just bomb & carve here are some other choices that will be more traditional and ride similar to your High Life.

Straight Camber:
Rome Anthem
YES Pick Your Line
Burton Custom X

Cambered center/rockered tips:
Ride Bezerker
Capita BSOD
Jones Flagship
K2 Slayblade

 

[dlague]

http://www.evo.com/shop/snowboard/m...bility_intermediate-advanced/s_price-asc.aspx

 

[mbedle]

You are a carving at heart.... Make the switch and come on over to the dark side...

http://bomberonline.3dcartstores.com/Swoard-Dual_p_233.html

http://bomberonline.3dcartstores.com/Donek-Nomad_p_286.html

 

[Abominable]

Thanks all for the responses.

The Awesome -

[I ride a 157 Rome Mod Rocker] - Never ridden a Rome. Good company? The Rome Anthem looks like it might fit the bill for me.

[have you ever ridden alternate cambers?] - I've toyed around with a fully rockered board. I can see where they have their advantages, but not for my style or the typical conditions I ride in. The High Life is supposedly rockered at the tips. I think you can tell that it has that flexibility at the tips, but when you really get on it between the feet it lays a good carve. I like boards that can both bomb in a straight line and be solid and also be quick edge to edge for real slalom type turns. When you get the edge in it carries you around.

[What conditions are you most likely to ride in?] Typical east coast, ice and hard groomers. When the snow is good I'll go anywhere. I try to get a trip out west at least every other year. Love the trees, love soft slushy moguls on a sunny St. Patrick's Day. My mudder was a mudder.

[The Magtec XV is a full rocker big mountain powder board] - it has what they call Amptek all mountain. It's actually tough to figure out exactly what this looks like. It says: AmpTek All Mountain [60% Rocker / 40% Camber]. What's that mean? Are those overall percentages? Is that tip to tail or something?

The One Magtec was on my shortlist back when I bought the Highlife. It states Amptek All-Mountain: 30% Rocker / 40% Camber / 30% Rocker. How is that different from 60/40? For both boards when you look down under specs it shows the same profile rocker / camber / rocker. Might need to search some more on that.

Both of the above seem to have similar profiles to the current board. BUT, some further reviews say that the XV is a straight bomber while the One Mag might be more of a edge to edge carver....

I'll take a look at the other boards you mentioned. I guess my strategy is to have a few top choices and check each week till I find a good deal on one.

Dlague - that's a good site for organizing and narrowing down the million choices out there, thanks.

Mbedle - ahhh.... some day. Some day when I have a slopeside condo and can go in at lunch and change to soft boots I will have a straight carving setup. I've always loved that style. I actually went to one of Bomber's hardboot festivals at Berk. East (organized by Mark) and rode one for a morning. Love it. I'm sure there are adherents that will tell me that it's not limiting, that you can ride a deck like that anywhere, all day, etc., but in my experience it's awesome for what it's supposed to do, but a serious compromise for anything else. But some day when I have the luxury of having a dedicated hardboot setup I will.

Short list for now:

Rossi XV
Rossi One Mag
Rossi Krypto
Rome Anthem
Jones* Flagship
Arbor A Frame
Arbor Steepwater

Funny I said Jones Brothers in my original post. I was thinking of the boats, NOT the pop group. I swear!

 

[SnowRock]

As someone who was a longtime camber guy and doubted the alternative profiles I will say that I have loved my Never Summer. Got a chance to demo a Raptor, loved the ride and bought one. They stopped making the raptor which was replaced by the chairman which is also a great ride albeit a bit more aggressive/stiff in my limited time getting to demo one.

My previous board was a Salomon Man's Board, camber but with tip rocker. It was stiff, stable and damp and I could charge on it. Felt like a tank through chop and crud.. but it really punished any lazy riding. What I have liked about the Never Summer RC profile is that I can still bomb, but I find the board a bit more nimble and forgiving. It has been a versatile do it all board for me and has definitley helped me progress in the trees where I have found its attributes differ the most from my old board.

Long way of saying.. The CHairman and Man's Board are two other options you could look at. But your list is a good one.

 

[becca m]

NeverSummer is the way to go RC profile is really fun with the good edge hold,,, I started on camber/super big and stiff boards but really love NS's now (I have 2 now).

 

[fcksummer]

I have a NS HD Proto. Don't do a ton of park besides hitting jumps occasionally. Not sure exactly how fast Tuna Speed 3 but for the most part, I tend to keep up with some of the faster skiers I've met on here. Feels stable at high speeds but playful enough to bounce around. Performs well in moguls and trees and has the ability to push through sloppy or soft snow. I ride duck but it's fine at holding a strong edge and carving. I'd recommend NS but you also may want to look at some of their stiffer, directional boards.

 

[Rowsdower]

Check out the K2 Raygun. You can get them steeply discounted and they're a solid all-mountain board that does well on bumpy terrain and in the woods.

 

[Big Game]

I lost my Ride on I-91 after forgetting to close rack after dropping friend off in Park-n-Ride. A semi flatted what wasn't splintered. Replaced it with stiffer Atomic 61. I got too fat and the board got too flexy so I got a 14 or 13 (shoot it could even be a 12) Rossy Experience on close out. With the magne-trac. I went big: 73. But it was actually better in the woods as I floated much better. And never noticed being hampered in the bumps.

In the cruisers, it wants to carve trenches and will. Now I lost some weight, but it didn't see any action last year. Curious to see what I can do with it 30 pounds lighter.

Magne trac will not give you super human powers through boilerplate, but it seems to help. And it doesn't hurt

 

[k123]

I had a Highlife UL a couple years ago and loved it, until I damaged it beyond repair. For this past winter I went with the Jones Flagship and thoroughly enjoyed it! I would definitely recommend it to anyone that likes to go fast and charge the whole mountain, whether it be groomers or woods.

 

[RENO]

Never Summer! Currently have the SL which isn't made anymore. Best snowboard by far I've ever used. Not sure what replaces it, but you can't go wrong with any model they make. Had several Rides and Palmers previously. Both make great boards, but once I got on my SL I knew I would never go back! Their RC is awesome!