Wares 2005-12 US Future Snowboarding

8/14/2019 Wares 2005-12 US Future Snowboarding

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W E P I C K T H E 2 0 0 6 U . S . O L Y M P I C T E A M P.82F U T U R E SNOWBOAROINGNOV. 20D5 VOL.1 ISSUE I

EXCLUSIVE TEST!

EVERYTHING YOUNEED TO KNOWABOUTWHISTLER+ 3 THINGS YOU'RE NOTSUPPOSED TOJ


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Mi5l:limlfilii!i!iTHE SCIENTIFIC METHOD FORDETERMINING THIS YEAR'S BEST BOARDSames can be mis leading, What you ca l l " f reer iding," your buddy might just ca l l "snowboarding."

"Al l -around" to one manufacturer might mean some i ron ing board wi th no sidecut made to handle icywhi le to anothe r i t might m ean just what i t impliesa board that can ride everything. SomeOur goal was to f ind out wh ich was wh ich and to present th em to you in a way thats sense and helps you make cho ices appropr ia te for your weig ht, height , foot s ize, and r iding sty le.

We decided to screw the nomencla ture and ask a l l of the manufacturers for thei r best board for aider who wants to do everythingwithout buying mul t ip le boards. We tr ied some amazing boards thatdodo everyth ing and we got some boards that sho uld have never been taken out of the box. Fromhe unbel ievab ly good to the a lmost unr ideab ly bad, tested by snowboarders ranging from tax i dr ivers toem a l l .

Each men's board was naden tiy s minimumof six guys and o maximum of seven. Eachwomen's board was ridden by four w o m e n -ranging in size from 105 pounds to 170 pounds. E A C H M E N ' S B O A R D W A S R I D D E NA N A V E R A G E O F 17,766 V E R T I C A LF E E T O N T H E T E S T C O U R S E . Each women's board was ridden an averageof 11,848 vertical feet on the test course [lesstesters=less vertical).*SEE PAGE B8 FOR TH E WOMEN'S RESULTS E A C H T E S T E R R O D E E A C H B O A R DI N T H E M O R N I N G O N H A R D S N O WA N D I N T H E A F T E R N O O N O N S O F TS N O W . W E R O D E T H E B O A R D SJ U S T A S YO U W O U L D R I D E T H E M :F R E E R I D I N G I N T H E M O R N I N G . A N DF R E E S T Y L E I N T H E A F T E R N O O NO N C E T H E P A R K S S O F T E N E D U P .

Tester s, t ec hs , and taxidermy. Pimo-. Oici K Ham

We tested boards in three different price pointswithout lett ing thetesters know that we were doing this. Nobody knew whether they werer iding a $250 board or a $700, top-of-the-line quiver killer. Testers rede and rated their own personal boards at the end of thetest by the same m ethodology. Stab'stically, most testers' personal boardswould come in around the bottom third of the test i f put head-to-head withth e '06 boards. S I X B O A R D S W E R E R E T E S T E D F O R P O T E N T I A L S C R E W -U P S , A N D F O U N D TO T E S T A L M O S T I D E N T I C A L L Y . P H E W . Boards were masked with the ugl iest contact paper ever made, and keptbase-down when entering or leaving the changeover area. This was doneto keep tes ter bias and what marke ters at Pepsi and Coke cal l "sensationtransferenc e" to a min imum, to stop great o r god-a wful graph ics f rominfluencing the perceived riding characteristics in any way. Plus, everyonehas companies that they think they love or hate. A L L B O A R D S W E R E S T R I P P E D , W A X E D , A N D D E T U N E DT O T H E S A M E S T A N D A R D E V E R Y N I G H T F O R T H EF O L L O W I N G D A Y . Testers rode their own bindings when testing boards. Men 's hoards w ere a l l chosen in a s ize between 152 and 159cent imeters, and r idden by testers who qua l i f ied as "average" s ize inNorth Amer ica. The smal lest male tester was " just shy of a buck f i f ty"and the la rgest male tester was 170 pounds. Foot s izes ranged fromeight to 1 1 .

f REMEMBER: THE BOARDS PRESENTED HERE ARETHE BEST OF THE BEST. 90 WERE TESTEDONLY THE WORTHY CAN BE SEEN ON THESE PAGES.W h e t h e r its No.1 i n the SUPER PREMIUM ca tegory or No.10 in theECONOMY CLASS, every b oa rd you see here i s k i l l e r , a Mos t Va luab leP r odu c t . T h es e a r e t h e b oa r ds w e w ou l d r e c om m e n d t o ou r f r i en ds ,buy w i th our own money , o r use as g i f t s to i n f l uence r ich and p o w e r -f u l s n o w b o a r d e r - b o s s e s . If a boa rd made i t i n , i t i s wor th buy ing,s i m p l e a s t h a t .

ON-SNO W TE STING EXPERT: RICK KAHLFSM CONSULTED RICK KAHL EARLY ON.white we were trying to establ ish legitimatetest parameters that would really help peoplemake belter board choices. With more than20 years of experience testing ski equipmentand editing test reports as the editor of Skiingmagazine. Rick proved to be an invaluab leresource for usboth before, during, andafter the test. We worked together so hisvast ski testing knowledge could translate

to snowboard equipm ent. Nobody withou ta manufacturer bi3S has as much on-snowtesting experience as Rick Kahl. Nobody.Kahl, also a founding editor of GuitarWorld and current editor of Ski AreaManagement, helped keep the testers stokedand aware of our roles as highly calibratedinstruments-no small task. Kaht told us that"every test needs an Australian," so we wereglad we picked Miffy for the Women's Test

Isec page 68). Kahl made fun of FSM when wemade stupid mistakesand then figured outways to correct them before they influencedthe results in any way. He skied next to ourtesters and shouted, "you're r iding l ikepussies," if he thought any of us were cruisingjust a little too rccreationally.All in al l . Rick'swisdom on the nature and worth of on-snowtesting helped raise the standards of our firstannual FSM Board Tesl immeasurably.


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2005-06 BOARD TEST L.

READ THIS BEFORE THROWING DOWN.PERFECT SNOWBOARD: BODY TYPE. RIDING STYLE, AND PREFERREDTERRAIN. These factors wi ll de termine the snowboard's length, width.attributes differs from rid er to rider. (Check out the sidebars throughoutthis story to learn a bit more about the most important elements.)"Thetength of the board is the first thing I'd look at," says pro rider JJThomas. "Then flex and shape, and, of course, graphics." The FSM BoardTest lets you l ind out exactly what other riders like you thought of a boardbefore you buy it. Demos are the best way to fee l out the differe nt shapesand sizes for yourself, yet they can be time consuming and aren't alwaysavailable when and where you need them. If you have the tim e and live in awell-serviced area, use the FSM Board Test to narrow down yo ur options tothree boards and then demo those to find your u ltimate ride .Finding a good shop in your area is also crucial. If they seem

of picking a plank. Gorio Bustamente, snowboard buyer for Olympic Spoin Seattle, says being honest with sales staff is key. "A lot of people don'treally answer the questions co rrectly," he says. "I ask how often they go,they say 'a lot.' And then they let me know how good they are. I don't needknow thatneither of those things te lls me anything."Bustamente recommends being specific about how many times yougo a week, or a season, where you like to ride, and, perhaps to the chagrof some, your weight. This information wil l help staff determine the boarthat's right for you. Gorio says paying $350 to $400 for a board is averageBut, he warns, make su re price isn't the main factor of your selection. "Yonly have to pay as much money as it takes for you to have fun, but makesure you're not too much of a tightwad or a cheapskate," he says. There acheap boards out there that are basically toys and, generally speaking, wyou pay $400 fo r a board you're getting rea l equipment. Katie Bailey

f HOWTO BET THE MOST OUT OFTHE FSM BOARD TESTFifiillE RATING: Aggregat e mea n score fro m

ual "freeride" test criteria: trickin g onhigh-speed stabil ity; low-speed turning;

base peed. Vil ut

I .REESTYLE MTIK S: Aggr egat .me an C O T * from individual'freestyle" lest criteria: cUi factor,takeoff; transition behavior; andlanding, Value > 3 3 . 3 % of overallrating.

rm 80AAD DESCRIPTION: This paragraph w m m M i l i ial l the lest datanumerical and commentaryandgives a broad overview af what makes I h i * boardworthy of Inclusion in ire FSMVP, includingconstruction notes.

B O A R D D E SC R I P T I O N : More s tab le than th e b a n dN a m e is an a d v a n c e d f re e r i d e b o a rd that sel ls it

S o m e of the t e s t e rs a g re e d , bu t m i g h t ad ds p e e d s " to the end of each s e n t e n c e . It has a p in ta i l

s h a p e an d


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*>*. T . ^

BOARD DESCRIPTION-.The Rome Design Syndicatestarted making boards a fewyears back when the owners

left their engineering jobs aBurton. This Design 158 suggests they

m i 9 ht be onto something.The Design domtnatedJ l l p e t i t i o n and had Associate EditorTracy in conniptions - ^performa nce all over the mounta.n.This do every. ngd i rec t iona i tw inowessomeo f i t sg^yo

o f . L s fiber toning (a process whereby 3 0 , 4 5 ,1 , 0 degree libers are s t r a t e g , ^ ^ , b -boards like this usually involve at least a lit.

-Mo

BOARD BASICS 101:WIDTHs width should be prop ortionalto your foot size. A board's "waist," or middlesection, should fit your feet so that neithe r yourheet nor toe extends over the edge so mu ch thatit touches snow. If your board is loo narrow, it'lldig into the hi ll and cause all sorts of problems.But the part a lot of people don't realize is that aboard that's too wide is even harder to ride than

a board that's too stiff. "Wide boards ridden bysm all feet turn about as fast as an oil tanker,"according to former shop worker and curren tFSM Editor, Colin Whyte. "And it hurts your feetto ride a wide board if you don't need toit turnsit into a job."At Burton Snowboards, regular snowboardwaist width is about 250 mm, a mid-wide boardis about 255 mm , and a wide board is about 2A0mm. Women's and children's boards usually havesmaller w aists (or sma ller feet. John Gerndt.Burton testing coordinator, says binding angles

also play a role in choice ofboard width. "If you'reriding steeper (i.e. higher) angles, you don't needas wide a board," he explains. "But if your anglesare a bit flatter, then you'd want a bit wider boardso you don't get toe and h eel drag." KBHINT: IF YOU'RE LOOKING AT BOAROS. CHECKYOUR FOOT AGAINST THE BASE, NOT JUST l l l rTOPSHEET. CAP BOARDS AND SLANT-WALLBOARDS ARE CONSIDERABLY WIDER WHEN VIEWEFROM THE BASE SIDE, AND THIS IS THE SIDETHAT'S GOING TO BE DOING MOST OF THE TURNLAST TIME WE CHECKED.


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TOP

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testing what really matters; powderVbfkl Wall AM board. Photo-, diristn Soul

NDER350SOME OF THE BOARDS BELOW ARE CHEAPER THAN AK l i r M I T A - I - f . * - . ~

, , , v v i n . ne uiuy nangovyou ' l l get wi th these , thoug h , is if you buy one that 's too n a r r o w foyour feet . Lo w price doesn't have to m e a n low p e r f o r m a n ce a n d ,bel ieve it or not , the highest scor ing board in the ent i re men's tescame f rom down he re on the poor side of t o wn . R e m e m b e r : thetes ters d idn ' t know if they were dr iv ing a Fer ra r i or a Pinto , (ridina $700 board or a $300 o ne l . Many of the boards be low tend lo belo rs ional ly sof ter , easy to t u r n at stow nosHc mr i "-M V I uiiu vci y tu t i . jmnijyou' re lazy, learningor hungover. If you've had boards in the pathat fe l t l i ke they were r id in g you, check out the respectab le r idein this division an d spend the money you save on a decent pair ofboots wi th custom footbeds. Or buy a subscr ip t i on to FSM. Yourcho ice. The FS M sub is cheaper , t ho u g h .

RIDECONTROLli'lrlilftttl'lBBHgjgaii n a g ! EarningIvMliUVHflflli^M ETHHtt ETE1 R H F3CJHHti'iMM'HCONSTRUCTION S10EWALL-NARROW SIDECUT MAKES FOR QUICK, SHORTTURNS . BUT STABILITY AT HIGH SPEED ISACONCERN."-eannooN

BOARD DESCRIPTION: Marke ted asa board for the weekend enthusiast, theRide Control is an ideal fit for the intermedi-ate rider who wants some room to grow. Themodel features new Thermal Sidewall technol-ogy, a 45-degree cut designed to optimizeresponse and dampening over the steel edges.The tip and tail are inlaid with Ride's Fusion feature,an aluminum wrapping that acts as a bumper for yourboard. Its directional shape lends itself to corduroycruising and freeriding, but our testers found this boardto be quite fun in the park and pipe as well.

IllSi) 7B8 792THiS BOARD CAVE ME CAT-UKE SKILLS WHEN IT HELPEDME STOMP A TRTCK Ott AMEDWAI-SEED KICKER THAT 1SHOULDNTHAVE LAIiDED.', - W

TNITlAnjIG MEDIUM AND SLOW TURN S. IT HANDLED WELLI FELT CONftBEKT ENOUGH OK THIS BOARD TO PUSH MY-SELF ONTOE JUMPS AND IN THE PIPE."

BOARD DESCRIPTION: Do you fancy yourself a park junkie? Yeah? Thenyou may want to check out the Sims Vice. A couple of our testers foundthat its soft torsional flex and wide twin-tip shape are ideal in theevent that you forget snowboarding requires balance and need tocome up with a clean landingstat. Several of our riders en -joyed this board in the park and pipe but rated it low whent came to all-mountain performance. At intermediatespeeds it faired well, but became unpredictable andunstable in spring crud.

SIMSVICEMSRP: $349.995I ZES A V A I L A B L E ; 1 1 5 3 I 156 1 1 5 9

"FUN AND PREDICTABLE. I FELTCONFIDENT ON THIS BOARD, THOUGHIT WOULD BETTER SUIT A MOREAGGRESSIVE FREESTYLE RIDER ."-WW

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1 LIKED THE WAY IT COMPRESSED AND RESOUNDED FROM TUHi o TuBN.rr WAS NICE AND i i m j m v t THOUGH A u r n r e noMTflErLATSI

6 4 F SNV NOVEMBER 2005

Wares 2005-12 US Future Snowboarding

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