Ski Press World Inc. - Index

Ski Press World Inc. - SIA Day 3 - Index

trend +/snowboard
CRAZY SHAPES, LIGHTER BOARDS AND
ECO-FRIENDLY MATERIALS LEAD SNOWBOARD DESIGN
Snowboard companies have always pushed the limits
of design and development in the search for newer and
better boards. For the 2008/09 selling season, the progression
in snowboard manufacturing takes some new
twists from surfboard design, the aerospace industry, and
the green movement.
ROCKER AND MORE
With the advent of Mervin Manufacturing launching the
Banana Technology, Bataleon’s Triple Base Technology,
and K2’s full rocker powder weapon The Gyrator occurring
over the last several years, board companies are now
in full mode to redefi ne the concept of camber, fl at bases
and performance.
For 2008/09, Mervin Manufacturing is offering the awardwinning
edge technology Magne-Traction on more boards.
Magne-Traction makes boards look like they have an
uneven, multi-curve sidecut down the edge of the board,
and increases the number of actual contact points for that
edge, thus increasing edge hold.
“For Gnu and Lib Tech, we only have a total of two SKUs that
will not be Magne-Traction,” said Mervin’s Greg Hughes.
“And most of the boards in both brands will come with
Banana Technology.”
Banana Technology scored high or won several consumer
magazine board tests this season, proving its worth. The
design replaces camber between the feet of the board with
rocker, giving decks more pop and control, and they catch
edges less. The combination of Banana Technology and
Magne-Traction opens up the freestyle options for the entire
line of Lib Tech and Gnu boards.
Burton has started to manipulate its bases more to increase
certain models’ freestyle appeal. The new Fix features Scoop
Tech, inspired by Trevor Andrew, that creates a convex nose
and tail geometry, making it easier to butter, bonk and
ride away from those sketchy takeoffs and landings. The
Scoop Tech will also be offered on the X8, Se7en and new
Blender boards.
To suit park destroyers even more, the Fix also has extrastrength
Park Edges built for abuse and Burton’s Rail Ready
edge tune, which is perfect for sliding rails and boxes without
hang-ups.
Since Burton now owns Channel Island Surfboards, it’s not
surprising that the Burton board designers have introduced
traditional surfboard rocker into snowboards. (K2 had it on
the Gyrator powder board last year.) Burton’s new S-Rocker
multi-directional camber will be featured on the Fish and
offers reverse camber between the bindings and low camber
at the tip and tail, allowing the board to be in the powered-up
position all the time. This makes the board even
more maneuverable and easier to steer in pow, and allows
it to adapt to variable snow and terrain conditions with less
effort. And for the snow surfers, Burton will now offer a Fish
Swallow Tail. This is the fi rst time in many years that Burton
has offered a swallowtail, which makes it easier to sink the tail
of the board and steer through deep snow with less effort.
The swallowtail also helps funnel displaced snow out the
20 SNOWPRESS DAY 3 skipressworld.com/snowpress
back for a looser, more agile feel at high speeds.
New to the snowboard game, but not new to snowboarding,
DC is launching boards for the fi rst time in 2008/2009,
with its board line designed, developed and tested by DC
employees and its pro snow team. One of the features to
look out for is DC’s Radius to Flat design technology, which
is a unique tip and tail profi le for more speed and easier
landings in the powder. The RTF technology will be offered
in the MLF series.
Flow is another company that’s looking at the base of the
board and tinkering with the design. For the new season
the company will be releasing a new 3-D Structurn base
fi nish, which allows for a pattern of dimples on the middle
of the board but not near the edge. This allows breakup of
the high suction area in the middle of the base and a hard
pack high-friction fi nish near the edge.
WEIGHT
Less is more, right? In the snowboard world, the battle to
reduce weight has been waged season after season, with
pounds and now ounces being shaved from boards day by
day. Burton is releasing a new Carbon Vaporskin Lite using
space-age wizardry to cut the fat from the board. The model
utilizes the same materials found on space shuttles to trim
more from the already super lightweight Vapor, but still maintaining
snap and strength. By reducing the glass and adding
carbon, the board gets lighter and lighter. Ride is also looking
to carbon materials to trim some extra weight from its boards.
The company has developed Pop Rods, Pop Stixs and Membrain
technologies to achieve the desired results. These carbon
rods and ribs enhance pop, while new fabric-infused urethane
topsheets cut out half the weight of standard topsheets. These
will be offered on Ride’s fl agship freestyle Mobility boards,
the refi ned Society and the new women’s Canvas models.
These boards give riders the extra pop they need to
go bigger than ever. These new features are inserted at
specifi c locations in the nose and tail of the Society and
women’s Canvas boards, in areas fl exed when a rider is
pre-loading the board for a jump or trick. The tubular,
3-D Pop Rods and fl at, 2-D Pop Stixs fl ex and load as
the rider leans into the move, and then snap back
into position, giving the board and rider extra pop
for the maneuver.
Ride’s new Membrain urethane topsheets save about
100 grams in total board weight compared to standard
topsheets on similar size boards.
Weight is an issue the designers at DC are also addressing.
At the pinnacle of the DC snowboard line will be the HKD
Series, or Honeycomb Kevlar Directional.
This is the lightest and most responsive board from DC,
featuring DC’s handmade Phantom core, which combines
lightweight honeycomb with responsive, vertically laminated
poplar and obeche. The core features a Dual Torsion
Box with Kevlar and carbon, a construction technique
that provides shock absorption, vibration dampening and
great stability. HKD boards are wrapped with a durable
yet lightweight laminate. �
Burton Fix
Flow 3-D Structurn base fi nish
VOLVO — OFFICIAL CAR OF
Skate Banana Lib tech
Flow Quantuum