How to choose an SNB

CHOOSE A SHAPE

The most common questions and answers:

Questions 1:

Power Rocker - The Hybrid Power Rocker looks interesting; I’ve also been considering buying

a similar design. I’d just like to know about its stability – whether it

holds its edge well even at higher speeds, and whether the ride character is more

rocker or camber-dominant? I’ve never tried a hybrid like this before and I’d hate to make a mistake.

The riding characteristics of the Power Rocker are similar to those of a softer camber.

On edge, it behaves like a camber. This means that when carving into a turn and on landings, it’s softer, forgives mistakes and doesn’t catch an edge.

All our team riders use it for ramps, big jumps and freeriding.

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Questions 2:

I’d like an all-mountain board – a versatile, directional twin. Construction: camber, combi rocker.

I’d appreciate some advice on which length to choose. I’m 190 cm tall and wear a US size 12.

We recommend the P-team 165

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Questions 3:

Hello,

I’ve been riding a camber board up until now. I’m having trouble on hard-packed and icy surfaces. Is a rocker shape better for these conditions?

Thanks for the advice, or perhaps a link where I can read up on it (before I buy a new board).

A rocker shape doesn’t fundamentally solve the problem of riding on hard surfaces.

The rocker shape is designed for riders who mainly ride in the park and focus on street jibbing; it’s a softer snowboard construction.

This construction allows beginners to get to grips with it very quickly and enjoy the ride. Models with this construction have a softer flex despite the board’s overall stiffness.

It offers an easier and quicker response when performing ollies and carving through turns, and makes it easier to stay on the board when riding switch.

It makes it easier to execute tricks whilst jibbing, landing jumps and finishing off tricks, and allows you to ride without the edges ‘catching’ and causing subsequent falls.

The downside is that the board is softer overall and offers poor edge control; it doesn’t grip well on firmer surfaces.

I don’t know what kind of riding you prefer – piste, freeride, ramp, park?

In addition to rocker, our range also includes Power Rocker, a more versatile combination of two shapes – rocker and camber.

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Questions 4:

My problem is that I’m looking for a board that won’t let me down on hard surfaces when freeriding. On a groomed slope, we can ride on anything. My current board has a camber construction and is quite stiff (it was made by the lads from Brno – Meryl), and on hard surfaces only the tail and nose grip, whilst between the bindings it creates a non-contact area and loses traction.  Before you wrote to me, I thought that the ‘reversed’ camber on the board might work in such a way that, precisely at the points of the centre of gravity supported by the U-shape of the board, you’d be able to ‘cut into’ the icy slope. Actually, my aim is to choose a board that will best follow the terrain and hold its line in the conditions described. I’m not expecting the impossible.

What now?

To add to that: I’ve been riding for twenty seasons, on snow, grass, rocks, glaciers, in summer, in winter....

With a rocker construction, the exact opposite happens. Contact is only at the bindings, and the tip and tail don’t grip the snow and are left ‘in the air’.

With a camber construction, it depends on the overall stiffness of the board and the amount of camber. If the board doesn’t flex and make contact with the snow, it is too stiff or has too much flex.

The problem lies not in the construction but in the stiffness.

I recommend a softer camber or a Power Rocker type, which features camber beneath the bindings and rocker between them.

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