teh Forum

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Mate of mine says he can get a load of Burton boards for cheap. These are new boards but from several years back. I know nothing about the reliability of this deal, but here FWIW, is the deal;

"Boards are on their way. Not exactly sure of what I'll have available until I finish offloading the majority of stuff, but I should have:
E Deck 156cm x1
E Deck 163 cm x 9
Supermodel 181cm x 20
Motion 140 cm x 2
Motion 162 cm x 10
FL Project 162 cm x 12

All boards 10,000 ea, you pay the ship/takkyubin."

If you're interested, give me a shout. I toyed with the idea of getting a Supermodel 181, but as I already tend to get my stick wedged between trees, I thought better of it. Now I'm looking for something around 166 with vicious pop.

I watched the vids of Cortina on this fine site, and I have to say, db snowboards like a surfer. Check out the movies and see if you agree.

db - very few people get the luxury of trying out a snowboard before they buy. But if you follow some basic guidelines you should be cool. First of all, your riding is at a level where you should definitely get a premium board. Unless you can nab a deal on one of last years models or hook up with a representative from the company, you will have to pay a little more. But it will be worth it if the board can handle everything you throw at it and push you to be a better rider.

Let's talk about size. Right now you are on a 156 if I remember correctly. That is a pretty good size for you. I wouldn't recommend anything smaller. Since you ride a lot of pow you might consider anything from there up to a 159. If you get much bigger than that you will notice it isn't quite as easy to jerk the board around, and your backflips might see some deterioration.

So grab a board that is in that range, but pick the board out first, and then just get an appropriate size. 1cm shouldn't keep you from getting a board you like.

Brands... Well if you go with a major manufacturer you are gonna want one of their top of the line free-ride boards. I would stay away from Solomon as I read their boards are actually made flat and then bent to shape, an inferior process only used by Solomon as a money saving technique. But I wouldn't immediately toss out a Burton Cutom, or one of Rossi's top boards. Unfortunately it is still hard to do research on next years gear as most stupid manufacturers are too slow to update their damn website. IDIOTS!

I love Option. Their Sansalone, or Vinson would be perfect for you. They moved their Signature (what I have been riding) down on the line and brought out a new high end board (although the name escapes me). Other companies that get my stamp of approval are: Glissade, Lib Tech/Gnu, Morrow, and Never Summer. I would take a second look at Nitro, M3, and Nidecker as well. Any boards near the top of those companies lines are probably gonna be cool for you.

Keep us updated.