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Which board for me? Board comparison.

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Which board for me? Board comparison.

Postby sabestian » 20 Mar 2011 10:07

I am starting this thread because unfortunately I have no chance to attend any of the AES meetings...

I started skwaling this year but I can feel that I will progress rapidly (I have been hardboot carving for a long time).
Here is how I ride: http://aes-shop.skwal.eu/skwalzone/forums3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3416&sid=10ac753a12b6d6f9340accc23e5da776 Thanks Obi One!

My problem is that I can afford only one skwal that will do all that I need (and that is carving on both well and poor prepared pistes, sometimes very icey and bumpy). I love damp, long alpine boards, with a lot of grip.

My favourite alpine board is Oxygen Proton 178 (a damp GS board with a great edge hold, very stable, relatively small 14m radius). I weigh 80kg now (without gear) and 180cm tall, sporty type but not athletic. I love speed, but I also crave for extreme angles, going lower and lower is my goal. I dream of fast deep carves, if you watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJM4xg_VYRs you'll know where I am aiming.

I ride the Lacroix SK200 that I find fast and stable, it goes well through bumps and ice. I would like a board that has a bit shorter turning radius but can also handle speed. This suggests MR173 I guess but I worry that 10m may be too tight...

Am I right, that:
- CODA is easy to ride, with great edge hold, wide (with potential for extremecarving), short 10m radius, expensive to import to Europe.
- Lagriffe WA180 this one is designed also for off-piste, so I assume that the edge hold is poorer than Lagriffes' and I think it is not for me...
- Lagriffe MR173 is more demanding, stiffer, narower (so - faster), but it is also short - too short? Also, the turning radius is so tight that I am affraid I will have problems with deep fast carves that I love most!
- Lagriffe MR183 this one on the other hand may be impossible to navigate through crowded places and would probably exhaust me after few hours' ride. It may be too much of a board for me...
- Mpride Xrace boards - more expensive, I am not sure if that means better than Lagriffe MR series?
- RAD, Oxess, Virus - too expensive unfortunately.

Why there are no moderately stiff 180cm boards with 12-14 radius in my price range?...
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Re: Which board for me? Board comparison.

Postby clement » 21 Mar 2011 11:38

Hi sebastian,

I took a look to your video, very nice!

Actually the Lagriffe MR series are better than M-Pride, a little more stronger and more precise...if you are a good rider.
The White ambiance is not for extreme carving but for all mountain program

I usualy start a day with my RS176 carbon to test the slope and change to MR173 if it in good conditions, hard snow without bumps .The MR173 is enought for deep carving and you can also ride in busy places.
The MR183 is for me the best board to get sensations, you can carve as never before, the only thing is to control it if it is crowd.
The Coda is very funny but to compare it is like to compare sports bikes: MR are like a Yamaha R1 and Coda like a Guzzi.
Both are very funny but the riding plaesure is different.

Like I told you, if you get a Coda board a little narrower i think it could be a very good board as the edges changing will be faster.

If you have any more questions i am here to answer.

Clement
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Re: Which board for me? Board comparison.

Postby sabestian » 21 Mar 2011 12:17

Fantastic comparison, Clement, thanks a lot!

From what you say, I can eliminate CODA because I've never loved Guzzis. I like them, enjoy them but did not buy one when I had an opportunity... Perhaps when I get older. You know what I mean. I like sharper tools. I ride Aprilia SL1000 Falco that I converted to Fazer-on-steroids half Tuono semi-touring machine, fast and sharp but comfortable. A bike with Austrian heart and Italian soul. My dream is to duplicate that blend with a skwal...

Could you please tell me if I understood you well - are you saying that MR173 is only good when the conditions are right: "hard without bumps"? I noticed that my SK200 fares reasonably well in these conditions, could that be that MR173 is worse?
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Re: Which board for me? Board comparison.

Postby gigabass » 11 Oct 2011 13:39

hi sebastian,

any news about your decision ?
i just wanted to start a similar thread, but the description of what you are looking for is 90% the same for me, so i will simply join your thread.
like you i did about 20 years alpin-snowboarding, though not that extensive in the past 10 years. i got an easy jungle last year, which was ok in the first 2 days but then it already reached its limit.
i'm a bit smaller than you (174cm/68kg), can't afford > 1 board or the high priced virus stuff too. i'm not an experienced skwaler, but i'd prefer buying a board for the experienced and do some more work over getting a mid-range board an then have to buy another one 1-3 years.

first preference for me is excellent grip on hard to icy slopes. in good conditions you can ride whatever you want and the edge will hold, but on hard and icy conditions that's where the wheat is separate from the chaff.

i first looked at the WA180 as it seems to be a good allrounder - but on the other hand powder is not the aim - i had very very rare good powder conditions in the past years, and if it comes to powder i can still use my old boards.
MR183 or xrace 183 ? or the shorter 173 sisters ?

probably it doesn't matter too much, as if these are hq boards it's more up to the rider if something goes wrong.

i would prefer to be able to test ... but coming to the alps for a weekend just for testing (700-1000km trip) doesn't make it cheaper.
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Re: Which board for me? Board comparison.

Postby sabestian » 17 Nov 2011 13:46

Hi, with your weight I would be very cautious about MR183, especially coming from Easy Jungle. It may be just too much of a board for your weight/strength.

I decided to buy MR173 after my friend, an experienced skwaler broke his arm on his new MR183. I thought it would be too fast and demanding for me. Got it set up but not tested yet. I will be able to ride it in the beggining of December, will see then. For now I can tell you that it is very stiff in comparison to my SK200.

http://www.skwalzone.org/forums3/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4836&p=35640#p35640
Last edited by sabestian on 05 Nov 2013 16:09, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Which board for me? Board comparison.

Postby gigabass » 18 Nov 2011 12:13

thanks for your opinions.
i decided to go for an mpride xrace 183, from what i've heared here not that stiff as the mr series, which might be better for me.
i come from the alpine snowboards and mostly used slalom boards with an radius of about 9-10m, but wanted to have something wider now. ok, 15m is a challenge, if there would have been something inbetween like a 12-13m radius i probably would have chosen that one.
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Re: Which board for me? Board comparison.

Postby sabestian » 18 Nov 2011 13:24

Exactly. I was considering ordering a custom board with 12.5 m radius. The prices stopped me. I still worry that 10 m radius of MR173 may be too tight. I regularly ride 15 m alpine boards, but this radius in skwal (SK 200) is too much for where I ride.
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