lundi 26 janvier 2015
d
The Chairman (the person) asked me to compare these two boards against one another specifically as applied to high speed stability. This is my first ever board review, so I don't have a specific format to follow.
I am going to update this with a review of the Chairman 160 when I ride that one and see if I can draw some comparisons. To get this started, though, I am going to put out my impressions of the Ripsaw first.
Some background: I have been riding a model year 2012 Never Summer Raptor 164 for a few years now. This was my first non-Burton, non-camber board since the mid-1990's (when I had a Sims Half-pipe). I had gotten very used to camber (was on a Burton T6 since 2006) and started migrating to a more directional stance. I had gotten by reasonable well in steeps and powder and backcountry with this stance, and have had some great days on the Raptor, including a heli-drop at Silverton and a snowcat tour- no complaints. I love powder like any rider, but when it's unavailable (which is the majority of the time), I ride groomers and steeps, but avoid bumps and park. My style tends toward soft boot carving and riding fast, long-radius turns on the groomers. A recent trip to Silverton found me transferring that same stance to another board, where it didn't translate very well and the board had too much "leverage" on me and I was not riding well (too much nose, not enough tail). The experience motivated me to re-examine my long held stance habits and try to get a little more centered and a little less forward rotation. This timing corresponded to picking up 3 boards from the Never Summer Factory:
a 2015/2016 NS Ripsaw 159
a 2015/2016 NS Chairman 160
a 2014/2014 NS Chairman 164*
*(I think this is a 2014/2015 model year, but am unsure. I am going on graphics differences, but that may just be due to different lengths getting different graphics? )
I decide to take the Ripsaw out first and got up to the area too late in the day to ride both boards. It was very crowded, with clear sunny skies. Seemed like a good day to ride the groomers with speed kept well under control and even make a foray into the bumps to avoid some of the crowds and to test this shorter board.
In the bumps, wow, this board did not disappoint! It was much easier to turn than my Raptor, but it may be comparing apples to oranges, given the length difference (164 vs 159)? I am not sure, but this board made the bumps almost fun. I am so not used to the bumps, so I wasn't charging them, but this board allowed me to pretty much go where I wanted to go and turn when I wanted to. The edge hold in the bumps was also suprisingly good. It would take some practice to get really good, since I have made a decision years ago to avoid moguls.
On groomers, the board felt quite different than what I am used to. The board feels wider than my Raptor and I had a hard time getting a really high-angle heelside carve due to that. It was slightly slower edge to edge than my Raptor, but edge hold was excellent. The board seems to do well with shorter radius carves than my old board, but that was perfect for the conditions being more crowded than I am used to. I even tried a little fakie riding, which is something I never do. I don't have the stance set up to do real well that way, but I was able to link turns fakie at slow to moderate speeds and felt the edgehold was great. This board does not accelerate quite as fast as my raptor, but I am not sure if that is due to the shorter length, or perhaps just the wax that was on it vs what I normally have. I don't think it is quite long enough for my style of riding to get it up to real fast speeds (probably did not get it up over 40 ??) but other riders may feel differently. All this is just after a half-day in crowded conditions, but I wanted to get those initial impressions written down while they are still fresh.
Here is a hash vid that at least shows some of the riding FWIW. I wanted to put music on for a soundtrack, but don't want to run afoul of a copyright claim (this has happened to me in the past).
I am going to update this with a review of the Chairman 160 when I ride that one and see if I can draw some comparisons. To get this started, though, I am going to put out my impressions of the Ripsaw first.
Some background: I have been riding a model year 2012 Never Summer Raptor 164 for a few years now. This was my first non-Burton, non-camber board since the mid-1990's (when I had a Sims Half-pipe). I had gotten very used to camber (was on a Burton T6 since 2006) and started migrating to a more directional stance. I had gotten by reasonable well in steeps and powder and backcountry with this stance, and have had some great days on the Raptor, including a heli-drop at Silverton and a snowcat tour- no complaints. I love powder like any rider, but when it's unavailable (which is the majority of the time), I ride groomers and steeps, but avoid bumps and park. My style tends toward soft boot carving and riding fast, long-radius turns on the groomers. A recent trip to Silverton found me transferring that same stance to another board, where it didn't translate very well and the board had too much "leverage" on me and I was not riding well (too much nose, not enough tail). The experience motivated me to re-examine my long held stance habits and try to get a little more centered and a little less forward rotation. This timing corresponded to picking up 3 boards from the Never Summer Factory:
a 2015/2016 NS Ripsaw 159
a 2015/2016 NS Chairman 160
a 2014/2014 NS Chairman 164*
*(I think this is a 2014/2015 model year, but am unsure. I am going on graphics differences, but that may just be due to different lengths getting different graphics? )
I decide to take the Ripsaw out first and got up to the area too late in the day to ride both boards. It was very crowded, with clear sunny skies. Seemed like a good day to ride the groomers with speed kept well under control and even make a foray into the bumps to avoid some of the crowds and to test this shorter board.
In the bumps, wow, this board did not disappoint! It was much easier to turn than my Raptor, but it may be comparing apples to oranges, given the length difference (164 vs 159)? I am not sure, but this board made the bumps almost fun. I am so not used to the bumps, so I wasn't charging them, but this board allowed me to pretty much go where I wanted to go and turn when I wanted to. The edge hold in the bumps was also suprisingly good. It would take some practice to get really good, since I have made a decision years ago to avoid moguls.
On groomers, the board felt quite different than what I am used to. The board feels wider than my Raptor and I had a hard time getting a really high-angle heelside carve due to that. It was slightly slower edge to edge than my Raptor, but edge hold was excellent. The board seems to do well with shorter radius carves than my old board, but that was perfect for the conditions being more crowded than I am used to. I even tried a little fakie riding, which is something I never do. I don't have the stance set up to do real well that way, but I was able to link turns fakie at slow to moderate speeds and felt the edgehold was great. This board does not accelerate quite as fast as my raptor, but I am not sure if that is due to the shorter length, or perhaps just the wax that was on it vs what I normally have. I don't think it is quite long enough for my style of riding to get it up to real fast speeds (probably did not get it up over 40 ??) but other riders may feel differently. All this is just after a half-day in crowded conditions, but I wanted to get those initial impressions written down while they are still fresh.
Here is a hash vid that at least shows some of the riding FWIW. I wanted to put music on for a soundtrack, but don't want to run afoul of a copyright claim (this has happened to me in the past).
2015/2016 Ripsaw and The Chairman
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