The Official Mervin Manufacturing Thread

[C.Fuzzy]

I have a bit of a fondness for the Mervin non-full wrap edges. Here in the midwest it's not uncommon when riding glades to be plowing through small brush and bramble, and full wrap edges can cut and slice into it and flip ya... but a mervin board doesn't. Outside of that single special use case, its a moot point for me. Never had any other upside or downside either for or against.

Bunn just helped me pick up a Gnu x Pendleton board too.

If anything keeps me away from Mervin these days it's the graphicals. I'm not into whatever new Jamie lynn skull they're doing and whatever other weird death metal trapper keeper art is going on these days.

Gnu once in a while has okay stuff. But usually not a shape I'm into.

[michaelangelo]

I’d like to try a Banked Country, but need the Gnu logo to be 500% smaller and no mag on it.

[ad1105]

I’ve also got a Banked Country 60w and it was definitely a surprise standout. I’m generally steering clear of most C2 boards, but I haven’t ridden a dud Mervin, yet. That being said, even my old Lando 160 holds a hardpack carve better than a good number of other boards I own.

How is the Jamie Lynn in comparison to the Banked Country? If it's not too much stiffer then I might want need one.

The JL isn’t too much stiffer overall, but it’s definitely more of a balanced ride that can handle more drive on the front foot. The BC is definitely softer in the nose and the one I’d probably want if it was nuking. The BC has better float, but as I own 160w in both, the difference is negligible.

I prefer the JL, as it caters more to how/where I ride most of the winter. I definitely think about it less when riding it. Stiffer, no mag, and more of a balanced flex. I’m kinda tempted to get the 156 just for dicking around on mellower days, or riding with my kids.

[ad1105]

If anything keeps me away from Mervin these days it's the graphicals. I'm not into whatever new Jamie lynn skull they're doing and whatever other weird death metal trapper keeper art is going on these days.

That made me chuckle lol. I think I’m going through a bit of a midlife crisis thing where I’m buying up my childhood, so the “death metal trapper keeper art” seems to be resonating with me
The Jamie/1910 graphics are actually something that drew me in. I used to generally shit on Mervin graphics in the past, but I’ve shifted my opinion in the last couple years.

[SJF_NH]

I had a JL Phoenix Blue Cat some years ago. I know these things are subjective, but the Blue Cat was/is probably my favorite graphic of all time. Going just from memory and as @Spencer pointed out, the biggest takeaway about that board for me was the very open sidecut. Which is awesome for stability and going very fast, but it takes a little more work to get it to make a tight turn.

[coleslawed]

Never had an issue without full wrap edges, nor TNT, up here in the northwest of the northwest. I feel like most TNT issues I recall were with people in dry climates, but I could be making that up

Most issues with glide is in drycold or wet conditions, so that's probably right. My experience with TNT on wet conditions is superslow, but it's possible to use wax for those conditions, and structure. That type of wax doesn't last much longer on sintered either. Those board also had lots of mag, so I guess that doesn't help.

i’ve always associated any drag i feel on my Terrain Wrecker to the mag in certain snow conditions vs the base, as I’ve become a somewhat obsessive waxer over the last few seasons.

[Kevington]

I’ve also got a Banked Country 60w and it was definitely a surprise standout. I’m generally steering clear of most C2 boards, but I haven’t ridden a dud Mervin, yet. That being said, even my old Lando 160 holds a hardpack carve better than a good number of other boards I own.

How is the Jamie Lynn in comparison to the Banked Country? If it's not too much stiffer then I might want need one.

The JL isn’t too much stiffer overall, but it’s definitely more of a balanced ride that can handle more drive on the front foot. The BC is definitely softer in the nose and the one I’d probably want if it was nuking. The BC has better float, but as I own 160w in both, the difference is negligible.

I prefer the JL, as it caters more to how/where I ride most of the winter. I definitely think about it less when riding it. Stiffer, no mag, and more of a balanced flex. I’m kinda tempted to get the 156 just for dicking around on mellower days, or riding with my kids.

Thanks for the info. It sounds like it could work well for me, at least when I’m riding in the alps. I’ve been missing a board that I can really throw my weight toward the front contact point at the start of a turn. Most boards, even lots of freeride boards are a bit soft and/or rockered in the nose to feel totally secure doing that. An 8.7m sidecut doesn’t sound that crazy. I had a Kazu with 8.5 and it was really nice.

[C.Fuzzy]

If anything keeps me away from Mervin these days it's the graphicals. I'm not into whatever new Jamie lynn skull they're doing and whatever other weird death metal trapper keeper art is going on these days.

That made me chuckle lol. I think I’m going through a bit of a midlife crisis thing where I’m buying up my childhood, so the “death metal trapper keeper art” seems to be resonating with me
The Jamie/1910 graphics are actually something that drew me in. I used to generally shit on Mervin graphics in the past, but I’ve shifted my opinion in the last couple years.

There are a bunch of Mervin graphics I like... a lot... I like a lot of Jamie Lynn graphics... The ladies were pretty cool. Space Cowboy is dope. Boat and wave dope. The 2012/13 Lando Phoenix is still a favorite and I'd love to find one.

I just can't with his skulls. And it seems like that's most of what he's been putting out. The Lib decks are just so dark the last 5+ years.

Nostalgia though. Hard not to buy back our memories.

[ad1105]

I’ve always been a huge Jamie fan, like everyone else. Probably to a fault sometimes, but I think of everything he does as synonymous with snowboarding. I’m kinda surprised that it’s taken me this long to gravitate towards Lib.

Regarding his graphics, I love the skulls but prefer his animal art instead. My favourite board graphic ever is the Lando wolf, followed by the Lando octopus, the whales and the blue cat. Would love to see more Jamie animals integrated in the 1910 pieces. The skulls are coming from Schoph’s side, where Jamie’s tying in his PNW-style mountains and waves. As someone who’s really loved Korua’s anti-graphic simplicity, now it’s rad to look down at graphics that really harken to snowboarding’s ties to art and culture. Just my $0.02.

[Vanni]

It was interesting to read all the comments on TNT way back in EZ1.0. I had ridden a couple Libs back in the late 90’s and never had a glide issue, then. And anything I’ve ridden from Mervin recently didn’t have a glide issue, either. I’m wondering if that might’ve been a waxing thing? I’m usually diligent with waxing so it perhaps I’ve never ridden a dry Mervin base?

I’m not sure how I feel about pricing boards that high when they’re sporting extruded bases, but our rep tells me not all extruded bases are created equal. I should look into it

I had the first Mullair with sintered base, and basically I had to wax it after every day on the slopes. If not, after 1 day and half, the board was super slow on flats, it was like hitting the brakes.
I had to bring it to a ski shop to give the base a bit of structure, then the base was fast AND was able to keep wax for multiple days, without waxing everyday