HARDGOODS 25/26

[michaelangelo]

I think it's nice, noone notices it while you ride anyways. Pants don't get dirty or tangled in binding straps, highback or edges.

agreed, my banshey bibs had those and they were solid. wish my cyclic bibs had them

[AyAyRon]

A new burnt orange colorway for AK? Hopefully it shows up in some of their more affordable pieces.


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This is whatever used to be AK457 or whatever they call it now ("AK Japan Guide?"). These colorways don't transfer over, which sucks because that shade of blue is awesome.

this is the Acamar line. Those colors are all over next year.

[jota]

Regarding @dpartridge7 I really value all his technical input, which is great, cool and It contributes a lot to my knowledge and I want to ask him many things that I'm sure he knows, but I think that perhaps, and only perhaps, he doesn't know exactly where he is here, or maybe he thought EL was like other forums or maybe I'm wrong in speaking for others. Sorry.
There are a lot of people from the industry here, sellers, shop owners who have their own material that is different from Phase and who defend it, and even people from other brands, and mainly here there are a lot of riders who have been riding for many years with a lot of knowledge and a lot of criteria to know how to decide what they want, and who is exactly the type of rider or person who doesn't like to be directed, to be guided, or to be imposed upon (or at least to give that feeling) that something is better than what they have or want to have. To me (and I suppose to many EL riders), I like to have the information ( (nerd level information of course) of what people test and what people do and with that information later I choose intelligently or capriciously what I want to buy, and then I will contribute by giving my feedback so that other riders can use that information… or we can talk for thousands of hours about materials or solutions or customizations…. “But don’t tell me what to buy or do”

This is perhaps the feeling with step on and phase… recently another different line happened, the Capita Aeronaut… many people in the forum had it or bought it and rode it and gave their feedback and I never got the feeling that someone wanted to impose that this was better than the other boards we had, but “hey! this board turns like this, it does certain things, I feel good with it…” but no more. Maybe this is the way…

I reread this and I think I'm saying some very obvious things
Sorry if I made a mistake by putting this speaking for others

[eleveneightnate]

Goofy take. I'm obviously appreciative of @pow_hnd and others who have kept this little corner of the internet alive over the years, but the current iteration is admittedly a shell of its former self, relative to the BMB/OG EL days. IMO, the forum is healthier with people like @dpartridge7 interacting in it, even if you don't agree with the product he's shilling.

Nah, the goofy take here is thinking someone shouldn’t receive any criticism for being a dickhead just because they invented some stuff. And if someone wants to act like that, more power to them, but it’s just weird that you expect zero pushback on it from the forum.

Nobody’s arguing that industry people shouldn’t be here. I’d wager most people here, myself included, are pretty stoked on that dynamic. But that has nothing to do with his specific behavior. That outerwear designer on the last iteration of EZ, for example, got nothing but respect and civility because that’s what he brought here, too.

Anyway, I’m pretty over this godforsaken subject and am gonna get back to gear whoring.

[jota]

@casjcade @benjinyc It’s complicated. We are far from the mountains… there used to be snow in December, now it starts in February… when the websites already have discounts… My friend has had B for many years when B was the reference. Today he doesn’t sell B boards and is thinking about LIB. Another problem is covering the minimum purchases so that the brand wants to sell you material… Far from the mountains where sales are lower it is more difficult to get. I recommended him to look at other brands like Lib, Capita… but the shop is his and so is the risk. I even think that renting material might work better for him than selling… This is what I have observed in recent years, casual weekend riders who buy second hand or rent and go to quick entry systems…

Thank goodness there is EL…

[casjcade]

Yeah renting out, and then selling at discounts at some point, or do a rent and then buy minus rent cost and so on. That way people can try different boards.

[dpartridge7]

As someone who has sat on the sidelines and watched the discourse go down over the past week or so, just wanted to throw my two cents in.

Do I think current Step-On/fast entry trend is a bit silly? Yes. Do I think the majority of riders need a step in binding? No. Do I have any desire to switch from my Unions to a step in binding? No. Am I the target demographic? Fuck no and I don't think there's many of us that would be who post on this forum.

Fact of the matter is, that shit sells, especially to the 'non-core' market. Faster strap in time to keep up with their skier friends, response, whatever use case they want to tell themselves, they want it. I believe over 50% of Burton's overall sales last year were Step-On related product, which exceeded their target goal. When I help out at local sales here in the Bay Area during the fall, there is a very large percentage of people coming in specifically asking for Step-On/fast entry product. These people are definitely not what I'd consider 'core' riders, but core products don't make money (feel like Doc talking core v non-core lol).

It's not anything I would personally ride or recommend, but the demand is out there (from both a consumer and retailer standpoint) and snowboard companies are pivoting their product lines to meet that market demand. With Union now pumping out their own Step-On branded products and FASE bindings coming online as well, the whole fast entry trend is gaining acceptance and is here to stay, at least for the time being. Whether that dies out in a few years, like the whole reverse camber phase, who knows, but the products are night and day better than what the industry has previously produced. The consumer market dictates product innovation and it's obvious the market wants more fast entry bindings.

This forum has been pretty dead for multiple years, relative to the old BMB/EL days. Here comes a dude who's involved in the industry, who has a wealth of knowledge and clearly has a love for snowboarding and to basically shit on him and potentially drive him away, is goofy as fuck to me.

A friend of mine has a surf shop and also sells snowboards. In the last few years he only sells step ons and not a single custom… He is thinking of stopping selling snowboard because it’s not worth it to sell only step ons (it is not really a lot) and only a few boards and there is still a lot of hardgoods left unsold. But if he didn't have step ons he wouldn't sell anything.
I also think that the customer who buys step ons from him is a casual customer (not a core rider) and doesn't know what he is buying… or in other words, doesn’t know how the binding works but is looking for a quick entry

Won't "Surfy" snowboards with fancy graphics and a good edge be better for a surf shop than dull popsicle sticks? Or you know, not fis event branding all over. Korua/US and the like would work too.

on a surf trip for my son, i popped into a specialty surf shop on the beach to ask where the best spot was that day for surf (most of the best surf requires going through farmland). he knew of me, and we ended up with some connections. so ended up staying on his property, i got to talk to him more. he talked of his local mt only open for 1 day that season so most of the season was a 4 hour drive. he told me he only retailed k2 and ride, which surprised me, as i would have thought he would sell something like lib tech that has a surfing backgroud. he told me he went with k2 and ride for their service. he would have a very unpredictable sale season's with an unpredictable local mt, so in this case, service is key i suppose.

[casjcade]

Yeah, and I also think there's something wrong about how snowboarding is presented, what advice is given, information in guides on the internet, what beginners are being told when just starting out, what is available in shops, the setup they are recommended and so on, not to mention what's on tv.

Of course, being able to send some boards in return if they don't sell and getting a huge discount for the same brand in skis and snowboards is a big deal.

Most go for "skibrands" or Jones and Nitro to be safe., and usually the models with the biggest stock and margin of course. Think it's hard to figure out unless you got an informed snowboarder in a shop.

[dpartridge7]

Yeah, and I also think there's something wrong about how snowboarding is presented, what advice is given, information in guides on the internet, what beginners are being told when just starting out, what is available in shops, the setup they are recommended and so on, not to mention what's on tv.

Of course, being able to send some boards in return if they don't sell and getting a huge discount for the same brand in skis and snowboards is a big deal.

Most go for "skibrands" or Jones and Nitro to be safe., and usually the models with the biggest stock and margin of course. Think it's hard to figure out unless you got an informed snowboarder in a shop.

agree, as we went to that surf shop to ask for local surf knowledge, rather than the surf shop in the city centre, that mostly sells surf clothing. i am certain if we had asked the surf clothing shop, they would have directed us to the city centre beach.

[eleveneightnate]

Another shot of that burnt orange kit + next year’s Process.

The jackets keep cinching up higher and higher…

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