United Shapes

[Kevington]

Has anyone had a chance to ride a new shape Horizon yet?

I've had some days on my 155 from 2021 and its a lot of fun for a bit of everything but the shaping at the nose contacts is a bit hooky. I can see on the new one its smoother and the nose is longer. It also has mellower rocker in the tips which I like. It seems they made the Horizon a bit softer and the Cadet a bit stiffer, the Horizon I have has a lot of carbon and feels more like a 7/10 flex.

[Spenser]

The cadet being stiffer would be good news, as the 19 I have is just a little soft for my taste. Doesn't change sidecut or anything, but could be fun.

Boyfriend of my friend in Whistler was riding his 24 cadet today. They just got a snowfall and parts of the mountain sound great, while others are still pretty dicey. He was carving down a steeper hardpack cat track, hit a spot where it was unexpectedly super soft, and sounds like his nose dug in and folded, got chucked to his head/shoulder and broke his collarbone. Not blaming the board at all, but it did make me think of the few times I absolutely ate shit on the Shorty because the nose completely gave out/virtually wasn't there. Much softer than the cadet and pretty much full rocker, though. I don't want to say I blame the board, but I know for an absolute fact it would not have happened on anything else I own.

[Kevington]

Ooooft, sounds unfortunate. I had similar problems with the Salomon Super 8, though luckily no broken bones. I'm not a fan of soft nosed boards, particularly those that claim freeride. I think thats why I'm more intrigued by the Horizon than the Cadet. Generally speaking I prefer the predictable ride of a board with twinish flex and camber profile. The difficult part is finding a board like that that still has a somewhat directional shape.

[Spenser]

Are you saying even though the horizon is softer, you would prefer it because it has a consistent twin flex, which is more predictable for you?

I don't like much of a difference from tip to tail (probably similar reasons), but I do still like the typical freeride flex pattern getting stiffer toward the back. I like the whole board stiff, though.

The Shorty has a major contrast between nose and tail. The back half feels fine. The nose is borderline unusable for me, coming from my normal preference.

[Kevington]

Are you saying even though the horizon is softer, you would prefer it because it has a consistent twin flex, which is more predictable for you?

Yeah, exactly. You just put it in a more understandable way than I did. The same goes for the camber profile. It doesn't need to be fully symmetrical but too much of a difference feels a bit sketchy as there are really different amounts of grip and rebound depending on where I weight the edge. It makes a board less versatile if you can only ride it with your weight at the back by body movement and/or binding placement. I guess if I was just freeriding and blasting pow it wouldn't matter so much but sadly I'm not.

The Horizon and the Sickstick are the only boards I can think of that have the twin profile and flex but a directional outline. I mean a functionally directional outline. There are plenty of park boards with pow looking tip shapes for aesthetic reasons.

I'm aware I might be hunting for unicorns here. Horizon 159 could be the one though...

[G.D.]

I didn't like the Straight Chuter for similar reasons. Nose was too soft for my preference and would fold way too often; was wiping out every other run with it, that wasn't happening while on my other decks at the time.

Seen a reel from US with Oestreng riding the Cadet. Piqued my interest, might be the flex I'm into these days. Though, your story's kinda making me have some reservations @Spenser .

[Spenser]

Haha, the collarbone was a total accident. He's a great skier, but has been getting into Snowboarding for a few seasons - while a little bit transferred, he doesn't have the core ability of someone who's been doing it a long time. I bet you would like the cadet. A new one still tempts me even though I know it's not quite up to my liking (just flex & sidecut really). So far nothing has stacked up to the orbit for me, but I still want to try an alchemist and nidecker smoke.

[G.D.]

Haha, the collarbone was a total accident. He's a great skier, but has been getting into Snowboarding for a few seasons - while a little bit transferred, he doesn't have the core ability of someone who's been doing it a long time. I bet you would like the cadet. A new one still tempt me even though I know it's not quite to my liking. So far nothing has stacked up to the orbit for me, but I still want to try an alchemist and nidecker smoke.

Dope, gonna add to my current queue of potential adds.

Though, haven't had my first day yet. My 2nd lil one is just a little over a month old, so harder to get out right now lol. Hopefully gonna get my FDOH next week . The super mild/warm weather here has helped with keeping the withdrawals super low, at least .

[spanyard]

I love love love my cadet 154.

[Kevington]

Don't remember where I saw it, maybe US or Fredi K's insta but they said they had specifically stiffened the nose on the new Cadet.