Hardgoods 24/25

[g3greg]

No burton catalog yet?

[Snowdaddy]

I could have sworn I posted this before but I don’t see it.

At almost 50 I foresee me using step one at some point in the not too distant future, especially as the boot variety increases.

The Nitro boots look good, and kinda tempted by the Flux Stepons.

rumor is Flux will be Japan only starting next season.

Great... now you just made me buy another set of XF...

[kimchi]

Drooling over Moss Long and a pair of matching K2 TT.

Moss Long is WEIRD. A buddy lent me his for a run a few years back and warned me very explicitly "Back foot, back foot, back foot, don't turn with the front foot." My lizard brain instincts still went front foot and I fell right on my ass on my first turn. Like my buddy said, sucker would not turn properly unless I drove it through the back foot. I made it work but swapped back immediately after we finished the run.

I'm sure I could have figured it out in due time, but it's not like my Swallow 162 which felt very intuitive immediately. My buddy says the Long is pretty tits on low angle pow days though... he can hit lots of fresh turns at Northstar (a flatter resort) because he can ride out lines almost no one else can.

[kimchi]

@kimchi there's a slightly upgraded Rift APX next year with a reinforced toe and more durable lower:


Screenshot 2024-01-24 151800.png

Rift still feels too soft for me. If I go Nidecker, it'll probably be the Kita. I still can't believe the Altai has a foam outsole, seems like a pretty great option otherwise.

And realistically I really should just plow through my Adidas backups before even thinking about new boots.

[michaelangelo]

I don’t really have much B stock anymore, but you see them all over the fucking place here. There’s not a ton of snow shops in southeast MI, but pretty much every shop carries B. To say they are trending towards a “casual” rider brand is kinda goofy, what else do they need to make for the “high end rider” - they found a market with step-ons, of course they’re going to grow that line if it’s selling well. If they decide to stop making strap bindings, I’m happy to eat crow. every brand out there makes entry level shit to cater to the average consumer aside from niche smaller brands. Burton was our top seller in decks followed by capita, then public.

Bit of a rant, but at the end of the day I’ll always think Burton is cooler than a fuckin ski brand that puts the same logo from their running shoes down the base of a board. They’ve done at low “core” level more than any other brand mentioned in here for the local scene.

[michaelangelo]

No burton catalog yet?

Anything in particular you wanna see?

[kimchi]

Looks like Nitro is the last major binding producer to finally make the switch over to injection-molded straps. Just as Union is starting to cycle back and put put multi-part padding back on some of their straps lol.

[pow_hnd]

No burton catalog yet?

Anything in particular you wanna see?

Mens AK

Is the Dispatch Vest in the catalog?

[Ancahlagon]

I don’t really have much B stock anymore, but you see them all over the fucking place here. There’s not a ton of snow shops in southeast MI, but pretty much every shop carries B. To say they are trending towards a “casual” rider brand is kinda goofy, what else do they need to make for the “high end rider” - they found a market with step-ons, of course they’re going to grow that line if it’s selling well. If they decide to stop making strap bindings, I’m happy to eat crow. every brand out there makes entry level shit to cater to the average consumer aside from niche smaller brands. Burton was our top seller in decks followed by capita, then public.

Bit of a rant, but at the end of the day I’ll always think Burton is cooler than a fuckin ski brand that puts the same logo from their running shoes down the base of a board. They’ve done at low “core” level more than any other brand mentioned in here for the local scene.

I am so tired of the ski brand argument. Vans is owned by Vanity Fair. Volcom in the same group as Gucci. Union engineers used to make rollerblades. Burton made camping gear. Burton boards are only undersold at our shop by Rossignol, who we're dropping, and Weston, who we are also dropping for winter '25. The boards are heavy, the boot fits are outdated and frankly bulky by current standards, and the bindings haven't really changed much in 10 years. But Step-On, Jakes last great effort, that is what is carrying that brand. I needed no other proof of that than B dropping Malavita's the same year they introduced Step-On split. The high end consumer market, i.e. most of us here, are finding them less and less relevant. We're a drop in the bucket in sales, I know that, but guess who are the ones selling things at the brick and mortar level? High end consumers. Burton is quickly moving towards their relevancy being in shops who can't afford not to carry them, or online sales. I hope they prove me wrong, my list of collector boards to one day acquire has quite a few B boards on it, I hope they can get back to that, or not.
/rant response

[pow_hnd]

The high end consumer market, i.e. most of us here, are finding them less and less relevant

Burton makes the best snowboard brand outerwear by a country mile. Volcom is a distant second.

I'm a high end consumer who will only buy snow/skate brands and Burton is very relevant to me.