EzLounging

I'm still surprised by how it doesn't work for me. I think another reason it's best as a longer board is rider weight. They're great for S/M to small people in a longer size. Once you start passing "medium" (whatever that means), the nose starts to feel less and less supportive. It's almost like it's not there at all, when I ride it - but I have a preference for a pretty beefy board.

As I've said before, the cheater is a different world. One of the best things I've ever ridden, no question.

G.D. wrote: ↑Thu Nov 09, 2023 12:11 pm Liking that shape on the Biru. Might have to have a look-see on the specs.

And still have a slight curiosity for the Shorty, but would prefer if had a tad shorter size (157ish), personally.

Just to add on this, I have the 59 split at ~130 lbs and 255 mondo, and the size is fine for me. Had a 52 Dart for a while (same specs as your pencil) that was a lot more difficult to handle with the width.
AFAIK you have some mellower terrain on the east coast, no? I could actually see the Shorty working well there, but with the nose flex it def is more of a good conditions & groomer board imo. Though if you get it for carving up groomers, you might just go to the cheater right away I guess.

The descender has me intrigued, if I can offload my Shorty split I'll prob grab that or an Escalator to replace it.

alex wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 11:07 am Yeah, out of all people I should complain less, as I rarely do anything else, but carving, and I am not really complaining. Actually, handling of Cheater starts to be a lot more natural for me (4th day on Cheater).

Today I tried 56cm/22” stance, middle of insert pack in rear, one step forward from the middle in front, and this generated probably best handling experience so far, but again. very little difference. Also, it felt too wide for me, as I was riding lately 53cm on Amplid Pentaquark. So, I changed back to middle-middle (54cm) and rode happily for the rest of the day.

You may wonder, why did I expect to feel big difference from so small change? Before Pentaquark I did not believe myself, that 2cm in stance matters, but with Amplid I found out that only one stance position works for me and any 2cm change from there kills handling for me “completely”.

Any suggestions on the pentaquark? Ride reference? Positive angles on both feet? I generally run +18/-12 with all my boards but the PQ is my first “carving” board.

tp1_kenobi wrote: ↑Mon Nov 13, 2023 7:53 pm Any suggestions on the pentaquark? Ride reference? Positive angles on both feet? I generally run +18/-12 with all my boards but the PQ is my first “carving” board.

This is unrelated to the PQ specifically - like everything, it depends on the person... generally, I wouldn't suggest uprooting your stance for a different board or style. Let's say you ride more traditional boards most of the time, and now you're getting into something fairly directional, or aimed at carving, and you want to cater your stance to that style. My suggestion is to try small increments, feel it out, and go from there. Click each binding forward by 3°, let it ride, click it again if it feels good... generally, ease into it.

I think if you tend to use a more directional stance on a powder board, for example, you can transfer that to a carving board pretty well. They share a lot of factors.

18/-12 was my stance for years, into 2013. Then sometime that season, I went 21/-9, and kept adjusting from there. I was happily at +21/+3 in 2014. I've been at 30/9 daily for a bit now, and 33/12 on my carving board. Point being, you adjust & change over time, but no need to do it abruptly.

One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give when moving to a more directional stance, whether still duck or double posi, is to keep your body position in mind. A duck stance likes you to be more square on the board, shoulders more in line from tip to tail. A more directional duck stance, and especially positive stance, wants your body to be more open toward the nose.

The PQ isn't super directional, so I would probably start with 21/-9 or whatever directional stance you've tried that's been comfortable. Keeps the same "spread," and isn't too dissimilar, and you can go from there

This applies to many things. When you make drastic changes, you may initially get the wrong idea. Easing into it does two major (but related) things, in my eyes… doesn't throw off what you're used to, and allows you to explore easily.

tp1_kenobi wrote: ↑Mon Nov 13, 2023 7:53 pm

alex wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 11:07 am Yeah, out of all people I should complain less, as I rarely do anything else, but carving, and I am not really complaining. Actually, handling of Cheater starts to be a lot more natural for me (4th day on Cheater).

Today I tried 56cm/22” stance, middle of insert pack in rear, one step forward from the middle in front, and this generated probably best handling experience so far, but again. very little difference. Also, it felt too wide for me, as I was riding lately 53cm on Amplid Pentaquark. So, I changed back to middle-middle (54cm) and rode happily for the rest of the day.

You may wonder, why did I expect to feel big difference from so small change? Before Pentaquark I did not believe myself, that 2cm in stance matters, but with Amplid I found out that only one stance position works for me and any 2cm change from there kills handling for me “completely”.

Any suggestions on the pentaquark? Ride reference? Positive angles on both feet? I generally run +18/-12 with all my boards but the PQ is my first “carving” board.

Pentaquark is a very special thing in many aspects, including stance with/location. For me it only works with innermost stance, reference does not work at all. The difference between different stance locations is crazy, unbelievably huge, compared to other boards.

Personally, I use +33/+12 angles for couple last seasons but going from -12 to positive (even +3) in one step was not possible for me, instead changing angle one leg at a time and only +3° at a time was the way to go for me.

I mentioned Stranda Cheater quality issues in other thread: viewtopic.php?p=7362#p7362 after very light use for couple weeks last season I noticed that edge is cracking at front contact point and lacquer finish is pealing in tail and rear right corner, which allow bamboo top sheet to take in water and start to crack.

Here are pictures I took last season immediately after noticing those issues: Crack from base side: Pealing: I do understand that those first signs are very minor, basically cosmetical, but I do believe, that those will lead to structural disintegration if I continue to actively use the board. I am very easy on my equipment, we have 14 snowboards in the household, but Stranda is the only one showing signs of structural failure.

I contacted Mats with those same pictures, and he answered very fast, commenting that edge crack is “a typical shipping accident” and commenting “try to keep skiers and boarders away from your tail in the lift lines”. However, he kindly wrote: “Normally this is not a warranty case, but as this is not your fault I will replace it.”, unfortunately, I never herd anything from him again, he did not answered any of my emails and not even on the chat on his site. I did re-read my emails many times trying to find if I accidentally hurt he’s feelings somehow but was not able to find any reason.

Theoretically edge crack can be caused by accident after manufacturing, but in my opinion this is unlikely, as edge tune near the crack is absolutely perfect, not showing any signs of impact, which suggest that factory tune was done after “the incident”. However, I do understand that this is arguable. But pealing lacquer finish, not stuck properly to the bamboo, is a clear manufacturing issue in my opinion. Lacquer finish is fine in top left corner of the board.

My main gripe with the descender was that the 152 seems too small and the 158 too wide for my liking. And just when I cave and get the 158, the catalog comes out and has it narrower... lol

That new Tree Surfer ain't pretty.