Hardgoods 23/24

[C.Fuzzy]

Qualify 'better' or 'higher' quality.

I think in general, all the materials are already 'in' the market in some form. There are no secret flubber type materials that make a board magical and always land on its feet... and if there was, Burton would've put it in White's board so he could have kept winning all the golds forever.

imo Boards are as good as they are within a margin that doesn't require or add enough benefit to price that high.

Unless, of course, we're talking benefits outside of performance. Such as "made in the usa" or some sort of exclusivity thing (small batch press, "limited ed", throwback, autographed, custom specs or graphics, etc.) or whatever strokes the ego.

Because there are no standards by which all boards are measured, whenever we talk about this board vs that board or this manufacturer vs that one, at the end of the day it's perception and personal preference. Like, we may feel one board has more pop, but there's no rebound test that measures the joules of energy released and the fraction of a millisecond of return at a specific foot pound of flex. Instead we have the Good Ride guys stumbling over each others words and each other's general 'feels'.

Which is good enough, because, this ain't nascar and our pit stops blaze for different reasons.

[eleveneightnate]

Reminds me of the "Tesla" board from a few years ago. It's just a carbon wrapped Lost Driver with Tesla branding (would normally go for like $800 as a stock board). Some guy has two on eBay and wants $75k for them now.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/193241917311

[C.Fuzzy]

Reminds me of the "Tesla" board from a few years ago. It's just a carbon wrapped Lost Driver with Tesla branding (would normally go for like $800 as a stock board). Some guy has two on eBay and wants $75k for them now.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/193241917311

You watch the bunker spreckles documentary 'Bunker 77'? If not, you should. It's pretty good and your comment made me think about a part where they talk about him riding a tiny board way way earlier than anyone else. Just, like, you don't need crazy expensive shit, just ride enough to figure out what works for you.

[jota]

Qualify 'better' or 'higher' quality.

I think in general, all the materials are already 'in' the market in some form. There are no secret flubber type materials that make a board magical and always land on its feet... and if there was, Burton would've put it in White's board so he could have kept winning all the golds forever.

imo Boards are as good as they are within a margin that doesn't require or add enough benefit to price that high.

Unless, of course, we're talking benefits outside of performance. Such as "made in the usa" or some sort of exclusivity thing (small batch press, "limited ed", throwback, autographed, custom specs or graphics, etc.) or whatever strokes the ego.

Because there are no standards by which all boards are measured, whenever we talk about this board vs that board or this manufacturer vs that one, at the end of the day it's perception and personal preference. Like, we may feel one board has more pop, but there's no rebound test that measures the joules of energy released and the fraction of a millisecond of return at a specific foot pound of flex. Instead we have the Good Ride guys stumbling over each others words and each other's general 'feels'.

Which is good enough, because, this ain't nascar and our pit stops blaze for different reasons.

As always [smention u=58]C.Fuzzy[/smention] and your exquisite answers

Completely agree with you

[jota]

Qualify 'better' or 'higher' quality.

Thiss has made me think, analyze what is quality in a snowboard for me and this really broke some preconceived ideas that I had and perhaps in my opinion and only in my opinion high quality materials should be:

1/ base. Better ptex that absorbs wax better and holds it for much longer to ride better

2/ stainless steel edges

3/ lightness with durability. Light materials that last is already the maximum but sometimes lightness is achieved by putting less amount of material and then all break and this is not quality

4/ the interior is another story (fiber and wood) The quality for me would be to put the correct materials for the desired function or type of riding. For me quality it is not a greater reaction. if you like a smooth ride you don't want a board that works hard...

recently i read that never summer were one of the highest quality boards but I had one in my hands and it was very heavy

sorry if i'm talking nonsense

[eleveneightnate]

You watch the bunker spreckles documentary 'Bunker 77'? If not, you should. It's pretty good and your comment made me think about a part where they talk about him riding a tiny board way way earlier than anyone else. Just, like, you don't need crazy expensive shit, just ride enough to figure out what works for you.

I need to check that out! I definitely follow that mindset with both snowboarding and surfing.

[benjinyc]

"lightness" is prob the one category I ignore/dismiss when it comes to characteristics of a snowboard I think are important

maybe for splitboarding, or if you're competing in big air/pipe.

[casjcade]

Stainless steel edges I don’t see as higher quality, it’s just a dumb feature they added on expensive gear that don’t get used much, so the buyers won’t complain. They could probably afford to get it properly serviced and stored instead.

Weight is a design thing, depends what materials you use and if you can’t get it to work how you want it with lighter materials, it’s not a priority.

Flex and shape is really important, but quality to me just means assembled with accuracy and good materials. Properly fitted inserts, cores with no issues, right amount of resin, carefully pressed, even sidewalls, good base finish, well tuned edges, no tacky flipfloplogobase, and all that.

[jota]

Stainless steel edges I don’t see as higher quality, it’s just a dumb feature they added on expensive gear that don’t get used much, so the buyers won’t complain. They could probably afford to get it properly serviced and stored instead.

Weight is a design thing, depends what materials you use and if you can’t get it to work how you want it with lighter materials, it’s not a priority.

Flex and shape is really important, but quality to me just means assembled with accuracy and good materials. Properly fitted inserts, cores with no issues, right amount of resin, carefully pressed, even sidewalls, good base finish, well tuned edges, no tacky flipfloplogobase, and all that.

In this case i was only talking about materials. Everything was aimed at analize if better materials can make a lot of difference (The assembly part seems very important to me. I agree with you. But I was only talking about materials. Separately)

The shape for me is part of personal preferences... just like the rigidity. There I give all the reason to [smention u=58]C.Fuzzy[/smention] If it works for you then it is the best choice.

But I do care about the steel edges. It's outrageous to sweep the snow off the board, clean the board, put it in the garage, and the next day find it rusty. this happens to me sometimes and it's a bad thing. And it happens to me with expensive boards. I take care of my boards. And they appear rusty. It just can't be…

[C.Fuzzy]

My point is... how does anyone know for a fact that one material is "better" than another to make a statement as such. How do we factually know material A is quantifiable better than material B? Or board A vs board B.

since @jota mentioned base material, lets take that for example.

It's well established and common knowledge the benefits and or trade offs for sintered vs extruded bases. But when it comes down to it these things are still debated and they're debated because it's mostly theory, and there's no variable controlled study showing (for instance) that sintered is faster. And then how much faster exactly? Is it.... 0.001 feet per second? Or waht?

There isn't any (to my knowledge) but we still sort of buy into the sintered vs extruded narrative as if we know these things are true.

So, when people talk about "better" or "higher" quality... It often just being used to justify a higher cost, or status, and is more opinion (even if an educated opinion) than verified fact.