Shayboarder.com

It’s been a couple years now of reverse camber so it’s becoming more and more normal with regular camber. Companies have really adapted the technology to give their own input on it and the switch from regular camber boards to reverse cambers by model has been without glitches. I ride both, right now spending more time on reverse cambers but I still appreciate and enjoy riding regular camber. It really depends on your riding style and what you want out a board. Some people will always prefer regular camber but reverse camber is definitely making waves.

I started shayboarder.com in August 2007. I decided that in the first year of blogging, I would work on getting content and an audience versus making money from a snowboarder’s blog. With the launch of the new shayboarder.com, I’ll feature ads and can make income from the blog. My rewards are being able to try new products from companies and the people I meet.

Welcome to snowboarding! In terms of importance, boots are very important with bindings and snowboard after the boots. When choosing snowboard boots, the most important thing is to try them on to find which brand fits your foot the best. Brands vary in how they fit so be open to multiple brands to try on during the decision process. When selecting the snowboard, it comes down to preference in terms of flex, riding style for the board and length. To choose length, there are some important factors to consider: weight, riding skill & style, riding location and height. You do not choose board length based on the nose to chin (that is wrong). Binding selection is by what features you are looking for and how much response you want. Remember the more stiff a binding is, the more responsive it is but less forgiving as well.

A factory wax is really a basic wax, generally will last you a day on snow. I'd wax it again if you have the opportunity so the wax job will last longer and be better on snow for you.

Hey! Thanks, it's great to hear the new site is loved. That's great to hear you loved the Bataleon Riot for the same reasons I did and thank you for appreciating my reviews.

I really appreciate my reader's opinions/reviews, I get a lot of responses to each review and always love when people can respond with their own experiences. There have been some great discussions especially when it comes to reviews. I know recently someone commented on the Signal Park Rocker and how it held up on jumps, I asked my friend Adrian who has been riding mine to leave a comment with his response.

Someone else mentioned a forum and for as much as I love the discussions that forums bring, I dislike the moderating and drama that also comes with it. I definitely see a resource with reviews (legit well spoken reviews) as a must in snowboarding. This year I joined up with Board Insiders to review gear for their website which identifies testers, variety of opinions, riding styles and I can't wait to see how it turns out. To be honest, I don't have the time or funds to create the resource and I definitely like what Board Insiders is doing so I'm hoping they are that resource you are talking about.

Awesome to hear, the shayboarder die cuts are free and I can ship them anywhere around the world. Send an email to shayboarder@gmail.com with your mailing address, include how many stickers, what colors (white, black, blue, green, orange) you would like and I'll mail them to you right away.

I also include a gallery of sticker photos on facebook and on here in the gallery section so once you've stickered up your snowboard or around town, send a picture my way and I'll put it up!

Hey Zag! Yeah Steve designed these goggles for me, totally repainted and customized them and they came out great!

You can email Steve here to find out more and he also does custom orders if you want him to do all the work.

Hey Nikki! Thanks for the props! Nice on the fling!

For outerwear, I've been rocking 686 which sizes a bit larger than most companies but even still I choose to rock the men's outerwear because it is large and roomie for me. I've owned the women's gear before and it fit when I was standing still in it but when I started to ride, it wouldn't do.

That being said there are few companies that make outerwear for curvy women, I've heard that Nikita also has XL sizes that run similiar to the 686 XL for women. But again I am rocking men's outerwear because it isn't small on me, I'd rather have it be big than small and snow down my butt. Other brands I've worn in the past are Bonfire and Burton.

I totally hear you on the outerwear, one of my dilemmas when it comes to picking new gear each year.

Thanks Bobby and awesome to hear you enjoy the site!

The Skate Banana and I are in a love/hate relationship, some days I enjoy the board and others I can't wait to get off it. I don't own the Pickle but I've ridden it and actually prefer it over the Banana, different sidecut on the heel and tad stiffer.

Definitely riding them both would be the best idea to see what works for you. The Skate Banana is the softest of those boards, easiest to press and softest flex, the Park Pickle is in the middle of the road and the Trice C2 is the stiffer more aggressive board of that list. C2 tech is the most stable to me, you can really haul with it and it's still a fun board to play with in the park. I just rode the Park Pickle again at Hood to press with it on boxes and it was stiffer than the Skate Banana in that aspect.

I'd say look at the boards and your riding style to see what you'll be riding the most often. If it's majority park, go for Skate Banana, if it's mix of Park but also holding a good turn on groomers Park Pickle and if it's bomb and ride fast like Trice, go with his C2 board. Also compare the specs, the Trice is wider than the other two. Feel free to email me (shayboarder@gmail.com) if you have more questions on it, always around to answer them.

Hey Daniel,
Well you have two great choices there, pro models by two great riders to choose from with really the only difference being graphics. When I tested the 08-09 boards, there was one significant difference between the two boards and that was size. I rode the 154cm Phoenix (flex is a 5) and 160 Lando (flex is 6.5) which explains the stiffness difference, mervin boards change flex depending on size.

Differences between the boards are the sizes offered, the Phoenix comes in more sizes than the Lando. If you like the look of the Lando better and are set for the 157Wide then I would suggest that board over the Phoenix.

Hey! I haven't gone up since late July but last year there was still snow in September at the 4th of July Bowl on Breck. I'll update the blog when I head up there next but I have heard the snow is getting minimal.

Hey! I haven't been able to ride the 2010 Horrorscope yet and I've heard mixed things on if the flex changed from 08-09 to 09-10, it sounds like it hasn't changed since I reviewed it in 08-09. Depends on your mountain, it's meant to be a park board and I know some people who ride the whole mountain with it. If you want it to be your whole mountain board, maybe size up on it versus keeping your park size. Definitely email shayboarder@gmail.com if you want more help figuring out if it would work for you.

I'm in the same boat, unable to ride the pandora from the small sizes, it's why I ride the men's version of that board the evo which has bigger sizes. The new circuit will definitely compliment your rome blue as a park board. In terms of the waist width, the 148 circuit is actually narrower than your 155 blue so you would be fine for your boot size and it wouldn't be too wide for you. Good luck and feel free to email me shayboarder@gmail.com if you have any more questions.

Nice on the new bindings! I just pulled out my Forces and new Forces SL's to see if they had a similiar mark and they do. The good news is I've spent a whole season on my Forces and they were fine, in fact if you had never mentioned that mark I wouldn't have noticed it. So up to you on what to do with it, it didn't bother me or impact how the binding rides so I wouldn't think twice about it.

Good question! The attention and awareness has made it easier to gain access to products I normally wouldn't or couldn't afford to try in one year. I still try to spend the majority of my time at on-snow demo's but unfortunately not all companies are always present there (especially smaller companies). With the smaller companies and some big companies, I've been able to borrow more boards each season for review purposes and then send them back to the companies. I also try to be clear in each post if I bought, borrowed or was given the product and I'm always open to questions about products.

So yes, I do receive free stuff from companies to try out, review and give feedback on. I am happily surprised when I receive free gear and I certainly don't expect it.

Thanks and stoked you like the reviews!

I would judge the size based on the snow conditions and mountains where you ride, if you tend to hit powder and bigger mountains the size up would be a good idea for more stability. If you are on smaller mountains with more groomers, the 158 would hold it's own.

Personal preference is key as well if you feel more comfortable on the bigger boards then I wouldn't mess with that. The 158 can hold your weight and you won't sacrifice too much with the 3cm difference between them. Never Summer's are built tough and can hold weight better than other boards.

Hope that helps and email me shayboarder@gmail.com if you want more questions.

Thanks! Definitely keep your smokin since it's a great size for your conditions and a playful board. Investing in a longer, more pow friendly board will help in JH. There are a couple powder boards that are worth checking out, even though they are men's boards they make smaller sizes and would be beneficial in the powder. Definitely consider the Malolo, it can still handle the mountain when you get in bounds from the pow. If you want to stick with women's but still tapered, the women's supermodel is definitely going to push your skills and will give you a better float in the powder. If you want to go with a reverse camber/rocker board definitely consider the GNU B-pro. Feel free to email me shayboarder@gmail.com if you need more help with narrowing down the search!

Good question, I definitely watch the twitter sites that look for lift ticket discounts and check out when mountains offer better deals or giveaways. I have two season passes, one is paid for through work and the other I pay for with the early season price and for lift tickets I'm always on the lookout for deals to make it more affordable for myself. I think just checking in through twitter/mountain sites you can find some better deals sometimes and being ahead of the game when they have early season pricing. Good luck!

Completely different rides, TBT is not reverse camber or rocker. In terms of the boards and how they ride, I like both and I've owned both. However I can't compare them because they are such different technologies in how they ride.

My best advice is to try both of them, try a TBT board and then try a RC Technology board. Even just looking at the shapes online will help give a better understanding on what is so different about them, but the best way to know is to try them and see which one you prefer.

You have two solid boards to choose from, whichever choice you make you'll be fine. I've ridden both and honestly would have a hard time choosing between both as well. Both excel in park and their RC or BTX can help with some powder float, they both grip well on hardpacked with the MTX holding the better edge over the RC.

When it comes to being stuck between them, check out the prices and graphics...which one you like better. Feel free to email me if you are still having a tough time deciding, shayboarder@gmail.com

I haven't rode the K2 WWW with rocker yet but keep checking as more 09-10 reviews start popping up on the site.

Definitely a park focused rocker board, heard it's on the softer side but haven't rode it to compare or discuss it. I don't believe anything has changed from last year on it so if you can get it for last years price even better for you!

Definitely hope to see you on the mountain and say hi! Shoot me an email if you have any more questions, shayboarder@gmail.com

Great question!

The 2008-2009 season is when Never Summer switched to reverse camber but they had already begun building the camber boards before they made the switch. So there are 08-09 Never Summer Infinity's that are camber out there that shops still might have.

I would recommend asking to make sure they are reverse camber before you purchase them. The 09-10 models you don't have to worry about but 08-09 could have been camber as well.

Awesome you love the site, thank you so much!

I did ride the lipstick and the review is here. I really enjoyed riding it and the review goes more in-depth into how it was.

Hey Rey,

All of my riding pictures are taken from a Casio Exilim digital camera (I just replaced it with the high speed version) and any product photos are taken with a Canon Rebel EOS. For video if it's helmet cam footage, that's on the vholdr cam and if it's regular video camera that could be the casio exilim or canon vixia.

I pretty much use the casio for the majority of my shots, very happy with it and stoked on the price. It takes a beating and if I need to buy a new one, it won't break my bank account.

Thanks so much for the great words on the website! It's great to hear positive feedback on the site.

I haven't tested or owned thirty two boots unfortunately. I've tried to get on other boots but when the fit isn't there, it's hard to give a fair review. I'm a huge fan of the boa system, rock them on my Vans and Bonfire boots and love them.

Definitely try on the boots, see how they fit you and try out the boa system if you can to see if there's any pressure points on your feet before you buy them.

Good luck!

Hey, awesome on getting a new deck for yourself! You've got two great boards to choose from and it sounds like your riding is progressing great! I think the eco pop might be the board for you, compact might be less of a board than you need at your level. Board length is decided by weight and boot size more than height, I'd look into sticking with the 150cm range since you've already ridden that size. Feel free to email me if you have any more questions and need help, shayboarder@gmail.com

Thanks so much! Awesome on the new board and picking the YES for the do-it-all factor. Really depends on what you are looking for, you could go either way on the sizes. I'd say look at how often you'll do park versus backcountry/powder and pick by what you'll ride most with the board, 159 for backcountry charging and 156 for more park. Regardless your getting a solid board and the size won't hurt you either way. I personally rode the 156 and loved it for everything it handled that day.

TIA,
Congrats on becoming a snowboarder and welcome to the long process of loving lifts. My best advice is take it to a bunny slope that's flat with some small slope to it and work on skating with one foot strapped in and skating to a turn. Whenever I get to the top of the chairlift, I know which way I'll be going whether it's left, right or straight and I'll make sure to put my unstrapped in foot on the location where i'll need to turn to. So if I'm getting off the chairlift and going to turn right, I'll place my foot slightly on the board and toe edge so it's ready to pressure that toe to turn right. But I think the best way to get better is take it to a mellow slope and just practice skating and putting that unstrapped foot on the board, learning to turn to a stop.

Good luck!

Great question! I've only tried on Nike boots and they fit but haven't rode them on the snow to compare. Regardless snowboard boots are the one thing that you have to try on and see if the fit works for you, take it to snow and see how it is for you. What boot works for me, might not work for you at all. But biggest thing is fit, if the fit isn't good for your foot...no matter how techy or rad the boot is, it won't matter without that comfortable fit.

Burton has flying V in a couple of their current boards including the Easy Livin which I have ridden with Flying V. All the boards are different though so best bet is to try the flying V out for yourself at a demo day.

Depends on your boot model to see how they'll fit. I ride Vans which have a wider boot shape than normal even though my feet aren't wide and it helps fit into men's bindings no problem. You could also look at the women's trilogy bindings which are a solid women's binding in the Union lineup. The best way to know for sure is to bring your boots to a store that has the Union Forces or find someone who has them in M/L and see if they fit you. You'll need to adjust the heelcup in more and the straps but it's the best way to know. But shoot me an email shayboarder@gmail.com if you are unable to and let me know your boot model/size and maybe I can find your boot and see how they fit in my bindings.