@Tap wrote:

They makin’ folks happy?

they do! 😀

Anyone who knows me knows that I have been a diehard Burton fan forever. My old Burton 165S was great. But, I have to say I’m starting to wonder a bit with the newer Burtons. The quality control just doesn’t seem to be quite up there like it has been with all my previous Burton expriences.

I just picked up a 168S. The split hooks were not perfectly aligned, and the tail clip just slightly pushes the board halves apart. I posted about it here.

Now those particular issues may not end up making a huge difference in performance once it’s assembled and the bindings are holding it all in place, I’m not sure. Haven’t gotten that far yet. But it does make me wonder. Also, I compared it to SteveP’s Prior and Mojo, and on both of those the split hooks and tip clips align perfectly. Then I went into REI, and they had 2 new Priors and 2 new Mojos, and same story there, perfect alignment. Then I went next door to a board shop that happened to have 2 Burton splits, and… they both had similar not-perfectly-aligned split hooks.

Aside from that, the board construction looks bomber otherwise.

On a side note, I called Burton about this issue and they said to send the board in. I did, and then got a call from their service department. The guy was actually pretty cool, but the bottom line was that they felt this was within normal tolerances for them.

@bcrider wrote:

In my opinion you can always count on a nice ride, good board tech, and good quality with the Burton splits. The shape is among the best for an all mountain-go anywhere-do anything split as well.

In the past I’d agree 100% with this, and even now I’d agree with everthing except the quality part, just from the standpoint of quality control on the Voile hardware mounting. It seems like it’s hit or miss, some people get boards that are perfect, others don’t. I’d also add that they are a very good deal compared to other splits. But this is the first time I’ve been disappointed with Burton quality since I started riding.

@BastrdSonOfElvis wrote:

Over the course of the last week I rode mine almost every day and it ripped in all kinds of conditions from wind slab to deep pow. I’ve noticed that probably 95% of the board being held together is the bindings (SparkR&D, unbelievable). Do the hooks even do that much?

I’ve asked myself the same question. It seems to me the boards’ one-piece rigidity/one-piece “feel” is dependent on 1) The slider plate 95%, 2) the chinese hooks 4% and 3) the tailclips 1%. (obviously I made these percentages up!)

Just the other day I saw somebody return a burton split to REI because they were complaining that the tip/tail clips kept coming undone. When I looked closer at the board I noticed that the pivoting hooks were missing the second stopper screw, not the screw that the hook actually pivots on but the second screw that keeps the hook from spinning all the way around. It seems like it would have been a real pain to get the two halves to stay lined up when sliding the binding plate on the pucks because the hooks can just spin past each other when you put pressure on the board halves. Not to mention the annoyance of the tip/tail clips coming undone.

Schwalbster, I can’t see the picture. Can you describe what you did?

Thanks Cranman! I never understand why this doesn’t work for me (since it obviously is the url of the picture), so thank you very much!

And of course you only have to make the knot once! Kinda expressed myself a little weird. With easy to handle I mean flipping the sling on and off when you switch modes.