BD Ascension Nylon Split STS???

On my new Venture I am using the BD Ascension Nylon STS Skins. They are actually wider than the Voile skins. The adjustable tip attachment is killer. I got a great fit on my board with it. And for the STS tail clip? I chopped it off. In the end they are the same price as tractor skins. But you get more adjustment due to the tip attachment and the wider material to trim to you board. I am also using cheat sheets with them. They make it really easy to pull the skin apart. And they are not nearly as much of a pain in the ass as I thought they would be.

Compared to my old purple skins, the new orange ones seem to glide a bit better. Maybe that is just a new skin trait?

I’ve been running a pair of these on a 170 Khyber this year and love them. The Kyber is a pretty wide board so I think I end up with enough material to be grippy enough for me. I’m using the stock front attachments and the G3 strap attachments on the rear. Here is my pro/con breakdown for anyone trying to decide:

Pro – Much lighter on a really fat board. I could instantly tell the difference.
Pro – Glide much better. Once again, very noticeable to me over tractor skins.
Pro – Pick up less snow. I really hated the 15lbs of snow constantly caked to the bottom of my tractor skins. The wider the board, the more snow I collect.
Pro – Soak up less water. Tractor skins get so heavy when wet.
Pro – Go full length on my board. I like to ride longer boards and tractor skins are too short.

Con – Not as grippy. If your board waist is below 26, I wouldn’t recommend these.
Con – Require some work to get them set up, took me about 3 hours to get them going. I drilled out the tail attachements and then reconnected them at the proper angle. I’m sure I could do it faster now but took me some time to figure out what I wanted to do.

Conclusion – I love these on my powder board but don’t run them on my hard snow/spring conditions board. The lack of grip would be too painful in icy spring conditions. If you only have one board that you use for everything, I probably woudn’t recommend these. If you have multiple boards and one of them is a fat powder board, I highly recommend them. The lighter grip isn’t a big deal to me at all in soft snow.