With SIA just around the corner we should be seeing quite a bit of new gear leaking to the web. Heres’s a few things I’ve stumbled upon so far.
Burton AntiSocial Burton Custom Split, Burton Skins, and Hitchhiker Binding Burton Landlord Split and Fish Split Dakine 3L Bib G3 Black Sheep and the new Scape Goat
^ Landlord needs to come in a wide (265+), then I’d be all over it. For now, I’m still vibin’ on last years’ Revelator. Right price, right profile. Wide enough for my hooves.
The new Winterstick page is up. http://www.winterstick.com/ Topsheet graphics are cleaner this year. Couldn’t find specs on the new Wescott model. Bummed to see boutique pricing on the swallowtail. It’s just a snowboard.
I notched the tails on my first 2 splits and showed it to a couple of friends who were working at Jones last spring before they moved the office. Not saying that they got the idea from me, just that it’s an obvious and simple idea.
I actually think it made more sense to have notches back then when the standard strap/hook from ski’s was the only choice (unless you did selfmade tailhooks), than it does now. Plenty of splitboard specific skins/tailhooks out there now!
After much research, experimentation and consideration, I have decided adulthood is not for me. Thank you for the opportunity.
So I toured with my friend who had the Burton Hitchiker binding this morning. The seemed to work great for everything but adjusting the heel risers. She seemed to struggle to flip them down with the ski pole. When she got them down it was hard to flip between the short and high risers without bending down and using a hand.
It might just be a learning thing but it didn’t seem as easy as the risers that are attached to the board instead.
I actually think it made more sense to have notches back then when the standard strap/hook from ski’s was the only choice (unless you did selfmade tailhooks), than it does now. Plenty of splitboard specific skins/tailhooks out there now!
All of the current split specific hooks are bigger and heavier than the standard BD strap/hook or an even simpler elastic cord with a knot.
I’m diggin all the POW shapes right now, unfortunately they are coming out when POW is in short supply. These two and the spring breaks have caught my eye. Jones Storm Chaser K2 Cool Beans Jones Skins Jones Minimalist Packs 35&45L Jones Aviator
The G3 red plastic hooks are (relatively) heavy, the Voile/Burton/Spark/Jones style L-shaped aluminum bracket is better but still heavier than the BD hook that comes on the tails of the Ascension STS skins and that’s still heavier than a knot in a piece of elastic cord. All of the skins with hooks have similar plastic straps so I’m only really considering the hook device with the assumption that the plastic straps are either interchangeable to the weight difference is close enough to no matter. I was running G3 hooks on my BD Ascension STS skins on my T.Rice. In hindsight I should have stuck with the original BD hooks.
I’m a fan of simplicity and like the way Jones did it with elastic cord and a narrow notch in the tail of their skis. If there were a plastic tail spacer in my Solution I’d cut notches after work today.
It’s interesting to see an Aviator split. That’s what I’m currently riding for my solid board. When I first rode it last spring in wet slush I didn’t like it as much as my Hovercraft for anything but riding switch (probably more of a comment on how much I love my HC). I’ve been riding it more this year in wintery conditions and it’s grown on me very much.
All of the current split specific hooks are bigger and heavier than the standard BD strap/hook or an even simpler elastic cord with a knot.
Good point. I’m just not that into it, my thoughts are they solved a problem that didn’t need solving anymore. Now it’s more a nice to have and reason to sell more product. Personal preference I guess. Weight savings are great but always a fine line regarding durability. To me the system just seems a little flimsy. How much abuse can that stretch cord take? Is the notch a weak point in the board when you hit a rock(note that the board in the close up of the skins doesn’t have a wrap around edge)? Is the muscle memory of my palm gonna be thrown off when I do tail grabs, kidding 😉
I just prefer something more solid like the G3’s or what I got with my Amplid skins (Euro style ;))
Will be interesting to see if people are digging the notch or not.
After much research, experimentation and consideration, I have decided adulthood is not for me. Thank you for the opportunity.
I have a decent stack of used and abused Lib Tech’s in my gear room, none of which have wrap around edges and the tips are holding up fine on those. The thin top sheets have had issues with peeling up but a metal edge wouldn’t change that. I wouldn’t get hung up on full wrap edges and actually would prefer my splits not to have them and not to have full length wood cores either.
I’ve been on a kick this year to take weight out of my set up with some mixed results. Most of the time I don’t need a tail clip, my current skins don’t have them so I’m not too worried about the long term durability of an elastic cord. It should be easy to replace, even in the field. I do expect that it will help prevent further glue failure once the tail end starts peeling by preventing further flopping around in the snow.