Ride Contrabands

[nick malozzi]

I can turn the board harder on my toe edge. I can manage terrain irregularities better on my heel. I dialed my high backs out of the equation a while back on DH's advice and liked it enough I never pushed them forward again. Forward lean helps for carving sure, but being able to stand directly over the board in any leg position is more important to me than doing well on groomers. Especially when I have functioning toe straps

Agreed. I think my high backs don't even come in contact with my boot unless i'm really cranking hard on my heel side edge.

[Dan-]

The same thing happens with mine if i ride a Rome Binding. So i just have the highback adjusted to the same angle of forward lean in my boots.

[midster3]

Rome bindings are the way to go.. Neon 390s! Im on a banana this year and have ridden 4 days and LOVE it.. why are you selling yours?

[Santa Clauss]

Just a combination of small things really, I'll try it out more this weekend, maybe its too big, maybe its just me getting back into it.

[ectobar]

Maybe I'm just weird, maybe I'm the only one who cares about turning hard, whatever. I already have way more problems with heel turns than toe turns. You lose the toe strap you lose (total guess) 50% of board angulation range. Also you kill your efficiency through the range of motion. I get the thong setup, I would ride it. I've ridden no to straps because of failure. I wouldn't head to the hill without a toe strap though, even with huge guiding walls on the binding. Just doesn't make sense.

 

I would say your not so much weird as in the norm. So much so that Mervin will be putting out a board next year to ease your pain...

 

At the North American sales meeting for Gnu Snowboards, plans for the GNU Park Pickle were unveiled. The Patent Pending Proprietary Park Pickle Product will be included in the 09/10 Gnu Snowboard line. Based on the idea that heelside turns require more leverage than toeside turns, the Park Pick will have a deeper sidecut on the heelside.

Gnu Park Pickle

[DHarrisburg]

ummmm santa cruz already did that 4 years ago

[nick malozzi]

I would say your not so much weird as in the norm. So much so that Mervin will be putting out a board next year to ease your pain...

 

 

Gnu Park Pickle

What is there obsession with food products. Otherwise it sounds interesting.

[ectobar]

ummmm santa cruz already did that 4 years ago

 

Never even heard of them until now. Their site looks legit, you ever ride any of their boards?

 

From the Santa Cruz site:

Because Bi-O-Metric Sidecut boards are designed so that the backside edge has a deeper sidecut radius than the front side edge, allowing you more leverage when on your heel side – unfortunately something Mother Nature hadn’t thought of. No more too-wide ball-buster heel side turns or bending over to keep balance. Start imagining decent heel and toe side turns without exerting the energy and effort it would take on a regular board! Save the stamina for all day…or night long slashing, park riding and tight tree assaults. Bi-O-Metric Sidecut makes this all possible.

Edited December 2, 2008 by ectobar

[DHarrisburg]

do not buy santa cruz boards

[Santa Clauss]

Damn did this get off topic! If anyone wants to try out the Contrabands before I get rid of them, I'll be at Sno Friday night, Saturday day and maybe sunday, Just PM me and i'll give you my cell, I made some adjustments and I think they might work out better, i'll give it one more shot...

[Santa Clauss]

Does anyone have any clue if Ride is coming back to Sno this year? I really want to demo the new cad's I'm not buying anything anymore without trying them first, also, has anyone ever ridden the cad's and have any comments?

[RightEmpire]

do not buy santa cruz boards

 

Whats wrong with SC boards? I've ridden a couple and liked all of em. Pricing may be a bit off though...

[Glenn]

For some reason I thought Santa Cruz just made kids boards.

[method9455]

For some reason I thought Santa Cruz just made kids boards.

 

I don't know much about them but thats not true. We carried them at my shop prior to me working there so we had a few left but they dropped them for reasons that I don't know, so there must be something about them that they don't like.

[Glenn]

Upon further contemplation the company I was thinking of was World Industries, who apparently sell some snowboards in very small adult sizes, but mostly kid exclusive sizes. I'm thinking they are still geared for kids, but maybe they are just jib machines. Who knows.

[DHarrisburg]

A year or two ago santa cruz decided that their snow division wasn't making them enough money so they dropped most of their team and scaled back their board production to a few models. All this really tells me is that they are not super concerned with product development and as a result I can't really recommend them as a brand.

[Dan-]

Does anyone have any clue if Ride is coming back to Sno this year? I really want to demo the new cad's I'm not buying anything anymore without trying them first, also, has anyone ever ridden the cad's and have any comments?

 

 

I've never ridden them, but we have them in the shop, and there rediculously stiff. Also they are pretty heavy. But if your looking for something that is crazy stiff and bomber, there definitely the way to go.

[burton71]

Not a fan of the Contrabands at all. I demo'd them last year and rode a pair again this year. I had similar issues with getting strapped into them with 1 pair of boots (32 Lashed) but was fine with abnother pair (Burton Hails).

[Dan-]

Not a fan of the Contrabands at all. I demo'd them last year and rode a pair again this year. I had similar issues with getting strapped into them with 1 pair of boots (32 Lashed) but was fine with abnother pair (Burton Hails).

 

 

Did you adjust the strap at all? My buddy has them, also has 32 lashed, and his fit fine.

[burton71]

Did you adjust the strap at all? My buddy has them, also has 32 lashed, and his fit fine.

Yeah I adjusted them at home on both occassions. The issue wasn't so much that it was hard to get into but it was difficult to get them to feel right. Sometimes the toe felt loose when the ankle was tight and visa verse and it would vary between runs.

 

The concept is good, but its just not something I like. For something designed to make strapping in faster I certainly found myself spending more time adjusting them then I ever did with regular bindings.

Edited January 7, 2009 by burton71

[Dan-]

Yeah I adjusted them at home on both occassions. The issue wasn't so much that it was hard to get into but it was difficult to get them to feel right. Sometimes the toe felt loose when the ankle was tight and visa verse and it would vary between runs.

 

The concept is good, but its just not something I like. For something designed to make strapping in faster I certainly found myself spending more time adjusting them then I ever did with regular bindings.

 

 

Those were my thoughts. I honestly have no problems buckling my straps, so why switch..

[Santa Clauss]

I finially rode them again last night, there on my park board, with my new boots they did fit a little bit better and it was nice un straping to get on the lift, I flew past a couple people to beet them on and had to unstrap fast... they still need some break in time though. I noticed if you strap in siting down there a lot easier, as for the ride quality, I have a pare of ride delta's and there pretty much the exact same binding but without the contraband strap and there pretty compareable to the response, they are noticeably lighter though.

[TylerDurden]

I got a burton with the stupid ICS, and can't manage to fit a non-burton binding on it, I swore to my self last year that I would never buy a burton product again, but there was a really good deal on this board and I felt that I had to buy. The board I love, but I hate burton bindings; I heard forums/drakes can fit the channel with convert plate. Has anyone tried this, or had any luck with another companies binding.

[burton71]

I got a burton with the stupid ICS, and can't manage to fit a non-burton binding on it, I swore to my self last year that I would never buy a burton product again, but there was a really good deal on this board and I felt that I had to buy. The board I love, but I hate burton bindings; I heard forums/drakes can fit the channel with convert plate. Has anyone tried this, or had any luck with another companies binding.

There are plates for both Forum and Drake bindings that will work and the board will ride fine...but it is completely counter productive to use a non EST/ICS binding. It is designed to be used as a complete system.

[TylerDurden]

It's fucking stupid I hate Burton bindings and would much prefer ride's or really any other brand. EST are overpriced and I don't want an all Burton setup. The board I got should have been offered in both bolts and ICS but sadly, it's not. I think I am going to cop some Forum Republics and put the conversion plate that came with the board.