I am also riding a Khyber 160 (custom stiff) for 3 seasons, and thinking to go for a Swallowtail split this year.
How does it compare to the Khyber?
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I think the demo fleet on these is related to the amount bought by stores in the first place. Snowboard demos where I live in Norway are very few and far between, so I usually just take my chances and go by word of mouth. This way, I ended up buying an Agent pre-season, didn´t like it much, sold it, and bought the Design eventually, knowing this would be a good board, as I borrowed last season´s for a couple of days. It was better. I know what you mean about light boards feeling too light - I thought the tail on my Design would snap before I rode it - very thin. It´s a lot safer than what I assumed initially.
If you have the spare money, see if you can grab one on the season ender sales. Shouldn´t be more than $400, and for that money, there´s no real reason not getting one. I´m getting another one for next season, just in case I snap my current.
Apparently Rome is really cool with their warranty policy. I guess they regularly replace snapped or cracked boards. Though, I think my nxt board whenever Iget one, will be a Nevr summer. They seem to make the perfect boards for cutting through the crud and heavy snow Tahoe can get.