Salomon snowboard question

[wookalar]

http://www.salomonsnowboard.com/img/.../78167628T.gif

I put this on the tech talk board, but haven't had much luck with snowboard responses there. Hope nobody minds posting it here.....


bought this board this fall, ridden it 8 times this season.

I was really looking forward to this board...to this day, my favorite was a Salomon Daniel Franck I had 4 yrs ago. So it was with great anticipation that I bought this Salomon.

Here's the rub...notice the rubber pads on the edges. It may look like topsheet, but those areas on either side of the binding screw are actually rubber pads...the board falls away steeply around the exaggerated X desgin you can see in the middle. The theory is that these allow more contact points between the binding and board. I'm not convinced. It feels awkward going edge to edge, not solid like a new board should. I'm no pro, but I've been at it for 12 years and feel like I can hold my own. I notice it most often on my heel edge, it feels like it washes out all the time.

Now...to be honest...when hauling ass, this board is pretty sharp. If I'm really moving, it rides very well, very stable. But I don't haul ass all the time (jong!). In fact, I usually d!ck around on most terrain and go relatively slow.

To further jong myself, bear with me here, if I exaggerate my turns the board is very responsive again. I hope you can understand what I mean here - the guy riding down throwing a turn every 2 seconds, knees very bent, your standard gorilla steez Am I just not putting enough effort into this board? I am still an average skier, but is this similar to suddenly plopping onto a pair of pro skis, a la bro models (yea!)?

I'm calling salomon tomorrow to ask them, see if they've heard similar compaints or even a fix. I'm seriously considering taking it back and getting something else depending on their answers.

Any experiences with this board? I'm assuming the engineers at salomon know a whole lot more than me. I'm also thinking that I'm not riding it hard enough. Thanks for the help....

[InspectorGadget]

During the Salomon clinic, the rep stated that the pads served the sole purpose of giving the board/binding interface a level mounting surface. Without the rubber pads you would likely feel like your binding screws were loose. The raised tuning-fork top sheep is designed to more directly focus your input to the edges tip and tail. I think the board you bought - Forecast ERA, yes? - wants to be ridden fast and, as you mentioned, rides best when ridden aggressively.

You might need to buy another board to play on; otherwise, ride it hard and put it away wet. Yee haw!

[wookalar]

sorry, yes it is the forecast era, thought I'd put that in there

What you said is what I'm coming to believe. It's not that I am averse to riding hard, hopefully the opposite. My last 2 boards, a Lamar Team and a Burton Custom, were both very flexible and very soft. This one is super stiff. I think I just have to adjust my style...those softer more forgiving boards probably made me somewhat lazy.

As I kind of said above, the board seems to wash out a lot on heelside turns. But it seems to happen more often if I do more of a lazy general speed check turn. If I get after it, the board definatley responds.

This post is quickly making me realize I may just be a lazy sack.....

[InspectorGadget]

This post is quickly making me realize I may just be a lazy sack.....

Not lazy, you're just getting used to a new board. As you get dialed-in to the Forecast maybe you'll find the off button or at least the not-on-full-blast button.

[Darkside]

Our rep explained the ERA technology as giving a board both the ability to be super damp and stiff at high speeds (sounds like you've got this part covered) and also be very carvable at slow speeds. I'm not a snowboarder and haven't ridden this board, so I can't really say anything beyond that the on-the-floor flexing makes it feel pretty damn stiff.