the BMB

So Friday the Notch arrived and I took it with me to Breck this weekend in hopes of a day to be able to ride it.  Well today I decided to bust it out and take it for a ride.

I was a bit nervous about riding it at first.  I'm used to riding a 156 twin, not a 158 with a 30 setback stance.  I was thinking it may ride funky, it might be squirrely if I'm not in the pow, everything you can think of when getting on a board that's nothing like what you're used to riding.

First run we cruised a trail that was mixed with pow stashes, bumps and groomed spots.  It was definitely a bit odd getting used to the board on that run.  For starters it's stiffer than the Mod.  It's still relatively easy to ollie and butter, it just required a bit more out of me than my Mod.  The main thing that stood out to me within the first few minutes was how much stiffer and more solid the board is during a carve.  On my heel edge I could really notice it...it felt as though the board could just stay put on the edge and go for as long as you wanted it too.  It felt a little "hooky" though...as in it would try and carve more than you wanted too.  After that bit we found a few stashes of pow and the board was amazing in there.  My legs have never worked so little in riding pow before, yet the board stayed afloat the entire time I was in there no matter how fast or slow I'd charge into a stash the board would stay on top of it.  Usually after coming out of a pow stash it was a bump field of those mini pow moguls.  This is where I honestly was the most impressed with the board.  Not once did I feel like I was being tossed around or going out of control.  The board stayed solid and plowed through them with every carve. 

The conditions I was riding in were pretty much the same all day with the mix of all three types of snow.  The more I rode the board the more comfortable I got with it.  The one thing that I'm still mentally barriered with is the short tail.  I go to ollie sometimes and half the time I'd hold back for fear the board would wash on me since the tail is shorter.  The times I did pop and ollie the board landed fine and never squirreled around on me, but like I said, mentally I was thinking it may sometimes. 

In short the board rides really well.  I've never ridden a Malolo or Fish before but from the reviews I've read on both it seems to be similar to the Maolo.  It honestly surprised me with how well it charged through the snow, no matter what the conditions were.  The edge hold was solid, the board is a bit stiffer but it is loaded with pop once you get adjusted to it, pow butters are a blast on it, it floats like a dream (as should a pow board, BUT I've never owned one before. my legs love me), overall a really good board.  It's the first "freeride" board I've purchased in a few years.  I will openly admit I still enjoy park/freestyle boards a bit more for their playfulness, but when it comes to wanting to play around in the powder this board is amazing.

A great alternative for people who want to try something other than the Big B who are looking for a pow board.

do you ride the super wide stance on it? i found riding a narrower stance than i normally do on the fish and malolo works better, it gives you a bit more tail to deal with

I ride max which is 24" I think.  I really can't ride narrower stances anymore because I stand up straight too much and can't carve or anything worth a crap.

yeah, 24 is not that big anymore

but 25.5 or whatever on that kind of board is pointless

I ride 25.25 on the Mod and 24 on the Notch.

PS: It is a pretty board.

my mod is set to 24.5
ain't ridden it yet.
but i recall riding tj's design at the beav with his cumbersome targas a couple years back.
at first i thought it was a dead plank until i started to open it up.
anyway, my whole thing is totally unrelated but i reckon the mod should - in theory be a cross between an artifact and the anthem.
the anthem being utterly fantatsic with lines. very powerful.
so i guess the point i'm not making is why have a notch when you can have a mod?

Ive taken my mod out and its fun, but the one thing i dislike about it is the 2 degree edge bevel. on softer snow im sure i wont be able to notice it, but on man made hard pack i found the board a little slippery. I also have an anthem, but i think the mod  feels more like an agent then the anthem. Ive never ridden the artifact. dont get me wrong, i like my mod and i find that i may just need to get use to it a little more.


cool review on the notch

bcall8:

Ive taken my mod out and its fun, but the one thing i dislike about it is the 2 degree edge bevel. on softer snow im sure i wont be able to notice it, but on man made hard pack i found the board a little slippery. I also have an anthem, but i think the mod  feels more like an agent then the anthem. Ive never ridden the artifact. dont get me wrong, i like my mod and i find that i may just need to get use to it a little more.


cool review on the notch

so tune it yourself

i have thought about it, but i may just need to ride it some more. i find that i notice it less with time. i would have preffered it to come wiuth a standard bevel, but i dont know if it warrants enough for me to try to change it. Like i said i  do really enjpy this board and am very excited to ride it for the rest of the season......... BUT I was under the impression that once a base bevel was put on an edge, it is hard to reverse it back to the standard 1 degree bevel. kind of like when you round your edge off you cant get it back. what do you think?

Shit thread.  Shit review.  Shit board.

Want to expand on that a bit?  Why do you think the board' so shitty?

Kipa:

Want to expand on that a bit?  Why do you think the board' so shitty?

Cuz he's Larry and rocking the hippy brand Arbor.

Werd.

So I rode the Notch again today. 

Conditions were freshies, and lots of them.  I'd say when I got on the mountain it was around a foot of fresh, maybe a tad more.  First run I cruised a bumped out groomer that still had stashes on the side.  I wasn't really feeling it yet, but the board owned it on the run. 

The next run I met up with a friend and we cruised the upper part of the mountain.  The snow was a lot better up there; softer, less tracked and packed.  The runs up there were where I really got to feel the board and push it. 

The majority of the snow was around a foot plus deep with a few tracks here and there, but overall untouched.  I could come off of a section that was a bit more packed and charge into the pow and the board would own it.  Not once did the nose subumerge and send me flipping over; there were a few times I thought that was going to happen but the nose would quickly pop back up and get me floating again.  The thing is a monster in the pow, it seriously does float like a boat.  I had a blast doing pow-butters all day long and quick toe side slashes and some of my glorious heel sprays. 

Where I found the board to be the most impressive was honestly in the bumpy sections.  My Mod is a sick board, but when you hit bumps the thing is so flexy that it bounces you off of them...the Notch on the other hand charges through them.  My body felt like a ragdoll, but not once did I eat it becasue the board would stay consistant and keep me on my feet.  The person I was riding with even said there were a few times she thought I was going to eat it, but I didn't.  I'm confident in how I ride, but I can say if it wasn't for the stiffness of the board I would have been on my ass numerous times today from the bumpy sections.

All in all, this board is sick!  The nose and tail are still soft enough that you can ollie and butter the piss out of it, yet the overall feel (mainly longitudinally) is stiff as shit.  If anyone gets a chance to try one, do it!

right on man

its a weird feeling at first when you think the nose is going to go under but it doesn't, it took me a while to get used to landing on my fish, i would always have my weight to far to and slide out and butt check