the BMB

only one day on it so far but here you go.

09 gyrator 158...... as far as rocker boards go, i have the hero, horrorscope, and banana to compare to.  hororrscope is obviously a super soft short twin, so we wont really go there.

flex - pretty medium.  not stiff, not soft.  hero is softer.. banana might be a LITTLE soffter.  nose is more flexible.  feels good, i like it.

ride - took a run or two to adjust to the way it likes to turn.  felt like it slightly had a mind of its own at first, but then i got used to it and thats not the case anymore.  i would say its a solid, damp ride.  something about honeycomb dampening material in the core?  i banged some hard landings and it felt almost as if it were cushy.  anyway, dampness, or whatever you want to call it, was something i noticed.  "more damp" than my hero, maybe even my fish.  smooth turns after i adjusted.. i like it.  solid charging through/over chop.  good in pow obviously, for a twin-ish board.  rides switch less naturally than a true twin but thats not to say it was bad, just not the same as a true twin.

pop? - i seem to be able to adjust to any board and the way they pop.. this one feels springy.. all good.. whatever.. blah blah blah.

edge hold.  stiffer lengthwise than my hero, but more so torsionally.  edge hold was noticeably increased, but it still has the looser rocker feel.  i think its just right for me.  good stuff.

base - i gave it a quick hotwax last night.  rode with an 09 jussi that is waxed regularly, and a couple others.  i seemed to be fastest.  haden said at one point "k2 bases are fast."  theres one long flat spot that you have to bomb to make it through, when you go further east into the gullies we were riding all day, and i made it the furthest/fastest.  i didnt actually feel like i was going any faster than usual, but out of our group today, i was the fastest.

overall i like this more than my hero.  its definitely more directional, but i would still call it twin-ish or twin-like as far as the shape goes.  i love the shape of the nose and tail.  also, noticeably more rocker on the nose, but still rocker on the tail.. tail rocker is at least as much as capitas FK, probably just barely more, and definitely more than the hero, and more than the banana.

Nice review... think outside the 13ox

Just because your board was the fastest doesn't mean it has much to do with the base material.

the comment was simply that the base is fine and i happened to be faster than the people i was riding with, but i also said i didnt feel faster than normal.

if you mean maybe it was different waxes or something.. we use the same wax.  everything was the same but the boards.  but like i said... all it really meant was that the base is fine and i happened to be fastest today.

how does it carve on groomers, and how was it at speed?

I've heard the hero is sketch at speed.

i was fine on my hero at speed.  thats not to say it was as "stable" as something like a t6 or whatever, but i felt it was fine.

the "mind of its own" part was a groomers thing, but thats something i adjusted to after a couple runs.  i find that rocker boards like to turn from the middle.. when i first rode my hero on groomers it felt the same way, but after adjusting, i couldnt feel it anymore, and same with this.  carves fine.. again its no t6, but i felt like it "railed" better than my hero.

one thing i noticed with the banana was that when stopping heelside, my toe edge didnt want to come up as far, or as easy, as my hero.  noticed the same thing on this one, just not as intense.  that and actual carving felt a bit more secure.

i never felt insecure as far as edge hold on my hero.. it wasnt till i rode the banana that i realized it actually was quite loose.  but you adjust to all those little changes.

and as far as speed, i dunno, its hard to say.  on groomers, i didnt feel uncomfortable on either board.  through chop and rougher terrain, not that i was actually uncomfortable on my hero, but id have to say i felt more comfortable on this.  i have a little more setback and its a bit stiffer.  seems to plow through/over cut up pow and whatnot better.  the "dampness" also kinda stood out.  now that i think about it, it felt way more solid.  i dont recall vibration issues on my other boards, but this felt particularly smooth.  like i said, the specs say something about a honeycomb dampening layer in the core.. id have to re-read it, but thats probably what i was noticing.



are you interested in it?  if youre thinking pow, its not gonna be anything remotely like your pow boards.  ive heard someone say they thought about selling their fish when they got a gyrator, but its not even comparable.  its just when you compare it to a regular cambered board that it seems so much better.

i think the term "pow rocker" throws some people off, making it seem like its an actual pow specific board.  sure, its set back (not much) and rockered, but.. when i think of a pow board, i think of something with at least 2CM taper.  maaaaaaybe the supermodel, but not really.

There are other factors that contribute to board speed than wax and base material.

JungleLarry:

There are other factors that contribute to board speed than wax and base material.

okay.  either way.. base was fine and i happened to be fastest, that is all.  i dont know why, but thats not what i was trying to figure out.

nice review.

I was told to ride the gyrator and turbo dream bigger than normal. Did you notice if the board rode smaller?

it rode like a 58 to me, its just rockered.  rocker loosens up the ride but i dont think its a reason to change the size.

seems like you like the added stiffness. I'm in the same boat stiffness wise, I'm starting to think my hero isn't stiff enough. You can still do everything just fine, just a little more work carving and such since it's quite loose. more or less rocker than hero/sb/etc...always curious on peoples opinions on liking more or less rocker.

didnt i talk about the rocker comparison?  i forget.

definitely more, for sure.  and most of the stiffness is torsional, its really not a stiff board.  im surprised k2 has it listed as the stiffest besides the zeppelin wide, but then again, its rockered, and they always seem like theyre softer.

but yeah, it definitely holds a more powerful edge but its not a drastic increase or anything.  and like i said, it feels like it plows through stuff a bit better.

jigga:

seems like you like the added stiffness. I'm in the same boat stiffness wise, I'm starting to think my hero isn't stiff enough. You can still do everything just fine, just a little more work carving and such since it's quite loose. more or less rocker than hero/sb/etc...always curious on peoples opinions on liking more or less rocker.

i feel the same. i was omega stoked on the hero until i rode a brand new crisp uninc, and now i can identify that i like a bit stiffer of a board, nothing against the hero or anything, but i'm stoked to ride the joystick.

yeah, exactly.  its not that you dont actually enjoy certain boards, but sometimes it takes getting back on something else to put it into perspective.  hero is rad, lots of fun, but i had been missing some extra stiffness.  if my gear situation goes the same next year as it has been, i think ill get a joystick or custom rocker or easy livin.  i wanna know which is "stiffest," but thats kind of a strange question, sounds like something some random dumbo would ask.  HEY GUYS WUT V-ROCKING SNOWBOARD HAS THE MOST STIFFNESS

edit: i forgot about the indoor fk.  nevarmind!

I love my Gyrator 62 - definitely not a stiff board though IMO, has more flex than my Banana 59 and my Phoenix BTX 57 is a lot stiffer. You can press the *** out of it, though this is mainly due to the amount of rocker

However it is a very solid board, easy to ride fast and you can point it on the groomers - it has a lot of rocker, and you can see the nose flapping at speed - my friends always point it out to me - it never feels unstable, but sometimes when really icy you notice that is does not have as much edge hold as a regular board due to the effective edge, but this has never been a problem.

It is also very light for its size, it rides like a much shorter board, and is easy to spin (its lighter than any of my Libs). It rules in Powder, and i am one of those people who has not been near their fish since, it just floats over everything, is very manouverable in the tigh stuff, and super solid when you want to crank it up to mach 10 on some wide open slopes. It is just so much fun in Pow.

I actually prefer it to Banana tech, and i have always hated K2 as a brand and steered clear of them, but i got the Gyrator cheap and was keen to try it out, and am now keen to try out the Turbo dream.

I would say that i think getting the 58 is a waste of time unless you are 5ft 6  or similar, as they do ride shorter than their length, and the extra length makes a bid differance in the pow.