 Poster: A snowHead
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Anyone know about this brand? Looking for something fast & stable on piste and suitable for taking into the powder, should I be lucky enough to find any!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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at that price I'm sure it'll be fine - not got any knowledge of them though. Enjoy!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Rome are a good brand - surprised you haven't heard of them before! They are well established and make decent boards.
The Notch isn't one I've ridden but by the looks of it will definitely be good for powder. At 168 it may have the turning circle of an oil tanker on-piste though (unless you're a big heavy bloke that is), but it should be stable and pretty fast too I'd have thought.
Looks like you got a bargain at that price, let us now how you get on with it.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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6'5" tall and 16 stone... yeah, I'm a big heavy bloke... 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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What a bargain!! Rome are great boards and a 168 should be just right for your size, carled.
What bindings are you going to get?
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I think the bindings might have to wait until next year! I was thinking flows, waddya think stab?
My trusty Italian Elfgen bindings fit the new Rome board (it turned up this morning, I have it beside me on the dining room table where I can admire it - it's bloody gorgeous!) so I'll make do with them this year then look at some Ride bindings for next year, perhaps.
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carled, Congrats on the bargain ! Ride bindings are superb. Both OH & I have Rome boards with Ride bindings.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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DebbiDoesSnow, cheers. I cannot WAIT the 18 more sleeps... I am now in major anxiety about the weather staying good. OK, the base isn't going anywhere until about July with this depth, but I want powder to play in!
I keep staring at the board - I just can't believe how nice it is and how damn lucky I was to find it and get it for that price! I'm going to cry the first time I hear that "sssscccccccccrape" sound of a stone... 
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So what difference am I going to notice with this new board over my Morrow Dimension 2001 model (also 168cm). Held side by side, they're very similar in size & shape. Weight is similar, flex seems similar... I can only imagine that snowboard technology has greatly improved since I bought my old board... But, fundamentally, isn't a board just a board?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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is it brand new? - check its been de-tuned!
Ed Leigh rides a Rome I noticed while watching High Altitude yesterday
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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It was shrinkwrapped... it isn't any more... I've been caressing it...
It hasn't been touched - I don't really get the whole de-tuning thing either. Simple physics to me... I'm 16 stone and when I'm whanging down a piste in a (reasonably) straight line, I really don't see how a fraction of a millimetre of metal edge is going to be able to do anything significant to my forward momentum whatsoever.
OK, if I was bouncing on and off rails and things, it might be worth it, but I simply fail to believe (famous last words... I reserve the right to take a file to the edge of my board within 10 minutes of my first run down in a few weeks) that a sharp edge will cause me any grief?
edit: Woo-hoo! 1000th post!
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fair enough, it purely is each to their own, but if you carve at all detuning can really help. I bought a Salomon Regulate and whacked my bindings on and got straight on the piste - it was hard work as it bit too much on the carve (cordurouy pistes) and was difficult to change edges as a result. It was something I got used to but once detuned it was easier.
The idea of detuning is about taking the sharp part off the ends of the rail, not the whole length... you want it sharp down most of the edges!
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You know it makes sense.
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I always want all the edge I can have as I can only carve. Unless its boiler plate ice, the edge sharpness doesn't really matter much as a small drop in attack angle and weigh transfer will float the back. If it is boiler plate, you want the sharpest knives you can have, so my advice is leave your rails razor sharp. The one place I always lose the rail on hard ice is the back end, so that's where I want it really, really sharp. Its also where Nidecker put their bread knife rail technology... to cut into the ice.
I really like Rome boards but Ed Leigh has ridden a different board every week. It was a Vapor last week. Nice work... if you can get it.
Carled - leave the file at home, bruv.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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have to agree to disagree on that one am afraid - you should, IMO, at least lose the sharpness on the nose. carving shouldn't use that area to 'cut' into the ice as when the board bends when you're really increasing the pressure the important bits are directly around and between your bindings. When you shift the weight forward while preparing to change edge its nice if the nose doesn't cut into the ice (which it'll try to do unless you force it not to) so you can switch over faster. IMO.
and, while I admit I have no experience of Nidecker's breadknife rail tech, board manufacturers will hype a gimmick to flog boards.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I completely detune my contact points and feel the board is much smoother...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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boardiecouk, I have only ridden renters for the last few years and the ones with razor sharp edges have always ridden much better on ice patches .
When I have taken boards back and insisted they are reground, they have become much more precise.
I do load and unload the board a lot when carving (old skiing habits die hard) so maybe this lets me use sharper edges to good effect.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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This is fascinating reading... I'm also an ex-skier so maybe that's why I also have never felt that sharp edges are an issue? My point is really that with the mass that I have going through the board, particularly when hammering it a bit (if powder isn't available, my path of choice is great big swooping carves down the piste, seeing how sharp and thin a track I can leave!), a slightly sharper edge (let's be honest, what you call a dulled or detuned edge is still going to be able to chop most fruit in half if wielded in anger, it's not like you've got a 10mm rounded edge like a piece of dowel, is it?!) is going to make very little difference to the performance of the board as the edge it does have, even if feeling dull, will still work perfectly on any snow with a bit of give, right?
The comparison with ice skates is only relevant if the snow is like ice, surely? That's when you'd need the razor edges anyway, so to remove them for times when you don't feel you need them is a bit daft if they don't (well, shouldn't) affect you at times when you feel you DON'T need them? I really don't see the point in detuning, I truly don't. If you have a decent technique, there is very little need for the board to skid, so why would you want to lose the sharp edge that will allow you to hold a line? If you're going in a proper straight line, nose to tail, there is NO way in a million months of Sundays that you should be able to catch an edge... it simply is not possible, so I fail to see why some of you are advocating removing a sharp edge which CAN come in useful and certainly WON'T be unhelpful as long as you're using reasonable technique?
I have a mate who is a relative beginner on a board (he started with a 2 week holiday in Lake Tahoe years ago) and whereas he has a reasonable technique most of the time, he has a bloody horrible habit of counter-rotating his upper body and forcing the board around on low speed turns, that I feel with sharp edges he would suffer greatly for! Is that what it comes down to? Is it purely a technique thing that means that those that feel the "grippy" tuned edges affect their style are, in fact, not actually "doing it right"? I say this with tongue in cheek somewhat, as there are a million ways of getting down the mountain and none of them are necessarily more "right" than any other... if it works for you and gives you enjoyment then fine.
In just over a couple of weeks, I will of course be in a position where I can test my theory out. If I end up eating snow early on, then maybe there's something to be said for it. I do, however, have a feeling that detuning is for park monkeys and freestylers who want to be able to take liberties with style and technique and not get overly punished for it... Powder cruisers and carvers really shouldn't have the slightest problem with the sharpest edge known to man, I wouldn't have thought...?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Never de-tuned mine, but I have caught an edge & face planted more times than I can remember when I was learning (probably due to technique). Thankfully not so much now
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Its probably more relevant on 'skiddy' turns than carving, but the thing to take from all this is probably as simple as - try the board as is, if you have any problems try detuning. Remember, the idea of detuning is taking the edge off the very ends of the rail - so where the board 'curls up' if you like.
I know it made a difference on that board, for me. It could be it makes no difference to you whatsoever, but like I say, if you have problems, try it.
It isn't purely for the park though, its for all riding. I'm not a big park man myself and the day I found out the hard way about detuning was in a cross trois vallees race where I thought grabbing my new board (which I'd bought for high speed on piste action) would be the way forward. As I said I managed to compensate for it but found it much better once detuned.
Also to re-iterate its not just about catching an edge, its about how you set the board when on edge-change - remember if you're doing high speed carve turns under high pressure, you want to be able to set the radius yourself, not let the board bite in and try to set it based upon its own sidecut etc (though as I said you can compensate for it but why should you have to?!) -
Just bear it in mind, but its the first thing I do now. I like the main part of the rails sharp (putting a nail on the edge and scraping should pull nail off) and the ends of the rails blunt.
Enjoy either way!!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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boardiecouk, As you describe it, I can see the advantage for learning riders improving their skills on blue pistes.
A friend on holiday with us last year wiped out so many times on icy slopes that he nearly gave up. I'm sure sharper rails would have helped him on the ice/hard pack, without diminishing his ability to slide the tail on softer pistes. They would have also reduced the bruising on his backside.
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If you really want to feed into the carve rather than detuning tune the ends of the side edge to a lower angle. This helps the edge feed in without grabbing.
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thanks Swirly, voice of reason! 
People seem to keep thinking detuning means the whole edge. Its not the 'working' edge you detune, its the ends of your board. you aren't using them, they're just getting in the way!!!!!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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If you arent using them & they don't get in the way, why de-tune them 
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DebbiDoesSnow, they catch a bit at the beginning of a turn and sort sets the board running straight rather than following a natural carve/side-cut radius of a turn
this is getting a bit like BZK
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Thanks Ray! - you de-tune them because they DO get in the way!!!
oh, btw, what's BZK? - Anyone want to discuss ride bindings now?..... (stands back)
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I like Ride bindings, won't have a word said against them 
BZK = Anally retentive discussion board
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oops, typo, (mind was elsewhere) nothing wrong with rides, meant to put flows...... (stands even further back!)
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You know it makes sense.
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I have a Rome board and detuned the top and tail edges - just gently dulled about 5cm each side of where the sidecut begins. It is not about when you are a flat, but when you remotely go over onto once side as you transition that the sharp edge sometimes will carve into the snow and sent you face planting as described above by DebbiDoesSnow, . My neck still hurts from rather elaborate edge catching exercise last week! It still can happen, but no problem in reducing risk of injury in my mind.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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OK. The Rome Notch is a delight both on and off piste. Didn't detune the edges and they didn't *appear* to have been done (i.e. were as sharp as everything else) and I never once felt I was in danger of being unbalanced. As I said, soft snow, 16 stone snowboarder, 45mph and a few microns of sharp steel edge is gonna make bugger all difference to the board's behaviour. I think you detuning people are in emperor's new clothes land meself, but if it makes you feel happier doing it, you go for it!
It was solid as a rock at speed and floated well in powder. I'm a happy bunny with my purchase!
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FAQ
