Best material for slalom boards

[Gustavs Gailitis]

Thank you World champion for detailed info!
And of course others too

So I'm still going to be an amateur, trying to get more experience and advising new slalomers to try to find their own ''prince'' in slalom board variety!

[Marcus Seyffarth]

What are the general diferences between wood,carbon,fiber etc. boards (pluses and minuses)?

In short wood is cheaper and easier to produce and will be heavy if you make a stiff board.

Foam is not as durable, ages quicker and is more sensitve to temperatures and sun (a foam board with carbonfibre that has been in the sun gets veeeery soft). But foum could be used to build a light, stiff and torsionally stiff board. However not all foam boards are built in a way that you use the advantage of having the foam as a torsion box and thus being able to build a light and stiff board.

But no matter what is lightest or stiffest its still up to each persons style and preferences. Just take a look at the 10 fastest riders and you have 6 or 7 totally different riding techniques and still its just 1/100's of seconds that divide them at the finishline. Add to that lenght, stance, weight and type of course and its impossible to tell what is best.

Since the marginals are that small I think by just telling someone that they have the best board it makes them think that really is the case and by thinking that - actually run faster. Its all in your head.

Why not chose asymmetric boards instead of symmetric?

Its just bullshit. Thats why.

Remember that you can race pro after winning your first 3 or 4 races this year. I'm looking forward to race you!

[Cat Young]

I know that I am the ONLY amateur racer being competing in all major and main races in Europe for last 2 years

I think that's AWESOME, Gustavs! Hey....... no rush going "pro" in my opinion. Just have fun!

Keep it up & ride what works for you. You can only suggest what you think would work for someone else..... that's just my opinion.
I don't think you can ever tell someone what to ride & be 100% correct.... unless you are privy to that person's riding style. And even then, you still won't know if you're giving the absolute precise advise!
The board you ride........ for that matter..... the set-up you ride may not work for someone else.

I had many "suggestions" from well-meaning people when I first started, but it was overwhelming & quite confusing. I ultimately had to ride a lot of different boards before choosing what was right for me. I guess I could say, I had to kiss a lot of frogs before finding my prince!

[Gustavs Gailitis]

I know that I am the ONLY amateur racer being competing in all major and main races in Europe for last 2 years and of course I have my own opinion - I know what kind of boards would be better for me but due to the economic crisis I just can't afford one

Well I bet you'll be racing pro this year, no?

rmn

Sorry,Ramon I will give you the opportunity to be the prizewinner in PRO for one more year

But most probably I will be racing with Ramon ''Foxy" PRO Model for this season so I will have the feel of being a PRO just like you (but we all know I'm faster )

[Ramón Königshausen]

I know that I am the ONLY amateur racer being competing in all major and main races in Europe for last 2 years and of course I have my own opinion - I know what kind of boards would be better for me but due to the economic crisis I just can't afford one

Well I bet you'll be racing pro this year, no?

rmn

[Gustavs Gailitis]

as a more experienced racer you should be able to answer this question to yourself already,gustavs.
one thing:
we tried foam against wood
extensive testing with able guys
foam was faster

i don't rteally wanna go into detail,just staing the facts from our side of the pond.

I know that I am the ONLY amateur racer being competing in all major and main races in Europe for last 2 years and of course I have my own opinion - I know what kind of boards would be better for me but due to the economic crisis I just can't afford one

There are a lot of new slalomers and if they ask witch board to chose it is hard to make a general advice which would be good for everyone. Slalom board market is full of different kind of boards and I just don't want to give a wrong advice! [/quote]

[Donald Campbell]

as a more experienced racer you should be able to answer this question to yourself already,gustavs.
one thing:
we tried foam against wood
extensive testing with able guys
foam was faster

i don't rteally wanna go into detail,just staing the facts from our side of the pond.

[Lenny Poage]

We have more than 1000 users in this forum -

none of them has got an answer (or opinion) about my questions???

Actually there are 1001 opinions if you REALLY want to open that can of worms. It's 100% what you feel comfortable skating, really. Me? I like wood decks possibly with laminate to make it a bit stiffer. Others like just wood, others like foamies.

[Guillaume Saint-Criq]

i think biggest difference between foamcore and wood boards is weight. First are lighter.
There must also be differences in flexion/torsion but it really depends on what kind of wood deck you use (I only use to ride 2 wood deck in slalom, a SCamber wich got a little flex/snap, and the Ramon wich is flex like a rock... 2 really differents boards )

I think it's also easier to get complex shapes with foamcore boards... i really don't know if it's possible to build something like the pavel P-Camber using wood.

I only saw one asymetric board, it was Skip (marcotte) one, a Subsonic if i remember well from this past summer.
It looks nice but it is for sure an extra cost for manufacturers to build different regular and goofie decks

[Chris Favero]

cash and lots of it.C

[Gustavs Gailitis]

We have more than 1000 users in this forum -

none of them has got an answer (or opinion) about my questions???

[Gustavs Gailitis]

After seeing all kinds of boards in competitions I just thinking about 2 big questions:

What are the general diferences between wood,carbon,fiber etc. boards (pluses and minuses)?

Why not chose asymmetric boards instead of symmetric?