# Do you think a rocker is detrimental to learning good techinique?



## Guest (Mar 20, 2010)

First off, thanks to the forum and to Snowolf for teaching me the error of my ways in technique. Snowolf's videos made so much more sense to me than what my first instructor told me...."follow me." I did and I was quickly doing sloppy S-turns and picking up more speed than technique. I left the mtn stoked, but with a concussion and sprained wrist. (Not his fault, of course. Don't mean to say that.)

Anyhoo, my injury rate went way down after watching Snowolf's vids and now that I can use torsion to initiate consistent S-turns on an easy blue, I do not want to be subjected to rentals anymore! The worst was the floppy Burton LTR-L. Most of the rentals I've used seem to be around 0 camber. My last old Rossignol rental was forgiving and I was even doing some flatground 360s on it. Not impressive I know, but that was my fourth day and I was happy.

So without experiencing many/good boards, I went and bought a Lipstick 2nd because it was a good deal and has decent reviews; the LBS (local board shop) said a rocker would be forgiving and good for what I want to do (all mtn with butter on the side); and renting is such a crap shoot. Now I'm thinking maybe a Lipstick is not such a great board for learning good technique in turns. By "forgiving" does this just mean "sloppy" and I'll be stunted in learning technique? So, what do you think, should I return this (not used yet) board for something a little more positive? I'm 5'6 at 130lbs and the setup in question is a 149 Lipstick with Lexa EST (argh!) bindings. My dream board would be a 151 or 154 Never Summer Infinity-R , but I've not ridden it and it's more expensive so I'm not sure. 

Just to clarify, my question is not so much about whether the industry hype says rockers are great for beginners (clearly they do). My question is more whether instructors and experienced riders think a Lipstick/rocker is an appropriate board for learning technique or if it will be a detriment to learning proper technique, and if so would an Infinity/Infinity-R or some other board be better?


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## seant46 (Dec 8, 2009)

For me i don't think riding a rocker changed the way i snowboarded. But it could be because i learned on camber so maybe if you started on rocker it would be different. However although i dont think it changed my technique when you go from rocker to camber you have to be a little more cautious about catching an edge, just takes like a couple hours of riding to get back into camber.(i went back to camber from riding a rocker most of the year) 

Anyways that's just me.


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## mrpez (Jan 29, 2010)

all the bullshit surrounding rockers is really annoying. rocker and cambered boards are both excellent, each with its own slight advantages. 

buying a rocker board will not make you a pro. dont buy into the bullshit that rockers are easier to ride, and only beginners use them. dont blame bad technique on what kind of camber the board is - that's all you. 

bottom line is that although the board does matter, its mostly the rider. not meaning that some piece of shit board is the same as a more expensive one, because with boards you pretty much get what you pay for. rocker or cambered, magnetraction vario or none, its going to come down to how good your technique is and how determined you are.


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## lilfoot1598 (Mar 7, 2009)

The Lipstick is a high quality board. It is a bit forgiving because it's a softer freestyle board, but that doesn't mean it won't be responsive. Don't worry about camber/reverse camber - just ride and have fun progressing. :thumbsup:

I have the Gnu B-street, which has a similar flex. I would classify myself as an upper intermediate freerider and I have no problems with it feeling unresponsive all-mountain.


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## Bones (Feb 24, 2008)

derdriu said:


> My question is more whether instructors and experienced riders think a Lipstick/rocker is an appropriate board for learning technique or if it will be a detriment to learning proper technique, and if so would an Infinity/Infinity-R or some other board be better?


I really don't think there is really much in the argument that rocker/camber is easier/harder to learn on. I think the real factors are flex and length.

While it is true that a rockered board is easier to spin when flat based and less likely to catch an edge, I feel that that is something picked up quite rapidly when learning anyway. Maybe you'll feel more confident linking turns a session earlier than on a camber, but you'll be linking turns on a camber quickly enough anyway.

Bottom line, there are trade-offs between cambered and rockered boards, but those differences are more related to riding preferences than learning advantages/disadvantages. Shorter and softer will be easier to learn on initially, either cambered or rockered.


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## twin89 (Jan 21, 2009)

I learned on a cambered board, and i now ride a rocker for park. I would have to say that as far as learning goes, rocker may teach some slightly slopy technique if you are not paying attention to how you ride. If you get a rocker board (which would be just fine) i would highly recomend keeping tabs on proper turning technique from tutorials or tips from this forum. 

I would recomend a softer board, ie. a park board for your first purchase which will be fine for freeriding and freestyle.

The Signal Vita (cambered) board would probably suit you nicely, and its cheap 

for a rocker you could look at the 

Capita Space metal Fantasy FK (rocker)
K2 VavaVoom (rocker board)

this is not nearly close to a complete list of what you should be looking at, but i would recomend a softer park board from pretty much any company(rocker or camber). 

One thing to keep in mind though is that if you buy burton, you will be stuck with burton gear for a while cause the EST/ICS system, just make sure you are ok with that before you go the burton route.

enjoy boarding =)


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## Extremo (Nov 6, 2008)

Considering rocker/RC boards ride like shit then yes they will inhibit good riding techniques.


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## NYCboarder (Jan 26, 2008)

just took my evo-r out for the first time today.. it def didn't suck. I was riding slush so hard to say. however the shit rode like a champ


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## rasmasyean (Jan 26, 2008)

Rockers CAN make learning more forgiving because you won’t catch an edge as easily since by design, they are not pressing on the snow as hard…via the board itself. And some rockers don’t press on the snow at all when you’re centered…like multistage rockers.

You can think of it this way. If it’s more forgiving, you won’t slam and get hurt as easily so you can snowboard for a longer time and with more energy. In the end, however, the same techniques are applied so you can use it for a cambered board. The main advantaged of a cambered board however, lie in the extra pop it has. This is used for ollying and pushing you out of a high speed carved turn…two things that you will likely NOT be doing in the beginning.

Be wary of advice against rockers. Some people still think it's a fad. It looks like rockers and various other base designs are here to stay...so I wouldn't be surprised if some people who start snowboarding now will never ride a cambered board ever anyway.

I mean, you can also say… 
“Does learning ollies and fast carving on a cambered board screw up your technique?” 
Because a rockered board will force you to learn how to do them with more work right?


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## Thad Osprey (Feb 18, 2009)

I think the only thing detrimental to learning good techniques on different types of boards is failure to understand your board design adequately - like not understanding what its engineered to do, its strong and weak points, and thinking that a board does the riding for you (i.e. reverse camber marketing that says once u tilt it on its edge, it is on a "natural" arc and basically does the turning for you). YOU are the one to ride (and turn) the board, not the other way round. As such, there is no "more appropriate" board in general and giving you a more extensive list of boards isnt going to be helpful. Just remember that all boards ride differently. I have a Rome Agent (regular camber), Horroscope FK (3 Stage rocker type of reverse camber) and a Bataleon Riot (TBT) in my quiver. They all have positives and negatives (pardon the pun), but once you figure out how they ride, good technique is possible on all of them. And lastly, I dont like battles in semantics, but "forgiving" is not equal to "sloppy", if you are worried about that. "Forgiving" is an in built aspect of the board. "Sloppy" has nothing to do with the board. Its got something to do with the rider.


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## rasmasyean (Jan 26, 2008)

Thad Osprey said:


> And lastly, I dont like battles in semantics, but "forgiving" is not equal to "sloppy", if you are worried about that. "Forgiving" is an in built aspect of the board. "Sloppy" has nothing to do with the board. Its got something to do with the rider.


And keep in mind "forgiving" is relative. Some people believe that in the higher end, stopping landing spins is more"forgiving" with a cambered board since landing a bit off won't cause over rotation that can result in a slam. Of course this doesn't factorin for most riders...never mind beginners.


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