# FanBoys



## hightyme (Mar 11, 2014)

I've been on this forum for a little while now and wanted to hear from the community in terms of bias and how other riders feel about it.
Do you have some manufacturers you favor? 
Others you're never comfortable with & why?
If you have a bias, is it specific to the gear in mind ie: just the boards/just the boots, etc. 
or is the bias across the whole product line (favour anything made by "x" company)


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

Hmm, since this site has been accused of being a Never Summer fanboy site on more than one occasion, leaving that manufacturer out of the list is problematic.


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## hightyme (Mar 11, 2014)

Donutz said:


> Hmm, since this site has been accused of being a Never Summer fanboy site on more than one occasion, leaving that manufacturer out of the list is problematic.


I almost feel bad leaving them out; their construction is second to none. 
I guess the "others" votes will be high then


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## francium (Jan 12, 2013)

Personally I've got no bias to a manufacturer in the quiver at the moment i've got capita, nidecker, dupraz, rossingnol, slash and in the past i've owned quite a few others I currently use rome and union bindings. Boots I stick with salomon because they fit my feet the best . I tend to buy kit after testing it so buy what I like.


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## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

hightyme said:


> their construction is second to none.


Riiiiight.


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## jae (Nov 27, 2015)

Nivek said:


> Riiiiight.


still stand by last years thread? :grin: go ninja demo some NS and review!


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## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

There's a difference between something that rides good and the comparative quality of its construction.

But I still plan to ride them. Missed the March day.


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## F1EA (Oct 25, 2013)

hightyme said:


> I almost feel bad leaving them out; their construction is second to none.
> I guess the "others" votes will be high then


2nd to none? lol
Good one 

Considering there's no Jones, Dupraz, Endeavor, Salomon, Flow, Rossignol, Smokin, either.... 

Ah well, I'll vote Burton because their construction IS second to none. 

Also, "other" will seem like it's a vote to NS according to the guy a few posts ^^ above 

But actually, I just want a board from each brand so I can have a huge quiver and get to ride pow all day erryday. Except Rossignol.... they're skiers.


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## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

You're missing out, Rossi makes really solid boards.

I don't really care what the company affiliations are or what else they make. K2/Ride are owned by Rubbermaid, the parent company of Volcom owns Gucci too. Mervin is owned by a venture capitalist Corp with Billabong and Dakine, they also make skis. Never Summer makes skis.... Whatever.


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## F1EA (Oct 25, 2013)

Nivek said:


> You're missing out, Rossi makes really solid boards.
> 
> I don't really care what the company affiliations are or what else they make. K2/Ride are owned by Rubbermaid, the parent company of Volcom owns Gucci too. Mervin is owned by a venture capitalist Corp with Billabong and Dakine, they also make skis. Never Summer makes skis.... Whatever.


Yeah I wanted a Jibsaw or a Angus at some point.... but i've hipsterized 
Actually I dont care about the skier or what's the parent brands. It's just cool to hate


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## jae (Nov 27, 2015)

jibsaw is a great board, especially for the price. only rossi I rode, but I was pleasantly surprised. makes me want to ride the one magtek.


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## basser (Sep 18, 2015)

I ride the one magtek. It is the only board I have owned so I don't have much to compare it to, but it seems like a real solid board.


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## SGboarder (Jun 24, 2012)

hightyme said:


> I almost feel bad leaving them out; their construction is second to none.
> I guess the "others" votes will be high then





Nivek said:


> There's a difference between something that rides good and the comparative quality of its construction.
> 
> But I still plan to ride them. Missed the March day.


Kevin is correct. I get painted as Never Summer fanboy on this site but I will be first one to admit that NS construction is a bit outdated/basic/simple compared to more advanced companies like Burton, K2/Ride, Rossignol, etc.
That said the it's not rocket science to manufacture snowboards and NS manages to make products that ride well with pretty consistent quality.


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## f00bar (Mar 6, 2014)

For an industry in its death thralls there sure are a lot of board manufacturers.


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## jae (Nov 27, 2015)

SGboarder said:


> Kevin is correct. I get painted as Never Summer fanboy on this site but I will be first one to admit that NS construction is a bit outdated/basic/simple compared to more advanced companies like Burton, K2/Ride, Rossignol, etc.
> That said the it's not rocket science to manufacture snowboards and NS manages to make products that ride well with pretty consistent quality.


can you elaborate the difference in construction please? I'm still a kook so yeah...


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## F1EA (Oct 25, 2013)

f00bar said:


> For an industry in its death thralls there sure are a lot of board manufacturers.


It's not that hard to make snowboards. You dont even have to know exactly how to make them, as many factories make boards for different brands. All you really need to know is design and market.

Also.... many small companies dont care about selling hundreds of thousands of boards. A few brands sell some boards, enough to get by and are ok with that.


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## Phedder (Sep 13, 2014)

Voted for the big B mostly because I love their bindings, the channel, and their customer service is beyond awesome. I've had gear from Endeavor, NS, Ride, K2, Forum with zero gripes. Only company I actively dislike is M3, but what can you really expect from a budget brand.


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## poutanen (Dec 22, 2011)

For boots, bindings I'm pretty much a Burton Fanboy. I still try on a bunch of other manufacturers every time I buy a new pair of boots (I'd be cheating myself if I didn't), but I always end up back in Driver Xs.

For softgoods, I'm not a fanboy at all. I tend to like Smith goggles, but don't find their helmets fit my head very well.

For snowboards, I'm a Virus fanboy for sure. I also really like Prior. Probably the best traditional shaped board I've ever been on was a Prior. I have no desire to ride a NS or a Lib, or anything with "serrated edges"... Sorry fanboys, but I'll take 140cm of effective edge over having my snowboard look like a bread knife any day.

INB4: "you've never road a _____ board" > I've been on enough to know


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## Simon Birch (Mar 11, 2014)

For boards Yes then Rome
Bindings Rome
Boots K2


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## snowklinger (Aug 30, 2011)

poutanen said:


> For boots, bindings I'm pretty much a Burton Fanboy. I still try on a bunch of other manufacturers every time I buy a new pair of boots (I'd be cheating myself if I didn't), but I always end up back in Driver Xs.
> 
> For softgoods, I'm not a fanboy at all. I tend to like Smith goggles, but don't find their helmets fit my head very well.
> 
> ...


fwiw: NS doesnt do the serrated edges. however they do put that stuff on other boards besides lib,....i think rossi? and sombody else too...yes?


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## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

snowklinger said:


> fwiw: NS doesnt do the serrated edges. however they do put that stuff on other boards besides lib,....i think rossi? and sombody else too...yes?


Smokin, Niche, and Jones.

NS doesn't do mag, but they only offer RC. So there's that too.


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## jae (Nov 27, 2015)

snowklinger said:


> fwiw: NS doesnt do the serrated edges. however they do put that stuff on other boards besides lib,....i think rossi? and sombody else too...yes?


jones 10char


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## Snow Hound (Jul 21, 2012)

Arbor has Grip Tech. Yes has Underbite. All different but wavey in their own way.

Sent from my ONE E1001 using Tapatalk


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## poutanen (Dec 22, 2011)

snowklinger said:


> fwiw: NS doesnt do the serrated edges. however they do put that stuff on other boards besides lib,....i think rossi? and sombody else too...yes?


Yeah, actually my comment actually meant NS in general, Lib in general, and anything with a different edge profile. Nothing wrong with NS, I'm just not their target market.

For example, by looking at a picture of the Warlock, most people would think it's got a super long effective edge. Nope. Same as all the other traditional shaped boards.

Rant: I just find that the vast majority of board builders are doing exactly the same thing as everyone else, but calling them different things to make it sound like each one is somehow more magical than the rest.

I'm sure you all know me by now, I just like to be a little different... :crazy1:


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## F1EA (Oct 25, 2013)

poutanen said:


> I just like to be a little different...


Ch'yeahh I'm wit you bro


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## BurtonAvenger (Aug 14, 2007)

hightyme said:


> I almost feel bad leaving them out; their construction is second to none.
> I guess the "others" votes will be high then


This is just fucking comical. You clearly don't know shit about snowboard construction. When you get to the mid 2000's please let the rest of the class know you're slowly catching up. 



F1EA said:


> 2nd to none? lol
> 
> But actually, I just want a board from each brand so I can have a huge quiver and get to ride pow all day erryday. Except Rossignol.... they're skiers.


 And one of the oldest snowboard brands around. 



f00bar said:


> For an industry in its death thralls there sure are a lot of board manufacturers.


There's a lot of posers with a press out there. "Hey lets start a brand, we have a graphic" has no understanding of said snowboard industry. Classic example Gilson Snowboards. God what a bunch of boners. 

At this point I doubt any of you besides Kevin would notice that there are numerous boards out there that are made in the same factory as other brands which share molds. The only thing differentiating them is where they place a strip of carbon. 5 different boards from 5 different brands all with 5 different price points and they were all pretty much identical. They rode decent and got the job done, no real wow factor. 

The big factories catalogs are awesome. Pick mold X, slap in core Z, choose sidecut Y, and put on your own graphic and you're golden. It's actually too easy to make a snowboard now, we need more gatekeepers keeping these fucking posers out of snowboarding. 

The bigger thing to look at is what factory is it made in. SBF, Matrix, Yaqui, GP87, Mothership, Nobile, S2, etc. etc. Each factory has a telltale sign that's specific to them. We've hit a point now where a bad product has to actively try to be a bad product i.e. anything built by Prospect in Wisconsin. Fuck those things are god awful. But anyways back to the point at hand each factory has a giveaway on how the board is going to ride just like you can pretty much tell how any board from specific designers is going to ride. 

And even then here's the break down for people in terms of quality China/Taiwan, Austria (Mothership), Germany, Canada, and then in very last place is the U.S. Which is pretty typical of every other industry in terms of quality. 

So Pro U.S.A. made and the NS fanboys please come try to debate with me because your experience on one of the five boards you've owned/ridden/were given by the brand could be comical in this off season. 

Here's the bigger thing to ask yourself. Do you like the brand? Does the brands product give you enjoyment? Do you align yourself with the brands beliefs? Does the brands products fit your style and needs? If you answered yes to all of the above then I think you've found the brand you can get behind.


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## jae (Nov 27, 2015)

BA what's your thought on signal?


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## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

Who let you out of the basement!!! Back you smelly ogre, back to the dungeon with you!!!


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## BurtonAvenger (Aug 14, 2007)

jae said:


> BA what's your thought on signal?


Here's the thing with Signal they have so much fucking potential. I mean so much, yet they'd rather be a Youtube channel with a snowboard brand than a snowboard brand with a Youtube channel. I haven't ridden any of there decks in probably 4? years. 



Nivek said:


> Who let you out of the basement!!! Back you smelly ogre, back to the dungeon with you!!!


Your mom.


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## white sand (Sep 4, 2016)

Donutz said:


> Hmm, since this site has been accused of being a Never Summer fanboy site on more than one occasion, leaving that manufacturer out of the list is problematic.


whats wrong with never summer?


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## white sand (Sep 4, 2016)

BurtonAvenger said:


> This is just fucking comical. You clearly don't know shit about snowboard construction. When you get to the mid 2000's please let the rest of the class know you're slowly catching up.
> 
> And one of the oldest snowboard brands around.
> 
> ...


what boards are coming out of china/taiwan?


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## Snow Hound (Jul 21, 2012)

white sand said:


> what boards are coming out of china/taiwan?


The GP87 factory is in China. The main dude involved is highly respected by those that know. I'm not sure what other brands they make but my Lago came from there.

Sent from my ONE E1001 using Tapatalk


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

white sand said:


> whats wrong with never summer?


Nothing at all. They're a solid board.


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## chomps1211 (Mar 30, 2011)

white sand said:


> whats wrong with never summer?





Donutz said:


> *Nothing at all. They're a solid board*.


...so sayeth the FanBoi! >


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## chomps1211 (Mar 30, 2011)

BurtonAvenger said:


> *....And even then here's the break down for people in terms of quality China/Taiwan, Austria (Mothership), Germany, Canada, and then in very last place is the U.S. Which is pretty typical of every other industry in terms of quality. *
> 
> So Pro U.S.A. made and the NS fanboys please come try to debate with me because your experience on one of the five boards you've owned/ridden/were given by the brand could be comical in this off season.
> 
> Here's the bigger thing to ask yourself. Do you like the brand? Does the brands product give you enjoyment? Do you align yourself with the brands beliefs? Does the brands products fit your style and needs? If you answered yes to all of the above then I think you've found the brand you can get behind.


BA,.. I know in the past you've reviewed and expressed a liking for some smaller 'Murican made boards or brands. Marhar jumps to mind. And iir, WiMe? (...WiMi?):shrug:

Would you say that in many cases that most of the _truly_ higher qualty, American built boards are coming from smaller, niche type builders?

Or is that still too much of an over generalization? I know you've pointed out on many occasions, Many of these builders (...'Murican & otherwise) share factories & molds & such! :dunno:


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## BurtonAvenger (Aug 14, 2007)

white sand said:


> what boards are coming out of china/taiwan?


Rome, Nitro, Salomon, Rossignol, Lago, Monument, Endeavor, Ride, K2, Burton, Technine, etc. etc. etc. 



chomps1211 said:


> BA,.. I know in the past you've reviewed and expressed a liking for some smaller 'Murican made boards or brands. Marhar jumps to mind. And iir, WiMe? (...WiMi?):shrug:
> 
> Would you say that in many cases that most of the _truly_ higher qualty, American built boards are coming from smaller, niche type builders?
> 
> Or is that still too much of an over generalization? I know you've pointed out on many occasions, Many of these builders (...'Murican & otherwise) share factories & molds & such! :dunno:


Wi-Me's are actually built by GP87 in China. 

I like Marhar they make a great product at a great price. Those guys get it, they had 0 and I mean zero understanding of how to build a board and just dove in and learned. I don't mean like they read a blog post off skibuilder.com or some forum posts they tried to build good products. They still take their feedback seriously and look at what people didn't like as a way to perfect it. To do a clear coat in the U.S. is hard as hell due to EPA standards. They found a way that's specific to them to do it and it's awesome. 

To me they truly embody the DIY nature that snowboarding fostered in me as a kid and it's good to see a company go we can be more than a catalog brand. 

There are some great little manufacturers out there that have unique shapes, but that's about where it ends. Are they going to be on par with a mainstream manufacturer? No, that's just it. They're still using dated technology and they're content with making a snowboard that goes down the hill but has no wow factor. 

To be honest I can think of probably 100 brands right off the top of my head that if they disappeared right now, no one would care or notice and snowboarding would be better off.


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## Alonzo (Dec 30, 2015)

BurtonAvenger said:


> This is just fucking comical. You clearly don't know shit about snowboard construction. When you get to the mid 2000's please let the rest of the class know you're slowly catching up.
> 
> And one of the oldest snowboard brands around.
> 
> ...




Out of curiousity, is there one particular factory that, in your opinion, stands above the rest in terms of their engineering prowess and/or QC consistency? 

I recall watching an interview a while back with one of the guys from Endeavour regarding their decision to outsource their manufacturing overseas, and the guy said that it was actually motivated by a desire for better QC. I can't recall the stats he gave specifically, but he said that once they moved production to China, their warranty returns essentially dropped to zero.


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## SGboarder (Jun 24, 2012)

Alonzo said:


> I recall watching an interview a while back with one of the guys from Endeavour regarding their decision to outsource their manufacturing overseas, and the guy said that it was actually motivated by a desire for better QC. I can't recall the stats he gave specifically, but he said that once they moved production to China, their warranty returns essentially dropped to zero.


Not sure about the Endeavour anecdote, but this is an important point that many people are missing: In many industries manufacturers are shifting production to China not primarily for cost purposes (once you factor in logistics costs etc it often is not that much cheaper) but mostly because of superior quality that is difficult achieve in the US.


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## BurtonAvenger (Aug 14, 2007)

Alonzo said:


> Out of curiousity, is there one particular factory that, in your opinion, stands above the rest in terms of their engineering prowess and/or QC consistency?
> 
> I recall watching an interview a while back with one of the guys from Endeavour regarding their decision to outsource their manufacturing overseas, and the guy said that it was actually motivated by a desire for better QC. I can't recall the stats he gave specifically, but he said that once they moved production to China, their warranty returns essentially dropped to zero.


It will be interesting to see how things go with The Mothership in Austria but right now Playmaker and SBF are pretty solid. K2's own factory doesn't such either. 



SGboarder said:


> Not sure about the Endeavour anecdote, but this is an important point that many people are missing: In many industries manufacturers are shifting production to China not primarily for cost purposes (once you factor in logistics costs etc it often is not that much cheaper) but mostly because of superior quality that is difficult achieve in the US.


This. I would rather have a factory worker in China making my board than a snowboarder in Denver. Just like I would rather have a auto factory worker in Detroit making my car than a formula 1 driver in Italy.


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## hightyme (Mar 11, 2014)

Some surprise to see such mixed response for NS
& no love for TBT :surprise:


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