# First day with a Never Summer Evo... stiff?



## canbc (Feb 20, 2012)

First a bit of background. I've been snowboarding for about 12 seasons. Get in about 25 days each season. I used to love bombing big mountain runs at Whistler on my Custom X but in the last couple years I've completely mellowed out and mainly ride a smaller local mountain. Now I'm mostly dorking around, doing ground tricks, 180s and boardslides. Last year I bought a Rome Postermania 153 which was really soft, playful and had nice pop. It felt slightly large for me though and I wanted to size down.

This season I bought a 2012 Never Summer Evo 150 paired with 2013 Burton Malavitas. I was looking for a pure park board for jibs, jumps and buttering around. Rode it for the first time today and it feels quite a bit stiffer than I was expecting. Buttering around felt like a chore. Tail manuals weren't effortless and I barely could get nose manuals going. It was the first day of my season so I could just be rusty. Maybe the board needs more time to break in. Maybe my expectations were too high. Not entirely sure.

I actually took a lift up with another guy who had an identical board. He told me he loved his and he found it soft and flexy. :dunno:

Other first impressions: The build quality is great and I love the blue base with the green eagle. It felt smooth and catch-free on the boxes that were set up. No decent jumps were available so I didn't get a good feel for the pop but it only felt so-so popping over rollers. It's a twin so of course riding switch feels great.

It's last years board so I'm probably not telling you guys anything new but I would be interested if anyone else found the 2012 Evo a bit stiff.


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## canbc (Feb 20, 2012)

Added a photo because everyone loves photos


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## readimag (Aug 10, 2011)

You need to break it in more do some good tail blocks or a BA board flex like in his logo it will help.


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## lonerider (Apr 10, 2009)

canbc said:


> First a bit of background. I've been snowboarding for about 12 seasons. Get in about 25 days each season. I used to love bombing big mountain runs at Whistler on my Custom X but in the last couple years I've completely mellowed out and mainly ride a smaller local mountain. Now I'm mostly dorking around, doing ground tricks, 180s and boardslides. Last year I bought a Rome Postermania 153 which was really soft, playful and had nice pop. It felt slightly large for me though and I wanted to size down.
> 
> It's last years board so I'm probably not telling you guys anything new but I would be interested if anyone else found the 2012 Evo a bit stiff.


Absolutely not. I rode the 2012 Evo 153 when I was around 150 lbs (how much do you weigh?). While it is not ridiculuously noodlely like a Ride Kink or Burton Dominant ... it is still a pretty soft board, especially compared to something like the Custom X (what length were you riding?). I'm not familiar with the Postermania, but according to the Rome website... that isn't a jib board either.

With your experience and background, I think it is a lot more to do with rust and the fact that you might not have found the sweet spots on the flex for the Evo 150 yet. 

Another thought: it kind of sound like while you are an experience freerider... you are relatively new to jibbing (i.e. started it last year). Is that true?


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## canbc (Feb 20, 2012)

lonerider said:


> Absolutely not. I rode the 2012 Evo 153 when I was around 150 lbs (how much do you weigh?). While it is not ridiculuously noodlely like a Ride Kink or Burton Dominant ... it is still a pretty soft board, especially compared to something like the Custom X (what length were you riding?). I'm not familiar with the Postermania, but according to the Rome website... that isn't a jib board either.
> 
> With your experience and background, I think it is a lot more to do with rust and the fact that you might not have found the sweet spots on the flex for the Evo 150 yet.
> 
> Another thought: it kind of sound like while you are an experience freerider... you are relatively new to jibbing (i.e. started it last year). Is that true?


I weigh 140 to 145. The custom X was a 152. On paper, the postermania doesn't look like a jib board but I found it softer than my friend's WWW.

It definitely could have been some rust and not being used to the board. I only got about 7 or 8 runs in this morning. I've never ridden an RC board either. The postermania is rocker/flat and it didn't take more than a few runs for me to 'feel the board' if you can understand what I'm trying to say.

Yup what you're saying is true. The majority of my snowboarding experience is freeriding. I started to mellow out two maybe three seasons ago. Last season was when I started to spend more than 50% of my time in the park. I plateaued for a while when freeriding and now focusing in the park has made snowboarding fun all over again in a new way.


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## lonerider (Apr 10, 2009)

canbc said:


> I weigh 140 to 145. The custom X was a 152. On paper, the postermania doesn't look like a jib board but I found it softer than my friend's WWW.
> 
> It definitely could have been some rust and not being used to the board. I only got about 7 or 8 runs in this morning. I've never ridden an RC board either. The postermania is rocker/flat and it didn't take more than a few runs for me to 'feel the board' if you can understand what I'm trying to say.
> 
> Yup what you're saying is true. The majority of my snowboarding experience is freeriding. I started to mellow out two maybe three seasons ago. Last season was when I started to spend more than 50% of my time in the park. I plateaued for a while when freeriding and now focusing in the park has made snowboarding fun all over again in a new way.


Really... I thought the WWW would be softer :dunno:... oh well

Yea... its going to take a little time to get used to the flex/press points of a RC board. I went from a camber SL 155 to a RC SL 155 and it wasn't more than a day for me.

I'm 33 myself and I've swing back and forth between park and freeriding, depend on which group of friends I've been riding with. Right now I'm the middle of a park phase... but I'm pretty sure this will be the last as my body is simply not recovering as fast as it used to... although air bag technology and foam pits have given me a little extension.


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## canbc (Feb 20, 2012)

lonerider said:


> Really... I thought the WWW would be softer :dunno:... oh well
> 
> Yea... its going to take a little time to get used to the flex/press points of a RC board. I went from a camber SL 155 to a RC SL 155 and it wasn't more than a day for me.
> 
> I'm 33 myself and I've swing back and forth between park and freeriding, depend on which group of friends I've been riding with. Right now I'm the middle of a park phase... but I'm pretty sure this will be the last as my body is simply not recovering as fast as it used to... although air bag technology and foam pits have given me a little extension.


I hear you. I'm around your age and wear upper and lower body protection when riding now. I do a lot of night riding and it comes in handy in the park.

Just to clarify, I didn't mean that the Evo is stiff compared to a Custom X. I just I find it on the stiff side from what I was expecting for a park board. I'm still planning to ride it for this season so hopefully it will grow on me soon. To be honest, with all the hype these boards get I did have high expectations that it was going to blow away my old Rome board. I was expecting more soft, buttery, poppy goodness. It's still early and I'm keeping an open mind though. I really want to like this board.

On the other hand, I'm liking the Malavitas. No complaints on the first day with them.


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## lonerider (Apr 10, 2009)

canbc said:


> I hear you. I'm around your age and wear upper and lower body protection when riding now. I do a lot of night riding and it comes in handy in the park.
> 
> Just to clarify, I didn't mean that the Evo is stiff compared to a Custom X. I just I find it on the stiff side from what I was expecting for a park board. I'm still planning to ride it for this season so hopefully it will grow on me soon. To be honest, with all the hype these boards get I did have high expectations that it was going to blow away my old Rome board. I was expecting more soft, buttery, poppy goodness. It's still early and I'm keeping an open mind though. I really want to like this board.
> 
> On the other hand, I'm liking the Malavitas. No complaints on the first day with them.


Never Summer started out making freeride snowboards and that heritage continues on in that they don't make a true buttery noodle jibstick and all of these board can handle some level of freeriding. 

I really like my Never Summer boards, but to be honest, they are not head above shoulders (is that the phrase?) better than every other board in the market for every rider. I think Never Summer gets pretty overhyped on this forum. Never Summer boards just currently happen to match the style of riding I want to do really well. BTW, I used to own a Rome Agent 152 and that thing was one of my favorite boards - but I gave it to my friend after his board got stolen at Northstar. I really should go back and see what they've been cooking in the last couple of years (a few years ago it didn't sound like they had their rocker shapes quite dialed in).


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## hikeswithdogs (Sep 23, 2011)

lonerider said:


> Never Summer started out making freeride snowboards and that heritage continues on in that they don't make a true buttery noodle jibstick and all of these board can handle some level of freeriding.
> 
> I really like my Never Summer boards, but to be honest, they are not head above shoulders (is that the phrase?) better than every other board in the market for every rider. I think Never Summer gets pretty overhyped on this forum. Never Summer boards just currently happen to match the style of riding I want to do really well. BTW, I used to own a Rome Agent 152 and that thing was one of my favorite boards - but I gave it to my friend after his board got stolen at Northstar. I really should go back and see what they've been cooking in the last couple of years (a few years ago it didn't sound like they had their rocker shapes quite dialed in).


No doubt they make great boards but all the "hype" is a major turn off for me not to mention how often they are stolen.

I'd rather ride a K2, Saloman, Arbor or something like that as I hate nothing more than the "me too" syndrome.


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## lonerider (Apr 10, 2009)

hikeswithdogs said:


> No doubt they make great boards but all the "hype" is a major turn off for me not to mention how often they are stolen.
> 
> I'd rather ride a K2, Saloman, Arbor or something like that as I hate nothing more than the "me too" syndrome.


I know what you mean... but I feel like if I say that I'll sound like an old man complaining about how he's been there "before it was cool" and now the neighborhood is all full of annoying hipsters who are ruining the whole reason everyone moved their in the first place.

My first NS board was a 2003 Never Summer Evo - I actually found that board to be mediocre. In 2008 I got a SL 155 and liked it, but I just had to try out the 2009 RC SL 155... I tried the Lib Tech Jamie Lynn Phoenix as well to compare different company hybrid camber models but it still rode too much like a Skate Banana) 

In the past I rode a bunch of boards made by small companies (a few are one-man operations)... Donek, Rome back in like 2005, Prior, then Madd Snowboards (with two 'd's, I think they are out of business), Coiler, Rad Air - but I'm getting old and I don't have the time as much to find and try obscure brands as I used to. It's funny... because one of my friends always complains that Burton is ruining the snowboarding industry and destroying small snowboard store by overproducing snowboards that invariably need to be sold at 50% discount. Then I point to out the snowboard he has owned - Burton Twin (bought 50% off), second Burton Twin (warranty replacement), Burton Dragon (50% off), Ride Kink, Burton Dominant (75% off), Burton X8 (50% off), Burton X8 (50% off... he literally picked up a second one because he like the first one so much, but has core shot the base and didn't repair it in time), Burton X8 V-rocker (50% off). Now he's been moving slightly away from the megacorp Burton... to Gnu with a Park Pickle and he's even considering Thrive (he's friends with the founders) but I doubt he'll get one unless they give it to him for free.

I was thinking about going to buy a Heritage or Cobra this season to replace my aging 2009 SL just based on my past experience with NS and from talking to a bunch of people who has ridden a Cobra/Heritage... but I've decided instead to try out some other brands some more. At the very least I'm going to probably wait until I demo the Cobra/Heritage when Never Summer swings by this spring before buying.


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

lonerider said:


> I really like my Never Summer boards, but to be honest, they are not head above shoulders (is that the phrase?) better than every other board in the market for every rider.


I don't think any board (or any piece of equipment) can be significantly better than the competition, at least not for long. The only exception would be a radically better design that is patented. Even then they'd license it to competitors, and the playing field would level again.

You get niche players like Flow bindings that use a different design and appeal to a certain market segment. You've got players like Burton that provide a mounting alternative or three. You've got occasionally players that get a huge bump because of a perceived cool factor. But in terms of quality, everyone's using more or less the same technology and the same base materials, so you should end up with more or less the same quality of board for the same price range.

I like my NS Heritage because it's the first non-cheapy board I've owned. I don't have a lot of experience with different good-quality boards. There's not a lot of opportunity to test-drive boards in Western Canada, so once you find something that works you'll tend to stick with it unless you have a lot of $$ to burn.

I don't think NS is "the best". I do think it's damn well good enough for my riding.


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## phony_stark (Jul 2, 2011)

Donutz said:


> But in terms of quality, everyone's using more or less the same technology and the same base materials, so you should end up with more or less the same quality of board for the same price range.


Quoted for truth. Pretty much anyone can find anything from any major manufacturer and have a great time on it. It just comes down to which companies you want to support.


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## canbc (Feb 20, 2012)

For me, I'm not really partial to one brand or another. I'm just looking for the best equipment that will suit my style for my money.

I'm wondering if I was under the wrong assumption that the Evo was a soft, buttery, playful board. I feel like I took a big step forward going from the Custom X to the Postermania but a small step back with the Evo. This is just a first impression with the board. On paper, it looks like a good fit for me. Narrow waist, blunted tips, touted as soft, playful and lively.

It's still early season and the forecast is marginal for snow right now. Hopefully I'll be able to ride it again soon. If I don't start to love it I think I'll keep an eye out for Artifact Rocker 150 on the cheap.


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## lonerider (Apr 10, 2009)

canbc said:


> I'm wondering if I was under the wrong assumption that the Evo was a soft, buttery, playful board. I feel like I took a big step forward going from the Custom X to the Postermania but a small step back with the Evo. This is just a first impression with the board. On paper, it looks like a good fit for me. Narrow waist, blunted tips, touted as soft, playful and lively.
> 
> It's still early season and the forecast is marginal for snow right now. Hopefully I'll be able to ride it again soon. If I don't start to love it I think I'll keep an eye out for Artifact Rocker 150 on the cheap.


Sounds like a good plan.


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## Penzer (Oct 25, 2010)

canbc said:


> First a bit of background. I've been snowboarding for about 12 seasons. Get in about 25 days each season. I used to love bombing big mountain runs at Whistler on my Custom X but in the last couple years I've completely mellowed out and mainly ride a smaller local mountain. Now I'm mostly dorking around, doing ground tricks, 180s and boardslides. Last year I bought a Rome Postermania 153 which was really soft, playful and had nice pop. It felt slightly large for me though and I wanted to size down.
> 
> This season I bought a 2012 Never Summer Evo 150 paired with 2013 Burton Malavitas. I was looking for a pure park board for jibs, jumps and buttering around. Rode it for the first time today and it feels quite a bit stiffer than I was expecting. Buttering around felt like a chore. Tail manuals weren't effortless and I barely could get nose manuals going. It was the first day of my season so I could just be rusty. Maybe the board needs more time to break in. Maybe my expectations were too high. Not entirely sure.
> 
> ...


Dude, did I talk to you on Cypress yesterday?

You asked my buddy about his NS SL, we joked about body armour, etc...


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## Penzer (Oct 25, 2010)

I see you've got the Malavitas too, pretty sure we spoke on a lift yesterday, I was rocking a bad ass beard.


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## canbc (Feb 20, 2012)

Penzer said:


> I see you've got the Malavitas too, pretty sure we spoke on a lift yesterday, I was rocking a bad ass beard.


Yea man, that was me! I remember you guys. Sweet beard, man.

I thought Never Summer was still pretty obscure here in Vancouver. None of my riding partners had heard of it when I told them I bought one. When I saw the logo on your friend's board I had to ask him about it. Funny thing, on my next lift up, I got on with a guy with the identical Evo as mine. Must be more popular here than I thought.

Supposed to be raining for the next while. Hopefully it's cold enough on the mountains to snow. If we run into each other again at cypress we should do a few laps together.


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## Penzer (Oct 25, 2010)

Hilarious, small world.

I find a lot of casual riders here have not heard of neversummer, but any hardcore boarding enthusiasts know about them. They seem to be more common in the interior, but you'll still see lots out here.

That was day one of riding, it will probably be more butterable once you've got your legs warmed up for the season.


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## Lysergic (Oct 29, 2012)

Got to say I was the bit the same when I first rode my evo canbc, granted mine is a 161 and a 2010 model. However, since then I've come to love it, got about 30 days on it, mainly doing park/natrual features and it feels far softer then the first run. Give it a bit of time, it'll soften.


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

canbc said:


> I thought Never Summer was still pretty obscure here in Vancouver.


I've got the Heritage. Grafta has an Evo, IIRC.

It might be because none of the mall-type sports shops sell NS. The only shop that sells them in the lower mainland that I know of is the Boardroom.


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## grafta (Dec 21, 2009)

Yep, I got the 2009 Evo.

It's like cars, you don't notice a particular car much until you own one.

Was at Apex last season and they were having a Neversummer demo day. I was like WTF. Had the new cobra and all that hype hype


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## canbc (Feb 20, 2012)

So I've put around 8 days on the Evo now. I figure I should give an update because my opinion of this board has changed for the better.

The more I ride the Evo, the more I'm loving it. I didn't like how the board flexed at first but now I'm getting a good feel for it. This is my first RC board and it took me longer than I expected. It feels like the flex comes from the middle of the board rather than the tips which I think was opposite from my last board. Now that I'm more used to it I'm getting some really nice pop and it feels flexy and fun. 

The base is really fast and tough. I've run over plenty of early season rocks and the base just has minor scratches on it. The top sheet still looks almost new. There's an unfinished white ring around the edge of the top sheet that hides all the little dings you get from waiting in the lift lines. That's just minor cosmetics but it's a nice touch.

The board is forgiving. The edges don't feel catchy on boxes or bad landings and I've put plenty of ugly landings on it.

It feels stable and the edge hold is good. I feel really confident controlling it and setting up with it. Hard to explain but going edge-to-edge feels so nice, smooth and easy. It's nimble and easy to control.

In powder, this is a short board and I burn up my back leg. It's not exactly awesome at powering through tracked out powder either. Just have to work harder and pick out a good line. Overall though, I think it performs better than I expected for a board I bought mainly for park use.

So yea, I'm stoked on this board now. It's going to be a lot of fun to progress my freestyle skills with it. I'd like to try a Lib-tech or GNU for my next board but I'm sipping on the NS kool-aid right now.


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## poutanen (Dec 22, 2011)

lonerider said:


> In the past I rode a bunch of boards made by small companies (a few are one-man operations)... Donek, Rome back in like 2005, Prior, then Madd Snowboards (with two 'd's, I think they are out of business), Coiler, Rad Air - but I'm getting old and I don't have the time as much to find and try obscure brands as I used to.


Hey I didn't know you've been on Doneks and Priors before... What were your thoughts on them? The GF is looking to get a more freeride oriented board now that our riding is 50%+ of the time in the off-piste. She's looking at the Donek Incline (they'll make one in the exact size she needs), and the Prior Brandywine, among other things (Nidecker Princess, Arbor Push).

I'm just stoked she is getting to the point that she wants a stiffer, longer freeride board! :yahoo:


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## seriouscat (Jan 23, 2012)

poutanen said:


> I'm just stoked she is getting to the point that she wants a stiffer, longer freeride board! :yahoo:


Oh man... Must contain myself at bad jokes....  

The mystery package is suppose to arrive today!


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## poutanen (Dec 22, 2011)

seriouscat said:


> Oh man... Must contain myself at bad jokes....
> 
> The mystery package is suppose to arrive today!


I have a bad habit of leading people into bad jokes... STOKED for the mystery package! :yahoo:


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## lonerider (Apr 10, 2009)

poutanen said:


> Hey I didn't know you've been on Doneks and Priors before... What were your thoughts on them? The GF is looking to get a more freeride oriented board now that our riding is 50%+ of the time in the off-piste. She's looking at the Donek Incline (they'll make one in the exact size she needs), and the Prior Brandywine, among other things (Nidecker Princess, Arbor Push).
> 
> I'm just stoked she is getting to the point that she wants a stiffer, longer freeride board! :yahoo:


The Donek Incline that I rode in 2004 (155cm model made for 140 lb rider) was *very* stiff... compared to boards people like to talk about now on a scale of 1 to 10, it was like a 12. Traditional camber, lively (not very damp) and rather narrow. It railed a carve extremely well, but wasn't particularly forgiving in icy, cruddy frozen snow (I could feel it crash through every chunk of snow). The narrow profile really made it sink in powder and the stiff flex made it hard to swing in trees... you should check with Sean Martin to see if he has modified the design in the last 8-9 years (he is the guy making the board and usually the person you will talk to when making an order). To me, that board is for high speed carving down smooth groomers, which are common in Colorado resorts. I liked the Phoenix model, which is a much more moderate flex (somewhat like a Never Summer SL). 

I rode a few priors... including the AMF, MFR, and Khyber. They were much more damp, so you got a Cadillac SUV smooth ride over variable snow conditions of snow, slush, icy, frozen crud (which is common in Whistler). Good edge hold. A little lacking in pop though. They have both style of camber (I have only ridden their traditional camber boards).

For both I would see if you could demo a board.


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## poutanen (Dec 22, 2011)

lonerider said:


> I rode a few priors... including the AMF, MFR, and Khyber. They were much more damp, so you got a Cadillac SUV smooth ride over variable snow conditions of snow, slush, icy, frozen crud (which is common in Whistler). Good edge hold. A little lacking in pop though. They have both style of camber (I have only ridden their traditional camber boards).
> 
> For both I would see if you could demo a board.


Awesome thanks for the info. Yeah I'm not sure if Prior does demo days in the Banff area. Burton does and I've seen a small company from Revelstoke called Trapper there as well, but haven't seen too many others.

Prior is willing to give me a bit of a deal on the Brandywine for her, so it'd be about the same price as the Donek.

I keep trying to sell her on a stiffer cambered Burton, but she said she's seen how much damage the topsheets on my T6 and T7 sustained in the last couple years. It's too bad beacuse other than the topsheets they've were/are great boards. I grew a lot as a rider with the T7...

She did demo some alternate camber/rocker shapes last year and wasn't thrilled with any of them. Thanks again!


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## nayytawnn (Dec 10, 2012)

So, I've put in about 5 runs on my 2013 EVO so far. 

My first impressions were it was playful but not too playful. Butters we're easy but the board still had a lot of pop due to the camber. The board is surprisingly fast for being a park oriented board. It may be that sintered base thats helping out. 

Since its a little on the less damp side, going through steeper bumpier runs are not that fun because you could feel every little bump and chatters a bit so i wouldnt suggest going down steep moguls with this thing cause when you pick up speed and try to carve it out your going to just hit a bump and wash out trying to slow down.

I hit up some tree runs and the control on this thing is pretty damn amazing. I feel like a ninja on it. Edge to Edge is smooth and quick. That extra torsion flex helps with tight turns. The Blunt Edges make a big difference. The board feels a lot lighter than it looks. 

Overall im really enjoying the board, but im still getting used to it. It's a more park oriented board, but can still kick ass anywhere else in the mountain if used correctly. 

Unfortunely today I was going down the mountain and some douche cut me off and clipped my board that gave me this little ding. Not sure if I need to repair it or anything. Doesn't look too bad but I hope it doesnt get worse.


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