# Capita Mercury vs. Lib/Gnu C3 Boards?



## buddhafist24 (Dec 31, 2008)

gnarstradamus said:


> I'm looking to add a new board this season and can't find anywhere that has a Capita Mercury I can demo. (Side note, guys in CO if you know of anywhere let me know). Right now I have a Lib Hot Knife and a Lib T Rice. The T Rice was something that I thought would be more versatile than it is, and I've basically ended up only riding it on powder days. The Hot Knife (Mervin's C3 profile which is camber dominant CRC, rides like camber unless you get sloppy basically) is what I ride the most and I am a big fan of it but it has 100+ days on it and it's lost just the snappiness it used to have. I like it enough to where I'd honestly buy it again but kind of want to try something new. My dream board would be:
> 1) Versatile enough that it's fun to ride the whole resort with (for me, that means no Never Summer, no C2 / XC2 Lib Tech boards, no any other rocker dominant hybrids)
> 2) Can rail turns and is fun being on the edges with
> 3) Stable in jump line (Breck Park Lane size, like 20-30 feet I think?)
> ...


This guy loves it. I just ordered one, and sold my Hot Knife. I hope it lives up to the hype!

2017 Capita Mercury Snowboard Review - The Angry Snowboarder


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

I have the 157 DBX which was the precursor to what is now the Mercury. Great board. Can't really fairly compare it to Mervin C3 boards though because I despise magnetraction.


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## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

You'll be happy on a Mercury.


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## gnarstradamus (Jan 12, 2016)

linvillegorge said:


> I have the 157 DBX which was the precursor to what is now the Mercury. Great board. Can't really fairly compare it to Mervin C3 boards though because I despise magnetraction.


That's good to know - I did not realize they were the same board. I never considered the DBX because I couldn't see passed the graphic (no offense, just personal preference) but always heard good things about it.

Understandable about the magnatraction - did you ever get on a DOA though? It looks like the effective edge is a bit short which may be why I wasn't feeling it when I rode it, but do you feel like the DBX is better on the edges?


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

They're not the _same_ board, but as I understand it the 157 DBX was the inspiration for the Mercury. It was essentially the TFA with a souped up core which is essentially what the Mercury is. The DBX used a combo of basalt and bamboo in the core where the Mercury uses a combo of fiberglass and bamboo.

And yes, the DBX consistently had horrific graphics. Thanks, Volcom.


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## scotty100 (Apr 3, 2012)

I thought the Mercury was just the TFA renamed to appease retailers who were uneasy with selling a board called the "total fkn awesome"?


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

scotty100 said:


> I thought the Mercury was just the TFA renamed to appease retailers who were uneasy with selling a board called the "total fkn awesome"?


Same shape, different core. The TFA was a bit of a plank. The 157 DBX was a much livelier and poppy ride. That was the board that the TFA always should've been. I think they made that right when they developed the Mercury.


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## gnarstradamus (Jan 12, 2016)

Well I ordered one from Backcountry.com since they have a 30 day exchange policy and I couldn't find a demo of the board ANYWHERE in Colorado. I'll update after I ride it this weekend.


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

Check Christy Sports? Definitely seen them there. MSO too.


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## gnarstradamus (Jan 12, 2016)

linvillegorge said:


> Check Christy Sports? Definitely seen them there. MSO too.


Yea they've got the board but not to demo. They have the DOA and Outerspace Living for demo though. I just feel like the Mercury is a unique board, riding those will only muddy it up. I'll be on it this weekend though so I'll know soon enough


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## gnarstradamus (Jan 12, 2016)

Update: Rode the Mercury today. Can't say enough good things about it. Never rode a board so controlled on the edge at such high speed. It rips through everything. There's a medium hip at Copper and it was a lot of fun to take on it, but I'm excited to take it to a big jump line based on how stable it feels. Awesome board.


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## asnobody (Sep 18, 2016)

gnarstradamus said:


> Update: Rode the Mercury today. Can't say enough good things about it. Never rode a board so controlled on the edge at such high speed. It rips through everything. There's a medium hip at Copper and it was a lot of fun to take on it, but I'm excited to take it to a big jump line based on how stable it feels. Awesome board.


Good to hear. Can't wait to get mine on some snow…ugh...


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## ricksen24 (Sep 9, 2015)

Nice to hear your enyoning your new toy.

Where and what were you doing with it?


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## gnarstradamus (Jan 12, 2016)

ricksen24 said:


> Nice to hear your enyoning your new toy.
> 
> Where and what were you doing with it?



The where is Copper in Colorado. Conditions were groomed but soft, some shallow powder in areas.

Like I said in my previous post the edge control, confidence while being on an edge, how horizontal you can get on it at high speed without feeling sketchy, the spring you get coming out of a turn are all absolutely phenomenal. I was able to almost immediately ride aggressively to a point that would be outside of my comfort level by a significant margin on my T Rice, and still outside of my comfort level on my Hot Knife but to a smaller extent. I've ridden boards that hold edges well, are fast edge to edge, and spring you out of a turn but never all 3 in the same board so well, they really got this one right IMO.

Popped off some rollers to get an idea of how it ollied and landed at speed. Took it into the park to hit the only decent size jump feature they have currently (I don't jib, but I don't think this would be the most fun jib board due to the stiffness of it). Reminded me a bit like a Burton Custom which is one of my favorite boards to jump with. You can generate a ton of pop out of it but its a pretty stiff board until you reach a sweet spot in the flex that takes some power to get to. It also just feels right on the run in - easy to correct, easy to switch edges on a transition to initiate a spin, stable. And very stable on landing off the small hip feature they have, feels like it will be great on features much larger once everyone here gets their main park opened up. 

Riding switch was a little bit more difficult than I'm used to and the Murcury is offset .5" but I don't think that is what effected it. I think it was only because the shape demands / rewards good board control so it's exposing some weaknesses I've always had with switch riding but just got away with on more forgiving boards. 

I did some presses and tripodded around a bit to see how it felt - if you like riding slower and buttering this isn't the board for you but i think the specs make that obvious. With a little extra effort it's not hard to do but you can't hop into a nose press as easy as you can on a mid flex hybrid rocker board. Once you're in a press it locks in well but takes more effort to hold it in the sweet spot because of the stiffness. 

You can't really be sloppy on it as is the case with most rigid camber boards. It rewards good board control but would punish you for getting sloppy. Between pumping in and out of turns and effort required to load the tail for an ollie it feels like it can be an exhausting board to ride for anyone who likes to ride a bit on the looser side. 

For my riding style, which I think I've explained to death in this thread, this board is what I was looking for to ride resorts with. It feels like it'll be at home on groomers, jump lines, and on 4 day old untouched snow. I'm going to try it in powder but I suspect the Rice will still be more fun in deep snow and won't be out of my quiver any time soon.


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## MMSlasher (Mar 18, 2016)

gnarstradamus said:


> The where is Copper in Colorado. Conditions were groomed but soft, some shallow powder in areas.
> 
> Like I said in my previous post the edge control, confidence while being on an edge, how horizontal you can get on it at high speed without feeling sketchy, the spring you get coming out of a turn are all absolutely phenomenal.


Out of curiosity, would you mind telling your weight and size board you got? PM if you don't want the world to know.


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## jae (Nov 27, 2015)

I'd be all over the merc if it was 163-165. warpspeed's waist is too big!


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## gnarstradamus (Jan 12, 2016)

MMSlasher said:


> Out of curiosity, would you mind telling your weight and size board you got? PM if you don't want the world to know.


I'm 5'9" and 170lbs, got the 155. I'm also a size 11 boot but the Mercury is a bit wider width for its size than other boards in Capita's line which is good for me since I didn't have to size up more than I wanted to (they don't make a mid wide variant of it)


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## ricksen24 (Sep 9, 2015)

gnarstradamus said:


> The where is Copper in Colorado. Conditions were groomed but soft, some shallow powder in areas.
> 
> Like I said in my previous post the edge control, confidence while being on an edge, how horizontal you can get on it at high speed without feeling sketchy, the spring you get coming out of a turn are all absolutely phenomenal. I was able to almost immediately ride aggressively to a point that would be outside of my comfort level by a significant margin on my T Rice, and still outside of my comfort level on my Hot Knife but to a smaller extent. I've ridden boards that hold edges well, are fast edge to edge, and spring you out of a turn but never all 3 in the same board so well, they really got this one right IMO.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the wonderful summary there much appreciated. 

Couple of questions if you dont mind? If you were to grade the flex from 1-10 what would you personally put on it?

Capita appear to make a few different bases with weird and wonderful names would you put this thing down as being fast? 

Can you notice their edge tech in the hard stuff? 

Cheers again mate.


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## gnarstradamus (Jan 12, 2016)

ricksen24 said:


> Thanks for the wonderful summary there much appreciated.
> 
> Couple of questions if you dont mind? If you were to grade the flex from 1-10 what would you personally put on it?
> 
> ...


Capita has the flex as a 7.5 on their scale, and it seems like that's fair. It's pretty rigid but they've got some bamboo and carbon wizardry going on in the base so it doesn't ride like a plank - there's a definite sweet spot in the flex when you're putting pressure on the tail so it's stable but will flex to pop, and that's not marketing spin it does work well. It's very light also for how stable it is. 

It has a sintered base. Wax it and it'll be fast.

It grips well in hard pack. I only rode it once and they edges are brand new so take with a grain of salt but it never once felt like it was washy on the edge on hard pack.


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## 2182170 (Nov 29, 2016)

Not to hijack your thread but I'm seriously considering getting a hot knife. The capita mercury was also on my short list but I think I'm leaning away from it because it is directional and it seems a tad stiffer than what I want. I'm looking for something very similar to you with a little more emphasis on riding switch, jibing, and side hits. Now that you've ridden both would you mind talking about how they compare? You wrote a really detailed and articulate description of the mercury and have a ton of experiance with the hot knife so I was really hoping to get your input on the hot knife. 

Thanks!


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## Nolefan2011 (Mar 12, 2011)

gnarstradamus said:


> Well I ordered one from Backcountry.com since they have a 30 day exchange policy and I couldn't find a demo of the board ANYWHERE in Colorado. I'll update after I ride it this weekend.


Read your policy LOL. You ride it, you bought it. That's how it works. They give you 30 days to look at it. Not ride it


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## Elektropow (Mar 6, 2014)

Hey can someone answer whether the mercury is in fact a directional twin and if so, is the nose volume larger, is the stance setback on the sidecut or is it the flex that's directional? Or a mix of some of these? On capita's site i only see the term used when describing sidecut, but even so the specs give a symmetric sidecut pattern. A lot of sellers claim that it's a true twin but I'm a bit confused.


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## gnarstradamus (Jan 12, 2016)

2182170 said:


> Not to hijack your thread but I'm seriously considering getting a hot knife. The capita mercury was also on my short list but I think I'm leaning away from it because it is directional and it seems a tad stiffer than what I want. I'm looking for something very similar to you with a little more emphasis on riding switch, jibing, and side hits. Now that you've ridden both would you mind talking about how they compare? You wrote a really detailed and articulate description of the mercury and have a ton of experiance with the hot knife so I was really hoping to get your input on the hot knife.
> 
> Thanks!


It's directional but its like a true twin with a 0.5" shorter tail, it's not directional in the shape and the stance is centered to the board profile. That being said if you spend a lot of time jibbing you might like the HK better. That's totally my opinion and I don't spend any time on jib features, but I can say the HK is easier to press on snow. They're both great for side hits but I'd give a little bit of an edge to the Merc in popping off anything.


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## gnarstradamus (Jan 12, 2016)

Elektropow said:


> Hey can someone answer whether the mercury is in fact a directional twin and if so, is the nose volume larger, is the stance setback on the sidecut or is it the flex that's directional? Or a mix of some of these? On capita's site i only see the term used when describing sidecut, but even so the specs give a symmetric sidecut pattern. A lot of sellers claim that it's a true twin but I'm a bit confused.


The best way to explain it is that they made a fully symmetrical true twin board with a centered stance, and then cut 0.5" off the tail. So the camber profile, flex, side cut, edge contact, is all centered to your stance but the tail is 0.5" shorter than the nose and there's less rise in the tail than in the nose (because the rise continues passed the 0.5" on the nose). The nose sits at 0.25" higher off the snow at the tip than the tail does.


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## gnarstradamus (Jan 12, 2016)

Nolefan2011 said:


> Read your policy LOL. You ride it, you bought it. That's how it works. They give you 30 days to look at it. Not ride it


From their site:
New, unused gear must be returned in the condition you received it and with the original box and/or packaging, including manufacturer tags where applicable.
Used and undamaged gear, bikes, or bike frames will be issued store credit in the form of credits applied to your Backcountry account. We will not accept the return of products damaged due to negligence or abuse.

They have different rules for different gear on how long you can have it before they'll accept it as used and undamaged.. for snowboards it is 30 days. In my case, Backcountry had both boards I wanted and I already knew how the Hot Knife would ride, so I didn't have a problem with store credit (I would have returned it and applied the credit to the Hot Knife). You just have to watch out for Jerrys in the lift line knocking into your board and damaging it so that they'll accept it as "Used and Undamaged".


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## Elektropow (Mar 6, 2014)

gnarstradamus said:


> The best way to explain it is that they made a fully symmetrical true twin board with a centered stance, and then cut 0.5" off the tail. So the camber profile, flex, side cut, edge contact, is all centered to your stance but the tail is 0.5" shorter than the nose and there's less rise in the tail than in the nose (because the rise continues passed the 0.5" on the nose). The nose sits at 0.25" higher off the snow at the tip than the tail does.


Aah, so a volume twin. The right kind. Thanks!


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## Entropy (Dec 13, 2016)

gnarstradamus said:


> The best way to explain it is that they made a fully symmetrical true twin board with a centered stance, and then cut 0.5" off the tail. So the camber profile, flex, side cut, edge contact, is all centered to your stance but the tail is 0.5" shorter than the nose and there's less rise in the tail than in the nose (because the rise continues passed the 0.5" on the nose). The nose sits at 0.25" higher off the snow at the tip than the tail does.



How does this ride switch for you?
I ride close to 50% switch and this is the deciding factor for me, or I will buy a Yes the Greats.
I worry it will feel odd riding switch but a few folks have told me they can feel no difference at all.

Anything to add ?


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## gnarstradamus (Jan 12, 2016)

Entropy said:


> How does this ride switch for you?
> I ride close to 50% switch and this is the deciding factor for me, or I will buy a Yes the Greats.
> I worry it will feel odd riding switch but a few folks have told me they can feel no difference at all.
> 
> ...


I said in my previous post I personally noticed it being a little harder to ride switch than the other boards I've been riding the last few seasons but I'm pretty confident that it is me and not the board. Coming from mid flex CRC boards that are more forgiving I think this board is just exposing some weaknesses with switch riding I've always had but could get away with on a less aggressive board. The feel of the board on the snow isn't different between regular and switch that I can notice, so if you're a strong switch rider I don't think you'll have any issue.


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## Entropy (Dec 13, 2016)

gnarstradamus said:


> I said in my previous post I personally noticed it being a little harder to ride switch than the other boards I've been riding the last few seasons but I'm pretty confident that it is me and not the board. Coming from mid flex CRC boards that are more forgiving I think this board is just exposing some weaknesses with switch riding I've always had but could get away with on a less aggressive board. The feel of the board on the snow isn't different between regular and switch that I can notice, so if you're a strong switch rider I don't think you'll have any issue.


Ah my bad dude, I glossed over that. I am coming from a 2011 Proto so I will probably have a learning curve too hehe.
Thanks for that, Mercury is looking good.


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## Elektropow (Mar 6, 2014)

Hey I don't want to make a new thread, so here goes.

I'm really intrigued by the mercury. I have a Salomon Assassin 155 (I'm about 155lbs/70kg, 5'11"/179cm with a size 8 boot). The Assassin is great for almost anything except bombing and turning in icy conditions, the kind that spots the sun hasn't seen in the French Alps for the past week are.. But yeah, I can butter and spin on the tips, get great pop, carve great and do park or freestyle freeriding though that's pushing its natural abilities especially in that size.

So, how much overlap is there? Does the mercury grab in real flat ice during a carve or when hitting the breaks? If the Mercury is stiffer, I'd get it in a 157 and sacrifice a bit of playfulness and turn initiation but with a size 8 boot I'd be able to get horizontal on the snow quite nice. 

Today had a thing with the Assassin where I was maybe leaning in a 20 degree in a relaxed turn when I just hit ice and the board slid from under me causing me to fall on my face... Annoying when you have to go down the mountain skidding turns cause you can't trust the edge, even though they're freshly maintained and sharp.

Another option I'm thinking is the Ultra Mountain Twin in 157, basically due to being quite a bit stiffer than the Assassin (and Mercury it seems) and for having magnetraction, which is great in icy conditions. Might be a bit more limited in usage than the mercury, but probably great for back-/sidecountry freestyle and drops. 

Whatcha dudes think?


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