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Beginning of March we had already posted about the SQUAD series. Here is the second and final part of this focus with the 08 SQUAD PRIME, the VÖLKL Pro Team favourite’s board !
Regarding the main features :
– sizes : 152-155-158-161 + 2 wide sizes
– tip-to-tail ultra-light wood core
– squad twin-tip sidecut
– 6×2 insert system
– wooden sidewalls
– sandwich construction
– sintered base with die-cut
– stone and diamond finish
We will give you our feedback as soon as we will ride it next season! 😉
Photo credit : Marcel Lämmerhirt
This is a short short video that we shot during the ISPO 07 showing you in a glimpse the whole 2007/08 Forum snowboard range.
It’s short, colorful and straight to the point. 😉
For all you guys and girls who are already thinking about what you will want to ride next season, check out those two short video presentations with 2008 snowboards from Allian and Gnu.
The girly freestyle range is composed of the Vivian serie (138-142-145-148) in the high end, while the Freedom serie (136-142-146-150-154) is offering the best prices.
Girls will be happy with this easy riding B-nice serie (144-147-150-153). All mountain freestyle boards from entry level to rippers who want to look at the whole mountain as their park. Available in regular and smooth riding Magne-traction.75. The nice design is from Fumi Watanabe.
All lot of snowboard companies have developped the “mini-me” snowboard these past season. These boards are super playfull and taking them out for a day gives a completly different feeling to a regular snowboard day. When we met Darius last time, he was rocking the new 2007/08 Nidecker Nano and that’s what he had to say about it:
Short video presenting some 2007/08 boards from Santa Cruz exposed during the Intergirlactik in Les 7 Laux.
Unfortunatly we did not catch the names of these 3 models, so if you got them leave us a comment!
Ever since we first heard about the Beyondsnow binding concept we wanted to get a closer look at the products and if possible try them out to make up our mind and get the feeling about riding them.
It happened during the Intergirlactik, where Florent was holding the Beyondsnow booth with test gear. So we went to see him to ask him what this strap-in patented concept was all about and tried them ourselves.
Here’s our feedback : Ok, on a powder day when the “friendship doesn’t count” rule applies, you will be happy to gain a few precious seconds to be the first to hit the powpow line because when you have to step-in, the straps are widely opened and a simple pressure on the heel cup sets them in “closing” position in a flash. But then of course you have to tighten them like for a regular binding. We must say that we appreciated the comfort of the main strap. It’s design – split in two parts – makes it pressure points free. The front strap is not different then on a regular binding.
The straps are really easy to close but the ratchets could be improved as the “release button” is too sensitive.
General feeling when riding is good. The bindings offer good board control and are well balanced all round.
In terms of looks, let say that for their first season, the guys probably decided to play low profile with sober colours and designs, axing their communication on the technology more than the aesthetics.
Check out our BrOADER TV episode for our interview of Florent and our product review!
Sunny weather, fresh air, green grass, red flowers and milky cowes for this product review with Fanny Foucrier from Roxy Winter Division.
Fanny presented us the new 07/08 board “Envi“. It’s a nice looking all mountain freestyle board for the ladies including features like the magnetraction edge concept and a 100% natural bamboo topsheet.
This board is Torah Bright’s favorite! She was riding it when she won the X-games! So it’s definitly a board for good riders who wnat to push their level and progress in freestyle.
Watch our video & pics for more details and appreciate sexy Fanny with her “envi”…
Special thanks to Elodie T. for her support
Here’s our friend and Rossignol team rider Christian “KIKI” Moillen again, with a short video presentation of one of his 2007/08 set-ups from Rossignol snowboards: the Premier with HC 2000 bindings.
“Zion Snowboards is a rider driven company devoted to the details. We strive to set ourselves apart and be creative and unique in all that we do. Uniqueness is everything to us and its in everything we build. From the topsheet to the base and everything in between. All our boards are hand crafted in Canada with the best engineering materials and shapes. Our goal is to enhance your on snow experience and give you the best ride possible “.
Here is a shot of their new 08 products. From left to right and top to down the Whoa Man, Lost, Z1.
Check out our video interview with swedish rider Michael Lundmark.
Michael is a strong allround rider and proved it in 2004 when he won the Billabong Jr Pro and imposed himself as a force to be reckoned with.
We met him in Leysin beginning of March and asked him some questions about his season and set-up. Michael is equipped head to toe with Rossignol snowboards gear and seems stocked about it. Check it out!
Straight out from les 2 Alpes, Arthur Longo is the new hot shot from the french snowboard scene.
Arthur has had an amazing contest season winning the O’Neill Pro Freestyle in Avoriaz, scoring big in the O’Neill Evolution in Davos, flying high at the Artic Challenge and finishing -only- second at the Billabong Jr Pro in Leysin!
And that’s a season for Arthur during which – in his own words – he didn’t push it to hard!
That’s right, Arthur is concentrating on finishing school this year but is completly pumped up already for next year when he plans to push it to the next level!
Check out our video with Arthur shot during the Billabong Jr Pro and get to know this super talented rider. Oh, I almost forgot, Arthur also plans to improve his English so in the meanwhile it’s your turn to improve your French…
Forget all your prejudices from the past. Hammer snowboards reborns in 2007 and is heading for a brand new dimension!
Hammer is independent again. It has been bought last summer by M. Herbert Marxer from the Rossignol group and has established its offices near Lausanne, Switzerland. The small team of people working there are pumped and dedicated to bring a new image to the brand and push product innovation to bring you the best snowboards ever!
Plus Hammer is the first snowboard brand to include a full range of skis in its product line!
Yes skis, but not your average ski. Skis made by snowboarders!
A few years ago, skiers looked at snowboarding and realised progression was into stealing snowboard technologies and applying them in the ski’s construction. They took the technologies but they didn’t manage to get a grip on the feeling and the lifestyle. What Hammer brings on the market are skis with a snowboard construction and feeling – made by snowboarders!
Check out our visit at the Hammer offices where Alex presented us the full 2007/2008 Hammer snowboards range!
Enjoy and support Hammer!
ISPO was very short! So we focused on some of our favorite brands and VOLKL does not really belong to this category. Anyway, this is a personal point of view and some of you may ride or like VOLKL’s boards. So for those weird riders 😉 here is a focus on the new 07/08 SQD series!!
Today we’ll finish our coverage of the 2007 ISPO with a final post showing you some gear from Special Blend, the Villa Wool beanie collection and the SIXXA booth.
We hope you are pleased with all the pics we brought back and all the 07/08 products we managed to show you. We covered 27 brands – and we’ll try to cover even more next year and why not get our own booth!
If you want to check out all our ISPO reviews again, select “ISPO07” in our post categories or type ISPO in our “search box” and just select your favorite brand! You can also check out Freecaster for some good reviews on film!
Thanks for all the comments you left us with your questions, picture requests or opinions on the next season boards, we’re super happy about that!
Waooooo! We’ve been positively surprised by this Italian snowboard brand that we had never heard about! STATIC is the little jewel we brought back from ISPO. It is incredible that they are still unknown outside Italy. Their 07/08 board range is composed of 12 models covering all programs – kids, park, all mountain, freeride, freestyle, women- designs are a little bit basic but go further and have a look at their bindings, boots and wear ranges! They are just incredible for a small brand. Bindings have original and sophisticated cosmetics. Boots have no particular technical features but got this incredible Italian style. Regarding the Outer Wear, Street Wear and Accessories, just remember that Italy is a leader in fashion trends !
Second youth for Rossi?? It looks like it! For those who were used to the Rossi’s booths in the past, this one is kind of an UFO! Modern & stylish, with DJs, a lounge area, a bar zone where great parties were held at night! Rossi gave the ski hall a little breath of oxygen and fun. Unbelievable isn’t it? Regarding products, corners where fulfilled with examples of the cross fertilization between Rossi and its US sister brands – DC & LibTech – BOA lacing systems on boots and magnetraction for the John Jackson signature. But bindings are for sure the most improved part of the range and Rossi almost filled the gap with the leaders…The pure mountain company is working hard on developping pura mountain gear for every rider!
So girls tell us, what do you think about this one uhu?
‘Style, Design and Performance’ is the three-word mantra for the company. By taking an artistic approach to the design, a BitchBoards snowboard is not just a board, but also a work of art. The use of modern and abstract photography, such as green smoke swirling in the air or smeared paint on a white palette, for the graphics immediately separates BitchBoards from the competition.
Of course, Head – like other ski companies – is not a core snowboard brand! The company is much more racing skis oriented but their snowboard department managed to do a great job. This 07/08 range is complete and there is nothing wrong regarding the technicity/quality of the products.
Last year at ISPO, Ride blasted the industry with its 06/07 bindings range. Light, comfortable, with hyper sophisticated aesthetics, there was a real gap with what the other brands were offering. Even Burton was suffering the comparison!
However this year, the bindings seem more “in the trend”. Seems like everybody worked hard to close the gap. And probably the guys from Ride spent more time and energy drinking all the cans available on their booth (take a look at the pics, in the background) than developing new and original products! 😉
Ok so we still have some cool stuff to show you from ISPO. We’ll finish our round-up this week with 07/08 gear from Head, Ride, Rossignol, Static and we’ll call it a wrap!
But for now : Punk’s not dead!!
At ISPO, the canadian brand Sapient showed a hot 07/08 range with very strong graphics influenced mainly by punk rock style but also hip-hopish street art. Chris Coulter, Kurt Wastell, Dionne Delesalle are the leading riders of the international team, challenged by strong rookie riders like French ripper Laurent “General” Gougain.
We’d buy a Sapient board just for the graphics coz there are the coolest ones we saw at ISPO! Check it out!
www.snowbroader.eu 2006/07 version 