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Bataleon Snowboards just won breakout brand of the year from The Source in EU. They say thank you ! We say Big Up !!!
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
“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.
There had been rumors in the industry since a few weeks but the news was made official today: Burton snowboards has been purchased by leading sport manufacturer Nike.
It’s obvious that since a few years Nike is trying its best to enter the snowboard industry and take its piece of the pie. Facing problems reaching significant marketshares with its own products, acquisition seemed the best solution for Nike. So the sports giant decided to hit hard and went straight for the best snowboarding company out there: Burton snowboards.
It’s a hell of a shock for us and a damn dark day for snowboarding…
Ha ha! Ok most of you got it straight, our bad April fool’s joke. But we managed to trick a few of you and create a small buzz on the web (like here, here, here and here and even here and here for ex.) so we are quite happy about our scam! 😉
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!
In our quest to always give you insights on different aspects of European snowboarding and people involved in making our sport grow, we bring you today a BrOADER[view] with Neil Slinger, Marketing and Product Manager for Blue Tomato Snowboard Shop.
Blue Tomato is an Austrian based retailing company which has chosen to develop a strong online strategy. We wanted to know how it was working for them and what benefits us – buyers of snowboard goods – could get out of it.
What we appreciate is that Blue Tomato (BT) is not just here for the business, they are riders and dedicated to promote snowboarding through their team, events and gatherings! Check it out!
@BrOADER we love these small core brands which have an original philosophy/approach to snowboarding – and even more when they are from Europe!
So we got in touch with the Italian guys from Rough and asked them for info regarding their 0708 range.
Appreciate it! It’s only on snowbroader.eu!
Rough Snowboards winter 07/08 production includes a total of 8 models based on seven different shapes.
Directional boards are 4, in XS, S, M, and L sizes. The XS has been thought and designed for cool chicks that want to rip on the mountain, while the S deck sets aside sex distinctions and will be appreciated by all freestyle enthusiasts. The M and L are dedicated and thought for the most demanding riders.
Twin tip boards are 4 in S, M,and L sizes. To top it all the Rejdo Army M Twin Tip limited edition is designed by a Core Crew of Italian riders…
Check all the boards down here !!!
Elan snowboards and Salomon snowboards have almost simultaneously launched their art contests: the Artec Project Art Contest 3rd Edition for Elan vs. the 4th annual artwork contest for Salomon!
There is prize money and/or custom-made snowboards for grab, so pick up a pencil and start getting creative! 😉
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!!
When we asked Julie for a date, she told us that she would wear her black dress and high heels, just for us! We met her during the ISPO, she was not wearing the sexy dress she promised to, but she was sporting wonderful, trendy, glamour and sexy JEE VICE sunglasses!! And that was enough for us to fall in love… 😉
More seriously, we are proud to offer you this BrOADER[date] with the co-founder of JEE VICE.
Discover how it is like working for a small core brand dedicated to all young women who live their passion. Just by reading Julie’s word you can feel all her motivation and the pleasure this small team of people is getting by making their little JEE VICE baby grow every day! It’s hard work but it’s worth every penny!
Julie, at BrOADER we want to say big respect! And what about a “BrOADER” signature serie? 😉
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! 😉
After several month of hard labour, they’ve finally dropped their new website. Not an atomic bomb yet but a time bomb, coz for the moment only few sections are online (products/contact/links), we look forward for the team section, pics, and videos…
Anyway Landing is not a web agency but a headwear company and they’ll blast you with a full scale beanie product offer – Plain Beanie, Peruvian Beanie, Pompom SP series, LB “condom” series, The series – @BrOADER we love the PomPom SP series 🙂 .
Don’t worry with LANDING Airlines your sessions will be stylish and warm!
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!
The swiss snowboard manufacturer Nidecker came to ISPO with a very consistent product range. Nothing to say about the boards, Nidecker covers all the aspects of snowboarding and as a manufacturer can also experiment and propose unique board structures. The NDK boards are probably their best assets, with poppy constructions and cool graphics. Where Nidecker doesn’t make a lot of noise but has one of the best offer in the industry is the binding segment! Check out our pics and powpowpow la Suisse!
www.snowbroader.eu 2006/07 version 