! Swoard 2005-2006 Season !

[nils]

Hi everyone, we all hope you have a good summer!

I just come back from the factory, where Frank solved the last technical problem we had! The grainy topsheet we chose is hard to protect during the process, and frank just found that optimal protecting tape!

Here is main news update about the new boards scheduled to come, I'll add news in the same post as soon as they are ready.

- Boards
- Prices
- Dealers + availability

Boards

As we said, we are very proud of the new 2D model, and so proud we decided to postpone the development of the new 3D and instead add more features to the 2D.

The 2D features the following

- Stronger PE/PU topsheet with grainy aspect. High quality silkscreen colors for long lasting resistance. That topsheet is way stronger than the previous to scratches ( it still requires not to brush the top with steelbrush!).
- Triaxial fiberglass for better torsion control
- Carbon designed ATC ( advanced torsion control ) matrix
- The best available base there is on the market: 4000 electra base
- Full wood core ( spruce and ash vertically laminated wood)
- High quality inserts
- Nose and tail urethane protection insertions: you can now let the board vertically bump the ground without pain! If small dings happens anyway, then you can sand a few mm of the nose/tail without harm!
- Thicker edges for a longer lifetime
- One year warranty on craftmanship and materials.

Sizes are 161 - 168 and 175 cm with the width unchanged (32/22.1 and 23.1cm)
Flexes are Medium flexes, but we are looking at a way to produce a few H in each of the flexes, at least until the 3D with its shorter weight ranges flexes appears!

Until the 3D is back, the 2D is the new flagship of the Extremecarving world. It is a very safe board, and is actually very similar to the previous model, but the craftmanship is way higher! Jacques and I rode a 2D almost all of the 2004-2005 season and really loved it!


Prices

Still under fine tuning: the price range is going to be a 710-730 € full taxes. It is around 25% cheaper than the previous model! As soon as we have the first boards out ( soon by mid august) we'll release the final official price.

Dealers + availability

We now have not secured any deal with shops, only good discussions but the shops need to see the board physically ( soon they will) before they accept. Basically France will have three dealers, there should be 2 in Switzerland, and there is good chance to have dealers in austria too!

The good news is we are about to secure a deal with Virus to sell the board elsewhere until there is shops in the country you live in. It means if you leave in estonia, you will be able to order the board directly to the factory that made it! Virus is equiped for shipping quick, and it should ease a lot the waiting times. Price through this solution will try to be the same, but since there is import taxes, local vat etc its a bit hard to say how things are going to be until we simulate more common countries

Availability:

There should be boards quick in every shop by the time winter starts, so as soon as their name is known, you will be able to preorder it with the shops, and that will make sure you get it on time. The first 100 boards will be quickly followed by batches of 25-30 boards that Virus can produce within 2-3 weeks throughout the whole winter!


Stay tuned here for more infos and updates!

The Swoard EC team!

UPDATE 1 . Sept 9 2005

Boards:
No other changes, but the first boards are ready... Frank and his team are doing an incredible job. All the first batch of production will be ready by october 1st. There WILL be H flexes for the 168 and 175 models. I hope those will be ready by same dates, but we decided anyway there was a need for those flexes since a good percentage of each of those two sides are used by riders in the H flex range.

Prices:
There will be two prices: the price through shops, will be be basically the same in France and Europe, and the other price that will be the Export price, for all those leaving out of those two countries.
Unfortunately, and after many calculations, trying to keep the price low, we had to raise the price to the price of 745 Euros, full taxes.
This is the shop price and includes the French or swiss VAT.

Direct sale price has been set to 650 Euros. We calculated that direct price so people could get the board home for about same price as those through shops, and it will be the case for people with a VAT in the 15% and below (those with very low VAT aka North America will pay even cheaper (but will have higher shipping costs). It will be a bit more expensive for the other higher VAT.. but we had to find a way, and also try to get some margins, since shop sales are not going to be really profitable... (no secret here uhh?)

Availability:
We are finishing the rebuilding of the database that will help us cope with the invoices etc and save time, for a better efficiency (thanx for Arnaud's help). This should be done soon, and the two final discussions with two shops we want to work with are under way... The response we had from them is fabulous.. they are waiting for the orders to arrive ..

Deadline: we set ourselves a deadline: October 1st will be the day when the website will say what shops are our partners, and also provide online order forms. You will be able to order your Swoard then

Stay tuned! The boards are near!!! and you almost have one under the feet!


UPDATE OCT 9th 2005

Online orders available

We have just finished the order pages for the new Extremecarver 2D.
The order page is here :

https://www.extremecarving.com/swoard/order.html

You can use the direct sales online process if :
- You leave outside of France
- You leave outside of Geneva area in Switzerland. (Until we secure the deal with our German Swiss dealer, all other Swiss orders can be processed by us)

Please note carefully how the process is going to take place :

1. We receive your order. You receive an automated confirmation that your order is sent.
2. Your order is processed, and we send you, once shipping costs are known (still not known at this date), a pre-Invoice, with all costs and the bank details. If you think PayPal is going to be cheaper for you than bank transfer (PayPal is 4% of total amount, while some US and Can wire can exceed 60 Euros), please precise you wish to use Paypal in the order form.
3. Once the payment has been received, we send the Invoice to Virus Factory, that directly ships the board using surface or air shipping.
4. You will receive the board with a warranty card that needs to be mailed to us, in order to validate your warranty.
5. Please take in consideration that MOST info on the boards are on the website (soon) and in this forum. The more you send us questions regarding board choices, the more time it takes to process orders. We advise you to ask questions in the forum also if needed, so everyone can benefit from the answers !


We are a bit late with the board selection details pages, but the following charts will help you choose the right board. Please note that the 161, and the H flex are still under production. It means you are likely to wait a few weeks before they can be shipped. However, we will try to ship all first orders before end of november. You will basically receive the pre-invoice when the board is ready, or almost in stock, so wait is on our side rather than yours.

German customers : We still have some issue with how the german VAT will be processed, we are waiting for the final answers by tax specialists. We can however take your order, and send you the pre-invoice once the final solution has been found. We are not supposed to collect german VAT (Swiss company), and somehow you need to pay the german VAT to someone… Strangely enough, answers are hard to find !

French customers : Please inquire directly with the two following official dealers, they have not yet received their boards, but can take pre-orders they will transmit us, they will then deliver you the board using la poste service wherever you leave in France.

Surfit Annecy : 00 33 (0)4 5027 8765
Krakatoa surfshop, Briançon : 00 33 (0)4 9221 0562


Swiss customers :
Geneva canton : Please be a bit patient : You will be able to order directly to Force 5 surfshop in Geneva, by mid-november only. Ivan the owner of the shop is on vacation, however they are likely to take orders (hopefully) and write your name down on a pre-order list.
Force 5 Geneva: 00 41 227 352 756

We will take all other swiss orders, until the swiss german shop deal is secured (waiting for news from them).


ALL THOSE SHOPS ARE OUR NEW DEMO CENTERS : it means they will have each size and flex, and will lend the board for free. It is advisable to call them before and book the board you wish to test for a particular day or week end. The shops will lend you demo bindings too if necessary.

Thank you MUCH for your interest in Swoard, we continue this adventure because of the incredible feedback we have from all of our board users J To be continued !

So to make things short :
- Geneva canton : book a board at Force 5 shop
- French located : book at Surfit, or Krakatoa shop
- Rest of the world : book directly through us online

UPDATE OCT 19th 2005
Some of the orders are beeing processed now, and people just received their Pre invoice with the shipping costs also. we are still waiting for the VAT answer for Germany, so those orders are on stand by until then, and for countries like canada, sweden, japan, korea, you will also have to wait a few more days, because Virus told me the shipping cost was a ripp off for those countries, and he was inquiring about them quickly, and try to get a new offer for those countries. Basically, and appart from USA which is basically the same price as previously ( around 90 euros), prices are a bit lower than what we use to bill, because we know ship from Germany which has cheaper prices for europe than TNT from Switzerland... Shipping costs for Euro countries are in the 35 euros range instead of 54 with TNT !

Allow a few more days for those that have already put their orders, if you did not receive the pre-invoice, it means we are still working either on that german VAT issue, or on the shipping costs ! But it does not mean we are dead, or that we did not take your order !

Shops will also receive their first boards ( orders) soon, around first days of november.

UPDATE Oct 27th 2005


Small Update
German customers, here is a good news
We are about to find a solution, you will receive the invoice, but it will be directly from Frank. Virus is going to sell you the swoard for us, and it will be more simple than paying expensive german lawyers 150 euros/hour for solving the vat problem.

How this is going to work: easy!

1. ALL ORDERS VIA WWW.SWOARD.COM ( do NOT disturb Frank Wink
2. Once we are sure the board choice and ID is done, we, Swoard, will FORWARD your order to Frank, he is then going to send you a Virus invoice, with the price, shipping cost, and german VAT. simple no?
4. You pay him.
5. He sends the boards(s).
6. We count + and - between swoard and virus!
7. you send swoard your warranty card.

It means the problem is basically solved, for the german customers that have already sent their orders, I will just forward your orders, with board ID and serial number to Frank.


To everyone: Frank is going to start shipping the board next wednesday Smile He already packed 30 boards good news uhh?

[Bordy]

Nils,

I can hardley wait to make some turns on the new product. Any chance of a demo finding its way over to Hardbooter.com?

Lets say for a 170 pound aggressive rider 25 mondo shell?

We would love to keep the swoard name alive in the US.

[kelvin o]

Nils,
Congrats on FINALLY getting the +oard done. Let's get the ordering info. I'd like to be one of the first to put my name on the list to get a 161-2D for the 05-06 season. Thanks!
Kelvin

UPDATE September 9
Still waiting!

[fivat]

Here is the first picture of the new generation of extremecarving boards:
SWOARD Extremecarver 2D - Winter 05-06!
(right on picture)
This is a pre-series board, size 168.

For comparison, on the left is shown the 3D model of the first generation (sold out)! Note the mat aspect of the new topsheet. The surface is very nice under the fingers and it's strong.

The second photo compares the tails of both models: the new tail absorbs the shocks greatly when the board is put vertically on the floor. What a blessing!

Patrice Fivat

[vkrouverk]

For current models it's too late, but for future one suggestion:
could you consider moving the centered spex part between inserts (where board number and other details are given) to somewhere else (e.g. putting it across the board behind front binding or moving it to tail)? Right now when stomp-pad is put on board, then it covers this spex partially. and this is not Good Thing (TM)
I like old model's color better, new seems to be dull (due to different surface or is color itself changed?). But then again, board's feel is important, not look. And dull look makes it unattractive to thieves, who prefer shiny things...

[nils]

you will not need stomp pad The new surface is a bit grainy, it slips a bit less than the previous one. Most of us do not use stomp pads, and the board is still looking good in that area! Never also falled because of a slippery board in the disc lift.



Nils

[tommaso2k]

Gents,

congratulation to your new 2D model. Would be interesting to see it real

Regards
Tom

[Thomo]

Hi guys,

Looking forward to getting my hands on the new model! Looks great.

As for stomp pads....I had the same problem with the board I currently have but found a pad that is made up of lots of tiny transparent bubbles, so you can easily see the logo/artwork beneath.

You stick the pad on to your board then peel away the middle - leaving separate transparent bubbles.

Thomo

[Hans]

Nice to hear from you guys that everything works out fine with the new models.

Just one question, what are the differences gonna be between 2D - 3D, not only in materials but also in riding.

Greets, Hans.

[kelvin o]

This seems rather stupid to be asking about at this time (please see the post in reply to Nils' comments in the miscellaneous forum) but I was wondering about the Swoards and there availability from Virus. I had exchanged a couple of emails with Frank but have not heard from him since the Virus site has been closed for renovation. I read something on the French sided but was wondering if it was not also posted here in the English forum for a reason? Anway it would be interesting to hear. Thanks.

[nils]

You are right, i posted a few info regarding the availability of the Swoard for people in France and Switzerland for those living there.
For those boards will be able through a small number of shops, through direct sale ( off the shelves) or on order / shipping principle.

For all the rest of the world . We will sell the board, and they will be orderable only from the website through an ordering form. The board will then be shipped directly from Frank's factory. We are actually making that ordering form so its simple and no one forget important information, as well as calculating the shipping prices for almost whole world ( ok maybe not papoua since they don't snowboard)...Allow a few more weeks, but should be all ready by early october! ( Meanwhile Frank is producing the boards)

Board price: We are going to "try" to have the price the same for everyone, should you buy the board from us ( excluding VAT ) or with VAT from a shop. It means we are working on an average price that will make people pay fair "out of VAT price".

As soon as everything is set up, we will publish the whole ordering process in order to save time and be more efficient!

nils

[rilliet]

Just one question, what are the differences gonna be between 2D - 3D, not only in materials but also in riding.

Hans, I've been riding the definitive prototype of the 2D during last season. I even used it during the Zinal ECS (the blue SWOARD).

Both models have a close behavior but show subtles differences that make me prefer the 2D.
The 2D is a little bit less stable at high speed but quite more maneuvrable and fun at middle and low speed despite it seems sightly heavier. In EC, the backside turn
is easier and the frontside turn remains the same. The 2D is more comfortable because the feeling is softer, especially on ice. In these very hard snow conditions, this softer contact to the snow provides a better edge grip.
In fact the difference of stability at high speed can be felt when swiching from the 3D to the 2D. But after a few runs I adapted myself to this different feeling and could ride as fast as before.
So finaly I decided to ride this board during the whole season because to my feeling this new board is better and more fun in any conditions and riding practices (except at very high speed).

The strange thing is that the 2D gives me a kind of slightly magic freestyle feeling that makes me make more fun tricks (jumps, fakie riding, fast edge switching turns, easy moguls, play with the slope, etc...) but remains as good or even better in alpine and EC riding.
I must admit I didn't expect such a great behavior when designing this board. The collaboration with Franck Dietzel from Virus has been a great benefit too. Thank you very much Frank!

Little detail, The nose and tail are now very strong. If I hit the tail on the grond, the board just rebounces like a ball.

Jacques

[Hans]

Thanks Nils and Jacques for your extended answers. I am just gonna have fun with my 'old' 3D for this season (and my new Coiler to arrive soon).

Think that also new SWOARDbuyers will appreciate this sort of info.

I am sure this new 2D model will be a great success.

Greets, Hans.

[harald]

So if 2D is better than the 3D and less expensive, what is then the reason for having the 3D in the range? Or will you continue working with the 3D so it will be even better than the 2D?
I have the old 3D 168 H. Since 2D is in medium flex, would you recommend 175 if I should buy a new Swoard (178 high/79 kg, 27,5 boots) or should I stick with 168?

[nils]

Since do agree with jacques on a few of his feelings, I do still like the 3D behaviour, finding it more lively and "snappy"... It is more to my opinion suitable for agressive riding, when the 2D is a cruize machine, able to EC perfectly in smoother ride, but I prefered the 3D on very hard pack since i like the bite feeling it gives... Yes the 2D bites too amazingly, but not as agressively..

The 3D is not continued for the moment for many reasons:

- Cost of manufacturing is too high and can barely be reduced since the carbon parts were cut in an aircraft factory and few people can do it.
- Complexity of manufacturing: insertion of the parts in core is very precise and take much longer / generates rejects pretty easily: we wanted first to be efficient with the 2D production before starting from ground with the 3D ( the process is quite different from the first factory )
- Lack of real performance gap compare to the 3D: If the 2D works as good as the 3D, why continue the 3D..? If we were rossignol, we would have put a higher price on the same 3D and claim it's way better even if it is no change (Rossi sells a fat ski 1150 euros ( production cost around 150)). We prefer to wait until we develop a new 3D that is a performance gap, gives more flexes choices etc so the rider really has a different tool for the money, not just a marketing difference!
- Lack of time: We are all dealing with jobs and family, and the time we can spend with Swoard has to be managed wisely. Each thing comes in order: production first of the 2D, try to sell it, try to eventually make some money at last out of our work, then think of new models...
- Lack of funds: For many reasons, we decided Swoard was not going to be our primary activity: it means we did not really set it up as a Start-up, trying to raise funds in order to increases sales, develop a dealers network quickly, enter all ski/snow shows etc... This means we are working with minimal funds so Swoard goes on and pays the bills. Making new molds and developp a new model can be estimated around 4000 euros counting the cad work, CNC programming time, Proto building, testing ( ski lifts, travels etc...). We prefer to use that money, and the time it means too into the 2D. As soon as we have the 2D rolling and making its own life, we will start working on the future 3D, but it might be none, as well as it might come in 1.5 seasons... We don't know yet, its postponed until further notice!

Of course all this is possible because that new board is incredibly good and surprised even us !

So those that have the "old 3D" > you have a great board, which technology (we might once explain what is inside) is really high tech, and its a board which only flaws are the absence of tail protection and maybe a bit scratchy topsheet. You are not in need to change absolutely: the 2D looks exactly the same and you are part of the Swoard Tribe as well as pionneers . You are riding future collectible items too . I am going to ride both models during the coming season to see the subtle differences...

Hope this answers a few questions concerning the 3D, old and future...

Nils