Feedback on the Swoard Extremecarver Gen3

[syd]

I rode a Swoard for the first time two days ago. Here are my conclusions, so far...

I started riding alpine snowboards 12 years ago. In '98 I bought a Burton Factory Prime 164 which I rode until this winter. I ride about one week every winter.

My goal has always been to go down a slope on the edge linking the turns as smoothly as possible and really finishing every turn. I was never interested in racing. I don't like watching it at all. It's not smooth, there's a lot of waving around with the arms and a lot of skidding. I think style and elegance are important, it doesn't just look better, it feels better, too.

Anyway, when I saw a video of the Swoard team I was really impressed. I thought that it's a bit exaggerated to fully lay down in turns, but no one else who I have ever seen on an alpine board rode it so smoothly - a good snowboarder always makes it look easy.

So this winter I watched a lot of carving videos on youtube and came to the conclusion that the extremcarving style is the the style I like best, even if I will never manage to fully lay down (I hope I will, though). So I ordered a Swoard.

Me:
175 cm
68 kg

Swoard:
168 M
59 / 54 degrees (due to boot size)

When I took the Swoard out of the carton, it felt massive, much much bigger than my Factory Prime, but lighter.

On my Factory Prime I used canting and heel-lift on my back foot. I could not ride it without it. Nevertheless I wanted to ride the Swoard without any canting, as suggested by the Soward team. When I stepped on it in my living room, it felt really awkward, I couldn't imagine how to ride this thing.

It still felt awkward when stepping in the bindings before my first run. And the first run was a big shock. I had difficulties drifting and breaking and was too bewildered even to attempt to carve a turn.

To my surprise it all came together very quickly though. Suddenly I found it easy to drift in difficult terrain, it is very good going straight and especailly it is very very rewarding when carving...

With my Burton I had to be very precise to do a turn on the edge in steeper terrain. The Swoard however is much more stable to carve. The edge hold is truly sensational.

What's also very nice: I found the Soward to be less tiring than my Burton, I could ride the whole day without my legs giving up. I couldn't do that on the Burton.

I am convinced that I made the right decision by buying a Swoard because it is a good all-around board and very confortable to ride, but yet, if your goal is smoothness and speed on the edge (however low you go), I reckon there is nothing better around.

So thanks to the Swoard team for providing alpine boarders with such an excellent tool that filled me with new enthusiasm to go riding...

[nils]

Syd, Thnx for the feedback!
Its indeed one of the good aspects of the concept: ending a day without burnt legs, catching wrong edges etc !

Nils

[starikashka]

Wow!! I could not imagine that this show-off brand can make a boards that last for 10 years I mean Burton.

I tested Swoard 175XH, which is not quite suits for me..i`m not that heavy...but anyway, it`s easy to handle and laydown Not good for flat slopes which we have here - tool for steep slopes.

I have to go to Zinal next year and test appropriate flex

Burnt legs can be easily avoided by rotation technic

[starikashka]

175H - very good !!!