Swoard new generation: impressions

[nils]

same question, my german is a bit weak to understand everything... I'm curious because you weight 100 kilos, and the M flex is not usually for people your weight! I'm 77-78 kilos and I ride the M flex with nice results

Nils

[bowen]

....because of that i orderd the H board .

my english is also not the best, because of that i wrote a smaler "testbericht" for the english version*g*

when i own the swoard i will write some impressions more!

[mrtko]

Hi,

i´m wondering if there are already some more impressions from riding the new 2D.

I would be very interested in hearing some more reactions...

Hadn´t been there something ins Sölden


mrtko

[István]

Sorry for that guys, I only had a couple of good runs per a day due to the massive crowd and the rapidly melting snow, so I was selfish enough to ride my Virus all the time....

I think this is also valid for Silber - so despite of our promises we have not done the comparisson. Shame on us.

However, I have seen the new 2D brought over by Frank. It has a very professional finish, sidewalls look great (like all Viruses....), colour looks a bit different due to the different surface. I think this is the cover sheet where you don't need to put a rubber pad onto it.

Tip and tail protection is great (those who think a built in rubber protector does not work I can say all the Viruses have that and it is bulletproof and undestroyable... )

Torsionally it felt stiff enough - no need to say, that testing it with your hands is not the real thing..... What surprised me was its weight - it felt extremely light....


Kindest,

István

[Alex]

hi to all
I've had the privilege to test the swoard the last week in solden, i will try to tell you...yes "only try" because is not an easy work with my poor english, what are the different feel with my current s.board "f2 silberpfeil"
(.......i've just ordered a swoard two weeks ago )

Like Silber and Istvan said, there was not very good condition to make ec..too many people, ice on the slopes and 3 hours are not enought to find the right feeling with a snowboard; the weblink below show my not perfect technique with f2.... perhaps too race but good enough to give my impression!!

[avi xvid encoded]
http://www.wedaware.it/snow/gallery/aj_ ... -11-05.avi


swoard 1.68 middle flex VS f2 silberpfeil 1.68

This will not be a match "VS" it's a joke, but i've learn carving with a race board like f2 and comparison is the best way to communicate my impression so....the first feel is that swoard has less agility than f2, the secondth is a point for swoard that has more more and more grip, but the most important for me is that...swoard is faster, when you lead turns, you can go down with your body and you don't lose your speed....fantastic sensation!!
I was able to link front with back going up-hill...and i hope to discover the rest of swoard quality with more time!

A little good consequence of my test is: it's know that f2 back side is very difficult, but after three hours of swoard, i have improved the heel side also with my f2, this is a validation that swoard it's easy and is the best device to learn ec but attention..... very fast!!

bye and have a good carve to all

[Dave]

Just got mine

for the details and finishing touch

First pics:








Greetings from a HAPPY Belgian

More photos here
Dave

[Hans]

Hi, Dave

Thanks for the pictures. A very nice topsheet, must be very good against scratches, bumps of ski and other hard obstacles. I am jealous about this topsheet, very nice. What is it made of? Looks like a sort of sandpapereffect, or like the topsheet my F2 windsurfboard is made of.

Greets, Hans.

[raphael]

Dave > great pics

Jacques, Patrice, Nils, & Virus Team > well done it looks marvelous

[oliv]

Hi Dave,
How comes that you have already received your board?
I'am jealous!!!
Thanks for the pics, have fun:D

Olivier

[schatten]

So I will tell my impressions of the Swoard at the Soelden opening. Hope I won't get killed for that .
I suppose I was the first to ride that 168M #12. My weight is 66kg, Bindings F2 Race Titanium 50/45°, Boot Raichle SB325 with Indy Thermofit liner MP27, forward lean unlocked.
Rider: No EC-Master, I'm not capable of doing backside laydowns.
At a first glance, the finish of the board is just great, as known from Virus and it's surprisingly light.
After all I read in this forum I had high expectations and supposed the Swoard would be similar to the Virus Boards. But it turned out to be quite different:
On the first run I got the feeling I unlearned snowboarding completely. After some backside turns ending in the snow, I realized that the problem was my position on the board. I'm riding a Pogo Longboard mostly at the moment that requires quite a bit of backward weight shift in carving.
After correcting this, I continued with drift and short slalomstyle turns to get a better feeling for the board and because of the crowded slopes you couldn't do much more.
What I found irritating was the fact that if put on the egde, the Swoard wants to puts you on the egde even more (lets say, minimum angulation 45°) this, of course, is desired and helpful for extremecarving, but requires a lot of attention if you don't want to do EC.
If you like to cruise you have to switch to drift turns.
Edge hold, due to the high torsional stiffness is great.
I rode the Virus ME109 afterwards and felt much more comfortable on it, because I found it much easier to regulate the angulation of the board and it needed less efforts to slalom through the crowd.
Yet egdehold and EC-capabilities were similar to the Swoard.
In my opinion the Swoard is a very specialised board for EC (sounds silly, because it was built for that), but it lacks a "cruising mode" capability despite of postings here that say it is easy to handle.
So I'm sorry to say that the Swoard is not for me, even if I expected (and wished for) it.
Another conclusion: Test before buying!

[nils]

i'm very surprised of your test... everyone says ( swoard owners, but also girls that tested it) that the board is a cruiser.. meaning an alpine board you can ride without thinking of catching an edge etc...There are very few people ( i cannot remember any actually that said the board is EC only or very technical to ride...Maybe you are a bit light for the 168M if you ride smoothly and calmy ( no idea..)

Its true that the extremecarver is a very different board that what people are used to: it is wide and the nose shape is designed to bite the chops and bumps. Its a board that needs, as we always said it for 4 years now, at least 2 days of riding in order to fully understand how safe it is. Its a board that you never fall on the nose with, its grip is very big due to the width and design etc...
At first, to be frank, I had to persuade Jacques that having people demo the board for a few runs, or few hours like at the SES, ECS or other events was necessary. Jacques was against that because he said that people are not used to it, and they will not like the test etc.... Now time has past, and i am glad he has been wrong: Yes it is good that people can try the board for a shorter time than 2 days, and yes it puts the risk that people might not like the ride... but many people tested the board and loved it also...

I suggest you come to the ECS in Zinal, so we can lend you a demo board for 2 full days . With proper settings ( razor edges and no lift and canting) and a good use of the rotation technique ( which also makes the board even easier like catwalk.. also the fact that you had backside issues might be because you're not doing full rotations ( its pretty hard and is the major difficulty for EC ) you will surely find more than an EC board .

Nils

[raphael]

I'm surprised two.

I only tested one for an afternoon, and even if i was really unable to EC, i liked the board, it felt like a super cool cruiser, very easy to carve, drift and very safe. Almost the contrary of what you discribe.

I suppose it depends a lot of the technique you use. I don't mean mine is better than yours, but i have a rotational technique, and maybe you have a slalom technique. People used to the slalom technique tend to find the Swoard hard to handle. I saw this happen in front of me.

[Hans]

I slalomed some poles at a slalomracetrack in Austria last winter with my 'classic' SWOARD, no problems at all. And since the new SWOARD must be easier to ride than the classic, man can't have any problems at all to ride this board. I also ride a POGO Longboard 175 with softies. Yes it's true, in comparison with the POGO you have to ride the SWOARD more at your front leg. Just push it and ride/carve. I don't have the experience that you can't carve it at 50%. I have carved the SWOARD even at an (small) indoor slope in Landgraaf, short backside and frontside carves at 50%/75%, no problem. Even some lay down backside indoor when the slope was empty. But I think it's with all the boards. You have to know your board, and then when you know all about it, you can play it and you are the boss. Just my 2 cents.

Greets, Hans.

[schatten]

I am using rotional technique, too. Drifting I found easy, thats no problem. Catching an edge was also not the issue. But the transition from drift to carve felt somehow "digital".
Did you ever ride a Virus board?
I agree with Nils that just a few runs are not suffcient to get famillar with a board but the ME109 felt better for me in the same short testing time.

[Hans]

I am using rotional technique, too. Drifting I found easy, thats no problem. Catching an edge was also not the issue. But the transition from drift to carve felt somehow "digital".
Did you ever ride a Virus board?
I agree with Nils that just a few runs are not suffcient to get famillar with a board but the ME109 felt better for me in the same short testing time.

Yes, I have ridden a VIRUS Psycho for three seasons. I sold this one because the board needed too much space at the slopes and was not for me. But the craftmanship and pleasure I had with it, was topnotch. It's true the Virus is something more forgiven but the edgehold of a SWOARD is better. The bite of a classic SWOARD is more agressive, when it's there, it stays there, push it all the way, no doubt about that, and that's what I like about it. You have so much confidence in a turn, it won't break out. But you can also slide or cruise the board.

Greets, Hans.