Feedback on the Swoard Extremecarver Gen3

Support about extremecarving or freecarve/freeride Swoard boards, hardboots and bindings

Moderators: fivat, rilliet, nils

syd
Rank 0
Rank 0
Posts: 1
Joined: Saturday 28 February 2009, 12:18

First Ride on Swoard 3rd Gen

Post by syd » Saturday 28 February 2009, 13:04

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...

User avatar
nils
Swoard founder
Swoard founder
Posts: 3043
Joined: Friday 22 March 2002, 19:22
Location: Lyon, France - Swoard team
Contact:

Thnx

Post by nils » Saturday 28 February 2009, 13:22

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

User avatar
starikashka
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 963
Joined: Friday 29 February 2008, 20:07
Location: Russia
Contact:

Post by starikashka » Saturday 28 February 2009, 18:28

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 :-)
i`m learning

User avatar
starikashka
Rank 5
Rank 5
Posts: 963
Joined: Friday 29 February 2008, 20:07
Location: Russia
Contact:

Post by starikashka » Friday 4 December 2009, 12:50

175H - very good :-) !!!
i`m learning

Locked