Feedback on the Swoard Extremecarver Gen3

[nils]

Ladies and guys, it would be nice to hear your feedback on your new toy... aka how you expected it to ride, how it worked, what problems you had ( eg. settings etc) and if you owned previous generation how it compares to the older sisters...

thnx
Nils

[tobsinger]

ha, seems i'm the first one who could enjoy his new baby last weekend. well the pleasure was short but intesive.

First of all congrats to you guys! You made a fantastic board (and a strong one too).

the first run was in the early morning on freshly prepared slope that was kind of icy because the warm snow from the day before froze over night. so i was kind of hesitating to really go to (my) limits because i felt somewhat insecure on a new board with new shoes too. still i was surprised how easy it was to ride, nice edge grip, felt kind of softer then my Hot blast.

what i also noticed is that i don't need as much power as on the blast to get pressure on the edges, therefore it's way less tiring to ride. (could also be my fitness program tha last 4 weeks that is kicking in)

however the board is absulutely fine. no dent at the edge or delaminating. as far as i can tell this board is really strong.

well my leg is getting better i guess i will try again next weekend.

[nils]

I have finally gotten to test ride the gen3...gee! Its the first season for the past 20 years that i do not ski before the 1st of january... I had too much work to test the protos, and too far to join pat and jacques when they did...
I finally took a chance today to go to les 2 alpes and test ride the boards, despite a big flu and beeing tired ( when you have four small kids i'll explain you how to sleep at night .

Conditions: white out day, some very bad visibility, and in the lower part of the resort, it was EC possible because despite light, one could see ahead 15-18 meters. Snow: soft to hard but no ice, bumps here and there: not perfect but good for carving when carefull not to get injured or break the nose in a hole..temperatures -8 > 2 celcius depending on altitude (3400-2000m )

Rider: 37 years old, tired, 80 kilos, 190cm
Settings: 175M gen3
Bindings: TD2 Ti with soft yellow bumper 54/47 angles, stance: middle of inserts.
Boots: .900 northwave with modified springs


Few impressions
Base: i loved the board first because it glides so well with the new base finish! I overtook every one i could on flats, skieers, fat dudes, snowboarders ( of course) etc... the very smooth finish makes the board fast ( was just the factory waxing)..this also gives a VERY good ability to have the board glide lateraly.. a feature that was missing with the previous gen2.. it means the board is easier to turn at slow speeds, small glided turns are fine now .
Grip: safer, more progressive.. its hard to say because conditions where not that good, but i felt the backside was much easier now than previously. i'll have to test this more in the next times i can ride again, on good grooming and good visibility ( not scared to carve hard like today)... board feels a bit lighter under the feet, especially when its vertical, the nose grip feels more natural than on the gen2... i'll try to test again my gen1 to see how it felt, i remember it has a bit of that loose feeling that is nice... ( it bites, but does not give you vibration feedbacks)...

In one word for now: Carve and Forget weapon

PS: i broke a front binding Ti bail ( back) it snapped like a spaghetti when i was carving moderate turn on very icy part on the glacier ( lots of wind)... almost crashed out bad but could finish my frontside wow ( relief )... this means i now need to use Jacques special steel made bails that do not break... i had a spare normal bail in the pocket so could change it quick ( lucky) ( my friend who skiies made big eyes " you are mac gyver to have spare parts in the pocket" lol)

nils

[Silver]

Hi Nils!

Happy New Year!


How much cost these special bails for TD2 ?

Did you also modify the shape of the bails to better compliment the shoe shape and to avoid dragging the snow with toes ? If so, how much does it cost ?

Thanks! Merci!


Silver

[nils]

more than 100 euros for those bails...its prototypes made by jacques, they do not bend, they do not break so i'm going to use them ( they are back bails...
I haven't modified the front lever i'm happy with how the are now.
Nils

[Silver]

Ouch ! That makes an expensive package for bindings...

What is your shoe size ? (to know if it is necessary to modify the bails with my 44 feet size to keep low angles...)

[nils]

28,5 mondo

[rilliet]

Guys,

I can't sell these bails because I have 6 pieces only and they are very difficult to built for me because I have to bend them by hand (I don't have a machine to do the job).

But I gave the whole recipe of metal hardening to Fin Doyle the boss of Bomber. Now you just have to beg to him.

Jacques

[harald]

Hi,
Just love to test the gen 3 after this and all other positive reports. I also broke the rear bail on the front binding (TD2) a couple of years ago. Lesson is to carry spare parts + tool in the pocket.

[sonofabeach]

hi there,

finally i have some time to write a short review of the new swoard. i've ridden the board on pretty much every snow condition.
first some info about me: i started snowboarding when i was 9yo, my boards before i bought a swoard: some old k2 to start with, then a limited 4 you t1, hot blast, f2 speedster rs 183. i thought i was a rather good boarder when i came across extremecarving.com... that was when i found out, that i was a terrible rider (counter-rotation, terrible technique....). the videos, technique tips etc. from the homepage and the forum helped me to improve a lot in the last couple years, but i'm still a bit away from extreme-carving (mainly because of my missing leg strength and guts ).

now to my settings:
rider: 22 years old, 185cm tall, about 83kg, shoe size 45 (euro)
board: 175M gen3
bindings: f2 race titanium, 58/53° angles, stance: middle of inserts
boots: deeluxe track 325, tuned with BTS

about the board:
the design is awesome! i just love it.. the base glides very well, and the wide edges are perfect, since the edges often limit the board's lifespan. i sharpen the edges with 1° on the base and 89° on the side - 90° total. for waxing i use a standard allround wax.

riding impressions:
it took me some time to get used to the board, coming from an f2 speedster rs, the softer swoard was very different. after a couple days i got more confident and tried some hard carves on hard to icy slopes. the edge hold is very good, i only lost a couple carves on really hard ice. the board is easy to turn and very stable during slow and fast carves. overall the board just gave me a very good feeling on all snow conditions (hard, icy, soft, slushy...) - it just feels right!
the only limitations i encountered were my limited leg strength on rather steep slopes, and a broken back boot! probably a manufacturing error - i need to check with the shop next week.

cheers mike

[leeho730]

I wish to leave a feedback on Swoard after using it for 4 months

I'm a 29-year old carver from New Zealand. I use Track 700T + BTS (yellow), size 25. TD2 binding, machined 3mm according to Jacque's recommendation (found out that base plates were cast not machined... nasty surprise! ), 54/48, no cant/lift. Stance 46cm with 0.5cm set-back, but honestly I didn't notice any difference between set-back and centered stance. The board is 168M.

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The first thing I noticed was that I could crank up angles of board against slope really, really high and be able to hold edge and carve. The torsional stiffness is superb despite the width; I also own Prior ATV but the difference in torsional stiffness was quite big. However, despite its torsional stiffness, it had right longitudinal stiffness, and nice flex pattern so that I could crank up angle of the board along the edge and dig a nice looking trench on the slope quite easily! Stiff torsional stiffness also made me somewhat lazy during the turn...

I am not confident enough to completely lay down during turns but am almost getting there
At the moment heel turn is a bit problematic.. Bending knees was no prob, Track 700 + BTS combo provided soft flex.

By the way, I could see how extremecarving works and why bending is important.
1. Lower binding angles (due to wide width) combined with softer lateral flex enables riders to eliminate counter-roatation, become fluid and adapt to various slope conditions.
2. However, this makes edge change a bit unstable, especially at high-speed due to wobbliness between binding and boot.
3. Lower binding angles and wider width of the board also makes edge change somewhat slow.
4. Therefore, to increase the stability during edge change and to facilitate unweighting which is essential for gentle sweeping of slope during the turn, riders bend down during edge change.

I can see it's not ESSENTIAL to have Swoard for extremecarving, but it HELPS.


Second thing I noticed was that due to the width, performance on slush condition was quite acceptable; but I would rather not use swoard on soft snow. Irregularities on slope was too overwhelming for me and I managed to dislocate my shoulder during toe turn


The only negative thing I could find regarding Swoard was that the topsheet was not scratch-proof.

And is there any way to increase the thickness of edge and sidewall? Although I recon my Swoard will probably last 2 seasons of heavy use, I wouldn't mind if it lasts 3 seasons...

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Anyway nice job, Swoard team, you got me into extremecarving!

At the moment I'm considering buying 161H, because although 168M is a nice size, I recon 161 will be more nimble, especially on narrower slopes.

Hopefully I can do linked laid-turns by end of next year, and I hope to join you guys at ECS 2010!

[Peter]

Hi all,

now it's time for me to leave a short message about my new swoard 168M (bought in march 2008, but was toooo late to ride then). I had it under the feet for 6 riding days in December 2008.

First: I love it.
Second: I have to ride a further while to go for the laydowns, but I can carve deep (still with an awefully backside).

Here is my comment: The swoard is very versatile. It can be ridden very relaxed, not necessary to be always 'on the hood' and caring for a digging board. When pressed in a carve the board is very stable. And after a full day of riding i was able to carve hard on the last run (this was impossible on my silberpfeil: In the afternoon it was not possible to carve hard because of burning legs). The relaxed binding angles where very suprisingly to me. It took me two days to adapt the low angles but then it was very comfortable. I have then tried to go again with the silberpfeil and I was very disappointed about the uncomfortable stance.
The icegrip of the swoard could have been better, but maybe it's on me not pressed enough on the ice (and don't know if the flex is on ice a problem because i have chosen the harder one).

Conclusion: I'am very lucky with my swoard and I'm looking forward for the next ride...

Thank you guys for the board.
Peter

PS: I'm still very angry with my boots deeluxe suzuka. Every day wet feet because of bending off the tonge is very annoying. They were very expensive and the quality is not price like....

[Guy]

Thank you Jacques, Patrice and Nils! Thank you so much for developing the extreme carving discipline of snowboarding, and for developing the Swoard ExtremeCarver and making replicas available for people like me to buy! Extreme carving has become a huge passion of mine. I won't rest till I can do this consistently and with the style of you guys. EC is really a major development in snowboarding and something quite special.

As for the new generation 3 board: WOW!! I've ridden mine now for 12 days here in Zinal and it's awesome! I had before a generation 2 Swoard, which I loved, but my new 3G Swoard is so much better! It just holds the carve beautifully. It's very responsive, easy to manage, and stable. I just love it!

Thanks also for making the 168 in Soft flex! Before I had a 161 M flex because 168 M was difficult for me to bend in an extreme carve (I weigh around 61kg). The 168 S works perfectly for me.

I'm also now using the F2 Race Titanium bail bindings that you recommend. They are much more suitable for EC than my F2 Race Titanium Intecs because of the lateral flex. All in all, I'm so pleased with my new extreme carving setup. I can feel my progress.

Thank you guys so much for this board and bringing extreme carving to the world!

Guy

[harald]

Hi,
As some of you may wonder whether you should choose a Medium or a Hard flex (or between to flexes in general), here are some experience of my own.
I have used Swoard since 2003 when I bought generation 1 168 H. Thereafter, I bought a gen. 2 168 H i 2006. Height is 178 cm, weight about 80 kg, boot size 27,5 (since 2005 Northwave p. 900 and before that Raichle 323 and UPS Mach something). Bindings are F2 race titanium but I also have used TD2 standard (with the bails). I started to carve at an age when most have retired and learned EC when I was over 60. I have about 90 days on snow in the winter, about 50 on Swoard. Usually I ride in Oslo, where the conditions change from very soft to rock hard ice.
Since the edges of my gen 1. are hairthin due to a rock in Barthelemy and the gen 2 (Virus-production) started to delaminate under the bindings last winter, I needed a new board and wanted a 168 H again. However, knowing my riding abilities and age, the whole Swoard team adviced me to choose the M instead. At first, I almost took it as an insult, but decided to follow their advice, especially after Patrice had done some serious testing of both flexes.
I picked up the board at the EC 08. First impression was the smoothness of the board. Then I went up in the steep. Last winter some of the slopes during the session were pretty hard, almost icy, in the morning. On those hard slopes the M flex provided a very smooth, almost silky turn, combined with the solid grip I was used to and really just invited to lay down in the turns. In short, the board did what I wanted it to do both on the steep and not so steep slopes and I would say it really improved my riding further. Additionally, the M flex do not need to be ridden fast all the time. It turns nicely also in medium speeds. Besides it is more versatile for short turns when its narrow or crowded. However, it was one little drawback. The M felt a little bit wobbly in the midsection, when it was really soft and especially in the flat sections of the slope.
So I decided to buy a H flex too. I got it in March and used it under both soft and hero snow conditions. Also the H works great and invites a little bit more speed than the M, but it is a little bit more difficult to skid around when I need to do that maneuvre, but it provides the solid platform I wanted when it is really soft. Luckily, I have the gen 3. in both flexes and can choose depending on the conditions, H for soft, for hero snow, and for speed. M for hard, icy and days when versatility and maneuvrability is important. But if you had to choose only one, which should I recommend If you are in the weigth class that both could be an option, and your technique is not perfect, therefore you do not want to go that fast all the time, I would definitely recommend the softer version. I would say the softer flex will develop your technique faster. Thereafter, you may go for the harder flex.

[Arnaud]

Great analyze Harald. I have got also 2 168 (H-G1 and M-G3) and I totally agree with you regarding the board selection