Landboarding

[Mike Hill]

I'm interested in landboarding and am looking for some info on types and makes of land/mountainboards and what to look for in a good board.

[RickHeninger]

Mike,

There are a number of options... Come Friday evening the 1st of June to Skyline High School and you'll see the different boards. Some are skateboards, some are landboards, some are home made... The larger the wheels, the smoother the ride, the longer the board the bigger the turning radius... Big turning radii simulates bigger sailboards that turn more slowly... Smaller turning radii with less stiff (trucks) or spring mechanisms will feel more like a wave board...

But there is a whole slew of different designs out there... Come see!

[Jon Manwaring]

Mike, are you going to power the landboard with a sail or a kite? If a kite Brian at Ozone Reps for Ground Industries, which he can either sell direct or thru his dealers. Or I have a source for MSB I think that's the brand of mt boards used with kites. Steve at Cloud Nine or Ryan at Extreme could have these in stock
Jon Mzee

[Mike Hill]

What time are things happening at Skyline one the 1st. I'm interested in a board to use with a kite. I've been looking at different mountain boards. I've seen a couple of the MSB boards that are designed for kiting. Thanks for all the info. Looking forward to June 1st. With the drought in full swing, water may be less of an option than normal.

[RickHeninger]

UM... Well, actually June 1st is a deal for beginner windsurfers... But kiters are welcome to come for windsurfing... I think, Derek et al. will probably some day soon put his own Kite beginner day together...

[mike loeser]

Mike,
I am not the expert on boards, but I think you'll find that almost any of them work. For kiting I think you should stay away from the wood decks if you are going for any type of air. If you ride at Burmester the ground is soft enough to absorb most of it, but the strength of wood isn't the best for kiting. Most of the decks are bombproof. I'd hit up Steve at cloud nine or Brian Schenk for more info. Salty Peaks has a good selection, but the staff doesn't kite. If you can, support the local kite shops. I've got a MBS Blade thats a few years old that you can try out if you like.
Mike L.

[btjsfca]

So, this will be a biased opinion since my time on GI boards is pretty limited, but I'll tell you my impressions.

GI boards have a surprisingly light feel, but maybe that's because I was riding a flight lite, their lightest board. GI's bindings are very comfy, but hold your feet so securely that it makes it tough to pop in and out.

The feel of the GI suspension is definitely stiffer than the MBS suspension. This is a good thing if you're about cruising at speed. For jumping, it's nice to have the responsiveness of the MBS suspension to make quick corrections when you land. Remember that on land, you need to be fairly precise on your landings. There's no real potential for sliding sideways if you are off. You can, in my experience correct a 10 degree angle difference, but more than that is likely to be trouble. In those cases when I don't feel I'm going to stick the landing, I generally kick off the board and float back to earth.

MBS boards tend to be pricier than the GI equivalent, but I much prefer the feel of the MBS board for downhilling, and that is the best practice for getting good on land. The train at the U is a great lift system. And a "lift ticket" is only a couple bucks for the day. Many good runs at the U.

I also prefer the MBS tread pattern. I feel the GI tires are slower and seem to grip less well on anything that isn't concrete/asphalt.

One thing to notice also is that MBS board tend to have a "poppier" feel. But they are also stiffer.

The price point, the lightness, and the straight-line stability characterize the GI boards.

The responsiveness, carvability, and larger choice set of the MBS boards is the attraction there.

The low-end MBS boards come with standard skate-style trucks, which I don't recommend, but they are lighter with less spin weight. Try to get a board with the matrix trucks (if MBS) or bionic trucks (for GI).

Any GI board with bionic trucks will do ya, but the flight lite is best.

My MBS board recs, in order of price: comp 16, comp 8, jereme leafe, leon robbins, alex brown.

Crap. MBS just released the new line-up. Well, you might be able to translate these recs into the new catalog. And, annoyingly, they've got a new type of truck out this year. Bummer. Can't tell you if it's good or not. Maybe you should take a ride down to Salty Peaks. They should have all these boards on display. Sooner or later.

Sorry for the blathering. Hope it helped.

-J

[Mike Hill]

I've spent 2 years on the snow and I so far haven't learned to get off the ground. At this point in my learning curve I'm probably looking for something that will give me a goood ride and not worry so much about the air thing. I use tele skis in the winter, not a snowboard and have only about 8 days on the water. So would prefer some type of cruiser. Also I'm not a big guy 5"3" 135 lbs. Thanks to everyone for the feed back and am still looking for more advice.