Power Kite Forum

kite specific snowboards?

propylene22 - 5-2-2015 at 05:21 PM

What do you all think about kite specific snowboards? Do people use them? I've been riding my standard one for a bit and feel like I can't ever just go straight.

rofer - 5-2-2015 at 05:59 PM

So, I've never used a kite-specific snowboard, but when I looked into this it seemed like most of the things you'd want for kiting you can find in other (potentially cheaper) boards. It seemed like the big thing to look for is a board with reverse-camber which is what lead me to get a GNU Park Pickle. It seems like a lot of people ride the similar Libtech Skate Banana.

Now, I've only had about an hour out with this board and one of my kites so take what I say with a grain of salt, but I don't think there's anything a kite-specific board gives you that you can't get from other boards.

snowkite boards

mdpminc - 6-2-2015 at 09:28 AM

Started with a regular snowboard, then I switched to Nobile Snowkite 165, big improvement on straight line speed and better balance on hard surfaces even on patchy ice. On powder not a significant difference.
After a few seasons I decided to step up to a race board Nobile RC2000 "TSAR".
2015 model shown here : PICO2000

They are expensive, but worth every penny if you are into freerides and long distance cruising.

It was a bit weird at first as I was not used to such dramatic increase in speed and "on rails" handling. Still need to fine tune my stance, bit wider than before.
I personally like low wind, relaxed cruising sessions, but on the first session of the year I was able to milk 26mph from a 9knt wind in semi-hard snow with a 10m open foil (2015 Hardwaterkiter speed standings week 4)

tsar2000Marek_sm.jpg - 246kB