In my search for info on kite specific snowboards I ran across this place. The Nobile website says they are the local distributor. Anyone know anything about them? Good? Bad? Do any of the PKF member retailers have kite specific snowboard info/stock?

Trident sports is not a reseller. They are distributor for Nobile, Airush, and some others.

Find any shop that sells Nobile or Airush and I guess you can get anything they have through special order.

Here locally I have www.windspirit.ca but there is silentsports in Ontario as well.

may be this is what you are looking for ???

http://www.windspirit-direct.com/boards_details_ks_ca.cfm?fa...

other than Nobile, the only other brand I know of that makes Kite Spec snowboards are JN. Will have these instock and start shipping to dealers in a month when winter starts.

oddly whats the difference from a Kite Spec and Reg Board, i couldnt honestly tell ya. However people that have used the JN and Nobile Kite Spec swear by them.

http://www.nssb.ca/

contact these guys ???

In Calgary - Jeff Doepker of www.soulsessionsports.com (formerly www.kitesource.ca) carried Nobile last year. I don't think his site has the snow gear listed yet. I think he had a demo available last year.

I think I might have detailed the differences between regular snowboards and kite-snowboards on a different topic (probably in the snowkiting section of this forum). I have a Twisted Velocity board. I havent had a chance to ride it yet, and used a twin tip from Monson all last season. I understand the differences, and did quite a bit of reading before I bought my board (part of why I didnt get it in time for the end of the season).

I got mine from Kite-Line (kite-line.com), and it was the last one they had in stock. They only did a limited release of the boards last year, and I got one of the last ones.

The big difference between downhill boards and kite snowboards is the side-cut. Most downhill boards have a pretty aggressive side-cut which lets the board turn faster. Or it has a good amount of flex for the same reason. Longer, stiffer boards are better for higher speeds (and turn very slow at low speed), and less jitter at high speed.

Snowkiteboards will most likely fall into one of two categories, those that have no sidecut (or reverse like the Twisted Velocity board), and those that have very little sidecut. Each of these has its advantages, from what I read. A board with sidecut will turn much more easily, and have good pop for jumps. While a board with no sidecut will hold its edge in a straight line much better, but have very limited pop. When riding a board with some sidecut, I found myself constantly fighting to keep the board straight. It kept trying to turn against the kite and I had to constantly adjust for that. Made for a real workout, as well as being quite annoying...