A new snowboard review has been posted on the site by SerreChe.

SNOWBOARD:
Rad-Air: Tanker Oversize 187, 05/06

The review can be found here:

http://www.snowjapan.com/e/gear-reviews/snowboard-review-003-rad-air.html

Discuss it here...

Ok, moved my back leg stance one notch further. Will see how it goes this season...

Who you talking too?

Hi SJs, I have been riding my Rad-air a fair bit with a new stance this season and was wondering if I could update my review as follows:

2007/01 update: In my original review I had stated that I had to put a bit of huumpf when turning backside and had lost an edge on occasions when I was riding it too agressively. I had also stated that I was going to play around with my stance to see how behaviour would improve. On my original set-up I had the narrower stance available (that's how I had been riding for year on my other smaller boards) and was decided to slowly move my back-leg one notch at a time and see how it would go. So I moved one notch further back for the hind leg and tested it out as a first step... and oh behold, that baby has been turning on a dime ever since both frontside & backside, and I have not lost an edge ever since on backside turns. I could not believe how a small stance adjustment made such a huge difference in terms of maneuverability! Big thumbs up for the board, and I guess that rectifies the few negative comments I had. After very recently trashing my beloved canyon 168 beyond recognition (long story) I had been thinking about getting a fat upper 170cm Elan board to ride more on groomer as well as have some good off-piste capabilities, but given how this board handles now on-piste not to mention in powder with its fat nose and 187cm, I think I will be using it as an all around board. I am sure it would make a great carver with a couple of plates on as well (for those who are into the stuff). Anyway, great board, I will keep my rating at 9 stars 'cos I do not believe in perfection The moral of the story is that I should have been all the wiser with regards to my stance when going from a 168 to a 187. Alhtough the stance move is pretty conventional when going to a big board, I had assumed (wrongly) that with enough experience I could still manage a powder board on groomer with the same old stance. :rolleyes:

:p

Looks like I am playing the guitar!

Hey there. My name is Fanon and I am new to SnowJapan. I live in Kyoto, but am originally from LA, Calf. I expect to be learning my way around Niseko this winter.

I enjoyed your review and revised edition on the Rad-Air Tanker 187. I currently ride a Khyber 166 by Prior and although it is a specialized "powder board" I use it as my all around board. I have been wanting to get an "all mountain free riding rig" and think that I am going to get a Tanker 200. Is this thing really the dream everybody says that it is? Are you able to hit the trees with your new stance? I'm still trying to wrap my head around the length:)

Also, what type of soft boot bindings are you using? Will very stiff bindings like Salomon spx 90s work well? Also, what are your stance coordinates now that you have adjusted back? We are about the same size so I might try your coordinates. Any advice is most appreciated. Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Best,
Fanon

hey wanted to talk with yo about your rad-air

tsondaboy:
hey there. my name is Fanon. nice pic with you and your tanker.
i am thinking about getting a tanker 187 wide or a 200 regular. i wear a size 12 (29.5) boot. will a 12 work with a 200? also, are you able to hit the trees with your board? what type of bindings are you using?

thanks,
fanon

That’s actually SerreChe with his tanker.
I took a pick of him with my cell phone last season up at Kagura. I also ride like you a Prior Khyber 160!

By the way, welcome aboard.

Hi blackice, welcome to the forum.

The board is really nice. I orignally use to ride my tanker for powder and my burton canyon for all around but after the stance adjustment I am now riding my tanker all around (smashing my canyon to pieces pushed me to make the leap). I use spx45s for bindings, without a problem I really like them, except for a tiny problem that applies to all bindings : really hard to un-strap when you're upside down (yes it happens).

The inserts on my board are 8x8:



http://www.exoticboards.com/i/Exotics/tn_more_snowboards_012.jpg

I am now as far back as you can on the front foot, and middle on the back inserts (I used to have the narrowest stance possible).

As for my angles, they have not changed since moving my back-foot, I am still on +15,0.

I do ride some very tight trees (my googles do bear the marks of some tight encounters) with my 187 no probs, but I think it also depends how comfortable you are with the board and riding in trees overall which is hard to generalize to everybody. Japan is trees galore mostly with limited true alpine terrain, so being able to ride trees is important.

A lot of my friends ride Khybers as well and are really happy with their boards. I think jumping from a 166 to a 200 may be a bit too much of a transition. I was asking myself the same question when I was riding a 167 and decided to go for a 187 which for me offered the perfect transition size-wise. The clincher for me was the waist width. If you go with a 200, you'll have to give up some width, not just with the tanker but with any super long boards.

Thomas_m on this forum does ride a rad-air 200 but he does not have sasquatch feet like you & I do ;-).

I'll post a few shots later on.

Hope it helps.

In terms of trees, this is the kind of tighness I usually ride:

http://www.snowjapan.com/e/snow-japan-photo-galleries/SerreChe/SerreChe_226.jpg

If I can, I try to avoid trees though.

187 is quite big already.
A shot of the tanker on my backpack with Tsondaboy in the background for scale:

http://www.snowjapan.com/e/snow-japan-photo-galleries/SerreChe/SerreChe_225.jpg



Some shots of me (thanks to friends who are very good photographers)charging a bit of powder with my tanker last season can be found here:

http://www.snowjapan.com/e/insider/member_photo_gallery.php?userGallery=145

One of the shots:



Good luck in your choices.
Hope you get to ride some great pow this season.

Come on, I am only 171 cm tall, if you take off the bindings I can easily sleep on it!

Winter is around the corner, 3 months from now and we will be riding the first freshies.
I will try to get more and better shots this year SerreChe.

Sorry, could not help the "Tsonda for scale" tongue in cheek comment.
Good news is I can easily use it as an emergency tow-in in case something happens to you.
I can't believe it, that's true, only 3 months away. Wonder how this season is gonna pan out.
Tsonda, if you have a bit of cash, you may want to upgrade on the camera. I am thinking about it as well.

I see you have an exquisite sense of humor SerreChe.

But... I have quite a few points in my Bigcamera card so I might be able to get a deal.

Go spend those points before they expire!

I just realized on the above picture that I left my ventilation zipper on my inside right leg open.
Was too eager to ride.

Good thing that nothing was hanging out.

Yea, I'm currently trying to find an oversize 187 to buy... it's tough :p

Are looking for it at a shop in tokyo or online?

Hi nuejam,

I bought mine directly from the distributor in Tokyo. I will have to do a bit of digging to find the person's email address but he speaks a little bit of english as well. Let me know if you're interested and I'll pass you his dets via PM.

Thank god for the meshing and the fact that I am not a horse

thanks -- I've since found RJ, an American distributor, and Atsushi, the Japanese distributor's phonenumbers/contact information. Atsushi has a 177 05-06, not sure if it's oversized, and RJ is getting 07-08 187 oversizeds in 4 weeks... getting quotes on both, and as soon as it's clear whether or not I'll be working in Niseko next season, opening up the wallet

Good stuff. I bought mine from Atsushi, so did my friend who got one from the previous season. I also bought the carrier from him. All were very reasonably priced compared to the likes of Burton etc...
Good luck then.

don't want to be the one to rain on the parade but why get such a long board for Niseko?

from what folks have to say even a 187 seems fittable in the trees, and hopefully I?ll be spending most of my time off piste or at yotei/one of the nupuris. I haven?t decided yet so might end up with the 177 or 167?still waiting for prices on this years model.

Niseko doesn?t have the steepest terrain, though it would seem that there are 40°slopes to be found ; but it has more than enough BC and powder for a long board, is what I currently think.

that depends on your ability, speed and how tight the trees are.

well then what better opportunity to work on my ability at speeding through tight trees with a wide and long board ?(*^ ·^)???
time to buy a helmet.

Given nuejam's frame & weight, what some may consider as a longboard may be actually a nice all around board for him. Some people actually put plates on these puppies and carve with them.

Niseko should have enough fluffy pow for a longboard. If you intend to spend most of your time in tight trees then you may want to go a bit shorter. But Kuma is also right that it depends on how tight the trees as well as your ability.

If you are not much of a tree rider, then a helmut may be a good idea, although I do not want to revive the helmut thread here... :-)

i don't think nuejam's given his frame & weight. that was another guy.
anyways, since he's set on getting a rad air then all the power to him. Nuejam, hopefully you'll post a report after you've ridden the niseko pow

Darn I am getting old, you right Kuma, different person...
Yeah, hope we get some pics from Niseko!

Hopefully :-)

I got a new digi-camera.
The new Olympus μ 830 series.

___________________________ this color ____________


Nothing fancy put it should definitely take better picks than my old one.

Excellent, looking forward to some jaw-dropping pics from you this season Tsonda! Thinking to upgrade mine as well. Wondering whether to go 8x zoom (non-digital zoom) with 8mgpix, or 4x zoom w/ 12 mgpix...

I got this one because it has 5x zoom (8 Mpix). Olympus makes an other model the μ 1200 with 12 Mpix but only 3x zoom. I though that it would be better to have some more zoom, since most of the snow picks are taken from some distance.
Maybe you should try asking for more opinions in the snow photography thread.

Good idea, I'll do that.

I us too ride the Tanker LTD 2000 back in 1999. It was the best board every until I snapped it in half in a boardcross