Donek Snowboards: New Race boards

[Donek]

Having taken a bit of a breather from the race world for a couple of years, I’ve decided it’s time to work towards a more competitive race product. I’ve spent the last few weeks doing research into what race shapes are currently working and developing some designs. This has involved dramatic changes to shape and some new metal construction ideas.

These new prototypes will be tested at the Steamboat Teams race camp at A-basin. I am looking for other teams interested in testing the boards over the summer months.
http://www.seanmartinphoto.com/photos/522348446_QmRtN-L.jpg
The new shapes incorporate continuously variable sidecut radii. Some have called this a Clothoid curve. They have decambered tips and tails along with shorter lower profile tip shapes to assist in rutted courses and reduce overloading in the shovel. The current prototypes are set up specifically to work with the Hangle plates, but I will be pressing versions for Vist plates soon.

The white board uses our current metal construction with a base material topsheet in place of the pbt. The flaming bird board incorporates more rubber than we typically use and longitudinal carbon laminates under the metal. I have a third construction in the works, but will await some feedback on these shapes before executing it.

http://www.seanmartinphoto.com/photos/522369660_LQWfv-L.jpg

[shawndoggy]

Sean, those are beauties! Hope results are positive.

[nils]

Very nice work Sean, Wishing you great success.
Its interesting to see that, like in surfboard design, the most interesting researches have always been in the rocker. i'm sure it will be no time before the dynamic researches done in snowboarding will get interest in the way things work. Shaping a surfboard is much easier than designing a winning snowboard design...

Nils

[crazyTKDsquirrel]

Ohhhhmygod...that flaming bird graphic is sooo badass!

[Gecko]

WOW....I wish you the best of luck those boards look awesome

[KingCrimson]

Awesome work Sean! :1luvu:

Beautiful group of boards!

[*Ace*]

Oh
My
God

Just when I thought my quiver was fairly complete...

[tex1230]

mmmmmmm -
send one my way next fall. I'll be happy to wreck myself and give you a full report.

[colintkemp]

Great looking boards, Sean. Nicely done. I look forward to hearing reviews.

Colin

[Loc]

...grows deeper. I really dig the firebird topsheet. Will all this new stuff trickle down to your FC line?

[Jack Michaud]

:biggthump

[Donek]

...grows deeper. I really dig the firebird topsheet. Will all this new stuff trickle down to your FC line?


There is little doubt that it will affect/influence the other boards in the line.

[Miltie]

Sean,

Nice boards! Real happy with your current products so I am looking forward to these new advancements.

Will start thinking where I can squeeze some of these shapes into the quiver.

Thanks for your hard work!!

Tom

[big canuck]

Schweeet..:biggthump

[queequeg]

Gorgeous!

[Steph]

Those look beautiful Sean! I hope that some form of them comes to the ECES demo tent next year:biggthump

[Steve Prokopiw]

of the Firebird board would be a great middle age guy's replacement for the Farrah Fawcet poster I ,er, 'he' had in the 70's:)

[crazyTKDsquirrel]

I'd hang that up on my wall!

[Arclite]

and the price is....too much to post right? :AR15firin

[bobdea]

and the price is....too much to post right? :AR15firin

well, I'd assume they run at a similar price as the metal doneks.

I'm sure they will be cheaper than a kessler!

If he gets the performance pretty close I'd say it will be a bargain even at $1000

[Donek]

and the price is....too much to post right? :AR15firin

The two prototypes pictured would sell for $1000. I have another construction that I have not built yet. It could run in the $1400 to $1500 if successfull. I rode both of them today and will begin Vist compatible versions tomorrow. We'll see how they are received by the Steamboat team next week and procede as directed by their feedback.

[neil sunday]

Keep up the good work Sean. Myself, along with alot of other riders/racers would love to support a company that is in our backyards instead of needing to get boards from europe... nice to see you working to be competitive in the race course again!

[bobdea]

The two prototypes pictured would sell for $1000. I have another construction that I have not built yet. It could run in the $1400 to $1500 if successfull. I rode both of them today and will begin Vist compatible versions tomorrow. We'll see how they are received by the Steamboat team next week and procede as directed by their feedback.

care to elaborate on what's in the $1400 model making it so expensive? assuming it's not super secret.....

[Donek]

care to elaborate on what's in the $1400 model making it so expensive? assuming it's not super secret.....

There's been one botched prototype of this construction. As I've never seen anything like it, I won't be releasing any details until the season begins. It does involve a great deal more materials and labor to produce. I'm not even certain it will be worth the extra effort, but it might pan out. So for now it's under wraps. Sorry.

[bobdea]

There's been one botched prototype of this construction. As I've never seen anything like it, I won't be releasing any details until the season begins. It does involve a great deal more materials and labor to produce. I'm not even certain it will be worth the extra effort, but it might pan out. So for now it's under wraps. Sorry.

neat, even if it does not pan out we'd love to hear about it when you're ready.

[Fastskiguy]

LOL, I think the white board made me seizure! Can't wait to hear how these ride

[Donek]

LOL, I think the white board made me seizure! Can't wait to hear how these ride

That bad eh?

[Fastskiguy]

That bad eh?

Nah, it's really cool! A lot of people want their stuff to really "stand out", thus flames, bright colors, beautiful women, etc. So it really stands out in a funny understated way. Plus we've got the whole "outlining" thing going, who didn't do this while sitting in grade school? So there's an old familiarity with it as well.

[Donek]

While the steamboat teams testing began today, Fin, Mark Kress, and I rode the first two last wednesday. The shape has evolved slightly and I'm trying a couple different flex patterns. These boards are set up for VIST plates.

Quickie simple graphics, but I want to keep all the prototypes looking different to make it easy to identify them.
http://www.seanmartinphoto.com/photos/528257910_57WLE-L.jpg

[bobdea]

Sean, I'm gonna ask you here because I know a few other people have a similar board in mind.
What I'd like to see is softboot board built similar to a kessler BX but toned down a bit, a little less taper and meant to carve well. Basically taking that type of nose shape and flex, in metal and translating it into the softboot ride most of here would kill for.


Do you have any ideas on that front?

If I had the money to prototype custom shapes and eventually hit it right I would but as it is I'm poor.

If you build it, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would be all over it.

Tanker clones in metal might be nice too but I think the above would be better.

[Donek]

Sean, I'm gonna ask you here because I know a few other people have a similar board in mind.
What I'd like to see is softboot board built similar to a kessler BX but toned down a bit, a little less taper and meant to carve well. Basically taking that type of nose shape and flex, in metal and translating it into the softboot ride most of here would kill for.


Do you have any ideas on that front?

If I had the money to prototype custom shapes and eventually hit it right I would but as it is I'm poor.

If you build it, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would be all over it.

Tanker clones in metal might be nice too but I think the above would be better.

I think I've made a comment on this earlier, but with the new software I've written, custom shaping has come down in price dramatically. I'd need some specifics on the board, but I don't see why we can't do something like this. The only limitation at this point is the width of the metal I have in stock. I believe it's 28cm wide, so we could probably go to 29cm at the shovel. It sounds like we're talking about a metal version of the Razor, but incorporating some shape and material updates.

[bobdea]

I think I've made a comment on this earlier, but with the new software I've written, custom shaping has come down in price dramatically. I'd need some specifics on the board, but I don't see why we can't do something like this. The only limitation at this point is the width of the metal I have in stock. I believe it's 28cm wide, so we could probably go to 29cm at the shovel. It sounds like we're talking about a metal version of the Razor, but incorporating some shape and material updates.

yeah, might be a razor type thing with metal, admittedly I don't know a ton about that deck.

for myself I'd need close to a 27 waist, 27 being ideal, if that's possible.

I guess either a metal version of the razor or a BX would be it.

Do you plan on building a updated razor?

[Donek]

yeah, might be a razor type thing with metal, admittedly I don't know a ton about that deck.

for myself I'd need close to a 27 waist, 27 being ideal, if that's possible.

I guess either a metal version of the razor or a BX would be it.

Do you plan on building a updated razor?

I do have some plans to update the razor this season in the glass construction. The width is a problem for the metal I have, but it might be possible. With a little creative work, I think I might be able to come up with something.

[Bordy]

Sean, I'm gonna ask you here because I know a few other people have a similar board in mind.
What I'd like to see is softboot board built similar to a kessler BX but toned down a bit, a little less taper and meant to carve well. Basically taking that type of nose shape and flex, in metal and translating it into the softboot ride most of here would kill for.


Do you have any ideas on that front?

If I had the money to prototype custom shapes and eventually hit it right I would but as it is I'm poor.

If you build it, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would be all over it.

Tanker clones in metal might be nice too but I think the above would be better.


If you change the taper on a metal BX board to less then, what K and SG are doing it is going to carve worse not better then the Kessler SG boardercross shapes which are for sure the best riding soft boot boards ever.

Also a tanker clone in metal would not work as well as you may think, In order to make a 2M stick in metal the shape needs to be much different then a tanker.

Just my opinon, based on my ideas....

Sean, Stick with the plan..... learn how to make good new school race shapes then build off of that, don't get sucked into other projects until the race shapes are done!

[bobdea]

If you change the taper on a metal BX board to less then, what K and SG are doing it is going to carve worse not better then the Kessler SG boardercross shapes which are for sure the best riding soft boot boards ever.

Also a tanker clone in metal would not work as well as you may think, In order to make a 2M stick in metal the shape needs to be much different then a tanker.

Just my opinon, based on my ideas....

Sean, Stick with the plan..... learn how to make good new school race shapes then build off of that, don't get sucked into other projects until the race shapes are done!

yeah, you may be right, and the exact reason I'd like to see development other than having my own full custom.

[Donek]

If you change the taper on a metal BX board to less then, what K and SG are doing it is going to carve worse not better then the Kessler SG boardercross shapes which are for sure the best riding soft boot boards ever.

Also a tanker clone in metal would not work as well as you may think, In order to make a 2M stick in metal the shape needs to be much different then a tanker.

Just my opinon, based on my ideas....

Sean, Stick with the plan..... learn how to make good new school race shapes then build off of that, don't get sucked into other projects until the race shapes are done!

Billy,

You haven't given me dates yet. I need to know when you guys will be training, so I can get you boards to test.

[Bordy]

yeah, you may be right, and the exact reason I'd like to see development other than having my own full custom.

The high end, off the self stuff is so good now! Fact is guys and girls have podiumed WC events on stock shaped boards you and I can buy. It has been a long time since that has happened on a regular bases, days of kids like Greenwood showing and proforming on stock gear are back!!!

Sean, my athletes all went back to summer or injury rehab, etc. So it looks like I may not be much help on the early rides. I will get in touch with you, I am busy kiting for the next few days. I will be in the loop as always. Kress already gave me some feedback. Sounds good I am excited to see what the SG and K board racers think. I just played with a black top K made for a WC athlete freash off the press it was ordered about 2 weeks ago, plenty or rubber in this one for sure. 10 inserts for Vist (mans width) 16 inserts for Hangle combo.


Looking good!:biggthump

[Donek]

Fin and I were up testing boards (round 2) on Wednesday. Lowell Hart was video taping the Steamboat team and was kind enough to send over this footage of Fin on one of the prototypes.
http://donek.smugmug.com/photos/533441374_54Dp2-O.jpg

Round 3 is in the works right now. It involves additional experimentation with progressively more decamber. I hope to determine the limit at which it becomes too much. We'll be back out testing those boards this coming Wednesday.

[philfell]

Look at Fin Go! And if you talk with him it's all business and no play.

[Hans]

Nice pics, happy testing, Fin is already having those new tracks 700!

[Fastskiguy]

yeah, just a great set of pictures there!