Plates and Snow Feel

[Jack Michaud]

This is one of my biggest concerns about plates... I have very limited plate experience, but the day I tried a Vist I found that I had a greatly reduced sense of when I was about to lose an edge. I'd be carving merrily along just fine and then kapow, I'd be on my butt with very little warning, with a very heavy thing on my feet.

Do you get used to this? Do you become attuned to the feedback from the plate so you can tell when things are about to go bad? Or is this just the price of admission?

[trailertrash]

I think the problem with asking this this early in the game is that most people who have ridden plates it seems have not ridden them on the east coast. They have better snow conditions out west than we do hence most answers aren't going to give you the information you want.

[Bobby Buggs]

I think the problem with asking this this early in the game is that most people who have ridden plates it seems have not ridden them on the east coast. They have better snow conditions out west than we do hence most answers aren't going to give you the information you want.

So your saying you dont know WTF you are talking about, feel free to excuse your self from this thread:cool:

[trailertrash]

So your saying you dont know WTF you are talking about, feel free to excuse your self from this thread:cool:

Yes, maybe I should go start a thread (http://www.bomberonline.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=31794) that says "I am too lazy to read the information presented to me already so I will start my own thread to ask questions already answered because I like information spoon fed to me. My time is worth more than yours so do the work for me!"

;)

[Buell]

I think the problem with asking this this early in the game is that most people who have ridden plates it seems have not ridden them on the east coast. They have better snow conditions out west than we do hence most answers aren't going to give you the information you want.

Poor east coast rider with nothing better to do. ;)

Watch one of the last Donek videos. You can hear the frozen man made and you can watch them struggling to hold an edge.

I am more curious if they even got to test the plates on good west coast snow and how much of a difference it made on hero groom verses a non plated board.

[Bobby Buggs]

Yes, maybe I should go start a thread (http://www.bomberonline.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=31794) that says "I am too lazy to read the information presented to me already so I will start my own thread to ask questions already answered because I like information spoon fed to me. My time is worth more than yours so do the work for me!"

;)
Glad you know your roll in life:biggthump

[Zanci]

Poor east coast rider with nothing better to do. ;)

Watch one of the last Donek videos. You can hear the frozen man made and you can watch them struggling to hold an edge.

I am more curious if they even got to test the plates on good west coast snow and how much of a difference it made on hero groom verses a non plated board.
not much difference, holds the edge more at high speeds and hard snow/ice.
****ty at soft snow, I think that a freecarver doesn't need plates.
That's my 50 cents about the vist.

[trailertrash]

Glad you know your roll in life:biggthump

Glad you can spell.

[Surf Quebec]

Jack, you did a very good article last year comparing the metal boards offer. Will you do one on plates ?

I'm sure it would be waited for.

[nekdut]

Weight and height seemed to be the two biggest items that stood out initially on the prototype plate that I rode. Snow feel was reasonable, but I kept ending up hauling way faster than I intended to since it smoothed things out so much.

[Jack Michaud]

Haha ok guys, get a room! Back on course, I think people who have a lot of days on a Vist could also comment about getting used to the reduction in snow feel. And it looks to me like people who have ridden the new plates could weigh in.

[Jack Michaud]

Jack, you did a very good article last year comparing the metal boards offer. Will you do one on plates ?

I'm sure it would be waited for.

Thanks! All those boards are gone except my personal NSR. I could do an article on riding the NSR with and without my Boiler. Based on how much it cost me to do that board review, I don't see something like that happening again very soon.

[ARCrider]

hi jack
yes, reduced snow feel but i wouldn't want to ride without one.
unless in pow.
more of a detached sense at slower speeds or slarving or sliding. interesting drill with a plate is to spin 360s.

I don't see any plate helping newbies. it is a carve plate works best with board at a functional carving speed speed and a commitment to the carve.

I think you do get used to the new feel. more of a feeling of line than snow.
not sure if my words are expressing my thoughts.

[MUD]

This kind of along the same lines..... I have been thinking about this for a while.

My Monster goes about as fast as I need to go for a midwest hill. There for some of the fun in carving this area is the challenge of the changing snow condition as you descend the hill.... Sometimes it is just tiring, other times it is the only entertainment keeping me from going home.

Do the plates smooth it out THAT much? Does it take some of the challenge out?

The main reason I am not getting one is I don't want anymore variables to tweak.

Sorry if this is a high jack.

[Mike T]

In my limited experience, depends on the plate.

On a Hangl, I had a tough time telling when things were about to go south. On the Apex, didn't have that problem.

Both plates, I rode in variable conditions that changed through the day. The Apex I found was more of a positive contributor on serious hardpack, early AM Mt Bachelor spring frozen cord to be precise.

On the harder stuff the added power and edge grip outweighed the negative of weight and a feeling of loss of agility. On hero snow, I honestly preferred going plateless as I felt like I could get edge to edge faster, but I could also see myself like the plate all the time if I had more time to get used to it.

[lowrider]

I don't think plates remove any challenge they add to it because you are pushing your own limits of comfort to see what the plate will bring to it that is different from previous experience. It's not like your always looking to tweak something rather that you are searching back in your memory as to how the terrain treated you on a previous runs without a plate and then realizing that the plate is better than what you had encountered before.

[trailertrash]

Hey snowblower, that button next to "quote" lets you quote multiple messages and combine them into one post. Try it out.

[shane groshong]

The approach to the plate needs to be looked at from the positive rather than the negative or loss of feel. Push the board hard and you will only feel the benefits because the plate and the board become one. Remember it is all connected, and it is a system, not a board and a plate.

I now have one of the donek plates and am excited to see what it will do to the torsional stiffness of some boards I feel are twisty now that I have become used to the torsional stiffness that plates offer.

The boards I have ridden with plates are solid and unbelievably torsionally stiff. I personally love the feel that plates produce.

[valsam]

I think that Citroen the french car manufacturer made a car 10-15 years ago that when it was cornering the outside of the car would rise so that it would not be tilted when cornering and the car was extremely comfortable but the results were disastrous because drivers didn't realise what were the grip limits before it was too late and when they crashed they crashed hard!
I never rode any sort of plate but if there is isolation of the feed back of the terrain and the limits of edge hold then it sounds to me something like the Citroen car !

[Buell]

I think that Citroen the french car manufacturer made a car 10-15 years ago that when it was cornering the outside of the car would rise so that it would not be tilted when cornering and the car was extremely comfortable but the results were disastrous because drivers didn't realise what were the grip limits before it was too late and when they crashed they crashed hard!
I never rode any sort of plate but if there is isolation of the feed back of the terrain and the limits of edge hold then it sounds to me something like the Citroen car !

I think the validity of the plates for hard / fast riding has been clearly proven in the race course. This is not like the car you mention.

[carvingchef]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">Originally Posted by valsam http://www.bomberonline.com/vbulletin/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.bomberonline.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=320028#post320028)
I think that Citroen the french car manufacturer made a car 10-15 years ago that when it was cornering the outside of the car would rise so that it would not be tilted when cornering and the car was extremely comfortable but the results were disastrous because drivers didn't realise what were the grip limits before it was too late and when they crashed they crashed hard!
I never rode any sort of plate but if there is isolation of the feed back of the terrain and the limits of edge hold then it sounds to me something like the Citroen car !


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

you are comparing a plate "you never rode" with a car "you think" citroen made 10-15 years ago

[BlueB]

Citroen DS, from 1955...
Legend has it that besides the styling by Bertoni and Lefèbvre, certain ideas came from Pablo Picasso himself.

[valsam]

you are comparing a plate "you never rode" with a car "you think" citroen made 10-15 years ago
Can you give me a serious answer to the comparison i made or do you just like being a smart ass ?

[Mxjas38]

Boardercross with a plate? would this be good or bad?
Any opinions?

[lowrider]

If it works for you why not ? Better to ride one then to be ridden over by one.

[carvingchef]

Originally Posted by carvingchef http://www.bomberonline.com/vbulletin/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.bomberonline.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=320052#post320052)
you are comparing a plate "you never rode" with a car "you think" citroen made 10-15 years ago

Can you give me a serious answer to the comparison i made or do you just like being a smart ass ?no i'm not being a smart ass, i'm just wondering how you can compare a plate you never rode with a car you most likely never drove, that's all
i think the original poster was looking for feed-back from people with experience on a plate

[carvedog]

no i'm not being a smart ass, i'm just wondering how you can compare a plate you never rode with a car you most likely never drove, that's all


I laughed. So true.

[Michael Pukas]

This is one of my biggest concerns about plates... I have very limited plate experience, but the day I tried a Vist I found that I had a greatly reduced sense of when I was about to lose an edge. I'd be carving merrily along just fine and then kapow, I'd be on my butt with very little warning, with a very heavy thing on my feet.

Do you get used to this? Do you become attuned to the feedback from the plate so you can tell when things are about to go bad? Or is this just the price of admission?
Haven't tried the Vist, but the new gen plates are like a car with a susepnsion vs a car without a suspension. The {little} bumps are smoothed out, but you're not disconnected from the snow or what the board is doing. I think perhaps one thing that happens is the plate smooths the ride out so much, that you relax and loose focus, thinking everything is going so well. That's happened to me - even on my Kessler w/out a plate - the board rides so smooth compared to old school glass I some times forget that I am the one drivign it, and it'll toss me. You still have to be on your game with a plate - maybe even more so because you've got the ability to go much faster over rougher terrain.

It does feel different - it's up to each person to ride one and decide if they like it for their own riding. On either ice or hero snow, a plate makes everything better. For me - I'll be riding one all the time! :biggthump