Apocalypse raceboard

[Camberpopper]

Is anyone familier with Apocalypse raceboards? I looked up their website and all I see is freestye & all mtn boards. I just picked up a used (in great shape) Apocalypse 6S and just wanted to see if anyone knew anything about the board and quality?
Thanx!:cool:
p.s- I'm still lookin 4 boots size 27-27.5

[thump]

I believe that you have stumbled upon a limited run of boards made back in the late 80's by apocalypse surf.had a factory in ellenville,ny.jimi scott rode freestyle for the co. and then i believe they sold out.

[nils]

the board is at least 15 years old! Would love to see a picture btw since they must have produced like... 100-500 of them only (i can get numbers from Regis Rolland!) Never saw them in real.

To explain the story behind this boards:
-1983-1987 > regis rolland hand produces his boards in France
-1988-1991/2? > he makes business with a taiwanese and an american and company and machines are transfered to NY ( weird place for snowbusiness) and boards are produces partly in Canada by a subcontractor. Business goes under the apocalypse snowboards until they split because of business colateral damage ;) ( partners not agreeing).
- 1992/3? - 2003 > Regis is back in france without the name ( left with the business there in NY) and makes his new company "A Snowboards". He is bought by Rossignol in 2000 and Rossi drops all activity and shuts the factory (that was also making HOT/Hammer) for good. Regis, again, has to leave the name! and founds APO snowboards ! from 2003 till then!

So that race / alpine board is made between 1988 and 1991/2!

Nils

[jtslalom]

Camberpopper,
My friend Sean rode for Apocalypse in 1993 right after riding for Hot. I had bought two Hot Logical boards from him in 1992 and he was showing me his new Apocalypse. I think a guy named Jerry was a representative of the company. We all rode at Vernon Valley in northern NJ. We are about 50 miles from Ellenville NY. I'm not quite sure but I believe the board was a solid yellow color. He may of had another that was a red color.

[Erik J]

When the company went out of business a friend of mine bought a crap-load of the old Apocalypse board materials with the intention of pressing some of his own. I still have all of it stored in my parents barn. I completely forgot about it until I read this thread. Sorry to get off topic, but damn, I'm gonna have to do something with that stuff.

[nils]

Yes after Regis left the company, the US partner named Bill Kent might have continued making the boards under that name for a while...

Some precisions too: Regis got involved with Bill, then the taiwanese guy named Lin bought the company in 1990 to save it from bankrupcy... so the US story might have ended later than 1992...

Regis is now back in business with Lin and his new boards are made in China by Lin. ( Saw the new line, and quality looks pretty good )

Nils

Eric: If you have the molds of the swallowtails made by the company then, would be nice to see pics :), as well as pics of the old stuff :)... I could host them on swallowtails.org!

[Camberpopper]

So you guys really think this board is that old? It looks much newer to me. I'll have to get some pics up of it. I dont think it could be that old, it just looks to new. It does have some older snowpro "race" bindings on it? Its has a black bottem and a blackish top to it. In the middle on the board on the top side it has the letters "TAC". "Tapered Asymmetrical Core" spelled out under the letters. Looks like a straight up race board and is stiff as Hell. I'll work on getting some pics up. So since its this old, I should still be fine ridding it shouldnt I? Or is this something collectors go after? Im still looking for boots to if anyone can help. Size M27,27.5:cool:

[Mellow Yellow]

Camber...

Tnere are a group of us that rides Springs. During the week after xmas I'll be there along with some others that post on this board. Have you ridden at Springs long?

Jasen

[Shred Gruumer]

I did some Rep work for them in the day,, I actually had one as well

Yep,, sounds like that old piece! should be black on the sheet, but the best feature was the base.... looked like a dug out canoe!, should have a big ass U Channel down the middle that look like someone did it with a wood chisel! Has rebar in it.. dam thing would not flex if you tried.. I even sanded the top sheet off to make it rideable. Mine had the special LOFO bindings on it.. doesn't even have a retention plate in it.. Now the CAP 161 they made was a pretty fun board!

Ohhh back in the days!!!

Right said Shred

[Randy S.]

And here I thought Shred replied to this thread only because he saw the poster's name and thought someone was trying to Pop Marilyn. :eek:

The only apocolypse I remember was a swallow tail - I think. That would have been mid-late 80's.

[philfell]

Last Apocalypse race board I saw was the one Shred described, it was at the U.S. Open in '93 I think. But to answer your question yes your board is old, probably not fifteen year unless its the asym model, but if its a symetrical shape it's probably around twelve. My advise is if this is your only board ride the hell out of it and not second guess it. If you have other board to ride hang onto it for a conversation peice.

[kipstar]

I know little about boarding, but the asym core is the idea of a NZ guy called Dave Patridge; it is basically a sympetric shaped board with an Asym core, and possibly an asym sidecut - this same guy also came up with the channel idea as well; I think he worked for them in 1992.

He previusly made boards himself in NZ called Snostix that also used the same idea.

A very smart guy, not sure what Dave did after this.

Regards
Kip

[John Gilmour]

I had a TAC core board with Channel bottom in I think a 167 length or 165.

The tapered asymentric core was neat because the board had a symetrical shape- so you had no asym lock....but it had a asymetrical shift in the core. So the thickest point of the core was to occur between your heels on your heelside (shifted aftward) and then on the toe side it was shifted forwards.

The channel bottom idea was to separate the board into two distinct flexing planks- remove extra drag surface off the snow, break up suction, and make it cheaper to wax.

Cool idea. And in some conditions it worked. Fawcett used to ride these as well.

The idea would have been far better executed if the separated ski idea could have been done as a cap construction as opposed to a v-lam. For once the cap construction could have been used properly as the torsional rigidity of a cap goes up as the height of the cap approaches the width of the area capped.

I suppose he could have blended a cap in so it would be v-lam at tip and tail- and cap in the middle.

the board I had I think it was the 7GS was super stiff. The conditions that favored that deck were chalk- or very hard surface where you would not sink in more than 1/4 inch.

The board had very thick sidewalls so if you railed the deck more than 45 degress- you felt extreme sidewall drag- and you ended up with more pressure on the sidewall than the edge- which ussually ended up as a blowout.... for racing- it was fine.

The problems were riding that deck in looser snow- or horrors ...in softer snow or wetter snow- you had to get the edge to engage to bend the baord...and if the snow was too soft you couldn't get enough hold on the snow to bend the board- but who cared??...it was made for racing in hard conditions anyhow. The channel bottom made turn intiation very difficult in soft snow and the board would lock. You had to edge the board with no pivot at all- and high enough to free the channel from the snow- I have photos of me dragging the board through softer snow on a headwall at Squaw valley and then through moguls....don't try that at home...lol...

the board came with double density inserts. I think the asym core was not super shifted....so angles couldn't be too high.
________
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[Camberpopper]

Thanks Kipstar and Gilly! That was the info I was lookin for. The really bad news that I got jumped by some a?shole and ended up with 3 broken ribs. Hopfully I heal up quickly. Snow is predicted fo tonight!!!:D