h2opete987
01-27-2012, 08:43 PM
To start things off, I'm 6'1" and a bit bigger than I care to admit, so your mileage may vary. I have previously ridden foam-core Alpina fat-boards, as well as KTPs with both receptors and risers.
My tested setup is the RCondor with a receptor soft boot riser and K2 Cinch bindings, and an additional 2" velcro power-strap that ties through the high-back. I wear the k2 Maysis boot with dual boa. Once latched in, the Cinch's high-back is a rigid high-back.
While the duck-foot was very useful in keeping my bards parallel and close together, the 6* on each foor that I used was a little bit too much as at the end of the day i found myself fighting to keep my tips apart. 3* should be just about perfect.
While I always had a blast on my KTPs, I have never had as much fun on the snow as with my Soft-boot RCondor setup. They were very stable at speed, extremely playful and quick to turn, held a solid edge when driven hard, and slarved beautifully when left flat to the hill. As has been said before, finding the edge on the RCondor is much more "analog" than the cambered boards "digital." While on KTPs I was either skidding straight down an icy or hardpacked slope, or I felt as though I was on rails. I am easily able to get the RCondor to do both these things, as well as every level of edge engagement in-between. The combination of RCondor and soft-boot lends itself very well to a lazy foot-turn by simply slarving the boards.
The only "neutral" feel i have for the RCondor is the level of flex in the core. As a larger gentleman, I greatly enjoyed the stiffness of the KTP. It allowed me to easily overpower any abnormalities in the snow and maintain a solid lock to the hill. The RCondor, on the other hand, required a less rigid form to fully control. I would be interested in how a RCondor with the stiffness of a KTP (or more, to compensate for the rocker) would ride.
Overall, I beleive I will spend the vast majority of my time on the RCondor, and all of my time in soft-boots.
My tested setup is the RCondor with a receptor soft boot riser and K2 Cinch bindings, and an additional 2" velcro power-strap that ties through the high-back. I wear the k2 Maysis boot with dual boa. Once latched in, the Cinch's high-back is a rigid high-back.
While the duck-foot was very useful in keeping my bards parallel and close together, the 6* on each foor that I used was a little bit too much as at the end of the day i found myself fighting to keep my tips apart. 3* should be just about perfect.
While I always had a blast on my KTPs, I have never had as much fun on the snow as with my Soft-boot RCondor setup. They were very stable at speed, extremely playful and quick to turn, held a solid edge when driven hard, and slarved beautifully when left flat to the hill. As has been said before, finding the edge on the RCondor is much more "analog" than the cambered boards "digital." While on KTPs I was either skidding straight down an icy or hardpacked slope, or I felt as though I was on rails. I am easily able to get the RCondor to do both these things, as well as every level of edge engagement in-between. The combination of RCondor and soft-boot lends itself very well to a lazy foot-turn by simply slarving the boards.
The only "neutral" feel i have for the RCondor is the level of flex in the core. As a larger gentleman, I greatly enjoyed the stiffness of the KTP. It allowed me to easily overpower any abnormalities in the snow and maintain a solid lock to the hill. The RCondor, on the other hand, required a less rigid form to fully control. I would be interested in how a RCondor with the stiffness of a KTP (or more, to compensate for the rocker) would ride.
Overall, I beleive I will spend the vast majority of my time on the RCondor, and all of my time in soft-boots.