jjue
12-09-2007, 12:27 AM
Great day to ride my new KTP 's today , big pow day at Sugar bowl with 24 to 30" of new snow . You know the kind of day when folks are lining up 45min ahead of time to get first shots at the pow . No , I didn't ride my KTP's first . That honor went to the biggest , baddest powder monster in my skiboard quiver , the Sherpa 130 , and that baby did not cease to amaze me flying through all kinds of powder stashes at mach speed , but soon it was time to give the KTP'S a go . Rode them with Snowjam Extreme 2's , in the second set of inserts , total set back was 6cm , 4cm with the inserts and 2cm more on my Snowjams , wanted to be as far back as possible for the 2-3 feet of pow I was going to ride the KTPs' in .
I did not have time to set the bindings back to center to try them out that way , But it is a credit to this board that it carves very well from the furthest back position . I think you will get better carving and fakie ability and park ability by moving the bindings back to center which is a really cool option . With my Snowjams bascially I can have any of 4 choices for set backs 0 , 2 cm back , 4 cm back and 6 cm back . Most days with pow like today you will be going from groomers and out to pow on one run and you want to know that a rear position works on a board . On the KTP , the rear positions work great !
Yeah , that's right ... On the groomers , the KTP 's were great . They feel way more manuverable then my 110's , felt like 99's but with more "muscle " . Nice smooth carve , felt like a lot of board under my boot but no problems with getting edge , way smooth edge to edge , sticks carves real well . Did not seem any more difficult carving then my ALP's . I am used to longboard skiboards and 110's and the KTP felt much more " skate" like to me . In fact it was easy going down a mild slope to skate one skiboard off the other , carve one footed, throw in a few 360's , and then carve two footed . Felt much more like my inline skates then my longer boards . Although I am not a park guy , I really can see how these will be great in the park and I do not think the width will be any problem .
The skiboard is very stable at speed and I think the width helps that . It does seem a little slower than my ALP . I am thinking maybe a longer narrower shape ( Ha , Ha , I called the ALP narrow ) may make a board run faster.. Not sure . maybe just need to put more wax ( I ran them stock out of the box with a little paste wax on them ) .
In the deep snow , 2-3 feet of fresh somewhat heavy snow , some unbroken and some broken, the board did great and much better than I expected . Nice speed and flow through the snow . Did have to weight my heels a little bit even with the 6cm setback but not much at all and it was all very comfortable . The big tail is really very supportative even with the big set back and holds weight put back there well . I did notice compared to a 110 or longer board in irregular lumpy and variable snow , deep broken pow and cruddy snow , that you have to be "minding the wheel" a bit more with balance to avoid going over the handlebars .
Mind you , I had spent all morning on my 130 Sherpa , you can go to sleep at the wheel on that big boy plowing through everything and you will never get thrown on your face .
I would compare the KTP to a nimble high powered motorcycle very sensitive to your weight distribution compared to the Suv or cadillac ride of my longboard skiboards.
This feeling is of course is amplified by the fact that I am riding the KTP with a light weight fixed skiboard binding as opposed to heavier Spruce riser/releasers on my longboard skiboards. as I did today .
The KTP despite it's girth remains a nimble and skatelike board that should live up to its design goals of being fully park ready as well as a having a dual personality as an all mountain tool .. Fine tuning performance with variable set backs is very cool in this special skiboard . The very first with a second set of inserts. Very nice !
ps . special thanks to Greco for getting the boards out to us so quickly ... as Brklyncarver's pictures show so well , these boards are just stunning in appearance as well ! AND great to be riding a board with Kirk's name , a class act , for sure !
I did not have time to set the bindings back to center to try them out that way , But it is a credit to this board that it carves very well from the furthest back position . I think you will get better carving and fakie ability and park ability by moving the bindings back to center which is a really cool option . With my Snowjams bascially I can have any of 4 choices for set backs 0 , 2 cm back , 4 cm back and 6 cm back . Most days with pow like today you will be going from groomers and out to pow on one run and you want to know that a rear position works on a board . On the KTP , the rear positions work great !
Yeah , that's right ... On the groomers , the KTP 's were great . They feel way more manuverable then my 110's , felt like 99's but with more "muscle " . Nice smooth carve , felt like a lot of board under my boot but no problems with getting edge , way smooth edge to edge , sticks carves real well . Did not seem any more difficult carving then my ALP's . I am used to longboard skiboards and 110's and the KTP felt much more " skate" like to me . In fact it was easy going down a mild slope to skate one skiboard off the other , carve one footed, throw in a few 360's , and then carve two footed . Felt much more like my inline skates then my longer boards . Although I am not a park guy , I really can see how these will be great in the park and I do not think the width will be any problem .
The skiboard is very stable at speed and I think the width helps that . It does seem a little slower than my ALP . I am thinking maybe a longer narrower shape ( Ha , Ha , I called the ALP narrow ) may make a board run faster.. Not sure . maybe just need to put more wax ( I ran them stock out of the box with a little paste wax on them ) .
In the deep snow , 2-3 feet of fresh somewhat heavy snow , some unbroken and some broken, the board did great and much better than I expected . Nice speed and flow through the snow . Did have to weight my heels a little bit even with the 6cm setback but not much at all and it was all very comfortable . The big tail is really very supportative even with the big set back and holds weight put back there well . I did notice compared to a 110 or longer board in irregular lumpy and variable snow , deep broken pow and cruddy snow , that you have to be "minding the wheel" a bit more with balance to avoid going over the handlebars .
Mind you , I had spent all morning on my 130 Sherpa , you can go to sleep at the wheel on that big boy plowing through everything and you will never get thrown on your face .
I would compare the KTP to a nimble high powered motorcycle very sensitive to your weight distribution compared to the Suv or cadillac ride of my longboard skiboards.
This feeling is of course is amplified by the fact that I am riding the KTP with a light weight fixed skiboard binding as opposed to heavier Spruce riser/releasers on my longboard skiboards. as I did today .
The KTP despite it's girth remains a nimble and skatelike board that should live up to its design goals of being fully park ready as well as a having a dual personality as an all mountain tool .. Fine tuning performance with variable set backs is very cool in this special skiboard . The very first with a second set of inserts. Very nice !
ps . special thanks to Greco for getting the boards out to us so quickly ... as Brklyncarver's pictures show so well , these boards are just stunning in appearance as well ! AND great to be riding a board with Kirk's name , a class act , for sure !