Burton Jussi 2010 Review

I’ve been wanting to get this board for a couple seasons now, and I finally did this season. After a few weeks riding the Burton Jussi, it’s time to put up a review.

Setup: Burton Jussi 159, Burton C60 (with the ICS adapters) bindings, Burton Ion Boots.
Conditions: machine groomed and very cold!

Technology
Twin Shape – this board is symmetrical and should feel the same whether riding regular or switch, though it has a directional flex pattern, meaning the nose has less pop/flex than the tail to maintain better stability at higher speeds.
Inifite Channel System – supposedly provides a more direct connection between the bindings and the board (I don’t buy it), while easily letting you mount your bindings any way you choose (this, I buy).
Freestyle Scoop – exaggerated spoon shape which creates a forgiving feel by turning the edges up at the tip and tail.

First Impressions: This is an excellent all mountain freestyle board for the aggressive rider in you with a lot of pop and spring to it. Given that this is Jussi Oksanen’s board (and designed by him), you can only expect it to be that good, but the board is a bit too stiff to rock just anywhere.

Flex/Stability: Stiffer in the tail, with more pop in the nose, but overall pretty flexible board and fun to ride. Burton’s feel/stiff rating is 6/10, but the board felt a little stiffer than that (think of it more of a relative thing). In any case, it works out well, because the board felt very stable compared to many other freestyle mountain boards. Buttering with the Jussi board was fun.

Park/Jumps: Taking off jumps with the Jussi is great, and landing is not too hard on the knees, but don’t get too excited, because this is not a park board. I definitely wouldn’t recommend jibbing with it too much, because it wasn’t designed for the park in the first place.

Carving/Switching: The board is stiff and tuned enough to hold its edge under pretty high speeds. Switching was a lot of fun and riding regular felt pretty much the same as switch – no board will ever feel the exact same riding switch or regular since humans are not anatomically symmetrical, but this is as good as it gets.

Pro’s:

• Very playful thanks to the exaggerated spoon shape
• Stable under high speeds
• Switching is as natural as it gets

Con’s

• $$$ – somewhat expensive
• Not a fan of the board art
• Not for the park and jibs

My thoughts: The Burton Jussie is a wicked board designed for anyone looking for a fun, yet aggressive stick. Moving forward, this is going to be my primary board (replacing my much more aggressive Burton T6)

If you have any questions about the board, please leave a comment and I will answer you!

Top 12 Snowboards for 2010

With so many snowboards out there to choose from, the addition of all the new technology made available the past two seasons just makes life a whole lot more complicated. Cambers, reverse cambers, dead-flats, rockers, cambered-end rockers… It’s a zoo out there. To make your life easier we took a look at twelve of the best boards for this season, researched the crap out of them, and helped breakdown some of the tech that goes along with them. Here they are, in no particular order…

#1. Lib Tech’s “Skate Banana” ($490)

Although many snowboarding companies have been familiar with reverse camber technology for quite some time, you really have to give props to Lib Tech for reviving it with the Skate Banana. Over the past 2-3 seasons, the company has also been tweaking this board with minor adjustments just to make it better and better. I absolutely LOVE riding this board and so does everyone else who tries it.

The board features Lib Tech’s take on the “reverse camber” where the board is kinked upwards between the feet and from there runs flat to either end of the board. The result? A very loose, fun board that will have you jibbing around and pulling tricks like you never thought possible. Critics will say that this thing is unstable at high speeds but they’re wrong with this board cause the length of it from tip to tail will be on the snow when you carve. With eight contact points digging into the ice on a turn, you’ll also be more stable thanks to the Magne Traction tech.

Sizes: 148N, 151N, 152, 156, 156W, 159, 159W

#2. Ride’s DH2 ($500)

There’s been a lot of talk about the Ride DH2 among the snowboarding community for 2010.  The board features a different kind of reverse camber technology with the board running flat underneath your feet and then kicking up outside the bindings. This allows for a fun, relaxed feel that makes it ideal for the pipe, jumps, and pressing rails.

Haven’t tried this board myself but fellow boarders out there have told me that apart from being incredible in the park, the board can be used with no problems for aggressive riding as well. Ride adds what it likes to call “Carbon Pop Rods” in each tip that give a lot of character to the feel of this board. Apart from being lightweight, it also has thicker steel edges to help with the wear and tear that happens from park riding over time.

Sizes: 151, 153, 155, 156W, 157, 159, 159W

#3. Burton’s Joystick ($530)

With a name like “Joystick” you know fun is just around the corner with this board. Had the chance to try out this board from a Burton demo tent early into the season and was thoroughly impressed with it. Featuring Burton’s “rocker” reverse camber design, this board is similar to the Skate Banana in it’s between-the-feet kinkness. The board’s got a slightly wider feel with tips that scoop up (technology similar to Morrow’s spoon).

The Joystick is very fun to ride, whether it be for jibs, jumps, or pipe attacks. The nice thing about it is that it is insanely forgiving, so you can go big trying new tricks on it. The scooped tips maintain the boards very free feel even when you lean hard on it. With a very balanced stiffness and quick edge-to-edge movement, the board can do pretty much whatever you want.

Sizes: 150, 154, 156W, 157, 159W, 161, 163

Read more »

Burton ICS Adapters: What and How?

Burton Bindings

People constantly come up to me and say: “I’m thinking of buying one of those ICS boards or whatever, do I have to buy new bindings?” or “Dude, will my old Burton bindings work with the ICS boards?” You’ll be happy to know that YES YOU CAN!

How? Burton, being the un-jerk of a company it is, made sure that anyone buying their new ICS snowboards didn’t have to shell out for new bindings as well. Since, we all know how much a good pair of bindings cost these days (read: an arm and 2 legs or just a kidney), that was a smart move by Jake Burton and crew. Burton made available ICS adapters for free, so either:

1. Get your lazy ass down to your local snowboard shop and ask them for the Burton ICS adapters. 99% they’ll have some in stock, and if not, they’ll most likely order some for you. If you’re buying the board from them, they’ll have to order it for you.

2. Call up Burton Snowboards on  1-800-881-3138 (Monday through Friday, 8AM-9PM EST / Saturday, 12PM-8PM EST) and they’ll hook you up with the adapters.

Burton and Playboy make Love

What do you get when you have the dudes from Burton collaborating with the genius that is Playboy? Some pretty fancy lookin’ boards! The photo was taken in 2008 at the Snowsports Industries America trade show held in Las Vegas. The boards are special editions from Burton’s Love series.

I’m not too sure if I would be able to get down the mountain properly while staring down at these things but those are definitely some hot broa… BOARDS!

Burton T6 2010 Rider Review

When I got the chance to ride the Burton 2010 T6 (with the C60 EST bindings), I was pretty excited. I had been riding the ’08 model (with C60 bindings) for a couple of seasons now and I was very happy with it as an aggressive bomber board. The major difference between the 2008s and the 2010s is the ICS technology and the EST bindings (click the link if you want my take on those two technologies) and I was looking forward to testing that out. Some of the other relevant tech packed into this board are:

Vaportech Alumafly – Burton’s infamous aluminum honeycomb architecture that makes up the core of this board and allows it to be one of the lightest on the market. Picture holding a metallic honeycomb in your hand that twists and bends like moldable plastic but pops back into position just like real wood. When you hold this board up to a strong light, what do you see? Virtually nothing. That’s because the board is 90% air by volume.

Smooth Ride Technology – Smooth Ride™ dampening technology, exclusive to the T6™, is designed to let you react quicker, go bigger, and ride faster for longer with less impact on your body. Chatter, vibration, and the shock from flat landings gets absorbed by the board before making it to your body.

Feel: According to Burton’s feel scale, the board is rated 8/10. The higher the rating, the stiffer the board is, and vice versa (Burton likes to explain it a little differently, but that’s because they don’t like to use the word ‘stiff’ – apparently it’s not good for marketing). This is Burton’s stiffest board, and I completely agree with them. I’d even go as far as saying that this is one of the stiffest boards I’ve ridden. Ever. The stiffness is a good thing if you like speed. But with all this stiffness comes leg fatigue, and boy did I feel it. Unless you plan on doing some leg work outs, I’d recommend staying away from this thing as your all-purpose board. More importantly, if you want a board to just butter about and mess around, the T6 isn’t that board. It’s a beast on the mountain and was built for high speeds and aggressive riding.

Stability/Response: The board is mighty stable under high speeds and super responsive. The edges are responsive and you can really dig into the hard pack. In the deep stuff you can hop from toe to heel with no problems as well. My only concern is that, I did feel some chatter under the board a few times throughout the day. But that’s probably due to the insane speeds I was doing. As much as the smooth ride dampener helped, there are just some speeds that no kind of tech can keep chatter away. I only bring this up, because I’d hate for you to be disappointed if you feel some chatter at the higher speeds. But comparing this to other boards, the chatter is significantly less (way less). Overall though, the board is very solid and responds insanely well.

Park Riding: I didn’t really try the 2010 model in the park, but from my experience with the 2008 model, this is not a park board. Sure, the board lands jumps very well, but don’t bother taking this into a park. Not only will you be disappointed, you can seriously damage the board too. But if you really insist on hitting the park with your T6, just remember to press hard!

2010 vs. 2008: I have to say, the board was more responsive, while the stiffness remained roughly the same. I can’t  be a 100% certain, but I think the ICS design with the EST bindings had a hand in this. There really weren’t any other design changes that could have affected the responsiveness.

All in all, the T6 is a machine on the slopes and does exactly what it was designed to do: bomb down mountains. Unfortunately, it’s a stiff board, and with a price tag of about $900, I highly urge you to think hard about what your riding style is. Mine is very aggressive and I love the T6 for being very aggressive!