Atison
01-12-2004, 08:09 AM
Well, I finally got out on my new K2 Access this weekend. Local Cincinnati slope (perfect north), so nothing too great, but the snow was good and it gave me a chance to get a feel for the board.
The total setup is as follows.
K2 Access 158.
Ride Spi Bindings
Burton Moto Boots
And my background so you know where the review is coming from. I have been boarding for 5 years now, mainly on the east coast (Snowshoe, Wintergreen, Perfect North) with a trip to Northstar at Tahoe last year. Can tackle any slope, and almost any kicker, but I don't do much in the Pipe or on Rails. Been on many rental boards as well as a demo Burton Cruzer, K2 Satellite, and various other demo's.
OK, on with the review.
I haven't been on a board since last March so I needed to work some kinks out of myself before I got to feeling the board out.
The board has good stiffness. I could tell, because it wasn't letting me be too lazy on it. It wasn't so stiff that it gave me fits trying to get my smooth transition back from a long summer, but it is on the firmer side. As the day went on, the stiffness showed its brighter side as I was making fast runs down the rather beat up mountain, and the board took it all with very little chatter.
The board glides very well. I went to the mountain with a buddy of mine who is an expert skier. He is 6'5" and on some really long skis, so gliding compared to him is a good comparison. On slower, level sections, I kept up with him in most cases and passed him in a few. Even starting off at the top of a slow run from a stand still, I picked up speed quicker. I had some average temp rub on wax that I applied before going, so that probably had something to do with it. But it was nice to feel such effortless glide out of the board. The base seemed to hold wax pretty well, although the edges looked like they were drying a bit by the end of the day (6 hours out).
Hit a few small kickers to get my barrings in the air, and the board is very stable on take off and landing. A few jumps formed on the side of trail that had very uneaven approaches, and that I expected to have trouble with, were like butter.
I need another day to work on my binding setup. My toe straps were deforming the front of my boot a little. I just need to adjust the strap to get more of the meat of the strap over the top of the boot. The bindings were good and stiff, and the boots were extremely comfortable in them, other then a little firmness from the toe strap not being set up right.
Next time out on the mountain I am going to make sure to bring the Phillips head with me (dumbass for going out on first run without it) so I can work with my stance to get it just the way I want it.
Great board so far. Bindings are excellent. Boots are very comfy, but difficult to tie tights around lower ankle.
I do another review once I get a day to play with the binding setup and after I get back from this years Tahoe trip (woohoo).
The total setup is as follows.
K2 Access 158.
Ride Spi Bindings
Burton Moto Boots
And my background so you know where the review is coming from. I have been boarding for 5 years now, mainly on the east coast (Snowshoe, Wintergreen, Perfect North) with a trip to Northstar at Tahoe last year. Can tackle any slope, and almost any kicker, but I don't do much in the Pipe or on Rails. Been on many rental boards as well as a demo Burton Cruzer, K2 Satellite, and various other demo's.
OK, on with the review.
I haven't been on a board since last March so I needed to work some kinks out of myself before I got to feeling the board out.
The board has good stiffness. I could tell, because it wasn't letting me be too lazy on it. It wasn't so stiff that it gave me fits trying to get my smooth transition back from a long summer, but it is on the firmer side. As the day went on, the stiffness showed its brighter side as I was making fast runs down the rather beat up mountain, and the board took it all with very little chatter.
The board glides very well. I went to the mountain with a buddy of mine who is an expert skier. He is 6'5" and on some really long skis, so gliding compared to him is a good comparison. On slower, level sections, I kept up with him in most cases and passed him in a few. Even starting off at the top of a slow run from a stand still, I picked up speed quicker. I had some average temp rub on wax that I applied before going, so that probably had something to do with it. But it was nice to feel such effortless glide out of the board. The base seemed to hold wax pretty well, although the edges looked like they were drying a bit by the end of the day (6 hours out).
Hit a few small kickers to get my barrings in the air, and the board is very stable on take off and landing. A few jumps formed on the side of trail that had very uneaven approaches, and that I expected to have trouble with, were like butter.
I need another day to work on my binding setup. My toe straps were deforming the front of my boot a little. I just need to adjust the strap to get more of the meat of the strap over the top of the boot. The bindings were good and stiff, and the boots were extremely comfortable in them, other then a little firmness from the toe strap not being set up right.
Next time out on the mountain I am going to make sure to bring the Phillips head with me (dumbass for going out on first run without it) so I can work with my stance to get it just the way I want it.
Great board so far. Bindings are excellent. Boots are very comfy, but difficult to tie tights around lower ankle.
I do another review once I get a day to play with the binding setup and after I get back from this years Tahoe trip (woohoo).