Snowboard Reviews, Articles, News & More
Tools & Tuning
06-07 Dakine Mega Blaster Review
0The Mega Blaster is the right idea for an at-home or car tool, but the importance of being able to hold onto it, its function, is forgotten amongst the other bells and whistles.
My review of this is semi-split depending on the function you expect this tool to have. If you want something light to throw in your pocket and take on the hill with you, this is not a good option. Mega is an appropriate title as it is large for a tool and has many small parts that are easily lost. If you want something to keep in your garage or workshop, I like the choices in bits that the blaster offers.
The different bit options are a plus, but the comfort and maneuverability you need when working on bindings and straps are hindered by the small handle. It is difficult to find the right way to hold this tool because the mechanism to open it up and change bits is where I naturally grip. While this is a great workshop tool, it is inconvenient to have the small pieces falling out when trying to grip it.
06-07 Bitch Ass Fast Graphite Review
0BAF is hard to track down and still somewhat local to Steamboat, but it will soon be more readily available in stores or on a website.
Like the Hydrocarbon, this stuff gives you wings. Last spring at the end of the season before I put my board away, I gave it a coat of the graphite. When I pulled it out of storage I couldn’t figure out why I was ripping past people on slow cat tracks. This stuff works really well in cold weather, in bad snow conditions or as a general coat of wax. It stuck with my board for a solid three or four weeks worth of hard riding.
06-07 Dampire Dryzone Review
05 years ago
by Maggie
in Tools & Tuning
To function at their max performance, these dryers need to come in different widths. When they do fit into the boot completely they work really well.
These boot dryers are an easy way to combat end of the day boot-mush. If you’ve ever had the displeasure of putting on damp boots, keep reading. Dryzone is an inexpensive answer. The drawback is the width of the dryers, which are basically long, rectangular bean-bags (only with drying crystals not beans) that slip into your boot. The areas in your boot that the dryer can get to and sit in over night will be dry by morning (unless it is spring and they are soaked through). But with my size boots, the dryers are too wide and I cannot fit them all the way into the toe of the boot. An improvement would be if they were cone-shaped or came in a narrower size for smaller boots.
Of course, if you use the dryers regularly, you are going to need to dry them out. The recommended solution is to microwave them (which kind of grosses me out to stick something that was in a boot into something that cooks food- those don’t mix well for me).
05-06 Bitch Ass Fast Hydrocarbon Review
0If the bottom of your board is starting to look fuzzy and you are always last to the bottom, I suggest checking out BAF.
A product that is made in Steamboat and strongly backed by a crew of hardcore riders, the hydrocarbon wax is easily applicable. It is a really light wax that shaves off in paper-thin flakes leaving a layer of speed, true to its name. The wax job has lasted many days on the mountain, I still fly down cat tracks and past friends. Though it is rated an all temp wax, in my experience it works best in temperatures over 20 degrees. Besides the application and speed, another positive is the amount of wax you get for the price. It is inexpensive, but that does not reflect its performance.
02-03 Dakine S2 Review
0A nice idea, and a nice try, but this tool doesn’t come close to replacing my small, lightweight, Transworld-issue ratchet driver.
The S2 tool is a cool concept, and it works well to an extent, but in the end just isn’t the best tool on the market. The idea behind the S2 was to create a tool that is equally useful for skateboarding and snowboarding. Its unique shape and abundance of uses make it look like a cool tool, and it works pretty well as a skate tool, but it for anything other than light tinkering on the snow you will find it has several drawbacks.
This is not a tool that is easy to use on the hill. There are four moving pieces, two wrenches and two screwdriver bits, which are all very easy to drop when you are fumbling with snowboard gloves and your hands are cold. In order to get at the driver bits you have to take off one, or sometimes both, of the wrenches and slide the driver bit out. Then you have to put the wrenches back on to make the grip more comfortable, tighten, and then repeat the whole process to put the driver bit back in. Also, because it is solid metal, it is heavy, but even more importantly, it gets really cold sitting in an outer pocket all day.
01-02 Purl Assorted Waxes Review
0At a mere $5 for a puck, Purl is a bargain. If you are looking to try some Purl wax, you can order it online from their website. Scott Sparks, the owner of Purl Racing is super friendly, and happy to answer any questions you might have about his wax.
Purl is a relative newcomer to the wax industry. They probably aren’t as well known because they choose to spend their money on research and testing rather than a hype machine. Purl’s motto is “Faster than you!” a statement which, over the past few weeks, I’ve come to recognize as true. Purl Racing Wax is not just fast, it’s fast in every condition I’ve tested it in: powder, foot deep spring slush, hard pack, you-name-it. The waxes are as easy as any other hot-wax to apply, and scrapes off smoothly. I experienced virtually no slowdown over the course of a week of riding.
01-02 One Ball Jay Viper Review
0A great wax, and as OBJ is found in most snowboard shops, it’s a natural choice.
One Ball Jay is one of the better known wax companies; they have been around for a long time, and have a reputation of selling great wax. The Viper is no exception, and excels in most riding conditions. Viper is a fluorinated hot wax and comes in a 125g case. Unlike most OBJ waxes the Viper line is unscented. The wax goes on as easily as any other hot wax, and I definitely noticed the speed boost provided by the fluoro.
01-02 Poorboy USA Assorted Waxes Review
0This is killer wax at a great price.
Poorboy makes outstanding waxes. The wax ranks among the fastest hot-wax I have ever used, which is impressive when you examine its wallet-friendly price tag. The wax performs well in many different conditions, and even works well outside its intended temperature range. Poorboy may not have the biggest name brand following, but this wax will perform as well, if not better than any other wax you can pick up in a normal snowboard shop. Poorboy also makes quality surf wax.