f2 speedster slalom review

Not only does it look fast, it actually goes fast too.

My last race board was a "custom" from about 4 years ago, when everyone was going narrower and steeper, so it was narrow and steep. The Speedster has a couple of extra centimeters around the waist, and a slightly tighter raduis (19.7cm/ 9.5m versus 18cm and 10m, both 163cm). Flex, and how it's distributed, is probably the most critical parameter and we still don't have an easily available measure for that. Overall the board looks "sensible" to me - it looks like a slalom board should look. The only notable feature is the slightly rounded tail, which makes it tricky to stand on concrete.

I haven't actually ridden much piste recently. What with cats and helicopters I just haven't had the time, so it was good to get back on hardpack. I took my 2006/7 Intec Titanium Race bindings off my Malolo and stuck them on the F2 to give it a run around Utah, then retired to Whistler to see how it worked in the rain. The plastic covers on the Intecs are useful for retaining the screws if you've got to transport the bindings without being attached to a board. You do still need to make sure you don't loose the rubber pads however.

It's labeled a slalom board, and I'm told that people do compete on these, although that's not what interests me. I did want a race board though, as the "freecarve" concept is all very well but really I want to ride quickly and neatly on what are generally crowded pistes. I have found dedicated carve boards slightly too locked in for my tastes. So to me this was intended to be a fast piste board... and not a GS board. I have one of those in my garage and it's a blast at mach two, a speed you can't safely attain off a race course.

first impressions

The factory wax was good, and the board was easily rideable straight away.

Compared with my "freecarve" board, it's wider and it feels it. I mellowed my angles down to 55 parallel to compensate. I wasn't sure if I'd stick at that or not, but I forgot about it once I'd started riding, so I'll have to worry about it next season.

I used the same stance width as I'd been using on my freecarve board, and again promptly forgot about it. When I get around to it I'll probably start experimenting with this - a slightly wider stance should work well on this board I think.

You can feel the board's width as you rail it. You do have to put a little effort into putting it on edge; once you know about that, it's easy to do, but there it is. Once the Speedster's on edge, it's absolutely locked in. I think I only had the edge break out on me once in several weeks' riding.

The board cuts great trenches. I have had boards upon which I couldn't ride 360s, but this one did the whole loop first time, first day, and every time I tried it after that. You don't need any special technique to do this, just ride the edge around in a circle. For students of the form, here's a google earth track log showing the odd 360 from my first day on the Speedster.

pay attention

I ride a lot of powder. Once you've figured it out you can do that very sloppily. You don't really need to fasten your boots, and you can get out of position and still ride well. There's no shortage of heli guides who ride day after day on the tails of their skis. Some snowboarders actually use soft boots with reasonable success.

You can't do any of that with this board: you need to ride it correctly - in position, and in control. You have to be absolutely on it. In other words, your weight needs to be in the right place. In my setup that means you want both springs in the Indys need to be engaged.

If you're not driving then the front edge will misbehave. Ride it right and it's perfect.

The Speedster requires more effort to transition than my free carve board: it's wider. Once you have a feel for it, there's no issue with how quick it is, you just need to be a bit more active about making it happen. Transitions are fast and clean, to judge from the lines I left under the lift. There's no tendency to get "locked in": it holds 100%, but it lets go without fuss when you ask it to.

other stuff

The specifications boast a list of technologies which sound really impressive. But my girlfriend's a Materials Scientist with a clutch of degrees, and even I've the odd Physics degree, so marketing BS (a tautology) doesn't go far around here.

The board flex feels right. I think the specifications talk about a progressive flex which stiffens from nose to tail. A relatively soft nose for easy turn initiation; a stiffish mid section to give it enough kick in the turn; and a stiff tail to throw you out of one turn into the next. Well something like that. It certainly seems to work. I was impressed that the board could perform both large radius fast turns and also short swings well.

It took some steeper mogulled terrain to remind me that you actually need to be fit to ride hard piste competently. You have to make sure you are absolutely in charge of the Speedster in difficult terrain. You don't want to get back, and you don't want to get defensive. If you don't have the energy to actively drive the board through the bumps, it's time to go home or at least stick to the easy pistes.

The board responds best to "a good slapping". You need to slam it into the hill to make the tail work, at least if you're my weight (62kgs) on the 163. An iPod loaded with a good selection of Motorhead may be of assistance. "Ace of Spades" worked well in my case.

summary

It's a slalom board. It's really fast on general pistes. Anything which is groomed is a blast on this. When on edge it hangs in there for grim death - you can push and pull this as hard as you like. Equally, there's no problem with switching edges. Although it's a SL rather than GS board, if you ride it then you're going to be the fastest person on the hill, so watch out for the speed cops. In challenging terrain you have to really ride the board: it's not for the faint of heart. Oh yes, and it's red.