Artifact showdown…
Paul here once again. Sorry it’s been a while. I can blame getting my posting re-started on the dealership where I took my car for its 45K service yesterday. Kind of a random detour but I’ll explain. Arriving early for my 7:30 AM appointment I’m anticipating maybe a little over an hour of sitting in the “lounge” drinking coffee, checking and responding to a few overnight emails and maybe taking Wiley for a spin around the lot to check out some cars (the new Oldsmobile’s are in early this year btw). About 2 hours into it as I watch the mechanics take their second smoke break and NOT work on my car it’s dawning on me that I may have been mislead a week back when the scheduling lady said they could “fit me in first thing next Friday” and I “could just wait till the car was done if I wanted”. I’m not sure who she knows who would “want” to wait for 3+ hours for anything let alone a car while it’s getting worked on but I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know them. Accepting that my options were limited I settled in and took a stab at getting this post started – just wrapping it up here on a balmy Saturday morning.
So we’ve received quite a few emails asking questions on camber technologies – specifics about what they are and what they do. As always we suggest digging through the site – there is a lot of info on all the Rome technologies but I’ll try to go into a bit more detail on the Artifact and the Artifact 1985 models here.
VS.
The reason these boards are great to talk about with respect to any camber questions is that for the most part these boards are pretty much identical – they are built for the same rider profile, designed for the same type of use and are constructed in the same manner using nearly the exact same materials. The primary differences are in their camber profiles and a few construction details that should help to illustrate how adding some form of rocker to a board effects its performance compared to a positive camber board. Because this is the primary difference, the Artifacts are a great test platform for riders to compare and contrast these differences and understand better which type of camber profile might be optimal for their riding objectives.
So to start here’s what both boards have in have in common:
- Both boards are True twin shapes
- Both boards are built with our Pop Core Matrix, StraightBiax Laminate and Impact base.
- Both boards have Bronze edges with a +3/-3 degree Jib edge bevel for catch-free box, ledge and rail slides.
- Both boards share dimensional specifications – running lengths, waist widths, sidecut etc.
Where the boards differ is in their camber profiles, the Artifact with our Positive camber and the Artifact 1985 with our Reverse-Jib camber and the addition of a dose of Pop Rock technology to compliment the difference in camber profile.
Looking at the Artifact design details as a baseline we can focus on the differences in the Artifact 1985.
The Reverse-Jib camber profile on the 1985 version consists line consists of a flat camber profile through the middle of the board to just under the binding mount area and a mellow reverse camber profile from there to the end of the running length of the board.
The Reverse-Jib profile provides for a stable platform between and under foot which is great for initiating and landing tricks, locking in on rails, etc. and a tip and tail that allow for effortless presses, butters and virtually catch free tips and tails.
A direct consequence of this rockered camber profile is a reduction in ability to pressure the tips and the tails of the board so we’ve added a Glass Reverse-V Stringer to the tip and the tail to counteract this. The addition of the stringer increases the power transmission from the binding mounting area to the tail of the board which enhances the ollie pop normally lost with rocker. We used the Reverse-V configuration because we want to add pop without increasing the boards torsional rigidity as this would negatively impact the buttery ride that all Artifact boards are famous for.
At the end of the day both these models are great for what they are designed for – jib heavy parks, late night urban rail sessions and finesse heavy technical riding that riders like LNP and Eiki are known for. They just get there in slightly different ways.
Check them both out and let us know what you think.
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p.s. Hope everyone has a happy and healthy Holiday Season. And stay safe out there.