Not much to report lately. Tradeshow season is over, and i’ve just been grinding on the new collection. Slowly chipping away at it, but fear not, you’ll be getting photo teases in no time*
To prove that i’m not dead, here are 5 images from recent web lurking that are worth looking at. Dont fool yourself kids, this stuff was most likely done before you were born. Timeless indeed.
*and by ‘no time’ i really mean sometime this summer.
Twitter? Yup, right here.
Christmas was great! Couple days to hang with the family, eat lots of home cooked food and take naps, lots of naps. This year was pretty mellow, got to spend a good amount of time with my whole family. I always love going to my dads house in NH because its a shine to my childhood. He doesn’t spend much time there and I haven’t lived there since middle school so my room is exactly like I left it almost 15 years ago. I took a few snapshots.
The other great thing about Christmas is getting cool stuff from the people you love. Ali hooked it up with this amazing decorative type poster from Jessica Hische.
And, in the spirit of giving, I present to you, the annual gift of song 2009.
http://www.zshare.net/download/702898939c9cf344/
Enjoy,
Shawn
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.
[p]
p.s. Hope everyone has a happy and healthy Holiday Season. And stay safe out there.
I got kinda sidetracked with this project. Something about 16 hour days, and 9 of them in row that took priority. but I survived the push, and I’m back to visually rambling. Here’s some of the latest.
“It’s Always Greener…Right?”
“When Cartoons Cry”
“Everything Must Go!”
“Christmas Spirit”
No doubt regarding the Sticky Fingers album cover.
I love that Mick contacted Mr. Warhol personally.
Here are a few recent visual ramblings in my effort to fill this book in 365 days or less. Some simple (or advanced, in my case) math tells me I started this endeavor roughly 35 days ago, and I just filled my 33rd page. I guess I missed a couple days, but I have been traveling a lot recently, so that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.
Not much you can do about it, anyway.
“Franz Kline Can Suck It”
“The Easiest Way to Make It”
“What Happens When the Rainbow Ends in the Middle East”
“Hold Up!”
I returned from my latest trip to Austria and the board factory last night, and was greeted by some awesome mail from this past week.
First up was a little gift from Seth Neefus’s new project, the Free Life Center. A few months ago, he sent out a link asking for people to help them raise funding for this new project – a traveling art, music and sculpture instalation. I threw them some cash, and i got this nice care package from them – a nice 3 color screen print from his partner Mark Warren Jacques, a cool little zine about both artists and their project, and a small little pencil sketch from Seth.
Next up was some goods from this year’s Notch and Notch 1985 artist Niall McClelland. He started up SEER Editions not to long ago as an outlet to publish works in a non flashy, newsprint/zine style. These are some shots from the first few. The work in here is pretty beautiful, and works really well in this medium. Get your hands on them if you can – it’s well worth it.
Hey Paul here – one of the guys who started Rome and, among other things, the person who designs our snowboards. I’m going to chime in on the blog from time to time with the intent of shedding a little light on some of the design and development stuff that we do here but might not be covered in a lot of detail in the catalog or on the website.
So to start off I wanted to write a little bit about the Pusher. The Pusher might best be understood by thinking of it is as the fun loving offspring of a ménage à trios involving a Mod, an Agent and, for a little extra spice, a Postermania.
The Mod’s shape influence on the Pusher is the most immediately recognizable characteristic you’ll notice when you first pick up the board. The nose and tail are a modernization of a shape I designed back in the day with one of snowboarding’s great talents. While this type of board shape is a personal favorite both aesthetically and admittedly a bit nostalgically, they are definitely more of a challenge to “shape” and get perfect on the computer than the more traditional radial nose and tail shapes. It takes a bit of time and massaging to get it just right but with this board being a true twin, once I get the nose dialed the tail is already done – and when it is executed right – it just feels good to look down and see this board under your feet.
The guts of the Pusher are where the Agent influence comes in and are the primary drivers of the price point that the Pusher falls:
The Superpop core matrix with it’s alternating laminates of select Poplar and Paulownia woods give the board a great blend of pop, lightness and dampening. This along with our StraightTriax 30 Carbon laminate make for one of the best freestyle oriented constructions out there.
Our Impact Plates and Impact Edges add a ton of strength where you need it – the Impact Plates resist all the compressed landings and all the (i.e. not Rome’s) sharp edged bindings you can throw at it while the extra thick profile of the Impact Edges stand up to far more box and rail abuse than normal profile edges.
The last characteristic borrowed from another board in the line is the Reverse-Free camber profile that the Pusher shares with the Postermania series. The Reverse-Free camber line consists of a mellow reverse camber profile through the middle of the board to just outside the binding mount area and straight camber profile from there to the end of the running length of the board. The reverse camber center section of the board allows for a playful, loose freestyle feeling while the straight camber sections provide for positive edge pressure and control throughout your turn as well as a solid platform for ollieing and of course just all around positive and fun tail pop. The addition of the Carbon-V stringers in the tip and tail work with the straight camber to enhance this control and ollie boost.
The combination of the geometry and technologies really make a difference you can feel and appreciate over a full season of hard riding. While you can certainly spend less (and more) for a snowboard, in my experience the materials we are able to spec at this price point result in one of the best balances of performance and value for the versatile true twin freestyle board that the Pusher is.
So that’s a little background, and a bit of editorial, on the Pusher … or rather the “Mogentia” as I am starting a petition to re-name it. Damn catchy right?
Stop by your local shop this weekend, ask to check out a Pusher, get one under your feet and let us know what you think.
[p]
p.s. I’ve got plenty to blog about that you may or may not find interesting so would be stoked to know what you are interested in so if you do have any questions or tech topics you want to hear more about, leave a comment below or email us. Put “Blog topic for Paul” or something equally clever in the subject line and we’ll get back to you on it one way or another.
Here’s another quick (and possibly the last) board graphic tease for you guys from the 2011 collection. This time, I’m showcasing a variety of base type. Enjoy!
