Riding a Donek Knapton Twin Posi Posi?

Hey @always-be-turning, welcome to the forum!

I've ridden a bunch of different Knapton Twins in a posi-posi stance.  They were all different, the only consistent thing is the twin shape and twin flex.  In my experience, they are fun boards with a very locked-in feel (due in part to the zero taper twin shape), but they fall apart when you hit steeps or chop or ice.  These boards are specifically designed to suit Ryan's riding style and he swears they're optimized for his 15/-15 very wide stance and his unique style.  I'm in no position to judge whether that's true, I would first have to spend a lifetime mastering Ryan's style and trying it on different boards...  Ryan rides perfectly groomed green runs on low density Colorado snow.

The C4 is a directional carver.  It digs deeper, plows through chop and holds every turn at any steepness.  The performance will be diminished when you ride switch though (because it's directional), and it's quite stiff and heavy for the kinds of tricks and spins that Ryan likes to do.  But if you want to rip up the steepest groomers on the high density coastal corduroy in WA, this is the board.

You'll want to get on the waitlist (www.carversconnection.com/waitlist).  There will (very likely) be a wider version of the C4 offered in the next batch, suitable for your 11.5 boots.

There are quite a few others on this forum that have ridden both the Knapton Twin and the C4, @dan and @rocketman69 for example, maybe they want to chime in?

hello @always-be-turning, I was riding the Knapton Twin in past season intensively before the C4 came in. To point out the differente in shape I post a photo of my Knapton to the C4.

My Knapton is 156 cm, 28.3 cm WW an 10 m SCR, effective edge is 126.5 cm. (There are many variations , as WW and SCR offer a lot of flexibility for your own needs -> custom board)

In my opinion it is very difficult to compare both boards with each other, as they have their right to exist in different worlds. On my journey to softboot carving I see it as an intermediate step to get a good feeling for wide boards, I have mounted the bindings both duckstance and finally posi/posi, but with the latter I feel more comfortable and corresponds more to my approach to carving. If you know that Posi/Posi is your comfort zone, as in my case, and you also want to carve steep slopes, the Knapton is not an option. With the C4 I can now ride steep slopes that were always a struggle with the Knapton.

As @wild-cherry described it, it is a very versatile board, but more for flat slopes, for steep terrain my skills were not enough and it is a borderline ride on the edge. I still like the Knapton, especially with soft slopes, fresh snow and moguls. I also like to do a few tricks and ride switch for training, but I'm still fascinated by how easy it is to ride switch with the C4...

Posted by: @lake-m-carver

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Yeah, they're totally different boards. I started on a Donek RK twin, still ride it occasionally, it is fun to butter, and carve mellow runs on. but it doesn't carve well on steeps or going fast. If I could make changes to my RK to improve it, I would go larger radius: 10m+, and progressive sidecut, if Donek will do that on an RK. My 8.7m single radius RK makes the shovels too big, I find it makes the board over dig on the nose carving. I ride my RK light posi posi now, seems fine. 

C4 is a way better carving board, handles steep and fast. I wouldn't want to butter a metal board. 

If I were you, I'd try to find a used RK, and then buy a C4 or one of Jame's other used/demo boards he always has coming up. You can't get a board that does both of those things really well. Soft and short is better for buttering, stiff and longer effective edge is better for carving. 

Hi all,

Thanks for the excellent knowledge drop and for sharing your experiences. It sounds like my best bet is to keep my current board for duck-stance carving and go with the C4 for days when I’m looking to ride posi-posi and lay some trenches.

@wild-cherry @dan @vospegmx-at