JJA C4 Reviews!

Posted by: @flyguy

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are you making some C4 162's as well?

Maybe...

any C4s in the northern Alps? Willing to share a ride? thanks in advance

hope to get a board from the next batch🤞🏽

greetings from Germany,
Basti

@lebast @flyguy I got boards!  Size or eight C4 162s and about ten C4 166s.  

Make sure you're on the waitlist, the email is coming very soon.

@wild-cherry just to make sure, the waitlist is in the store C4 section and leave an email for future info? Or is it somewhere else?

Posted by: @flyguy

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just to make sure, the waitlist is in the store C4 section and leave an email for future info? 

That's the one, on the C4 order page

Just took the C4 (166 medium with egs) on its maiden carve session. Took me three runs to get the hang of driving the board. It really likes speed and it LOCKS you in. You really need to be on point with your technique. In contrast my cheater I can be lazy and still disengage, haha. Unfortunately, as I was getting the hang of the board and laying down carves my Now Drive Pro bindings could not keep up and snapped clean off at the skatetech hanger... While I was doing a laid out toe side carve. Going to try the board again with my rome cleavers soon:tm:. Fortunately, the Only thing that got hurt from this is my wallet and pride from the 1.5 mile hike down...

Wow! Lucky you weren’t hurt, that could’ve ended SO much worse.

@hono WOW! You must have been railing some carves 😉 

glad you didn't get hurt at all. I have the NOW carbon bindings and I've seen a few broken NOW bindings as of late in the carving community. Making me a little scared to put them on a C4.  

Yeah, I was pretty terrified when I heard a pop then immediately over the handlebars with my front foot free... 
Thats interesting on the broken NOW bindings in the carving community... As much as I like the bindings they were only a year old and if I did my Garmin tracking right had 15 days on the Cheater and 1 on the C4 grand total of 194miles... Which my NOW bindings sat exclusively on.

@hono the most important thing is you're not hurt. I would try to get in contact with the company, do they have a 2 years warranty? I'm sure it was not your fault that get them broke.

Okay, so since my initial review(s) I've had time to get to know this board better, and I've also had the chance to try other boards. For reference, I'm at about 13 days on the C4 out of 15 this season. @wild-cherry was mostly interested in comparisons to other carving boards, so I think I'll structure this post that way.

Coiler Contra

Not sure the exact specs on this one as it was slightly customised and it had a wider sidecut radius in the rear than in the front. Overall impression is that it's a bit easier to put on edge than the C4 (it's narrower), but nowhere near as grippy, especially the tail end. I felt like the tail always wanted to get out of the trench as soon as I put pressure on it.

Vaughan Wild Card 160

The "vegan" board (it's all wood, including the sidewalls!). Surprisingly felt a lot more like the C4 than the Coiler, despite the latter being titanal and this board being all wood. It has a smaller sidecut radius so it naturally wants to make short quick turns, but something in the shape or in the camber profile makes it enter turns almost exactly like the C4. Overall a very fun ride, I really liked it. However, the short sidecut is hard to lay into at higher speeds, and you're kind of "ejected" out of the turns if you try that.

Both of the above boards were tried a few weeks ago while a friend was trying out my C4. To his great chagrin we both really preferred the C4 😉

Swoard EC Pro 168, flex "H" (hardboots)

I rode this yesterday on a bluebird day with firm groomers, basically perfect carving conditions. For my first time on hardboots, this was awesome! Overall I thought it was easier to carve on hardboots, but I felt like I was being bucked around on every little bump. The board specifically felt like it had a bit less grip than my C4, but that might be my technique. The crew I was riding with was telling me I was too far forwards on the board; I know I have a tendency to "attack" turns and that board wasn't a fan of it on heelside. Driving the rear knee on toeside really tightened the turn; I think this board was a bit softer than my C4. Overall I think I should've tried the 175; it's probably more the board for me than the 168. Going back to the C4 after lunch, I felt like I really had more grip but I had to work a little more for it. Turn shapes were relatively similar if I wasn't overly pushing it, it also had a 12m sidecut.

We basically had a mini-MCC this week in Stoneham QC; on Tuesday we were up to 20 carvers laying trenches, yesterday we were about 15. Tons of fun, and a lot of progression! I felt like I had some of my best carving runs ever yesterday.

So yeah to summarize my feelings on the C4, after trying a few other boards and really getting to know it, the word would be "grip". This thing holds on to the snow like nothing else.

The one thing I still struggle with, and I know it's my technique and not the board, is heelside on really steep terrain. I think it's a confidence issue when initiating my turn; it's a bit scary throwing my upper body downslope to get on the heelside edge. Réal (the Swoard guy) was suggesting I should try down-unweighted turns in that situation, I think I'll play with that next time I'm riding the C4.

@lebast got one today - hope it’s here next week - I am in Tirol all season 😎

Hi James, fellow trenchdiggers and to the owners of the JJA 166,

Would the 166-MID fit an intermediate, 6'6"/ 202cm, 225 lbs/ 102kg, with US13 / EU47, goofy +24 +36 (due to small width boards)
Don't want to lose my spot on the waitinglist, but don't want a board that doesn't suit me either..
@ James, no problem for me to wait if something else is on the horizon from JJA for next season
I truly appreciate any feedback.

I liked the Cleavers on it, so I bought a new set while they’re still available.  Swapped over the Infinity straps (buckles do swap) and no cant footbeds. I can’t wait to get back on board, but it’ll be a few weeks…

Bindings at 24/12 with the high backs fully rotated.

Hello all!

This past weekend was my first two days on a C4. Fantastic! For context, I have been riding a Donek Saber SRT. First runs on the C4 were just better, and the conditions were tough (bit of corduroy over recent melt/thaw hard snow). Initial notes were very easy to get on edge and link turns, and the extra width will take some time for the internal filters to figure out there will be no boot out, but that will be a confidence building process. Also, with the somewhat challenging snow, the board seemed very fond of a somewhat large radius turn, the same as my Donek. I expect softer snow will help me explore more turn shapes/sizes. The only time the C4 felt a bit less confident than the Saber was at extremely high speed, like when you are done and want to teleport back to the lodge.

The other huge side of the equation is board interface. Again, more context - My Donek followed many years on a Burton Factory Prime 180-6.7 with Wind hard boots and Catek bindings. My thought was to try the brand new Burton step on bindings on a wider board that might expand the snow conditions that allowed great carving. So...

When getting ready for the C4, I figured it was time to try some updated boots and bindings. Went with Insano and NX2 Carbon. With the boots heat formed and the bindings mounted, off I went. Only to figure out the "rear entry" was more clunky than I could have guessed and I was CRUSHING my feet with too much strap tension. I will get that figure out BUT! For goodness sake, WHY! Next paragraph...

Why are there buckles on the toes of those bindings. Yeah, I messed up (I'm guessing) and chose (without knowing) there was "hybrid" and a "fusion" version, which for whatever reason is not well explained or photographed on their website, but yeah. Ugh. Lots to think about. Like, do the toe straps really have any function whatsoever? Keep burying my toes in the snow till the little plastic straps get ampuatated my Mother Nature? And also, the rear foot is MUCH worse than front. Hmmm...

Ha. Fun thought. Maybe I will do some test runs of Donek mounted with hard boots. That would be a funny full circle. Wide(er) board with plate bindings and hard boots!! Cheers!

Dan