The Jasey-Jay Anderson "Working Title" Carving Snowboard

Posted by: @slaybells

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Correction: Swoard out of Switzerland also make titanal carving-specific boards, including the Stoke and Dual/Dual2 for softboot carving.

Yes they do make titanal carving boards, but not wide titanal carving boards...

Posted by: @emilecantin

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How do these compare to the Donek Knapton Twin?

There's no comparison.   When you make a board in a twin shape you necessarily sacrifice some directional carving performance.   When you make it also with twin flex like the Knapton you're making massive compromises.  

Consider this: when you ordered your Knapton Twin you specified the sidecut radius, stiffness and length right?  So you effectively designed your own board within some limitations set by the twin shape and twin flex, and further limitations set by the basic materials Donek builds with (fiberglass, wood, rubber).

The "Working Title" is designed by Jasey-Jay Anderson in collaboration with yours truly and is built with the best materials available in the industry.

You'll see.  Next season when the reviews come out there will be at least a few Knapton Twin riders who buy a JJA and their minds will be blown.  I've traded boards with KT riders about a half a dozen times and I see exactly this epiphany every time.  

I've ridden about ten different Knapton Twins.   Decent board if you carve switch half the time like Ryan but the boards don't meet my standards.  Not even close.

Last season Donek offered me free boards in exchange for raw video of me riding them.  I declined.  I would rather pay for good boards than ride free Doneks...

I have been reluctant to put down any specific carving board manufacturers but truth is truth.  The only thing special about Donek is that they make wider boards than anyone else.  Having said that, Ryan Knapton and Sean Martin are the visionary pioneers of the wide board revolution.  I have respect and gratitude to both of them for that, but the truth is that Donek has had the wide board market all to themselves for too long.  They have had no competition and no motivation to progress with designs, materials or R and D.  

@wild-cherry Thank you for the explanation; that and the fact that JJA is a "local" (I'm from Québec too) have just finished convincing me. I'll expect my mind to be blown next season!

Posted by: @emilecantin

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I'll expect my mind to be blown next season!

You won't be disappointed! 

James, have you ridden the board with the plate?

I own many JJA's race/FC boards and a few have JJA plates and they do weigh quite a bit more.  I'm curious the effect it has on such wide boards when transitioning.

How many layers of carbon for the plate?

How many inserts are available to position the inserts under the plate and did he send you only the metal front brackets or did he also provide the UHMW sliders.

I'm asking all those questions as his plates for HB are quite customizable and most people don't know much about them as very few people have them on HB.

The JJA plate is worthy of a topic just by itself 🤣

Posted by: @crote123

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James, have you ridden the board with the plate?

Not yet.   I brought the boards to Utah but I left the plate at home.  I don't have any information for you, JJA just sent it to me for a test ride.

Hello from Sweden
I have questions about the specification.
Length: ?
Profile: ?
Width: 290-293 mm
Sidecut: 10-12 m

Example of profile:
Camber with Tip-Tail-Rocker.
Camber with Tip-Rocker.
Full camber
Or something else.

Just put down a deposit. Really looking forward to this. I’ve been riding a couple of different Virus boards (Avalanche 160, 168, and a Revolution 163). 

Hey James ,

When will we get an opportunity to make any changes to the board?. Will you contact everyone  directly that pre-ordered to get their specs and make final decision of what specs we want?

thanks 

What sort of changes could be made to the board? Could it be narrowed?

Posted by: @slayermtb

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When will we get an opportunity to make any changes to the board?. Will you contact everyone  directly that pre-ordered to get their specs and make final decision of what specs we want?

You'll have three stiffness options and the inserts can be set for your stance exactly so it's easier to turn your disks 90 degrees to centre your boot/binding without changing your stance width.  

Only one size for now, looking like 166cm.  But you'll probably be amazed how much difference stiffness can make in determining a board's turn shape!

Posted by: @board-doctor

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What sort of changes could be made to the board? Could it be narrowed?

No, sorry.  We're building a mold for this one as soon as we have the final specs determined.  It may be as narrow as 290mm, to be determined.

Get up here Thursday and try one!

Posted by: @ken-c-li

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Just put down a deposit. Really looking forward to this. I’ve been riding a couple of different Virus boards (Avalanche 160, 168, and a Revolution 163). 

Nice man, Virus makes some nice boards.  I look forward to hearing about how you think they compare.

Posted by: @dosmankan

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I have questions about the specification.

It's not quite decided yet.  I'm trying to get as many people to ride these protos as possible before we make the final calls.

It's looking very likely to be about 166cm, 12m radius, 292 waist, full camber, 1430mm effective edge.  But don't be intimated, it's an easy rider.  

I put a lighyweight intermediate carver on one a few days ago and he preferred it to a very soft Coiler Contra, which I had assumed would be the best carving board on the planet for him!  I was very excited about that,; the Coiler Contra set the gold standard for boards for riders at his level.  It's the board to beat.

I'm gonna get some more feedback from another Coiler Contra rider on Thursday, stay tuned!

Posted by: @wild-cherry

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Get up here Thursday and try one!

Unfortunately I have obligations at work… but if we still have snow next week, and you’re available, I could probably make it happen.

Posted by: @board-doctor

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Posted by: @wild-cherry

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Get up here Thursday and try one!

Unfortunately I have obligations at work… but if we still have snow next week, and you’re available, I could probably make it happen.

Cool...  I'll have another new prototype by then too!

@wild-cherry Any chance we could try one in Québec?

Posted by: @emilecantin

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How do these compare to the Donek Knapton Twin? I have a 157 with 8.7m sidecut, 28.6cm waist. Just from the specs you mentioned the "working title" should be faster and trench deeper, but I'm curious how the construction /flex would compare as my Donek is quite stiff and heavy.

Watch or listen to James' 'rant' video to understand what I would expect is probably the biggest difference -> twin vs directional flex built into the board.  Makes a huge difference in how each board will ride.  

As James' suggests, how much time do you spend riding switch/fakie on your board today?  

Posted by: @slabber

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Watch or listen to James' 'rant' video to understand what I would expect is probably the biggest difference -> twin vs directional flex built into the board.  Makes a huge difference in how each board will ride.  

I deleted the rant...  I'm gonna do something less angry later.  

The other big difference is in the materials.  Donek doesn't build with metal.

What @slabber was saying is that the Knapton Twin has both twin shape and twin flex, so you're necessarily making huge compromises in the directional carving performance.  So if you ride one direction most of the time, and if you're carving switch at slower speeds on easier runs than forward stance, get a directional board and sacrifice a little bit of switch performance for full on directional carving performance.  I think most Knapton Twin riders would be happier on the Donek Flux.  Knapton himself, needs a twin however.

To answer your question more directly, there is no comparison for carving.  This board can take so much more edge pressure than a KT.  It's the real deal.  Carving a KT on a steep black diamond is much much harder than carving the same run on this JJA.  For doing butters and ground tricks, the KT is lighter.

I put another Coiler rider on a proto today, this time an advanced rider at 175lbs.  He rode his custom Coiler Contra 166 10m for a run, then I put him on the proto and he rode it most of the day, I was on my 171 JJA 15.  We got video.  He also preferred the proto over the Coiler.  Then he rode my 15m for a couple of runs too and loved the speed!  I had to leave at 2:30, he rode his Coiler again to complete the cycle.  Same bindings every board.  I'll have some written feedback in his words for you soon.