These seem to be a relatively new thing….what are the benefits? I’ve not been boarding for 4 years (kids eh!?) but I was at a reasonable level before.

Thanks in advance, A.

get a demo?

Why not it’s an intiguing idea. Can’t think of a reason why they won’t work

Reverse camber has it’s uses for sure.

More float in powder and you’re less likely to catch an edge, however this comes at the expense of somewhat diminished carving ability.

Great for park/freestyle and off-piste, but maybe not so good if you just want to bomb down the mountain. That said Lib Tech’s Magnetraction edge gives you the best of both Worlds when combined with reverse camber.

Lib Tech/Gnu pioneered this, Burton have a great system too (the name escapes me) and Rome’s pop-rock design is very well regarded too.

This kind of deck has been around for a few years now, so it’s not a flash in the pan.

I picked up a Bataleon Goliath after demoing a bunch of boards at last years Big Bang Snowboard Show at Braehead Xscape.

It’s not an Inverse Camber – it has another new/weird base called Triple Base Tech, as these Instructional Videos will explain:
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCHmhF_zFbQ[/video]
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOrpHlzjMjQ[/video]

I’d say definitely try and get a demo. There are snowboard shops at all the UK snowdomes that should allow you to demo boards and some will refund your slope fees if you go on to buy the board.

As usual don’t forget to join Snowboard Club UK before buying a new board. £15 membership for 10% off a new £300 board works well in your favour!

I’ve been riding a Lib Tech TRS with ‘Banana-tech’ and ‘Magnetraction’ and probably some other jargonny tech for the last couple of years and I love it.

Takes a little getting used to – on piste there’s not a massive difference, can’t say that it carves any worse than comparable non-rocker boards (my previous DWD one for example)… straight-lining over flats is a little disconcerting at first as it tends to wander a little more than you’d expect.

In powder there’s definitely a little more float, the nose seems to stay up with a little less effort, but it can’t compete with a genuine powder stick (a Fish or Moloko for example). What it does give you is the ability to have one board do pretty much everything very well…

There’s almost too much choice with Lib Tech these days…I was seriously torn between the TRS, Travis Rice and Jamie Lynn.

Great art too.