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K2 Gyrator Snowboard description We didn't think it was possible, but the K2 Gyrator Snowboard's Powder Rocker construction makes powder even more fun. Conventional boards have camber (where the board curves upward slightly in the middle), the Gyrator has rocker, like a surf board. The reverse curvature helps the board rise to the surface of soft snow while you stay in a centered stance, which means more powerful powder turns, less leg burn, and easier landings. K2 tapered the Gyrator board's lively wood core at the tips to create low swing weight for easier spins. Although built for the deep stuff, the Gyrator's hyper-progressive sidecut keeps it maneuverable enough to ride the entire mountain. |
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ndrake1230244: 
I just got the 162 as my new powder stick and finally got a chance to try it out today. It was only around 6-12" on top of some pretty hard pack, so nothing too crazy, but enough to test it's ability to float... which it does. I think this actually should be called the Zeppelin because it might as well be filled with helium.The good:It floats like nothing I've ever riden, no effort on the back leg required at all with the stance only back ~1.25". Since you can ride a more centered stance you can also ride switch really easily. It pops off of anything, I went off a little mound in the powder that was the begining of a mogul today and popped nearly chest high. Flat out ridiculous. Since you don't have to flex the tail out to get it up you can pop really well off what would normally be a small roller, or off of narrow traversing track bumps.It is LIGHT. I have last years 158 Jibpan for my hardpack board and it feels like a lead brick compared to this board. The jibpan had their lightest core last year, but with this new honeycomb core they came out with, the Gyrator is just ridiculous.If you want to do spins in powder, it has NO swing weight, the thing feels like it's 10cm shorter when you spin.The bad:This is definitely not a quiver killer. You can ride hard pack with it, but it is, ummm..., well kind of interesting. Stability is not a way that I would describe it, since the only part of your base which touches the snow is in between your bindings. It stays that way until you are hard on an edge (which I don't recommend; it wants to turn too sharp to actually carve hard). This also means that it is a little bit sketchy on steep hard (ice) run ins. Just edge hard and you will be fine, but just keep in mind that it may not hold as easily as your old powder (ie large) board did.When it is choppy, warms up, and gets heavy the board is a little bit soft. If it's all been tracked out (like it was this afternoon) I would go back to my normal board after lunch.Basically if you really enjoy powder, want to be able to ride it very easily, and you can afford two boards (or just don't ride hardpack - you lucky bastard) then this is the board to get IMHO. Forget about the tapered boards that just try to sink the tail and ride a board that is actually designed to float.Notes on me if you care; I started riding in 92. I have ridden more boards than I can remember. Before this board I had a K2 Recon Riser 165 for my big mountain / pow board. It really is not a very good board for powder (spring slush is a whole other story). I still have the Recon and will probably ride it once in a while if I want to just haul balls.My normal board is a K2 Jibpan 158, which is not at all a jib board, as the name implies. Think narrow Zeppelin with carbon torsion forks instead of metal.After demo-ing a Lib Tech TRS 159 with magnetraction and banana tech the Jibpan will be getting replaced. Seriously banana tech is flat out amazing for normal all around stuff..., but full rocker still kills it in pow. :)
Gyrate with a Kite
Anonymous:
After a couple days at the resort in this years deep Utah powder I was hooked. The snow has been so deep this winter I was stoked I had the 168cm. This board floats so well just 4 inches of pow feels deeper than it should. Because of it's fairly narrow waist it turns surprisingly well in trees, even on hardpack. This board is also awesome for snowkiting, with a little extra length, reverse camber and the softer flex you can pull of any tweaked air you might be thrown into.
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