Reverse Camber Snowboards

There are two major snowboard companies selling reverse camber snowboards during the 2007/2008 season, although during 2008/2009 more companies will start making reverse camber snowboards.

Mervin Manufacturing, which includes Gnu and Lib Tech uses "Banana Technology" (patent pending). Their reverse camber snowboards have the rocker between the bindings, and the board is straight from the bindings to the nose and tail. Mervin Manufacturing's reverse camber snowboards include the following boards: Lib Tech Skate Banana, Lib Tech Box Scratcher, Lib Tech TRS Travis Rice Pro Model, and Gnu Riders Choice. Danny Kass has been riding a Gnu DK Pro Model prototype with Banana Technology. He was the first person to win a contest with a reverse camber snowboard. This happened during the summer of 2007 in the Abominable Snowjam Halfpipe Competition at High Cascade Snowboard Camp in Oregon.

Lib Tech says that the reverse camber on their boards makes the board ride more like a skateboard than previous snowboards. Most modern snowboards have camber, which means the board arches up off the ground between the nose and tail. This is a shaping that was based off skis, where skiers wanted to pop out of their turns when doing jump turns. Reverse camber brings snowboarding back to it's skateboarding and surfing roots so the board rides more comfortably, and how they should ride. Additionally, reverse camber snowboards are great for doing nose presses and tail presses.

K2 Snowboards made their 20th Anniversary Gyrator model with reverse camber. This reverse camber is slightly different from Mervin Manufacturing's, though. K2's reverse camber is called "Rocker". The board is flat between the bindings, but between the nose and the bindings and the tail and the bindings, the board swoops up. This board is made for riding powder. During the 2006/2007 winter, Wille Yli Luoma rode the K2 Gyrator with reverse camber technology.

Starting in the 2008/2009 season, Stepchild Snowboards' jib board, which is made with rails and boxes in mind, is going to have reverse camber. This is because of the increased ability of a reverse camber snowboard to do nosepresses and tail presses. With world-famous rail slayers like Simon Chamberlain, JP Walker and Joe Sexton riding Stepchild snowboards, it was inevitable that they would choose to use this highly effective shaping technique.

Signal Snowboards has announced they will be producing their park board with reverse camber this year. With an MSRP of only $339, it'll be hard to find a better deal anywhere. And they're pressed in the USA!

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