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Bamboo/Cork Sidewalls

Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2019 11:32 am
by Roberto
Hello,

I have purchased a snowboard with cork/bamboo sidewalls. I figured this forum would be the best place to ask this question:

How durable can I expect these sidewalls to be compared to UHMW or ABS sidewalls?

I did some searching on this forum and found a bunch of different view points. Some say they have had no problem leaving their sidewalls unfinished. Others say apply a thin coat of epoxy, and others say apply boiling linseed oil.

I am not a big guy, 175 lbs, but I tend to be pretty hard on my gear and I'll ride 50 days a season. I also ride in New England, which tends to have icy hard pack and abrasive man made snow. However, this board wouldn't be my daily driver, and I will only ride it on powder days at Jay Peak.

For reference the snowboard is a 18-19 Salomon HPS Taka 158cm.

I am currently leaning towards treating it with linseed oil, but am also considering returning it because of durability concerns. The use of two different materials for the sidewall also has to be a point of weakness versus only bamboo.

Re: Bamboo/Cork Sidewalls

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 12:27 am
by Dr. Delam
I have never seen cork used in sidewalls and it throws up a red flag for me. Not so much for water damage reasons but because it won't have the strength and hardness of plastic or all bamboo. If you ride in areas that you might hit a rock or do any sort of park riding, I see that edge compressing and deforming very easily. This is especially true for snowboards which are thinner and weight is focused more on one edge.

As far as treating sidewalls, I don't think it is necessary. As long as you dry them after riding and don't just throw them in the back of the truck until who knows when, they are fine. Even if you do treat them, you will need to reapply every time you side edge them.

I hate to say it but I would lean towards a return if you still can.

Re: Bamboo/Cork Sidewalls

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 4:18 am
by mammuth
Ask Salomon what they suggest and tell us. I share the Doctors opinion too

Re: Bamboo/Cork Sidewalls

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 9:30 am
by Roberto
I sent Salomon customer service a message, lets see if they respond...

I did some more searching on the internet and came across this article with this excerpt:

Q: Construction. This is the place where you can talk to us about the new ingredients in your boards, and how you are building differently. We’re interested in anything new in inserts / edges / cores / sidewalls / glue / resin/ wood types / base material etc here.

A: Last year, with the Speedway board, we introduced the C/FX Superfiber, a mix of Flax and carbon that make freeride boards strong and really smooth for high speed carving or powerful slash in the deep stuff. In 2019/20 we created a takedown of this tech, C/FX Basalt, that will equip the Super 8 and the latest Bellevue. This mix of Basalt and glass fibers is a perfect additive to improve performance of our directional freeride shape whatever the snow conditions. More power and smoother ride.

We are also using more and more cork in our board construction. Because it is a light and eco-friendly material and it has amazing vibration and shock absorption capacities. We use it in the freeride boards (Speedway and Super 8 ), as a nose insert for high speed vibration absorption. We also use it as a sidewall deepening technology. All the impact and chatter protection riders need while standing up for Mother Nature.

Re: Bamboo/Cork Sidewalls

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 11:27 am
by skidesmond
I don’t think cork sidewall will standup well as a sidewall. I use cork in my skis but it’s encased so it’s not exposed. Depending on how the use the cork, it doesn’t seem like it would hold screws well either. Perhaps using inserts help. But there’s still very light strength in cork. Applying epoxy or a poly would help some.

Any idea what the white layer is? Ptex?

Re: Bamboo/Cork Sidewalls

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 11:53 pm
by chrismp
That is most probably not just pure cork, but a mix of rubber and cork. Capita uses this stuff in some of their park boards (Ultrafear model) as well and it holds up fine (a friend of mine rides one with countless park laps on it).

We also received some samples of the rubber cork from the manufacturer and it seems rather tough.

Re: Bamboo/Cork Sidewalls

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2019 4:03 pm
by MontuckyMadman
"sidewall deepening technology"

Wtf?

Re: Bamboo/Cork Sidewalls

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2019 11:52 pm
by chrismp
I think they wanted to say "damping".

Re: Bamboo/Cork Sidewalls

Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2019 4:33 pm
by MontuckyMadman
Yeah well toates fukered