Women' Splitboards

[Foggy_Goggles]

So my wife wants to be a backcountry snowboarder. All I know if that this shit is expensive and confusing. She is looking at boards like Venture Oracle, Never Summer West/Aura, Jones Solution/Explorer. She is 5'9 155ish.

I appreciate and suggestions, deals, pointers you may have.

Everything needed board, bindings, skins.

[Name Redacted]

Get the Sparks Bindings. They are worth the money. Karakorams are good too, but Pricy and finicky. Don't get the Voile bindings or risers.
Get 3 section poles. I like the BD Expedition because they are more durable. Some like the folding ones, but I don't.
I like the Never Summer and Jones boards, but I'm kinda outta the loop on the rest of the brands. She can probably demo some stuff from a shop to get a feel for it. Ventures are nice and well built, but can be heavy and a little unwieldy if she's not an aggressive rider.
Really it all depends on her riding ability and style when it comes to the board.
Don't worry about split specific boots yet.

[Foggy_Goggles]

Her riding ability is towards the top end of female snowboarders. Unlike most girls, she needs to slow down a big and stay in control versus more go for it. For this reason, I think a slightly softer board would be best.

[danmelon]

Get the Sparks Bindings. They are worth the money. Karakorams are good too, but Pricy and finicky. Don't get the Voile bindings or risers.
Get 3 section poles. I like the BD Expedition because they are more durable. Some like the folding ones, but I don't.
I like the Never Summer and Jones boards, but I'm kinda outta the loop on the rest of the brands. She can probably demo some stuff from a shop to get a feel for it. Ventures are nice and well built, but can be heavy and a little unwieldy if she's not an aggressive rider.
Really it all depends on her riding ability and style when it comes to the board.
Don't worry about split specific boots yet.

I've noticed that the Spark and Karakoram heal risers are on the binding itself, which leads to a lot of reaching down to your heal to fiddle with them. I like the simplicity of the Voile heal lifters and easy access with a pole. A cool hack I have seen is to get Spark or Karakoram bindings and Voile heal lifters (this is probably way to nerdy for your gf tho). I personally like my Voile's for the price i paid for them and also like that I can order all of the individual binding parts online... but second that the Spark or Karakoram are probably worth the money for the convenience.

I've only found the Jones board to have magnetraction on all 4 edges, which has been handy for hard skinning conditions on the east coast. Not sure if other brands have picked up on this feature.

Keep in mind that splitboards generally ride softer than conventional boards.

[Name Redacted]

Her riding ability is towards the top end of female snowboarders. Unlike most girls, she needs to slow down a big and stay in control versus more go for it. For this reason, I think a slightly softer board would be best.

Yeah, let her pick the board. I'd get something pretty well rounded for the first board. I like the solution because it can be aggressive when you want it to be, but is still easy turning in the tight stuff. Decent float. But I haven't really looked into any of the new stuff that's out these days. Just ordered another Solution, but I spend a fair amount of time on skis too.

[Name Redacted]

I've noticed that the Spark and Karakoram heal risers are on the binding itself, which leads to a lot of reaching down to your heal to fiddle with them. I like the simplicity of the Voile heal lifters and easy access with a pole. A cool hack I have seen is to get Spark or Karakoram bindings and Voile heal lifters (this is probably way to nerdy for your gf tho).

Sparks have the "Whammy Bars" which have the tab for using your pole to get the riser bars down.
https://www.sparkrandd.com/gear/whammy-bars/

[nfaust]

Get the Sparks Bindings. They are worth the money. Karakorams are good too, but Pricy and finicky. Don't get the Voile bindings or risers.
Get 3 section poles. I like the BD Expedition because they are more durable. Some like the folding ones, but I don't.
I like the Never Summer and Jones boards, but I'm kinda outta the loop on the rest of the brands. She can probably demo some stuff from a shop to get a feel for it. Ventures are nice and well built, but can be heavy and a little unwieldy if she's not an aggressive rider.
Really it all depends on her riding ability and style when it comes to the board.
Don't worry about split specific boots yet.

Hopefully not thread-jacking too much here but...

Can you comment a bit more on Spark vs. Karakoram? My wife is looking for a set up too and initially I was drawn to the Karakorams because of their quiver connectors so she can easily swap bindings between a split and a solid board. But it looks like Spark has solid board pucks as well.

[Name Redacted]

Hopefully not thread-jacking too much here but...

Can you comment a bit more on Spark vs. Karakoram? My wife is looking for a set up too and initially I was drawn to the Karakorams because of their quiver connectors so she can easily swap bindings between a split and a solid board. But it looks like Spark has solid board pucks as well.

Yeah, I have ridden Karakorams, the Split 30 old version for years. They have evolved into a totally different mechanism that looks great now. But they are pricey and still a little finicky. My old ones had very little adjustment too, because i have bigger feet, I could never get my boot really centered on the board. However, that has probably changed.

Both companies off quiver connectors, but the Karakoram ones look lighter and less bulky, but I haven't checked em out in a while.

They are both good products, and I'll be switching to Sparks this year just because I got a good deal on a pair.

[nfaust]

Yeah, I have ridden Karakorams, the Split 30 old version for years. They have evolved into a totally different mechanism that looks great now. But they are pricey and still a little finicky. My old ones had very little adjustment too, because i have bigger feet, I could never get my boot really centered on the board. However, that has probably changed.

Both companies off quiver connectors, but the Karakoram ones look lighter and less bulky, but I haven't checked em out in a while.

They are both good products, and I'll be switching to Sparks this year just because I got a good deal on a pair.

Good to know, thanks. Aren't they pretty much the same price? The Karakoram's include the quiver connectors it looks like, whereas the Sparks do not. Am I missing something?

Karakoram
Prime Connect-W Bindings: $400
Prime Connect Split Kit: $150
Total: $550

Spark R&D
Women's Arc: $385
Spark Pucks: $75
Spark Solid Board Pucks: $70
Total: $530

[Name Redacted]

Good to know, thanks. Aren't they pretty much the same price? The Karakoram's include the quiver connectors it looks like, whereas the Sparks do not. Am I missing something?

Karakoram
Prime Connect-W Bindings: $400
Prime Connect Split Kit: $150
Total: $550

Spark R&D
Women's Arc: $385
Spark Pucks: $75
Spark Solid Board Pucks: $70
Total: $530

I guess so, then they are about the same. Been a really long time since I paid full pop for bindings. I guess it has been since the first ever production run of Sparks. Try em both out and get the ones that work best I guess.

[nfaust]

I hear ya, thanks for the feedback. That's pretty much the plan. I guess I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing some kit / adapter / plate / pin / whatever when I was pricing them out.

[Foggy_Goggles]

Is there a preferred skin between BD & G3?

[adrenalated]

Is there a preferred skin between BD & G3?

This year is the first year BD has made a tail attachment for splitboards. I just got a pair for my GF. I haven't taken them out of the box yet. She also has G3s. I'll report back on which attachment sucks more once I play with the BDs.
Other than the attachments the skin itself is the same as the ski skins. So all the normal BD vs G3 stuff applies.
Splitboards seem to have inherently less grip skinning than skis so high-grip skins seem to be more important.

[Foggy_Goggles]

So all the normal BD vs G3 stuff applies

I'm not even really up on that any more. I was a BD guy from back when they were Ascension. I think you were racing go carts in your diapers back then. I feel like BDs quaility has gone down hill so I went with the G3 Scalas this year.

Date night at Da Pass? We can skin around and try to act cool while attempting to explain why is is called ski touring when you hardly even go skiing.

[adrenalated]

I'm not even really up on that any more. I was a BD guy from back when they were Ascension. I think you were racing go carts in your diapers back then. I feel like BDs quaility has gone down hill so I went with the G3 Scalas this year.

Date night at Da Pass? We can skin around and try to act cool while attempting to explain why is is called ski touring when you hardly even go skiing.

I have recent skins from both G3 and BD. I hear ya on BD QC but I think their glue still sucks less than G3 glue. At the end of the day, they both work just fine. Both brands have a whole mess of different plush options/grip levels/etc so it kinda doesn't matter there. G3 skins are more plug and play, BD requires cutting and installing the tip loop. Your time frame on Ascension vs my age sounds about right.

Off to GJ/Fruita to ride bikes this weekend with El Presidente and a few others. If you get bored of tromping around in the mud in the fraser valley this weekend and want to come hang with the poser city kids and our lifted Toyotas and flannel shirts in the desert, come on down.

[SKIP IN7RO]

furberg freeride

[danmelon]

Is there a preferred skin between BD & G3?

I have some G3 high traction split board skins. The traction is really good, but I had problems with the glue after about 3 seasons (glue coming off on base, balling up...). I replaced the glue with BD glue at the end of last season and now they seem to work OK. The G3 Tail clips are a bit bulky but work well for a twin shaped board. Now that I'm on a directional shape I am using a 'camming' style tail clip which works, because I can center it on the tail (you can't do this with a twin tip shape).

[Name Redacted]

This just randomly popped up in my FB feed:

Solution 152 for sale in Silverthorne

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...6984934361869/

[Foggy_Goggles]

Thanks, got the board dialed for now. Starting to work on bindings, skins, etc.

[nfaust]

Thanks, got the board dialed for now. Starting to work on bindings, skins, etc.

What did you wind up going with?

[Foggy_Goggles]

154 West Split. Found a good deal.

[adrenalated]

Update - I finally got around to trimming a pair of BD splitboard skins for my lady. My initial impressions:
1) BD glue sucks less than G3 glue
2) plush is similar, maybe slightly better on BD
3) the G3 skins are way easier to trim, since the tip/tail hardware is already installed and the G3 trim tool is way better. The little screws for the BD tip loop are a pain in the fucking ass. The G3 trim tool can be purchased separately and is well worth the $4
4) the BD tail hardware seems a little more user friendly/easier to take on and off the ski than the G3 hardware

Overall I'ma vote for the BD as the better skin, although you won't agree when installing the tip loops. Definitely buy the G3 trimming tool though.