Hybrid Slalom deck, which one ?

[SYLVAIN LAVILLE]

Hi , I need to buy a deck for hybrid slalom, what models are best suited for this kind of courses. I weight 200lbs (90 kg) and I'm 6' tall (1,85 m). thanks

[Marty Schaub]

You will get lot's of opinions here so here is mine. Hybrid? Axe II. Get one set up by Richy and you are race ready out of the box. Where else can you get a deck hand tuned specifically for you from the specs you provide by the reigning co-US National champ? The guy has a knack for hitting it dead on every time.

Sk8kings will be in Paris too.

My 2 centavos.....

[Paul Howard]

Here's some shameless endorsement:

The Subsonic Pauliwog is noncambered, concave, you can have wheelwells put in, has a nice wide front end for your front foot and the tail is wide enough to get leverage but narrow enough to wrap your toes over the edge and you heel also for edge control. And it has 3 sets of holes for the front and rear trucks each. It is very easy to learn slalom on, yet it held me in the A Class for 2 years solid until my lack of practice/training(too many other things going on) has started to cost me.

You can get it with or without a kicktail(my preference since I like to add PPS C-Foam for a diagonal kick/heel-lift) and put some extra toe/heel lift where I want it in the front. You can also get them in all wood or wood with triaxial fiberglass for more stiffness(I recommend it).

I have several other decks by other manufactures that I have full permission from my sponsor Scott of Subsonic to ride if I feel the need for any event but in the last 2 years I've ridden my Scout for ALL big courses and for the past 3 years I've used the same Pauliwog model for ALL tight and hybrid/general slalom racing. The "Pauliwog" and "Scout" are the first and only boards I have used for more than one season.

OK, so that's all I have to say and I'm sticking to it - Good Luck - Paul

[Lenny Poage]

Like my bro Marty said, you'll get as many opinions as there are skaters. The question you may want to ask yourself is do you prefer flat cambered boards or stiffer concave boards? I skated my Roe PS Unlimited for a long time and love it, but this past fall I "joined the Axe Army" and really fell in love with the stiffer concaved boards. The Axe II is a GREAT all around board.

Once you decide what general type of board you like, you can go from there. This is an exciting time in Slalom because so many GREAT boards are coming out (I would list a few of the great companies, but fear I'd leave many well-deserving companies off that list)!!! Let us know what you decide.

[Dave Gale]

In the spirit that Lenny and Marty have stated..I'll put in my .02 for ChiXIll Midnight Special!
Very versatile and top notch construction! They hit this one ..dead on! Mild camber and concave. All the boards suggested thus far are sweet!! There are a handful of quality commited manu's out there..Now, it's up to you(You'll probably wind up with a couple anyways)

[Robert Sydia]

The name say's it all - go for a FULL BAG, dude

Just my 2 cents

Rob

[SYLVAIN LAVILLE]

thanks for your suggestions, I surfed thru all the makers sites (including europeans)andI love a lot of those boards ,now I'm running crazy but I love it.

[Miguel Marco]

Sylvain, the Fullbag Slalom Series will be available in France at coneracing.com as of this weekend (Paris World Cup). Check with them if your interested.

Boards are stiff yet snappy and lively. Nice concave all the way through with a smooth concave kick. They're made of 5 maple plies sandwiched between 2 plies of formica.

Si tu as besoins de plus d'info, je peux aussi te répondre en français! Fullbag est une entreprise québecoise, donc canadienne-française...