Burton Vapor

With how light my Burton Vapor is you dont need red bulls to get a lift. If you are plannin on doin any kinda hiking there is no better board its like carryin a feather.

Yeah that’s right. There are some other companies out there trying to jump on the bandwagon of light, but they can’t keep up with Burton. The Burton Vapor comes with all the most advanced methods of weight reduction. Plus Burton doesn’t stop there. They also build this board with some hardcore features. So not only do you get light, but you get performance:the bst of both world.

Pics of the new Burton Vapor 09 baby!

So I just had a chance to peer through the new Burton 08 catalog, aka the Burton Bible. The shop wouldn’t give me a copy yet because they only had a few and I didn’t buy anything. Normally, the Burton 08 catalog would live on the toilet tank–you know, the man’s bookshelf.

Anyways, I was peering through it and drooling. I started looking at the new Burton EST system and how sick it looked. Originally, I was a bit of a skeptic, but I like the idea. Really, it is hard to say if it will hold up or not, but I would like to try it nevertheless.

What damned on me was how few snowboard actually had the EST system, like 2 or 3! And they do not come on the Burton Vapor. Now I am sure implanting a Burton Vapor with a slider track may be risky, but I was thinking what if. It seems like almost too much technology to handle: Burton Vapor mounted with Burton EST.

We may see it in the future, but it was just an interesting idea to boot.

I remember this issue surfaced years ago with Burton’s FL project. Some people actually criticized the board and claimed it was too light. Is it possible?

I am not sure. I love my Burton Vapor; I know that. Now I haven’t heard this issue directed at the Vapor, but I am waiting for it to resurface.

The actual complaints were that when a snowboard gets that light it isn’t very stable. Well, there is some truth to this idea. Heavier objects do have greater inertia. So a heavy snowboard would have the tendency keep a straighter path if all things were equal between the two boards.

But all things are not equal. This reasoning reminds of all the old timers who used to believe that the key to a stable car was to get a big boat. Sure a big old Buick will ride smooth, but what about Indy Cars? Here you have cars that are a fraction of the weight that have far more stability than any car on the road. And while the Buick may be stable it isn’t very nimble.

Thus comes the key to this discussion. While a heavier snowboard may have some properties that make it more stable, a lighter board may be able to be made more stable. And the lighter board will always be more nimble. Of course, the Burton Vapor will not depend on air foils to gain stability, but the argument that it may be too light has many holes.

Personally, I have no problems with stability. The Vapor claws to the halfpipe wall like a champ and carves the groomers well. Possibly, Burton is on to something with their AlumaFly core.

For 2008, it is yet to be seen, but the truth is that the Elan Inverse actually underweighed the Burton Vapor by a fraction of a pound in one size. According to Transworld Snowboarding, in their 2007 good wood test, the Inverse weighed 5.5 lbs at 159 cm and the Vapor weighed 5.7 lbs in the 157 cm length.

This is all the data that I have, so there may be deviations among the other sizes.

I just wanted to post this data to provide some truth on the Vapor, not to deflate the dreams of everybody in the world. Yes it is hellaciously light, but if it is the lightest, maybe not.

However, we should note some differences between the boards. First, the Vapor is a freeride focused snowboard and is quite stiff, while the inverse is more freestyle oriented.

Also, Burton obtained their lightweight through an AlumaFly core while Elan used low-density poplar wood. This brings to question which is stronger. The truth, I am not sure. But I know when you start using super light wood, strength goes out the window. Burton introduced a board with balsa year ago and it was a bit weak IMO.

Basically, I think Burton has the right approach. And we are yet to see how the Vapor in the Burton 2008 line-up stacks up against the Elan. I don’t think building the lightest board should be done with wood. If I wanted a wood snowboard I would no doubt get a Burton Custom anyways. Whether aluminum is the best way still remains to be proven, but Burton is definately on the right track. This is why I prefer the Vapor, even it isn’t the lightest, to other snowboards.

For 2008 the Burton Vapor still offers these features:

I am guessing you may be wondering what two of these three new items are. The Vaporskin Carbon is a modified Vaporskin, in short. Basically, more fiberglass was removed and replaced with carbon-fiber. Burton Snowboards claims the result is a lighter topsheet with more snap and strength.

For the Sintered N20 WFO base, Burton has remained very vague. All you need to know is that it claims to be even faster and more durable than the Sintered WFO base. When more info becomes available on this base I will post it. If you have more info, please do the same.

Since the Burton Vapor hit the scene in the 05/06 season, here is a shot of the graphics evolution:

Well gotta start somewhere! This is the first official post where the world’s lightest technologically advanced snowboard will be discussed. Stay tuned!