Coiler NSR 182 (symmetrical) March 19th, 2011 Corey_Dyck

 

Coiler NSR 182 with some minor tweaks:

– '2011' rounded nose as square noses just bug me
– Square tail so I could get a little more effective edge out of the same length (yes, I'm aware of the irony of this statement after the previous one ).
– UPM inserts
– Extra 4×4 inserts so I could get plate axles further apart, if I want to use a 4×4 plate.As usual for all boards I've seen from Bruce, it's freaking perfect. Simple and elegant in the fine details. I can't wait to get it on the snow!

Specs:
182cm long
20cm waist
13.7/17m sidecut
built for 210 lb rider
white 'ghost' topsheet.

I wanted something that could handle being pushed around at higher speeds on good snow. I got a chance to ride a very similar NSR in very good snow conditions and fell in love with it. Bruce from Coiler gave me lots of warnings about this board, basically that I'm not going to like it if the snow is very soft or very icy. Fair enough, can't question the guy that makes this stuff for a living!
I finally got to take this thing out today. It was -10C (14F) early in the morning. We've been going through some freeze/thaw cycles so I knew the snow was going to be pretty icy. What the heck, let's take the NSR for the first run!
Oh jebus! I've been on big sidecut boards before, you've got to get up some speed before trying to turn. This one likes LOTS of speed! It took a little while to learn the language this board speaks – basically you have to be the boss, tilt it up on edge, and push that puppy hard into the snow! It really came alive once I did that. Even on pretty icy conditions, it just worked. It's very quiet-feeling (damp) underfoot and has a distinctive 'ripping' type sound as it goes about it's business on very hardpack/granulated ice.
As the day progressed I noticed the skidders were scraping the groomed snow off more and more, leaving just yellow ice with little ribs that showed how deep the groomer blades penetrated.* It was getting seriously hard to bend this board, and I was frequently losing the edge and sliding out. Just like Bruce said, this board wasn't cut out for these conditions. To go fast enough to bend the board, it was going to really hurt if/when you fell. Go slow and it felt like it had a 100m sidecut radius. 
So I dig out my trusty Coiler 167 VSR XTight. It eats up ice. Guess what? It wasn't fun either! That's when I looked around and noticed that everyone is falling on the big ice patches. Conditions were really brutal. Some were joking about getting their hockey skates from their cars. (Canada, eh? ) I packed it in with only minor bruising on my knees and elbows. The NSR really worked better than I would have expected in adverse conditions.
Kind of a weird review, I know. But it's amazing that this big 'race' style board worked better than I expected in tough conditions. It'll hook a pretty tight turn if you've got enough grip and trust in the board. But it's not a good choice if you like to tip a board and wait for it to start turning – the NSR would just laugh and continue down the fall line! If you're the kind of person that likes to load up the nose and boss a board around, this offers a very nice reward while being stable at speeds higher than I'll ever go.
I'm anxious to get out in some good snow with this thing! That's likely sometime in December now…

Update:
I've had a few more days on the NSR. If the snow is anything other than boiler-plate ice or slush, this is the board I'd rather be on. It eats up steeps, is fun on even mild blue runs, and just keeps surprising me with its versatility.
It is not fun on narrow runs though, but that's no surprise with a big sidecut and 182cm of length. You've got to work a bit to get it turning, then it's highly rewarding and will make insanely tight radius turns for the specs. If you feel lazy and just want to cruise, it makes very big turns.
This is my favourite board when I've got wider (more than 4 groomer passes wide) runs and good snow. In the other conditions I'll take out something shorter.

Corey_Dyck

Bomber on Line

Author: jax

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