JP Walker 154 Wins the All-Around!
Written: Nov 08 '00 (Updated Nov 08 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent board for freeride and park & pipe.
Cons: Textured base is “temporary”.
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| rodeo7's Full Review: Forum JP Walker |
The Forum JP Walker is a well designed and well constructed snowboard. Only the highest quality can be expected from Forum and the Forum Team Riders, which is why I chose the JP Walker 154 to be my ride last season.
The board I currently owned was a short twin board geared more towards park and pipe. I was looking for something longer that would be better at freeriding, while still allowing me to get into the park and pipe with ease. Being relatively short for a guy, a 154 is actually a perfect length for me to carve with. At first, the side cut was a little more than I was used to, causing me to catch edge and eat it. After a while, I got used to it and I was loving my tight, clean turns. Tight turns are also a definite plus when riding the halfpipe.
Forum in general tends to have skinny waste widths, restricting boot sizes allowed. If your boot is too big for the board, your toe or heel will drag. The JP is no exception with a 24.9 cm waste width. My feet happened to fit perfectly on the 154, just reaching the toe side as well as the heel side giving me perfect control over the edges.
The board handles great in the park, just as JP designed it to be. It has great pop when ollying and I can spin it very easily. It has a good amount of flex for helping along crazy jibs like nose presses and tail slides. Being a directional board, it easily gains sufficient speed when lining up for a big hit off a table top, but the 2 cm difference in nose and tail lengths still make riding switch a breeze.
The season I rode the board, I never had any problems with it. The edges held up great and stayed sharp with every tune. The base was easy to tune, holding wax very well. One neat thing about the base is that it is textured with little ridges. This is supposed to help with tracking. I kind of noticed it help, but wasn’t sure. What I did notice was a neat little sound the board made, kind of like the “zip” corduroy pants make as you walk with them on. The fun unfortunately doesn’t last forever. After my first base grind in the shop, all the little ridges were gone. The board seems to ride exactly the same minus the cool noise.
I never promote choosing a board for it graphics. Function first, always. I happened to get lucky with the JP 154. A cool grayish green top sheet with dragon graphics is a winner. The fluorescent red base was a little loud at first, but I grew to like it. Apparently, my friends could also easily find me by looking for my base. (note: The board pictured is the 148. I am riding the 154 in my current Profile picture.)
One thing I would have liked with the 154 was a little more flex. I guess JP thought the same thing too because he added more flex to his 2001 model.
This is a great board for any level snowboarder. As I’ve said before, you don’t need to be a pro to ride a pro board. A beginner might catch edge while getting used to the side cut since it’s more technical than “beginner” boards, but I don’t see why a beginner couldn’t take this board out anyway. I think anyone whose body-type fits the board (height, weight and shoe size) should give this board a demo and consider purchasing it. I’m planning on riding it again this season.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
rodeo7
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Eddie
Location: Virginia, USA
Reviews written: 29
Trusted by: 71 members
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