My first snowboard? A 1991 Burton AsymAir. Bought in 1991 with the 3-strap flex bindings. Crappy snow that winter but it was my first season riding so it was amazing! I used to covet the Burton catalogs when they came out and made many pilgrimages to Burlington to visit the store. Also rode a Buron Alp 7.1 for a number of years in plate bindings and hard boots. There was even one time I tried to work an internship with Burton in Japan just as they were switching from importing via a trading company to doing it themselves. It fell through at the last minute and I ended up riding my motorcycle cross-country and worked in Seattle all summer at a computer game company. Too bad for Burton ;)
However, these days I've switched back to soft boots (Salomons) and a Volkl boardercross board (ultra-stiff freestyle board.) I'm not sure that I would ever buy another Burton. Sadly I am no longer in their demographic.
G-
Read this article on paper yesterday under a clear blue windy dry sky over Boston Common, and thought of our trip to Burlington to get your first board - that Asym Air. I still ride Burton exclusively and they still make the best boards in the business. Just because we no longer fit the demographic, I don't think that precludes us from enjoying the best technology, the result of the best snowboard specific R&D program in the world. I ride a Custom S split board for touring the backcountry with skiers and a Dragon 58 for everything else, both with the Burton Carbon bindings - and I have never been let down by either of these setups. (I'm no longer sponsored by Burton, BTW) ;) jz
Gen, I loved my Asym Air. I was faithful to that line till the end.
My first board was a Sims Switchblade (1988), then a Terry Kidwell. After attending the Snoboard Shop Summer camp on Blackcomb in '89 I switched to Burton, for good. Some of their new riders where there (hello Jeff Brushie!) riding the new Air prototypes (the ones that were purple and pinkish) and they blew me away.
While there, Craig Kelly was setting up the pipe for his camp due to start the next week. Every now and then he'd drop into our pipe and it was like God himself had walked into our midsts.
Wow... what a lifetime ago. Anyways, hopefully someday we can all go snowboarding together! Yeah!
Jamie, I'm not sure if I can put my finger on just what it is that Burton doesn't have for me anymore, but when I went shopping, they didn't have anything like what I was looking for.
Boris, would love to go riding with you sometime soon. I've got slides from the US Open back in '92-'94 that I think you would enjoy. Terje Haakonsen in his prime!
Hi,
I used to be big into to boarding and ran out of time and just got out of it. Started out with a Kemper and beat it pretty bad , I was still learnin =) My point is right when I thought I was really gonna get into to boarding I went out and bought a new Burton Brushie Cruzin '153. I only used it a couple times. Its like Mint! I paid like $569.00 for the board and the bindings all together. Is anyone intrested in making an offer or does anyone know what I should be asking for it? Email me if intrested
Joe
I have a Burton Brushie snowboard. i bought it used sometime around 1993. it is the one with the red fish bones on the bottom and it has a fish hook on the front with Brushie on the bottom. i was thinking about selling it if anyone has any info give me an email or post something here... thanks