Friday, July 18, 2014

Reinventing the Snowboard, Take 47,564 - The Cross Board

 
This week the man bravely stepping up to the plate to reinvent the snowboarding wheel is a guy called Dave from Australia...


Dave, who's known as "Max" because he lives life to the maximum, has just released the Cross Board, 20 years after coming up with the idea. If nothing else, this has set a clear record for the longest idea gestation period in all of snowboarding. According to the website 1989 was a bit of a set-back year in this drawn-out process:

1989 - With the dream of changing the world, Max took his board to the U.S. During a snowboard manufacturers demo in Colorado, the Skate Ski got a ride. On the moguls and ice, Max’s board smashed it – leaving all the snowboards behind. The snow board fraternity were not impressed, and Max was asked to leave. He took his technology to the likes of Burton, but they didn’t want to know about it. The young daredevil from Adelaide couldn’t compete with big business, so he went back home, got a job and started a family.

Despite that very significant set-back the idea has refloated and here's a look at it...




A whole load of money has gone into the big launch. They have a very slick website, a PR agency, they've already produced 500 of these things, 400 are for rent in Mt Buller Australia and 100 are for sale at $800 AUD a pop, and they managed to get a host of mainstream press to attend their launch weekend.



I guess only time will tell whether Burton will come to regret their decision to turn this idea down...

[Spoiler alert: They won't] 



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